THE FUTURE OF DINING AND HOSPITALITY
Choosing the right dining and hospitality service management provider is a significant decision, one that can play a substantial part in enhancing employee satisfaction and productivity, creating lasting differentiation for companies, and ensuring that healthy and nutritious options are readily available.
This is exactly where NEXDINE Hospitality (NEXDINE) shines.
The future of dining and hospitality across the US, NEXDINE started its journey in 2008 when co-Founder and CEO, David Lanci, set off to establish a destination workplace where the most talented and passionate hospitality professionals wanted to be.
Since then, the company has partnered with senior living, healthcare, corporate dining, and private education institutions alongside a team of 2,000+ colleagues and 100+ client partner locations nationally.
“Hospitality begins with the treatment and focus of our colleagues and culture. This philosophy is the cornerstone of all our decision making, and a key contributor to our growth,” introduces Larry Abrams, President and Managing Partner.
As a privately owned company, it is equally important for NEXDINE to emphasize building its clients’ and partners’ brands and ensure NEXDINE’s top priorities continue to be its people and culture.
“Our holistic approach begins with the fundamental elements essential to creating amazing experiences for our guests, serving as the foundation for building these unique brands,” Abrams asserts.
NEXDINE has worked diligently for nearly two decades in order to reside at the forefront of the industry’s inflection point and thus solve a growing number of issues related to recruiting and retaining talent, misaligned customer expectations, and poor management, truly setting itself apart from the rest.
A HOLISTIC APPROACH
Abrams has been integrated into the restaurant and hospitality industries since childhood as his parents worked for a broadline distributor, meaning he quickly became accustomed to what occurs in the kitchen.
“Those experiences were the driving force behind my decision to go into food service management,” he expands.
“After teaching culinary arts and hospitality, I was very fortunate to be introduced to hospital and senior living dining and hospitality, which I have been passionate about for the past 30+ years.”
Having brought his vast experience and excitement to NEXDINE and worked to expand the brand and its reliable, high-quality reputation across the US, Abrams views the industry as exciting and innovative, with each day bringing forth new ideas and revelations.
Not a traditional catering firm, NEXDINE primarily serves as a hospitality contract management company, partnering with businesses in the senior living, healthcare, corporate, and education verticals to provide hospitality services throughout.
NEXDINE’s focus is on delivering amazing experiences, whether tableside in a private dining room, servicing a workplace restaurant, or managing housekeeping solutions through XENDELLA – NEXDINE’s facilities management company.
“As trends change across all our service lines, the largest constant we see is in the education of our consumers,” insights Abrams.
“We relish in the opportunity to deliver on the high expectations of an ever-more discerning customer base and partnering to create unique solutions that fit their needs. It is exciting to meet new challenges and bring innovative solutions that address the marketplace’s requirements.”
NEXDINE has directly shown the results of this dedication and tenacity, having been named a ‘Top Riser’ in revenue growth rate two years in a row by Food Management and recognized as a Top 50 Foodservice Management Company nationally.
The organization’s approach to dining services management addresses the dining experience’s pivotal role in the happiness, productivity, and preference of employees, residents, students, and other diners.
While NEXDINE appreciates these awards and recognitions, it asserts that the real reward comes from the opportunity that growth provides.
“Growth yields opportunity, and as a people and culture-focused organization, we have recognized that the strongest tool in colleague retention is career advancement. Our revenue growth gives us an exceptional tool to provide those advancement opportunities for our colleagues,” dictates Abrams.
BREAKING THE MOLD
NEXDINE prides itself on delivering an amazing dining experience by utilizing a recipe for success that centers around the promise of 100 percent fresh, high-quality ingredients.
This promise is directly seen through the company’s Live Forward health and wellness platform, which extends far beyond traditional diet management and into holistic wellness by highlighting the five dimensions of well-being: physical, emotional, social, spiritual, and intellectual.
“Through our Live Forward programming, guests can make balanced choices without sacrificing flavor, indulgence, and community,” details Abrams.
“No longer will wellness choices be relegated simply to a corner or salad bar, but now guests will be able to dine anywhere within our business with empowered solutions.”
Equally, NEXDINE offers pop-up restaurant experiences in order to create a memorable monotony breaker across all levels of care.
With chef-curated menus that provide authentic ingredients, the pop-up restaurants do not just reflect a change in menu but truly transform guest experiences.
Through brand-specific uniforms, signage, background music, and décor, NEXDINE creates excitement, engagement, and connection.
In addition to these already available dining and hospitality experiences, the team at NEXDINE has been diligently working on its soon-to-be-released SnackWise program.
This new program provides balanced snack choices that promote energy and alertness while fulfilling the cravings many experience.
“The most exciting part of this program is its versatility across the populations we serve. SnackWise will be indulged by students, workplace guests, seniors, and patients. Creating a balanced solution to keep our guests running throughout the day,” insights Abrams.
NEXDINE is also excited to continue its growth in the education market with a new brand that blends the walls of the café and the classroom. Led by its student board, this innovative dining program will be curated for students by students.
“Experiential learning is foundational in creating the world’s next generation of leaders and will be instrumental in providing students with the tools to make informed decisions on their own dining choices daily,” informs Abrams.
A RECIPE FOR SUCCESS
One of NEXDINE’s most prominent markets is the senior living industry. Driven by a desire to leverage the strengths of the company’s holistic approach to hospitality, the decision was made in 2019 to break into this sector.
With senior living communities being vastly different today than in the past, as residents are well-traveled, well-fed, and focused on the experience in the community as much as the care, NEXDINE’s ability to provide unique and innovative solutions customized to residents’ needs is different from any other solution in the marketplace.
“We do not approach the business with a cookie-cutter model hoping the partner fits into our box; instead, we choose to build the box around the partnership,” impassions Abrams.
“This ability to be nimble and responsive has resulted in tremendous growth and will be an instrumental part of our focus moving forward.”
Equally important to the continued growth and success of NEXDINE is its dedicated and passionate team, alongside ensuring the company culture is one of communication and inclusivity.
This is emulated through its guiding principles, which foster an environment of transparency, honesty, and peer accountability, thus creating a culture full of mutual respect and empowerment.
“Every individual in our organization is referred to as a colleague intentionally as a form of empowerment through respect,” details Abrams.
Additionally, NEXDINE leverages technology to recognize the many efforts of its team. Through its BeHeard survey tool, the company receives instantaneous feedback from guests nationwide.
Leveraging this tool as a means to thank its colleagues for creating amazing experiences for guests has become very powerful for the team.
As the company continues to look toward the future of the dining and hospitality industries, it will keep delivering its brand identity and exceed the expectations of its client partnerships.
