Sophisticated seniors eschew cafeteria fare



Move aside, meatloaf and mashed potatoes. Well-traveled seniors with sophisticated palates are demanding up-scale cuisine in retirement communities across the country.



Unlike the seniors 20 or 30 years ago, we have had the opportunity to experience much more, says James Arter, 76, a retired chiropractor who now lives in the Shell Point Retirement Community in Fort Myers, Fla. Even after we move into these communities, we want to live the same way.



Meals such as planked halibut and grilled filet mignon are becoming more common as many seniors express higher culinary expectations.



Many new facilities are hiring gourmet chefs to build a better menu. Maureen Boyle, a consultant for retirement food srvices, says this trend will only gain momentum as baby boomers age.



Some of these consumers have been exposed to resorts and country club backgrounds where they are used to high quality, so they are expecting to get the same treatment in a retirement facility, she says.



At the Windrows at Princeton Forrestal, a retirement community near Princeton University, chef William De-Mars is promising exciting themed menus as well as elegant dinners.



Everything we put out is going to be 99% fresh, and we will be constantly changing our menus, DeMars says. Once we get started, I am sure others will plan to do the same. Within the next year, changer are just really going to take off everywhere.



Retirement residents aren't the only ones getting gourmet meals at the Shell Point Retirement Community. The meals are so popular that locals have begun to dine with residents. In October, Shell Point will complete two more dining areas-there currently are five-to meet the demand of dinner.



Now we are not only competing with the resident kitchens, but we are also competing against restaurants in the area, says Al Slickers, hospitality director at Shell Point.



It's just really amzing what the reaction has been to our menus, Slickers says.



In Huntley,III, where Del Webb Corp., opened the Sun City planned retirement community, the dining facilities are receiving public fanfare as well.



The Walleye Grill Restaurant and Launge serves not only the 900 City-folk, but many of the restaurant-ravenous natives as well.



We are building plates here, we don't just serve regular old food, says Bill Underwood, executive chef.



And he sees more fancy feasting in the future, as seniors continue to crave haute cuisine.

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