Elizabeth Janney
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE
People who live at Windsor Run will be hanging up their pots and pans and opting for the on-site restaurants instead. The Audubon Room Restaurant and the Blue Sky Bistro, both in the community’s Fincher Clubhouse, will feature a variety of menu options and cater to special dietary needs. As an added bonus, when Windsor Run residents sit down for a meal, the staff will know them by name.
Just starting out
At every campus by Erickson Retirement Communities, students wait on residents in the restaurants. The communities are selective about whom they hire, and wait staff members go through a comprehensive training period.
“This is a great first job for a lot of kids,” says Carlie Thomas, staff development manager at Wind Crest, a community by Erickson in Colorado. “Students who come to work for [an Erickson community] get invaluable work experience, free meals at the end of their shift, double pay for working various holidays, and other extra bonuses.”
They may even make some new friends.
Embracing the gap
Over time the students get to know the residents, and both parties appreciate the closeness that comes with consistency.
“One of our employees tells her friends she has over 300 grandparents,” says Thomas.
Eighteen-year-old Jacob Gaumer, who was on the wait staff at Wind Crest while in high school, agrees that the on-the-job connections are unique. “The residents are not like most restaurant customers who might make you feel bad if you don’t do something right,” he explains. “They’re very constructive, and I welcomed that as a chance to improve.”
“I like talking to residents,” says Jenna Marko, a student service coach on the dining staff at Monarch Landing, a community by Erickson in Illinois. “We talk to them on a personal level and ask them how their day was. But they are the customer, so we still need to be respectful of them—we don’t call them by their first name until they ask us to.”