These pages are no longer current and were archived in August 2004 - some links may not work.

"My Mother Cooked This for Me" Delivered Authentic Ethnic Meals Project Report
Index <<

Section 8: Issues and Findings

• 8.1 Comparison of the Brokerage and Mainstream 'In-House' Models
• 8.2 Need for Planning, Development and Coordination Resources
• 8.3 Economies of Scale
• 8.4 Menu Integration
• 8.5 Essential 'Ingredients' for Authenticity
• 8.6 Local Government Contracts
• 8.7 Obstacles to Sustainability of Ethnic Meal Service
• 8.8 Viable Geographic Area for the Model
• 8.9 Costs
• 8.10 Client Satisfaction
• 8.11 Tension Between Authenticity and Nutritional Guidelines
• 8.12 Take Up of Meals
• 8.13 Cook Fresh vs. Cook Chill
• 8.14 Impact of Auspice Agency Changes

8.1 Comparison of the Brokerage and Mainstream 'In-House' Models

(a) Brokerage model (Vietnamese meals). This program has highlighted that:

• 'Small is beautiful' but more expensive. Small programs require in kind donations from Councils.
• Authentic ethnic cuisine is possible to produce. It appeals to both ethnic meal recipients as well as those from other backgrounds.
• The cook fresh method is the most appropriate for many traditional Vietnamese dishes. Special measures are required to minimise potential food safety problems.

(b) The Mainstream 'in-house' model (Greek & Macedonian meals) which was originally under the auspice of Darebin City Catering, - a business unit of the City of Darebin and more recently transferred to Hobson's Bay Food Services - highlighted that:

• Specialised meals programs can operate successfully within mainstream meal operations but require initial subsidisation during the establishment phase.
• It is possible to develop a menu with two different ethnic variations of the meal, however, authenticity of at least one of the variations can easily be jeopardised, leading to unsatisfied meals recipients and cancellations.
• There are significant differences between Macedonian and Greek cuisine as well as in regional styles.
• The cook chill method was suitable to Greek and Macedonian cuisine.
• 'Anglo' meal recipients welcome and enjoy selecting from the ethnic menu.
• Changes in cooks and in auspice agency impacted negatively on the quality of meals provided, authenticity of meals, the menu offered and the recipients' satisfaction with the meals.

8.2 Need for Planning, Development and Coordination Resources

Setting up a new ethnic meals program requires additional resources to cover the planning and initial coordination required to establish the service.

A regional model incorporating a number of ethnic menus is the most financially viable. Hence the planning and coordination is required to be undertaken across a range of local governments, HACC service providers and meal providers.

8.3 Economies of Scale

Ethnic meals as specialist programs, require adequate meal order numbers to ensure financial viability. The greater the numbers, the cheaper the unit price per meal. This is increasingly important in the current Meals on Wheels environment where Councils are under constant pressure to contain costs. Large meal providers can rely on economies of scale to minimise prices, effectively ruling out competition from small providers.

An increase in ethnic meal orders takes time to achieve especially with relatively small ethnic communities. Some of the factors mitigating against achieving economies of scale with ethnic meals programs include:

• Geographical spread of ethnic communities across metropolitan Melbourne resulting in relatively small numbers per Local Government Area;
• Ethnic elderly are generally less familiar with service systems in Australia resulting in lower take up rates of Meals on Wheels;
• Poor reputations of, and previous dissatisfaction with 'Anglo' meals reducing the likelihood of ethnic elderly participating in mainstream services;
• Lower levels of acculturation within the new communities, resulting in the expectation that family members will care for the daily needs of their elderly.

The option of making ethnic meals available outside the Northern Region to achieve higher numbers needs to be weighed up against both the transportation costs and increased risk of food safety issues.

Factors in the program which have contributed towards achieving some economies of scale included:

• The introduction of menu integration in the City of Yarra's meal service significantly boosted ethnic meal orders. In addition the availability of Greek and Macedonian meals to all meal recipients was introduced in Darebin.
• In kind contributions from local Councils and Meal Providers such as free utilisation of kitchen facilities in the City of Yarra's kitchens.
• Promotion of meals via ethnic community groups and workers, Council assessment officers and ethnic press.
• Establishment costs shared between agencies.

