A new survey for Restaura Hospitality Group found that older adults prioritize food and nutrition – and that these factors may play a significant role in whether they remain at home or move to a senior care community. However, Age of Majority, which conducted the survey, found a disconnect between the tastes and preferences of seniors and the options that they perceive senior care communities provide. Of the 1,485 adults between ages 55-96 who were surveyed, 68 percent seek meals that accommodate their individual tastes and preferences. Yet only 17 percent were very confident that senior living communities could provide the dining choices they expect. It’s not just about providing meals, either – the respondents said they want freedom to eat as they like. Even though 21 percent said they would prioritize a senior living community that offered access to multiple dining venues, 65 percent said they would prioritize the flexibility to prepare their own meals, dine out, or order takeout. Further, one-third of respondents consider themselves to be “food explorers” who are eager to try new tastes and flavors, while 16 percent said medical considerations were important to their dining choices.
This may create possibilities for senior living communities to embrace dining from a variety of angles. That includes providing fresh, on-trend, immunity-boosting options, as well as offering guidance about how residents can build meals themselves on a budget – or make health-conscious choices when ordering out. Communities might facilitate this by offering interactive cooking demonstrations – of simple Mediterranean or plant-based dinners, for example. Partnerships with local farms could help communities provide guidance about how spring and summer produce can help support better hydration and boost immunity.

There is a growing number of solo agers in the United States. Pew Research found that nearly 20 percent of baby boomer women didn’t have children – double the rate of younger generations. Further, the National Center for Family & Marriage Research at Bowling Green State University found that nearly 40 percent of divorcing adults are aged 50 and older. That amounts to a large number of aging people who will need a wide range of support in the coming years – particularly in developing and maintaining social connections; making financial, medical and other life decisions; and developing plans for managing later-life care and support during a crisis.
People in this demographic tend to be better educated and have greater financial resources than their peers with family support, so they represent a promising market for organizations that serve them – or would like to attract more of them. Offering them support with key needs can help. In senior living and adult care facilities, there may be opportunities to help solo agers feel more comfortable with their living arrangements and adapt to change. Argentum, the national trade association supporting senior living communities, recommends that these facilities provide services to help solo agers downsize – to include supporting them through real estate transactions and with their move to a senior living community. There is also a growing need for patient advocates and other advisors (whether onsite or simply local) who can provide solo agers with medical and financial support. Once solo agers have moved into a facility, pairing them with a buddy, creating places in the dining room for groups of solo diners, and offering holiday events specifically for those without family nearby can help smooth their transition.

It’s not only a trend in restaurants. In foodservice settings in adult care and senior living facilities, experiential dining is on the rise, according to a report from Foodservice Director. What’s more, it may have an even greater positive impact in these settings than it does elsewhere. Offering a more interactive, social experience around food can address loneliness, build social connections and improve cognition.
Opportunities for communal eating can help strengthen social bonds and trust, according to Dr. Robin Dunbar, an evolutionary psychologist. Hosting communal meals – or even themed dining nights that stimulate nostalgia and discussion – can increase appetite and nutrition in seniors, as well as help people make stronger connections with others at a time when they may feel isolated.
Eating is already a multisensory experience, but weaving action into it can elevate that experience, while enhancing memory and cognitive flexibility. So, offering a cooking class or chef-led tasting, or hosting a session of a book discussion with food inspired by the book, can all help. It boosts overall guest satisfaction too. Dr. Charles Spence, an experimental psychologist, said he conducted research that found that when people were asked to sample and rate the taste of oysters, those who ate with the added background sound of waves crashing on the beach reported higher satisfaction with their meal. What small changes could you make to how you serve food – or where you serve it – that can boost your experience factor?

