I initially took up individual membership after taking up my role with Four Seasons Health Care in 2007 and was immediately struck by how welcoming and helpful everyone in the NACC was. Being new to the care sector I was immensely grateful for the advice, support and networking opportunities it offered and ensured FSHC took out corporate membership in 2008. Throughout the past 10 years we have benefitted from Care Chef of the Year competitions, inspiring our catering teams and giving us some great PR. We’ve had the opportunity to showcase our catering expertise at national exhibitions, present at various regional events and attend some highly prestigious events, all of which just would not have happened without NACC.
We made the decision that HC-One would join the NACC in 2012 when HC-One formed as a company. At that time HC-One owned 250+care homes with 10,000+ Residents. HC-One served 1.5 million meals and snacks a month in 2012 . The aim was to move from a menu of largely processed frozen meals to home cooked meals using fresh ingredients. At that time our intention with the NACC membership was to have our food offer noticed as best practice and to leverage our volume with suppliers making fresh food affordable. With subsequent growth and acquisitions HC- One is now home to almost 22,000 Residents with the corresponding increase in size and complexity of our food business. It's not as simple now as leveraging our volume for best value, it’s how to do that but with the increasing complexity in Residents dietary needs. It's about the expectations that our providing good nutrition will improve Resident care and the stakeholders expectation that good nutrition will reduce the cost of care. Recipes and menus need careful engineering to ensure we offer the best quality and best value choices all day every day. To do that we need increasingly sophisticated management of procurement, good data to make informed decisions, reliable support to time challenged cooks. As a management team we are responsible to support cooks to do a highly skilled and intensely difficult job. Our ambition now is that the NACC will benefit the cooks more directly by professionalizing the role, giving cooks an influencing voice in the care sector.
“I have found the events run by the NACC northern region to be interesting, informative and a great resource to help us broaden our general understanding of the care sector. The events have also provided me with an ideal environment to connect with influential key members within the local area. They have been a valuable opportunity to gain further insight into the needs of our customers and to share best practice to allow us to support the care sector as a whole.”
Mervyn Knights and his Hospitality team. Mervyn and his team appreciate the importance of food and are dedicated to ensuring that their residents dine well every day. Residents who are living with Dementia, Parkinson’s disease and strokes are offered varied seasonal home cooked meals from private dining to puree (only if required). Mervyn recognises that providing good food is a challenge but insists that it can be done. He believes that the perception of older people in care homes not having gourmet food and not being associated with Michelin Stars and celebrity chefs should be a thing of the past. He and his team believe that the dining experience must be special and they work towards providing that experience every day.
“Great stand location this year, great to have video. Had some good meet the buyer appointments.”
"NACC North Region meetings always bring likeminded individuals together to share information, stories and best practice to a wide range of members. I always leave having learnt something new or gained a new contact to help me better my business. At the core of each event is the heart felt messages and presentations that bring us together to produce a better care environment."
"I love attending the TDF, it is an honour to be invited. I always learn so much that can be transferred across the sectors in which we operate. Thank you for inviting Tuco to be part of this informative and educational event."
“Good mix of customers, time to promote the business in a relaxed atmosphere.”
“There is such a good atmosphere at the NACC conference – it’s very easy to speak to people, either on the stand or literally as you are wandering around."
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