8.4 Menu Integration

Menu integration commenced in May 1999 in the City of Yarra and has proved a successful and welcome initiative for all meal recipients. From the recipients' point of view, it has increased the available choice in meals, enabling people to choose from the standard 'Anglo' menu, the Greek and Macedonian menu or the Vietnamese menu.

Since the commencement of menu integration in Yarra, meal orders for the Greek and Macedonian as well as the Vietnamese meals have more than trebled, comprisng close to nine per cent of total orders. In the initial stages, integrating Greek and Macedonian meals into Darebin's menu increased the take up of meals by approximately 10 per cent.

Feedback from meal recipients towards menu integration is very positive. The evaluation section of this report provides information and examples of the comments received from meal recipients during the final evaluation.

There are initial establishment costs associated with menu integration. These costs include:

• Rearranging and translating menus into relevant languages;
• Preparing, translating and distributing general information explaining how menu integration operates, and how to order meals;
• Briefing drivers, as key liaison people between meals recipients and meal providers, about the new system.

A pre requisite for menu integration is menu choice and ordering by recipients. Not all meal providers currently provide menu choice.

With the exception of The City of Yarra, menu integration has met with a number of obstacles:

• Resistance by Council's contracted meal providers to purchase external meals. Most meal providers, whether they be external contractors or local government business units, are driven to increase their own meal order numbers and improve their profitability. The implication of introducing ethnic meals as a menu choice is that contractor meal orders will decline.
• Lack of flexibility within the contract period to undertake any new initiatives.
• Practical difficulties relating to computer systems making ordering of meals complex to administer; also difficulties associated with choosing a three course meal across different sections of the menu, for example a Vietnamese soup, a standard menu main course and a Greek dessert.

8.5 Essential 'Ingredients' for Authenticity

The project has demonstrated that authenticity of cuisine is dependent on a number of factors, in particular:

• The appointment of a culturally relevant cook with knowledge of the combination of ingredients required, cooking and preparation methods, presentation, regional differences, foods associated with cultural and religious festivals, and seasonal variations;
• Purchase of imported high quality ingredients through a supplier who stocks these ingredients;
• Attention to detail to develop authentic cuisines rather than general styles, i.e. establishing a Vietnamese menu rather than an 'Asian' menu or a Greek menu rather than a 'Mediterranean' menu;
• The purchase of specialist kitchen equipment necessary for the preparation of authentic ethnic meals, e.g. wok burners, rice cookers, steamers etc.;
• Criteria for recruitment and selection of cook to include a taste test with clients from relevant ethnic background;
• Regular meal evaluation to be conducted with meal recipients followed by feedback to the cook;
• Flexibility to allow preparation of cook fresh meals when required for the purposes of authenticity.
  

Complaints regarding lack of authenticity have arisen when:

• The cook employed is not from the relevant ethnic background;
• Specialist ethnic cooks have been replaced by generalist cooks;
• The menu has changed from specific ethnic cuisine (i.e. Greek or Macedonian) to generalised cuisine (i.e. Mediterranean or Vegetarian);
• Change of auspice with the program leading to a new generalist cook and generalised menu.

8.6 Local Government Contracts

The introduction of Compulsory Competitive Tendering (CCT) and council amalgamations have resulted in a number of local governments changing from meal providers to meal purchasers. Consequently there are fewer (but larger) meal providers competing for municipal food services. Councils may also face a tension between meeting business unit financial objectives and meeting the needs of their ethnically diverse client group(s).

Most local government contracts with meal providers are of 3 years duration and the flexibility required to accommodate and encourage the availability of authentic ethnic meals varies from contract to contract.

Contractor issues impacting on the ethnic meals program have included:

• Inability of meal contractor to deliver meals other than those they prepare;
• Limited flexibility with contracts to allow the purchase in of ethnic meals which would necessitate a reduction in contract meal numbers;
• Prices set for meals at beginning of contract. Hence difficulties in negotiating different prices for ethnic meals, and
• Lack of detailed specifications regarding provision of authentic ethnic meals within existing meal contracts.

