Dished Senior Living Dining Innovation Awards: Scott Edmunds, Executive Chef, Brookdale Senior Living

Scott Edmunds, Executive Chef at Brookdale Senior Living, has been named an inaugural winner of the DISHED Senior Living Dining Innovation Awards Class of 2025 by Senior Housing News.

As a Culinary Canvas Award winner, Senior Housing News recognized Edmunds for his engaging presence with residents and staff at Brookdale Park Place, located in Spokane, Washington. He regularly hosts interactive cooking demonstrations, themed dining events, and marketing showcases, all of which enhance the resident experience and strengthen community engagement. Edmunds is always seeking resident feedback, participating in weekly chats to gain a better understanding of how he can refine and elevate the community’s culinary offerings. As his nominator told Senior Housing News, “Brookdale is proud to have Chef Scott Edmunds as a cornerstone of the Park Place community. His leadership, creativity, and unwavering dedication to quality make him an invaluable asset.”

Senior Housing News recently sat down Edmunds to learn what drew him to the senior housing & senior living industry, his perspective on culinary trends, his thoughts on the future of dining in senior living, and much more. To learn more about the DISHED Senior Living Dining Innovation Awards, visit https://seniorhousingnews.com/2025-dished-innovation-awards/.

SHN: What drew you to dining in the senior housing & senior living industry?

Edmunds: After attending culinary school and working in resorts and fine dining establishments, I found my true calling in the senior living environment. It truly is a calling, not a job, in my opinion. I absolutely love taking time to enrich and brighten each resident’s day at my community.

SHN: What are the top three trends that you believe are impacting dining innovation in senior living?

Edmunds: The top three trends that impact dining innovation in senior living are the ability to be creative, utilizing local seasonal foods on the menu, and getting consistent feedback from residents about their dining experience to elevate how we serve them in the community.

SHN: What do you think is the biggest impediment to innovation in senior living dining, and what advice would you give to others about how to overcome this challenge?

Edmunds: The biggest impediment to innovation is doing just the minimum: repeating the same foods and not listening to the residents’ requests. By truly going above and beyond on a daily basis, having a creative and ever-changing menu, it makes the residents feel important and special, It allows them to feel like they are cared for and are getting more than they paid for.

SHN: In one word, how would you describe the future of dining in senior living?

Edmunds: Cutting-edge.

SHN: If you could change one thing with an eye toward the future of dining in senior living, what would it be and why?

Edmunds: With a growing trend of a younger and more diverse generation moving into senior living communities, it is essential to offer foods and services that will adapt to their likes and dislikes.

SHN: If you had a crystal ball, what do you think will impact dining in senior housing & senior living now and into 2026?

Edmunds: I think updating the communities to pair with new residents’ wants and providing activities and events that will exceed expectations on a regular basis will impact dining in the industry.

SHN: In your opinion, what qualities must all DISHED Senior Living Dining Innovation Award winners possess?

Edmunds: To state it plainly, it is love! Loving what you do, loving the residents, and loving the craft that you are responsible for.

SHN: If you could give advice to yourself looking back to your first day in senior living dining, what would it be and why?

Edmunds: That every resident should be treated as an individual. That making personal connections with all residents of the community is so important. Never take any criticism to heart and do everything you can every day to work as a team.

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