Try a continental breakfast approach

A tremendous culture change concept is to have a daily continental breakfast. Key word is daily. Don't start by having a continental breakfast on weekdays only. Don't subscribe to the thought that things are different on weekends. Nothing is different. You still need to feed the same number of residents, at the same time, with the same quality, zest and zeal that you would during the week. Admit it. Once you come to grips with this idea the rest is easy. Oh, you may have to show up on a few weekends for support, but you should be doing that anyway.

The continental breakfast is in the main dining room. I set the hours of operation from 6:30 am to 9:30 am. So in effect the continental breakfasts starts about 30 minutes earlier than the breakfast tray line starts, and concludes about an hour after the breakfast tray line ends.

The continental breakfast by nature is an easy set up. It accomplishes a variety of culture change initiatives. It helps to support those residents that like to get up early and have a cup of coffee, perhaps a danish, or a muffin, that might not have been available for them in the past. Just as well, it supports those residents that may wish to sleep in a little later and not get a breakfast tray at 7:00am.
It also strongly reinforces the concept that food and drinks are readily available at what was once considered off hours.

You can set up a cereal station, a hot and cold beverage station, a basket up muffins and danish. The list goes on. I set up my continental breakfast like you would find at a hotel. Just a few individual stations. Once you get a system going it just starts to flow smoothly.

When you get ready to start this, get a little fan fare going. Perhaps ballons for a grand opening week, flyers, posters, and signs in the lobby. Get the staff and residents talking about this new continental breakfast concept. Trust me you will feel the excitement of something new.