Like so many elements of senior living, the face of dining spaces is being transformed by the desires of baby boomers—either as residents, prospective residents, or decision-makers for aging parents. Gone are the days of strictly formal spaces with a dress code, replaced by casual, bistro-inspired settings with a contemporary, even cool, aesthetic. And once one operator in a region makes the commitment to updating these spaces, so go the rest. “It’s elevated the whole industry now to where everyone wants that really beautiful dining component, and they’re very proud of it as a marketing tool,” says Eric McRoberts, partner at RLPS Architects (Lancaster, Pa.).

In fact, updating spaces to meet modern demands is so common that all of this year’s Environments for Aging Remodel/Renovation Competition winners are food service venues. So EFA sat down with the lead designers on those projects, including McRoberts, to discuss the trends guiding this wave of work.

Easy does it
The baby boomers, as McRoberts says, “aren’t a real formal group of people,” which is diminishing the need for high-end dining in many cases. However, that doesn’t mean it’s disappearing—it’s just becoming a smaller piece of an evolving array of dining choices available to residents. For example, at existing communities, designers often find a large, traditional dining room and perhaps a small bistro or café that was added on at some point. During a renovation, it’s common to see those spaces flipped—so the large main dining area will become a more casual, restaurant-inspired spot, while the smaller room will be transformed into a high-end, private dining venue. “When you have a café/bistro like that, it’s great for breakfast, it’s great for lunch, it’s great for dinner. You can do anything,” McRoberts says. Then that formal dining space becomes a destination for celebrations, date nights, and other special occasions.

Lori Wegman, principal of Wegman Design Group (Naples, Fla.), agrees, but adds that stepping away from the more formal dining environment must be done carefully, depending on the community and resident population. For example, she says, there may be individuals who for the past 10 years have looked forward to putting on a dress or jacket to eat dinner each night—and they might still like a buffet with carving station, too. Her solution: downsize the formal space (a necessity because it will certainly evolve out soon) and rebrand it to be not quite as formal, all while keeping some of residents’ favorite elements. The carving station, she suggests, could perhaps appear only two nights a week. “It’s a way to address everyone’s needs in the community and not just the younger folks coming in, and yet still have varied experiences,” Wegman says.


In a greenfield project, designers agree that the bistro setup is the way to go from day one, while additional peripheral options may include a coffee shop with grab-and-go food options or a pub as additional casual dining venues. “It’s all about choice. People don’t want to be told they have to sit in a certain place, that they have to go to a certain room. They want to have three or four choices with every meal, depending on how they’re feeling or how they’re dressed,” McRoberts says.

Making it work
Supporting more options operationally is fairly easy, too, with satellite venues generally feeding off the main kitchen, coolers, storage, etc., and blending into existing operations and kitchen support without much effort, Wegman says. Rather, the biggest challenge tends to be staffing. LuAnn Thoma Holec, principal at Thoma-Holec Design (Mesa, Ariz.), says one solution is to locate a café, for example, adjacent to reception/concierge so the receptionist can assist. Even if it’s not staffed all the time, it can remain open throughout the day with someone jumping in as needed.

Another perk to adding a coffee shop in the lobby, says McRoberts, is activating first-impression spaces. “It gets more activity there and is a great solution for many who are trying to bring the outside public in,” he says, noting one client that regularly has local police officers and high school students stopping in for a cup of coffee in the morning.

Another important element found in new dining approaches is the open or exhibition kitchen, a great solution to engaging residents with staff. In fact, Thoma Holec says about 75 percent of communities she’s working with are doing exhibition kitchens, or at least a view kitchen. “Residents love to see the chef and everyone working back there. It creates connections between them. They perceive their food tastes better because the chef is paying attention to them individually,” she says. However, there can be some concern regarding noise, adds Wegman. “We’ve come up with ways where you get that experience, but it’s partially enclosed. We’re doing some with sliding glass doors and partitions,” she says.