Appetite isn’t just about hunger – it’s deeply influenced by psychology. In healthcare and elder care settings, where patient/resident appetites can be impacted by medications, illness and mental and emotional states, chefs have a complex range of variables to consider when preparing menus. Addressing not just the food, but also the mental and emotional factors behind eating and the environment in which food is served, can help improve nutrition and recovery outcomes.
Stress, anxiety, or depression may suppress interest in food, while positive emotions can enhance it. Adjusting the dining atmosphere may improve a person’s willingness to eat. Softer lighting, a calm environment, and the encouragement of social interaction during dining may all help to make eating a more comforting, appetizing experience.
Personal preferences and memories also affect appetite. Serving familiar comfort foods tied to positive memories, or incorporating cultural cuisines, helps people feel more connected and willing to eat. For those with food aversions caused by nausea or medical treatments, offering options of smaller snacks or reframing meals as essential to recovery – both physically and mentally – can help them make positive associations with food.
Environmental and sensory factors, like aromas, presentation, and meal timing, can support this effort too. Offering meals when people are most receptive to them or enhancing food with bold flavors can reignite interest, especially in those with diminished senses. Additionally, giving people autonomy – such as allowing them to choose their meals or participate in preparation – can make food feel less clinical, more personal, and a more effective tool to support healing.

The beginning of each new year is often a time when people renew their wellness goals in an effort to extend their healthy years. These goals can take on added importance in senior living facilities, where food and activities that support health are especially critical to supporting both short- and longer-term health. Your efforts to bring experiential elements to wellness can go far here. As you develop wellness-forward menus for the coming months, where can you add dimension to them with complementary programs such as nutrition education, fitness programs or other offerings to support residents? For example, a gardening program could be packaged with a nutrition session focusing on easy ways to weave fresh vegetables into a diet. That could then culminate in a farm-to-table meal or cooking class featuring these lessons and ingredients. Many senior living facilities are already following this path as a means of enhancing business: According to the ICAA Wellness Programs and Places Report 2024, senior living facilities plan to expand wellness activities and programs (76 percent), increase budgets (54 percent) and hire wellness staff members (56 percent) at higher rates than in previous years. Such changes can also help facilities build connections with the surrounding community. Nearly one-quarter of facilities included in the report said they invite non-residents into their communities as paying guests who can take part in wellness programs. The strategy helps them reach potential future residents and positions these facilities as good neighbors who share their resources.

Nearly five years since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, senior living facilities continue to face challenges when it comes to attracting staff and having the capacity to accept new residents. However, facilities that are adopting the consumer dining preferences and technology-driven foodservice efficiencies trending in the restaurant industry are seeing benefits that can help ease those burdens.
For example, more facilities are accommodating flexibility and health-focused dining – being able to give guests the food they want when they want it. Many senior living facilities are shifting away from compression dining, where 50-70 percent of residents dine in the main dining room within a short period. Compression dining can cause communities to have 15 percent higher food costs from waste and 33 percent higher service costs, according to senior living consultancy LCS. But being able to decentralize those meals – by adding smaller café- or pub-style options, pop-up concepts, or late-night options via room service – can help spread demand, increase guest engagement, improve staff morale, and support a financially sustainable operation.
Technology helps make these changes possible, with innovations that ease the burden on staff while maintaining quality service for residents. In the year ahead, expect facilities to expand their use of analytics to better understand and quickly respond to residents’ preferences, customize meals based on dietary needs, track nutritional intake, and provide real-time insights to staff about the menu. As a 2025 forecast from Senior Housing News explained recently, tech platforms can be linked with wearable health devices, so dining facilities can adapt meals to support residents’ health conditions, whether that be managing blood sugar levels or promoting heart health. Resident health and wellbeing outcomes stand to benefit from the changes.

​Foodservice has opportunities in niche senior living
As fragments of the 70-million-strong Baby Boomer population take their places in senior living facilities across the country, expect senior living itself to start to look a lot different. This huge demographic’s evolving expectations for retirement living are already creating increased fragmentation in the industry. As a result, there is a growing number of niche senior living communities that cater to interests as wide-ranging as yoga, RV travel, horseback riding, university-based education, and the music of Jimmy Buffett, according to Kiplinger. For example, the report said that in late 2017, when Buffett announced the opening of his Latitude Margaritaville community for adults “55 and better” in Florida, more than 150 fans camped out overnight at the sales office for a chance to move into its 300 properties. Since then, the community has ballooned to 7,000 people and has a waiting list for homes under construction. People in these communities have to eat – and the high degree of demand for niche concepts opens the door to a wide range of food options that can help elevate the experience these communities offer. This could include offering niche pop-up concepts built around the theme of the community – or types of cuisine, diets, or food-related experiences that are likely to be more popular with the demographic subsets residing in these places. This could be a benefit to foodservice operators. Being able to drill down on food options in niche communities may help them deliver targeted promotions to larger numbers of people, manage inventory needs more easily, and tap into other economies of scale.

