Announcing EFA‘s Inaugural Dining Competition, a special awards program honoring the best dining spaces in senior living.

Reservations Due: April 12, Presentations Due: April 26

Food. It’s essential to our physical well-being and part of our day-to-day routine. When choosing a senior living community, the food—and, specifically, the venue options supporting it—can be a driving factor in the decision-making process.

Experience. More than just eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner, dining is an experience. It’s a time for residents to connect and enjoy one another’s company. Providing residents with a variety of options to choose from is essential, from high-end dining to casual bistros and pubs.

Design. Creating spaces for senior living dining requires thoughtful planning and collaboration. Delivering spaces that feel unique and branded offers diversity in experiences, while specifying the right materials and finishes is essential to achieving a cohesive look and feel. Meanwhile, making sure spaces have proper flow, accessibility, and effective front- and back-of-house functionality is critical.

EFA will celebrate the best dining spaces in senior living:

– Projects that offer a variety of venues and choices in settings for residents, families, and staff

– Spaces that promote resident engagement and contribute to an exceptional dining experience

– Dining venues that offer a high design aesthetic while being appropriate for the population served

– Effective space design and planning to support dining operations in both front- and back-of-house function and flow

Who can submit: Architecture and design firms, senior living communities and owners/operators, food service consultants, and other key project team members involved in the design of dining spaces. Vendors are not eligible to submit.

What are the rules? Up to three dining spaces per senior living community may be included within the same entry. New construction, remodel/renovation, and projects in progress (with renderings) are eligible. Projects must have been completed after January 2021, except for projects in progress. Dining spaces that have been submitted as part of a Design Showcase project or a Remodel/Renovation project are eligible, as long as they meet completion date requirements.

Costs and Materials: $350 will be invoiced (in May) for each entry we receive. Fees are non-refundable once we receive your entry. Participants will be supplied with a PowerPoint template for preparing each submission. Presentations will include photos/renderings, floor plans, project narrative, responses to Q&A, and a firm contact information sheet. Images must also be supplied in high-resolution jpg, eps, or tiff format for publication.

Awards & Recognition: A jury will review all projects and choose Platinum, Gold, and Silver award winners. These winning projects will be featured in the Summer issue of EFA. All projects submitted will be included in a special e-book available for download at efamagazine.com. This special e-book will include editorial contributions, expanded coverage of winning projects, a gallery of all dining submissions, a kitchen and dining product section, and more.

Reserve your space here.

For more information, contact Donna Hidalgo, at donna.hidalgo@emeraldx.com or 210.419.9017