With the Association of Healthcare Foodservice (AHF) conference coming up this month, we touched base with early tech pioneer and longtime healthcare foodservice director Dan Henroid, director, Nutrition and Food Services Department, and sustainability officer for UCSF (University of California San Francisco) Health, for his thoughts on what’s trending today in the segment.

1. Smaller Footprint, High-Tech

Dan HenroidSmaller footprint foodservice, chiefly in the form of grab-and-go retail outlets and upscale vending, coupled with the right investment in new technologies, is the name of the game these days, at least for Henroid’s operation.

“We have a new grab-and-go coffee/food concept opening in August that’s 600 square feet and will include kiosks for ordering and food lockers for pickup,” Henroid says.

UCSF has also invested in various vending machines that can vend salads and other fresher food as well as custom ice cream novelties and meals for hospital staff to be able warm up in microwaves after-hours at nurses’ stations and pantries throughout the campus.

Henroid says the hospital has partnered with an RFID solution provider to power the vending machines. UCSF uses RFID tags in the campus’ micromarket spaces as well for a more frictionless foodservice operation.

Henroid was an early adopter of robots for food preparation and delivery. “We recently implemented a slick ramen robot machine for our Yo-Kai Express that can prepare a bowl of ramen in 24 seconds — that’s very popular,” Henroid says. “As the labor issue becomes an increasingly prominent issue, we’re looking for smaller footprints and tech innovations in order to maximize speed of service.”

2. Self-service meal ordering and data management

“We’re going full steam ahead with self-service meal ordering,” Henroid says. “Patients can order meals from their phone through their MyChart app, as we’ve integrated food ordering into our third-party EHR platform. We also created a log in section on our website for specialized meal ordering. There are multiple ways to place orders now.”

Managing data is huge right now for larger foodservice operations such as Henroid’s. “We’re swimming in data but the ability to synthesize it is not easy for healthcare operations. We’re working on integrating everything, from the POS to food production reports to retail metrics and patient satisfaction.”

3. Food recovery initiatives

California’s Senate Bill 1383 has mandated that institutions recover 20% of the edible food product they generate. “In January 2022, broadline distributors and grocery stores were mandated to start recovering food and in January 2024, large foodservice operations such as hotels and hospitals with more than 100 beds, larger restaurants and convention centers must recover food,” Henroid says, noting that local health and environmental departments have been enforcing that rule, checking to see whether these institutions have a relationship with a food recovery partner or program in place.

As part of its food recovery program, UCSF has a Budget Bites initiative where staff package up extra food coming off the patient dining line and add a barcode with value prices that staff and customers can purchase. “Otherwise, we’re just composting; this way we’re actually recouping some costs and revenue,” Henroid says. “We’ll plate up extra cooked chicken breast with a side of rice and cooked vegetables and price that around the $5 mark, and we’ll serve leftover breakfast foods like eggs and sausage at lunch at lower prices.” UCSF even sells its Budget Bites out of the RFID fridges, he says.

Henroid says that while these new mandates are only in California, he wouldn’t be surprised if more states and municipalities follow suit in driving food recovery programs more nationwide.