Best Dining Innovation Of 2024: Renovation Takes Community From Buffet-style To Modern Cuisine

The Luther Crest Senior Living Community in Allentown, Pennsylvania underwent an expansive renovation plan that included a complete transformation of the community’s culinary and dining experience.

As part of a $11 million renovation project for the community center on campus, leaders transformed the dining experience from a typical, buffet-style layout into a modernized culinary experience with five new dining options.

The additional dining venues were paired with new menus across a variety of cuisines in an effort to connect with evolving resident tastes and modernize the overall dining experience.

Beyond elevating the dining experience, the dining renovation also included new self-service options for casual dining and robots assist waiting staff named Figgy that’s become popular with residents.

For its dedication to modernizing and elevating the overall senior living dining experience, the Lutheran Senior Services renovation effort was named the 2024 Architecture and Design Awards winner for the dining innovation category.

It should be noted that earlier this week, LSS has rebranded as EverTrue.

The concept

The idea for renovating the community center’s dining and culinary options was born out of necessity and a desire for change, leaders told Senior Housing News.

“It was right after Covid and we still had a buffet and we knew we needed to reinvent our dining and culinary options,” said Lutheran Senior Services Vice President of Physical Assets David Baker. “What followed was a great vibe around what everything would look like and it grew from there.”

The new dining spaces sought to blend modern hospitality and senior living to craft an environment that balances warmth, functionality and aesthetic appeal, according to SCOPOS Hospitality Group Principal Andrey Teleguz.

One of the dining spaces, Vine & Fig, has an open kitchen concept framed in a mix of glass and metal with green accents with bar seating along the kitchen counter. Large windows help bring in natural light into the space to create an inviting environment to share a meal.

The Chromium Grille is a casual bistro offering American fare and wood-fired heart for cooking pizza. The Fullenbach Room is a private dining space that is reserved for parties and family gatherings. The Steel Valley Pub is a bar offering drinks and small plates with smoked meats and a full service bar.

Common Grounds Market and Cafe is a neighborhood coffee shop offering espresso and house-made pastries with cafe-style seating with a grab-and-go retail component that is open 24/7.

The expanded kitchens to support the new dining now includes upgraded equipment including blast freezers, Rationale Combi ovens and immersion circulators, offering residents expanded menus across a variety of cuisines from cultures around the world. Some examples of new dishes include hickory-smoked, dry rub wings, filet mignon and applewood-smoked ribs.

The teaching kitchen now makes it possible for chefs to offer cooking demonstrations and classes for residents, with cameras live-streaming the classes into the apartments so that residents can cook along in their homes.

The overhaul effort had a strategic goal of increasing Luther Crest’s ability to bring in more independent living residents, Baker said, with planning starting in early 2019 and plans were made to add a 72-unit IL apartment building to the community.

Once that project was underway, Baker noted that it was “immediately evident” the community center’s outdated dining layout and amenities needed to be renovated to support new growth on campus.

“What we did is there were a lot of variations of master planning, sketching, space studies and explored culinary narratives,” Teleguz said.

The top challenge during the project’s planning process came from the complications of the Covid-19 pandemic and determining how to proceed with a master planning effort. Ultimately, what resulted was moving from the traditional three dining venue model to now having “seven new and progressive” dining settings for residents, Baker said.

The community is operated by LSS with Noelker & Hull Associates serving as the project architect and interior design firm. Construction was handled by Wilson Construction and culinary consulting was given by Scopos Hospitality Group.

The construction

The construction of the $11 million overhaul of the community center was part of the broader IL building expansion that totaled $39 million.

Work on the new community center started in December of 2022 and the apartment building came afterwards, starting in January of 2023.

During construction, the community center renovations were challenged due to timing of the multiple phases of construction in order to not disrupt community life. This happened as workers were building a new kitchen, renovating the bistro and grill while also expanding the existing kitchen into a cooking space for IL residents and added a bar tavern that was tied onto the kitchen and main dining space.

Overall, the project’s design didn’t substantially change, Baker noted, but slight adjustments were made during construction phases based on the daily operational needs of the existing community.

After the dust settled, construction of the new IL building and new community center were both “slightly” under budget, Baker added, something he attributed to the team’s willingness to collaborate and share ideas during planning.

The completion

The final phase of the community center and dining overhaul was completed in July of last year.

In seeing residents interact with the new space, Baker said the impact has been “unbelievable” and has been used as a focal point to attract new residents to the community. Popular parts of the new dining venues include the pub and main dining space on the ground floor.

“The finished community center project ended up well beyond what I originally had in mind. Every venue is well used by the residents and anyone that walks through the door is in awe of the environment,” Baker said.

Lease up of the community’s new and existing IL units also increased once the community center and new dining venues opened, Baker added.

“The fact that the community center and culinary venues are always busy tells me the design was a success,” Baker said.

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