On a positive note, the Ethnic Meals project has raised awareness within Councils of the need to incorporate authentic ethnic meals into the tender specifications when tenders are re-advertised. All local governments in the northern region have responded in a proactive way by inclusion of specifications relating to ethnic meals provision.

8.7 Obstacles to Sustainability of Ethnic Meal Service

Strategies tested out in Stage 2 of the project, as a means of ensuring sustainability and viability of the ethnic meals program, were:

• Promotion of the meals outside the region to targeted Local Government Areas with high concentrations of relevant ethnic elderly;
• Negotiations with Local Government Areas both within and outside the region to trial menu integration; and
• Promotion of ethnic meals to other HACC service providers and to ethnic elderly groups.

Limited success was achieved in implementing the above strategies. Take up of ethnic meals outside the region faced several major obstacles:

• Limited flexibility within the terms of meal provider contracts to purchase external meals, particularly in the immediate and short term future;
• Limited or no meals budget available outside the existing meals contract to purchase in ethnic meals;
• The fact that ethnic meals are, on the whole, more expensive than most other meals provided by larger contractors, especially when factoring in relatively small order numbers and transportation costs; and
• Concerns regarding food safety issues associated with transportation of cook fresh Vietnamese meals over longer distances.

Promoting meals to centre-based ethnic elderly groups also met with a variety of obstacles mostly associated with cost, the level of subsidisation and transportation. A number of groups happily received meals, on an occasional or regular basis, during the term of the project. However most group meals were implemented as a promotional strategy with subsidisation from either the Ethnic Meals Project or relevant Councils. However, without ongoing subsidisation, groups felt unable to continue with the meals.

8.8 Viable Geographic Area for the Model

The project demonstrated that anything smaller than a regional model is not financially or practically viable, given the concentrations, numbers and diversity of ethnic aged in Metropolitan Melbourne. On the other hand anything larger than a regional model confronts transportation complexities, especially additional costs and the potential for food safety problems.

8.9 Costs

The project demonstrated that the cost of ethnic meals is greater than the majority of standard meals prepared by large providers. This is particularly the case in the initial stage.

In addition to higher operational costs during the initial phase, there are establishment costs with all ethnic meals programs including equipment purchase, menu development, selection of cooks, promotion within target ethnic communities, translations/ interpreters etc.

The unit costs of the Greek and Macedonian meals during the pilot period ranged from $7.85 to $9.35 depending on number of meals ordered. The cost of the meals reduced to $8.70 after implementation of menu integration in Darebin.

The unit cost for the Vietnamese meals started at $8.70. After the commencement of menu integration in the City of Yarra, the unit cost of the meals reduced to $8.20.

Component parts of the meal costs during the pilot period were as follows:

Table 4: Pilot Period Meal Cost Proportions: 1998

As a comparison with the Vietnamese meal cost of $8.20 and the Greek and Macedonian meal cost of $8.70, the unit cost of Masterfresh's meals to the City of Yarra is $6.90 and the unit cost of Hobson's Bay's Meals to Darebin is approximately $6.00.

8.10 Client Satisfaction

Client satisfaction surveys indicated a trend of preference for the quality of the relatively small Vietnamese program compared with Anglo, Greek and Macedonian cuisines. Below are some comments from meal recipients during the final evaluation.

I only choose Vietnamese meals now because they are fresh and delicious, they are real food
The Vietnamese meal has more t.l.c. in it
There's some heart in the Vietnamese food
I appreciate the Vietnamese menu becoming available- when confined to home, meals become more important and something to look forward to
The best are the Vietnamese meals, the next best are the Greek, and the worst are the Australian
My spirits have lifted since receiving the Vietnamese meals, I love the freshness of the food
My health has improved with more nourishing (Greek) meals

Whilst the satisfaction with the ethnic meals, especially the small Vietnamese meals program, was very high, the cost is also higher than the standard meals prepared by large meal providers.

