Delivering safe, nutritious and enjoyable meals is one of the most important responsibilities in residential aged care.

Dining is not simply about providing food. It plays a major role in resident wellbeing, dignity, and social engagement. For many older people, meals are one of the most meaningful parts of the day.

Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission emphasises the importance of food and nutrition in residential care, recognising that providing choice, quality meals and enjoyable dining experiences significantly improves quality of life for older people.

For providers,managing dining operations can be complex. Kitchens must coordinate menus, dietary restrictions, texture-modified meals, dietitian approvals, and resident preferences while maintaining compliance and operational efficiency.

At Havilah Inc, a respected aged care provider in Maryborough, Victoria, the team recognised that their traditional processes were making this more difficult than necessary.

To address these challenges, they introduced Centrim Life Dining.

About Havilah

Havilah is a community-focused aged care provider based in Maryborough, Victoria, delivering residential aged care services that prioritise dignity, wellbeing and quality of life.

Food and nutrition play a critical role in resident care, making efficient kitchen operations and accurate dietary management essential.

The organisation operates multiple facilities and serves a large number of residents each day, requiring careful coordination between kitchen teams, care staff, and dietitians.

The Challenge: Good Intentions, Manual Processes

Managing Dining Through Manual Processes

Before implementing Centrim Life Dining, much of Havilah’s dining workflow relied on manual processes.

Menus were created using spreadsheets and printed for distribution across the home. Chefs often wrote daily menus by hand so residents could easily see meal options.

Dietitian updates and dietary changes had to be communicated manually to the kitchen team.

Although this system worked, it created several operational challenges:

• Menu creation and publishing required significant staff time
• Chefs frequently handwrote menus for dining areas
• Dietary changes were communicated manually
• Kitchen teams had to estimate meal quantities
• Overproduction sometimes resulted in avoidable food waste
• Families often contacted staff to ask about meal intake

These processes added unnecessary administrative work and reduced the time staff could focus on residents.

A System Built for Aged Care

According to Jude Aserappa, Director of Resident Experience at Havilah, the team reviewed several catering platforms before choosing Centrim Life.

Many available systems were designed for hospitality or commercial catering environments rather than the specialised requirements of aged care.

“There are many catering systems available, but Centrim Life Dining was the only platform we felt was truly aligned with the needs of aged care and the expectations of the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission.”

What stood out was the system’s ability to support:

• dietary management
• texture-modified meals
• menu approval workflows
• communication between care teams and kitchens
• resident meal choice

The Solution: A Digital Workflow Built for Aged Care Kitchens

Havilah implemented Centrim Life Dining to digitise and streamline their food service workflow.

Menus can now be created digitally and reviewed by dietitians before being published across the facility.

Residents are able to select meals in advance, providing kitchen teams with accurate preparation numbers before each service.

Menus can be displayed on digital screens throughout the facility while printed menus can still be generated easily when required.

Kitchen teams can access dietary profiles, allergies, and meal selections directly from tablets or kitchen screens.

When dietary changes are made, the system updates instantly — ensuring meals are prepared safely and accurately.

Supporting Quality Standard 6 Compliance

Food and nutrition are a central focus of Strengthened Quality Standard 6, which encourages providers to work closely with residents to deliver enjoyable dining experiences and meet their nutritional needs.

The standard highlights the importance of:

• menu planning and design
• nutritional monitoring
• providing choice in meals
• improving dining experiences
• working with health professionals such as dietitians

By digitising menu management and dietary profiles, Centrim Life Dining helps facilities maintain clear processes that support these expectations. For Havilah, this means better documentation, improved coordination and stronger oversight of dining services.

A Smarter Kitchen Workflow

Since implementing Centrim Life Dining, Havilah has experienced significant operational improvements.

Kitchen teams now know exactly what meals residents will select before each service. This allows chefs to prepare meals more accurately and reduces unnecessary food waste.

Staff also spend less time managing paperwork, as menus and dietary updates are now handled digitally.

Care teams can easily see which meals should be served to each resident and record meal consumption within the system.

These improvements have created a smoother workflow across the kitchen and care teams.

Improving the Experience for Residents and Families

The benefits extend beyond the kitchen.

Residents now enjoy a more personalised dining experience, with greater choice and flexibility in their meal selections.

Families also benefit from improved transparency. Through the family app, they can view menus, order food and see how much their loved ones have eaten.

This visibility provides reassurance for families while reducing phone enquiries to staff.

Final Thoughts

For Havilah, the introduction of Centrim Life Dining has modernised how dining services are managed.

What was once a manual process has become a streamlined digital workflow that improves communication, reduces administrative workload, and enhances the resident dining experience.

Most importantly, it allows staff to focus more on delivering care rather than managing paperwork.

As aged care providers continue to strengthen their dining services, Havilah’s experience demonstrates how the right technology can make a meaningful difference.