In recent years, civil affairs departments across various regions have explored diverse and flexible meal assistance methods tailored to local conditions, continuously expanding the coverage of elderly meal assistance services and improving dining convenience for seniors. Today, let's examine the experience and practices of Tujietou Community in Xiling District, Yichang City, Hubei Province!
Community happiness dining halls for seniors must consider both construction costs for sustainability and resident needs to attract users. Tujietou Community in Xiling District, Yichang City, Hubei Province leveraged its internal property management advantages to build a community home-based elderly care service center and happiness dining hall, solving the challenge of venue rental costs. Through online and offline meal ordering and delivery services, along with engaging activities, they successfully ensured seniors could access and enjoy quality meals, achieving over 37,000 annual orders and becoming a renowned happiness dining hall in the community.
**1. Basic Situation**
Tujietou Community in Xiling District is located at the boundary between Yichang city center and Gezhouba Group Corporation. The community covers 0.8 square kilometers with 3,774 households and 6,746 residents, including over 2,800 people aged 60 and above, representing more than 42% of the population. Given the community's demographic characteristics, addressing how to meet seniors' needs for aging in place and convenient dining became a key planning priority. The establishment and operation of Tujietou Community's home-based elderly care service center and happiness dining hall successfully addressed this challenge.
**2. Main Approaches**
First, introducing distinctive operating models and leveraging advantageous resources to build the dining hall. With strong support from Xiling District Party Committee and government, and careful guidance from municipal and district civil affairs departments, Tujietou Community introduced the Yichang Hongyang Kangyang Co., Ltd. project. In June 2021, Yichang Hongyang Property provided venue space free of charge, while Yichang Hongyang Kangyang Co., Ltd. renovated and managed the facility, establishing the community home-based elderly care service center and happiness dining hall. With support from all parties, they built a 478-square-meter happiness dining hall with 9 community home-based elderly care beds, featuring well-organized functional areas including kitchen operations, storage, dining, and food preparation areas. Compared to traditional dining halls, this facility saved venue rental costs while expanding service functions, with the accompanying beds providing convenient day care services for seniors in need.
Second, collaborative promotion to increase dining hall awareness. Tujietou Community utilized Hongyang Group's property management channels for comprehensive external promotion. They posted happiness dining hall flyers on community bulletin boards and used WeChat groups to showcase the dining hall's ingredient procurement process, chef cooking scenes, and residents' joyful dining experiences. Additionally, property management staff distributed promotional brochures during routine home visits, detailing menu prices, operating hours, and ordering methods.
Third, coordinated online and offline services to optimize dining experiences. This included creating convenient ordering systems where residents could use the ordering platform for advance reservations, online payments, and personalized notes, with property staff assisting seniors with orders. They also provided personalized delivery services for residents with mobility limitations, ensuring timely delivery with intact packaging while prioritizing user feedback and promptly communicating resident opinions to the dining hall. In 2024, delivery orders accounted for 8% of total orders beyond dine-in services, effectively meeting the dining needs of mobility-impaired residents and working professionals. They created social spaces and engaged resident families through activities like parent-child cooking classes, where dining hall chefs guided community parents and children in preparing simple meals, strengthening family bonds and building trust in the dining hall.
**3. Achievements**
In 2024, Tujietou Community's happiness dining hall saw steady order growth, with annual cumulative orders reaching 37,487 and an average of 102 dining residents served daily. Through continuous menu optimization and service quality improvement, the dining hall attracted increasing numbers of residents. Residents consistently reported that the happiness dining hall not only solved their dining challenges but also provided a platform for socializing and communication, making them feel the community's warmth and care. Beyond pricing and menu options, the dining hall's service attitude received widespread praise, with staff being enthusiastic and attentive, always meeting residents' needs promptly and providing a home-like warmth.
**4. Experience and Insights**
First, maintaining an "open-door dining hall" approach where positioning and needs are determined by residents. When establishing a happiness dining hall in a community, it's essential to thoroughly survey resident opinions through questionnaires and interviews to understand the service population's age distribution, dietary preferences, spending capacity, and special dietary requirements. Addressing seniors' needs, Tujietou happiness dining hall primarily offers soft, easily digestible dishes with low salt and sugar content, providing three meat dishes, three vegetable dishes, and one soup for seniors to choose from. Pricing also prioritizes affordability, with 12 yuan for residents over 60 and 15 yuan for other residents, truly benefiting the people.
Second, maintaining standards for efficiency, with quality control as the foundation for survival. Focus on reasonable cost control by establishing long-term partnerships with stable and reliable ingredient suppliers to secure better procurement prices. Tujietou happiness dining hall strictly controls labor costs by scientifically arranging staff numbers and working hours based on operating times and customer flow to improve work efficiency. They maintain strict food safety controls, managing ingredient procurement channels to ensure fresh, non-spoiled ingredients without pesticide residues. Kitchen facilities undergo regular maintenance and cleaning to ensure hygiene standards. They strictly follow food processing operation standards, including wearing masks, gloves, and hats, and separating raw and cooked food processing.
Third, using activities to unite hearts and attracting community seniors through humanized concepts. Property management and the dining hall jointly organize various cultural activities such as calligraphy competitions, art exhibitions, and book sharing sessions. They invite professional nutritionists or doctors to regularly conduct lectures on senior dietary care and nutritional balance. They establish customer feedback mechanisms through suggestion books and phone follow-ups to collect customer opinions and suggestions for timely service improvements. They create a warm dining environment with plants for vitality and reasonable table and chair layouts with barrier-free facilities to accommodate seniors and disabled individuals.