A final operational piece that must be considered is understanding the types of equipment, such as wood-fire pizza ovens and rotisseries, that will be necessary when transforming dining experiences. Exhibition kitchens and these add-on elements can lead to ballooning square footage that designers need to manage. One helpful solution can be found back-of-house by replacing decades-old kitchen equipment. “The equipment today is so much more efficient, and we can do it in so much less square footage,” McRoberts says, adding that oftentimes a single piece of equipment like a combi oven can perform several tasks that required multiple pieces of equipment before.

Layout and finish
The square footage issue can be a factor in the dining areas, as well, where designers struggle to support necessary resident capacity and ensure everyone can be accommodated when they want to use these spaces. “We’ve come up with clever ways to divide and create variety in seating—for example, banquette and booth seating is a very efficient use of space,” Wegman says. Thoma Holec reiterates the point, noting that despite popular belief, many seniors without mobility issues prefer booth seating over a table.

Additionally, she works to deliver intimacy and privacy, avoiding tables that feel exposed in the middle of a room by providing variation in seating and table types, ranging from a large gathering table to two-tops, rectangles, squares, and booths. “We attempt to incorporate intimacy in every dining space we create,” she says.

Technology is helping to update the dining experience, too, McRoberts adds, noting that point-of-service kiosks at the entry to restaurants and even the ability to order food from resident units prior to arriving allow residents to avoid a two-hour meal and help operators quickly turn tables.

Next, acoustics and lighting are key. “The acoustics have to be spot-on, or residents will go to another venue. If the lighting’s not bright enough that they can read the menu, they’ll go to another venue,” McRoberts says, urging that these elements can’t be an afterthought and rather should be addressed right from the beginning of a project. Wegman agrees, adding that acoustics are the source of most complaints she hears. “Solutions start all the way from buffering the noise from the kitchen and adjacent spaces to absorbing sound and making conversations heard,” she says.

And while the owner/operator, resident base, and location will determine if the aesthetics of a space will be a departure from the local environment or reflective of it, designers agree it should be an experience. Wegman says her team always involves the community’s chefs, marketing team, and other stakeholders to create a fully branded approach, determining details that include what servers will wear, the look of the menus and logo, and even signage applications. “When you do that, people feel the value of it. They feel it’s something really special,” she says.

The extras
Two adjacent trends will be driving the future of dining spaces, the first being the pub. McRoberts says more conservative and even faith-based clients are surprising him and introducing bars, despite some initial hesitance. “As soon as you build it, it’s too small the day it opens and they love it,” he says.

The spaces are also great flexible options for communities, positioned as pre-function space near the main dining room so that residents can easily flow from one space to the other. Additionally, they may take on a different form on weekends, hosting crowds for sporting events and even boasting a stadium-driven food menu. Wegman adds that she’s seen pubs evolve from coffee bars in the morning with specialty espresso drinks to a venue for wine or craft beer tastings in the evening. “It’s about the presentation and having something unique,” she says.

Finally, outdoor spaces and al fresco dining are frequent add-ons, as well, although it’s an element that’s determined by the resident population and locale. “Residents’ acuity levels may also affect their inclination to dine outdoors. Even if we consider the temperature perfect, it may not be comfortable for them due to medications they’re on,” Thoma Holec says. However, for those communities where it will work, options range from rooftop terraces and balconies to patios off main dining spaces with fireplaces, barbecue grills, and more.

Wegman adds that identifying design solutions that will mimic interior environments and extend the life of the dining space for as many seasons as possible can help answer residents’ concerns about dining outside. For example, she frequently introduces hard-covered shade structures, misters, fans, sunshades and wind screens, etc., with the addition of flatscreen TVs, music, and great views. “If you build it, they will come,” she says.

Jennifer Kovacs Silvis is editor-in-chief of Environments for Aging magazine. She can be reached at jennifer.silvis@emeraldexpo.com.