Rethinking Subsidized Meals for the Elderly

at The Good Kitchen

Presented By: Kelly Thomas

What is “The Good Kitchen”

• Deliverable Food Service

• Serving Disadvantaged (illness, age, etc.)

• Subsidized Meals

• Denmark Seniors = 125,000

The Issues

• The Social Problem – Improving Health for the Elderly

• The Business Problem – Improving Menu

Design Thinking Tools

• Design Agency Hatch and Bloom

• Ethnographic Research

• Mind Mapping to Analogies

• Trigger Questions

• Co-creation

What do Seniors Want?

• Ethnographic Research Reveals Wishes:

• Higher Quality

• More Flexibility

• Increased Choices

Issues in the Kitchen

• Trigger Questions Reveal the Following Issues:

• Repetitive Menu

• Low Employee Morale

• Entire Experience Needs Redesign

Developing a New and Better Meal Service

• Brainstorming a wide range of ideas

• Hosted a Series of 3 Workshops• Workshop 1: Ethnographic Research and Provide Insight

• Workshop 2: Mind-Mapping Approach and Trigger Questions

• Workshop 3: What Wows? What Works?

Implementing Change

“Hospitable Food Service”

“The Good Kitchen”

Feedback Mechanism

• Co-Creation • Encouraged a more active

involvement from the customer to create a value rich experience

• Focused on customer experience and interactive relationships

Results: The Proof is in the Pudding

• 500% Increase in Certain Meal Orders

• Increase in Customer Base

• Employee’s More Satisfied and Motivated

• Customer’s Happier with Food

• Received Danish Design Prize for Service Design

• Received Local Denmark Government Prize for Innovation

How Did They Do It?

• Using Design Thinking

• Engaging Entire System

• Willing to Redefine the Problem

• Living Longer in the Question