SUSTAINABILITY
to 11 recycled water bottles, depending on the size. “We look at reusable materials and we look at upcycling and we look at things that we once considered waste as opportunity,” said Jeffrey Quasha, senior director of culinary innovation at Morrison Healthcare. “It’s only going to change our future, and you know it’s just a chef coat, but it’s so much more than a chef coat.” And beyond these coats’ opportunity to reduce Morrison’s climate impact, Quasha hopes they also work to challenge the perception of healthcare dining. “Part of changing the perception of healthcare dining is also changing the uniform. When you change the uniform, you put people in something that they love,” he said. “It deinstitutionalizes the whole healthcare perception look.” Challenging Manufacturers to Provide More Sustainable Products Over the past three years, Morrison Healthcare has been working with its manufacturing partners on sourcing more sustainable products. Quasha said this was a major focus for the foodservice company when its uniform provider, ChefWorks approached the company with some ideas. The two considered ways that they could make an impact using strategies like upcycling and reuse. “What could the impact be if we just took an item that we use every single day like our chef coats, our aprons, our chef pans and we were able to incorporate more sustainable best practices?” said Quasha. From there ChefWorks and Morrison collaborated on an initiative that turned discarded plastic bottles into stylish and functional uniforms. The foodservice company launched the sustainable chef coat last November at CHRISTUS Health System in Texas, shifting from their old uniforms to the new sustainable coats. Then, in December, the company opened up 28 hospitals across three states, where
the new chef coats piloted. Throughout the year, other operations tried out the new coats as did new hospital systems. And there are plans in the works to expand the initiative as well. So far, the coats have already begun to make appearances in Morrisons retail and patient services spaces. “As uniforms get reordered, then this is our default is to move to the sustainable product,” said Quasha. And as the uniform expands, Morrison has begun to consider the impact of this effort on a global scale. “These are the moves that we have to make. It’s not only the right thing for our company, but it’s also the right thing for the planet,” said Quasha. The cost of sustainability is often a challenge that presents barriers for foodservice operations, but Quasha said cost was not a major challenge for this project and in fact, there was a minimal impact on the company’s costs. And, he believes the benefits of
these new uniforms will work as an investment in employee success. “But also think about the cost of recruiting, and retaining, and training new employees and wanting to make sure that that our chefs are set up for success. And I think this was the right move and it’s the right message,” he said. Investing in People and How Uniforms Can Shift the Perception of Healthcare Dining Another aspect that is at the center of this initiative is an effort to modernize the chef’s look. Gone are the days of the traditional, itchy chef coat without much room for personalization. Instead, these new uniforms are modern and stylish, and the company has a courier style chef pants offering that moves away from the baggy chef pants of the past. “I think it’s just a different perception, like you don’t have to wear the white hat, the white coat, the neckerchief and
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QUARTERLY | Q1
PHOTO COURTESY OF MORRISON HEALTHCARE
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