8.11 Tension Between Authenticity and Nutritional Guidelines

Early in the pilot phase, the tension between authenticity of cuisine, client health needs and nutritional guidelines emerged. For example, nutrition guidelines advocate a diet low in fat, salt and sugar. However, ingredients such as fetta cheese and olives are traditional Greek fare and are high in salt. A roux of oil, flour and paprika is commonly added to traditional Macedonian dishes causing difficulties in meeting low fat guidelines. Vietnamese cuisine relies on fish sauce - which is high in salt - and it is not uncommon for sugar to be added to dishes.

Early evaluations from meal recipients highlighted the importance of authentic tasty food rather than sticking strictly to dietary guidelines.

The ethnic meals program has tried to take the middle ground in terms of these tensions, attempting to ensure tastiness, authenticity and moderate levels of salt, fat and sugar. This has required flexibility and variety in preparation and menus.

Another emerging issue for diabetics receiving Macedonian meals was a possible aggravation of their diabetes by a new menu incorporating a higher carbohydrate content than the 'Anglo' meals they had previously received. Information from dietitians about the glycaemic factor of particular ingredients included in the menu was sought, and amendments were made.

8.12 Take Up of Meals

Take up of meals for the Greek and Macedonian and for the Vietnamese communities varied. Given the size and greater degree of acculturation amongst the Greek and Macedonians, there were larger numbers already receiving Meals on Wheels prior to the commencement of the ethnic meals program. In addition, promotion of the ethnic meals resulted in new meal recipients joining the program.

Considerable promotional efforts were required within the Vietnamese community to increase the take up of meals. Media interviews with ethnic radio, the provision of subsidised meals to Vietnamese and Chinese elderly groups operating in the region, taste-tests, and promotion through community leaders and ethno-specific workers assisted in increasing the demand. However, the process was slower than originally anticipated. Strong expectations still exist amongst many elderly Vietnamese that family members should cook and care for them.

8.13 Cook Fresh vs. Cook Chill

The program highlighted the advantages and disadvantages of both the cook chill and the cook fresh methods.

The cook fresh method was clearly suitable to the Vietnamese style of cuisine and allowed a high degree of authenticity. Evaluations confirmed the level of appreciation for freshly prepared meals. Disadvantages included:

• the difficulty of keeping meals hot enough to avoid food safety problems during holding and transportation;
• limited flexibility with meal preparation times;
• greater complexities and potential for greater costs in transporting meals (especially outside local government and regional boundaries); and
• inability to provide fresh meals for weekends while delivery occurs only weekdays.

The cook chill method proved suitable for the Greek and Macedonian styles of cuisine but was only suitable for a limited number of Vietnamese meals, which were subsequently incorporated into the weekend menu. Whilst satisfaction with tastiness was not as high when the cook chill method was utilised, advantages included greater flexibility as to utilisation of kitchen for preparation purposes and easy availability of weekend meals. Food safety issues were also pertinent in the quick cooling of meals but less of a problem with storage and transportation than was the case with the cook fresh method.

8.14 Impact of Auspice Agency Changes

The Greek and Macedonian as well as the Vietnamese meals programs were subject to auspice changes within the last few months of 1999.

Feedback from meal recipients during the final evaluation highlighted a considerable level of dissatisfaction with the changes implemented by the new auspice agency for the Greek and Macedonian meals. Of particular concern was:

• the shift away from authenticity to a more regional Mediterranean style of meals;
• a perceived reduction in quality; and
• a change in the menu from Greek and Macedonian meals to more vegetarian options.

Whilst the recentness of the auspice transfer for the Vietnamese meals program affected the ability to assess the impact from the perspective of meals recipients, initial feedback indicated a positive response to the auspice transition. It would seem that agreements and operational guidelines developed to ensure quality, consistency and authenticity for meal recipients during the transition process and beyond had been honoured.

This raises the need for local government, as the agency responsible for the provision of Meals on Wheels, to play a key role in determining clear guidelines for ethnic meals auspice agencies prior to any transfer, as well as the need to closely monitor contracts.

This Web site is managed by the Aged Care Branch, Rural & Regional Health & Aged Care Services Division, of the Victorian State Government Department of Human Services, Australia