Catering

PURPOSE

To define criteria and accounting procedures related to catered events in an effort to reduce spend, eliminate Food & Nutrition Services (FNS) duplication of effort, and to maximize use of retail services as appropriate.

POLICY STATEMENT

A. FNS will provide catering (both to internal and external customers) for all facilities in their service areas, when the events are in adherence to system catering guidelines (below).

B. Internally catered events or those without outside hospital reimbursement will be limited to those that deemed to promote physician engagement, community outreach, fund raising and hospital-wide associate engagement.

C. All internal and external catering events must be approved by senior leaders (director level and above).

1. Process for approval may be specific to each hospital, and may include President, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) or Chief Operating Officer (COO).

D. In pursuit of sustainability initiatives, bottled or canned beverages are not permitted.

1. Pitchers of water, iced tea, juice, and lemonade will be routinely served as beverage options.

E. In pursuit of healthy workforce initiatives, desserts (other than fruit) and sweet treats are not permitted with lunch or dinner events.

F. FNS leadership is responsible for reviewing catered events and providing feedback on all catered events (whenever events do not appear to meet system catering guidelines) to facility senior leaders.

G. Each facility will have procedures in place to track catering costs and will transfer these costs out monthly to cost centers initiating requests.

PROCEDURE

A. COO or equivalent at each hospital has responsibility for the oversight and adherence of CHI Health system catering guidelines.

B. Internal catered events, those without outside hospital reimbursement, will be limited to:

1. Those that promote physician engagement

2. Community outreach

3. Fundraising events

4. Hospital-wide employee engagement

5. Board meetings

6. Recurring meetings and events that do not extend through entire meal periods where retail options (cafeterias, physician lounges and coffee shops) are available, do not meet these criteria.

a. Hospitals reserve the right to set minimum or maximum attendee requirements for catered events.

b. FNS reserves the right to turn down large events that may interfere with patient or retail services and will work with the requesting party to find an alternate provider.

C. FNS leadership will meet with Human Resources and Administration on a quarterly basis (or as needed) to determine facility catering expectations and the cost/budget associated with each event related to associate engagement.

1. Expectations surrounding holiday meals, celebratory, and congratulatory events will be agreed upon in advance and communicated throughout each hospital by Human Resources and Administration.

D. Requests for externally funded catered events, will also be approved by senior leadership and will not be limited to the guidelines contained in this policy.

1. It is the responsibility of FNS to properly charge outside events to those entities initiating catering requests.

E. FNS is responsible for the review of all scheduled events for adherence to criteria and will communicate questionable events to COO or equivalent (or catering clients directly, depending on facility structure).

1. The senior leader who is responsible for approving catering requests will moderate all disputes resulting from questionable criteria catering identified and makes the final decision to proceed with or cancel the event.

F. A standardized catering menu will be utilized whenever possible based on available equipment and labor resources at the individual facility.

G. Requests for catering services must be received by FNS a minimum of five work days in advance to allow for the cost-effective procurement of all food, supplies, and additional labor required.

1. Exceptions can be made on a case-by-case basis if FNS has the resources and supplies to accommodate request.

H. Each hospital is responsible for determining hours of service for catering operations.

1. All events, including those planned outside of normal operating hours, must be presented to FNS for right of first refusal.

I. Outside catering contracts will be negotiated by FNS and Supply Chain.

1. All catering that cannot be handled by on-site catering teams, must utilize one of the contracted caterers and be paid for via corporate purchasing card within the department initiating the order.

2. Supply chain and local hospital leadership will monitor outside catering contract spend.

J. FNS is not responsible for set-up, service, or clean-up of any event catered by an outside contractor, unless prior arrangements made with catering team.

Approval Signatures

Approver

Date

AMY ANDREASEN: COORDINATOR-HUMAN RESOURCES 10/2019

TERRI HILL: DIV DIRECTOR NUTRITION 10/2019

JACINDA BLACKWILL: SUPERVISOR-NUTRITION SVCS 10/2019