​Between 2020 and 2040, the number of people aged 85 and over is projected to more than double from 6.7 million to 14.4 million, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. By 2050, it’s expected to balloon to 18.6 million. Those changes will create shifts in where and how people are likely to live as they age – and what organizations will need to do to adapt to the market. Senior living facilities are diversifying their revenue streams so they can better ride out market challenges – and food can play a significant role here. Specifically, a recent report from Clifton Larson Allen Wealth Advisors said one of the key trends shaping senior living right now is the evolving provision of services that enhance health, wellness and lifestyle – and investment in new service lines that can help position themselves for the future and serve future consumers. More facilities are inviting not only their residents but also the broader community to enjoy amenities such as private dining rooms, catered events, fitness classes or pickleball courts, for example. A report from the senior living technology consultancy Go Icon said some facilities are offering the public open hours for certain amenities, day or week passes, ongoing access to specific amenities, or memberships to multiple amenities in the community. In addition to generating new revenue streams, this approach to senior living could help dissolve some of the barriers between seniors and other generations. By making residential facilities more welcoming and accessible, and providing potential benefits to residents’ emotional wellbeing, these facilities may also give rising generations of residents a window into future living options for themselves.

An estimated 129 million people in the U.S. have at least one major chronic disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control. In senior living communities, the numbers skew higher, with more than half of residents living with two or three chronic conditions and 19 percent living with one. Heart disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity and hypertension are among the most prevalent chronic diseases people are managing – and they’re also some of the leading causes of death. But the good news is that many of these conditions are preventable and treatable.
Increasingly, food is being used as part of that prevention and treatment. Tufts University, for example, recently launched the Food is Medicine Institute at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. It’s aiming to help integrate food-based nutrition interventions into health care – resources such as medically customized meals, prescriptions for produce, and nutrition-based tools to help treat or prevent diet-related illnesses. In another example, the Boston Medical Center has been “prescribing” food to patients via its own rooftop farm for several years, according to a recent article in The Washington Post. The farm grows 25 vegetable varieties and, each season, yields about 6,000 pounds of produce.
Expect more facilities that cater to an aging population to follow suit. Research is showing that there are significant opportunities for organizations that can make a convincing link between health and fresh, delicious food. A recent survey by Restaura found that older adults looking to stay healthy and live independently are looking to food as a critical tool. But their assumptions about senior living communities don’t motivate them to move in: Restaura found that 68 percent of respondents seek meal options that cater to their individual tastes and preferences, yet only 17 percent are very confident that senior living communities could deliver the dining options they desire. Bringing fresh food closer to them can help – whether that includes hosting a farmers’ market on a regular basis, offering farm-to-table meals with seasonal produce, or planting vegetables in container gardens onsite.

How demographic shifts are driving change in senior living facilities
The number of older Americans is on the rise. In 2034, Americans aged 65 years or older will for the first time outnumber children under the age of 18. These shifting demographics are challenging ideas about the ideal living environments for people as they age. Intergenerational living environments, which some research has found are associated with higher life satisfaction and lower mortality rates, are becoming more common as a result. In recent years, intergenerational communities have been developed on college campuses such as Arizona State University and Lasell University, and some senior living facilities are also opening themselves up to the public in ways that may be less noticeable to younger demographics. As Fast Company reported recently, the North of Main Café in Bellevue, Wash. looks like a typical urban coffee shop serving up espressos and pastries, but if you look closely, it’s connected via an internal entrance to the Watermark at Bellevue, a 110-unit assisted-living facility. Such businesses are aiming to provide natural opportunities for people of different generations to interact.
Even for senior living facilities without a purposeful intergenerational component, there are innovations underway to support the needs and interests of the Baby Boomers who will be moving into these communities. Foodservice Director reports that Restaura Hospitality Group is among the companies looking to bring the latest developments in technology and culinary to dining operations for senior living communities. They are focusing on building active senior living communities rather than skilled nursing facilities. In the process, they are taking cues from the work being done at the MIT AgeLab, which conducts multidisciplinary research into translating technologies into practical solutions to improve people’s health and allow them to be active throughout their lives. Such changes may have the indirect effect of making these communities more appealing to the families and friends of residents as well.