Healthcare is a fast-paced industry. Whether the setting is a hospital, clinic, or doctor’s office, medical professionals face the same issue: finding time to eat a decent meal between patients and paperwork. 

But healthcare workers shouldn’t have to choose between work and food. Luckily, some healthcare organizations realize this and ensure their employees don’t miss meals due to staff meetings held during meal times. MedCura Health is one such example. 

Two days a week, MedCura Health provides a meal for their staff. They have weekly staff meetings on Thursdays during everyone’s lunch hour. So instead of asking them to skip a meal or eat during a break, MedCura provides a staff-wide meal. And then, on Tuesdays, they offer a free breakfast to their administrative staff to help incentivize onsite attendance. 

This may sound like a logistical challenge — and it was before MedCura partnered with ezCater’s Concierge team.  

Feeding the masses is a full-time job

A “logistical challenge” might actually be an understatement for all the work that Chris Whittaker, MedCura Health’s executive assistant, had to do to organize these staff meals before using ezCater’s Concierge Ordering.  

“I typically placed orders on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and would spend a good half a day placing all of the orders,” says Whittaker. “[I spent] 4-5 hours per week, at least.”

And that just includes the time ordering the food. It doesn’t include regular phone calls from delivery drivers and troubleshooting any problems that arise. In short, Whittaker was working two jobs: his regular executive assistant job and his new position as MedCura’s “lunch guy.” 

While providing food is undoubtedly important, it was becoming a big undertaking that ultimately took time away from Whittaker’s more pressing responsibilities. And that’s when he knew it was time to find a better solution.

Finding a better way to handle breakfast and lunch

When Whittaker started at MedCura Health, they had already been using ezCater’s marketplace platform to order catered meals for the staff. So Whittaker jumped right in and ordered regularly from ezCater’s 100,000+ vendors. 

While Marketplace made ordering office meals much easier than a personal delivery app, Whittaker was looking for something with a minimal time investment — something like ezCater’s Concierge Ordering service.

“I told my rep I want this to be as hands-off as possible,” he explained. And that’s just what he got. “Everything has been seamless.”

No more wasting time

A seamless process means time saved. Whittaker went from finding vendors, placing orders, tracking employees’ dietary needs, and handling delivery driver calls to simply overseeing the final orders. And even that one responsibility is now mostly hands-off. 

Setting up the Concierge Ordering process was simple. Whittaker shared essential information like MedCura’s weekly meal schedule and employees’ dietary restrictions with his point of contact at ezCater — and that was it. The Concierge team took it from there and drafted the meal orders for Whittaker’s approval. But the team quickly built such a good rapport with Whittaker that they learned exactly what MedCura needed for each meal — and now, they don’t even need his approval.

“Originally, they’d draft the orders, and I’d have to approve the orders,” Whittaker explained. “And now, I say if you don’t hear from me, just submit the orders.”

That’s about as hands-off as it gets, meaning Whittaker is free to focus on more pressing issues.   

Making meetings better

Organizing meetings at a medical organization is complicated, with everyone working around patient schedules and training sessions. Scheduling becomes ten times more difficult for an organization like MedCura Health, which has nine clinic locations and an administrative building. 

The only time that everyone can meet for an organizational-wide meeting is when they aren’t seeing patients — which is during their lunch hour. But instead of making employees work through their lunch hour, MedCura chose to make meetings more enjoyable by providing food.

“Anytime that we have a meeting during lunchtime that we require our staff to attend, we make sure we have lunch for them,” Whittaker said. “We feed everybody.”

Not only does this make the MedCura Health staff feel valued, but it incentivizes them to come to the meeting and actively participate. 

“I’ve had people who’ve said they are so grateful we do this because not every company does this,” Whittaker said. “A lot of people love it and look forward to it. They’re appreciative of it — and, of course, how convenient it makes the meetings.”

With ezCater’s Concierge Ordering service, the staff doesn’t have to spend the entire meeting worrying about when they’ll get time to eat and trying to order food through a personal delivery app. Instead, the catered meals are ready and waiting when the meetings start, and the employees can enjoy the food during the meeting.

Giving doctors and staff what they want

Scheduling wasn’t the only issue Whittaker faced with catered meals. The other was finding food that everyone — including front office staff, medical assistants, support staff, RNs, LPNs, healthcare providers, etc. — actually wanted to eat. 

“The biggest challenge is a difference in preferences in terms of healthy or non-healthy,” Whittaker stated. “I find that my doctors and providers tend to prefer healthier options, whereas some of the other staff might prefer tasty but less healthy options.”

Before switching to Concierge, Whittaker had to create a rotating list of vendors and try to mix in a variety of meal times to try and satisfy the entire staff. He also fielded requests from staff for new meal options. 

Now, he still takes note of personal requests. But he isn’t the one to organize the vendor rotation and look for new restaurant options. All that responsibility falls on the Concierge team. Whittaker communicates any requests, and the team handles them all. 

As a result, everyone gets what they want. Doctors and office staff get the food diversity they want, and Whittaker gets the hands-off approach to catering that he needs.

Care for your staff as they care for patients

Healthcare organizations like MedCura prioritize patient care. But in order for the staff to provide that excellent care, they also need support. So why not provide that support through catered lunches?

MedCura understands the importance of food in the workplace, and now it’s your turn. Learn more about how you can better serve your healthcare team by exploring ezCater’s concierge ordering solutions.