If you think surgeons work under high pressure then meet the man whose job it is to oversee 1350 meals each day and please hungry patients at Sunshine Coast University Hospital (SCUH).
Alfonso De Guzman is a qualified chef with 17 years in hospitality and his team includes eight other chefs who have worked everywhere from the Hilton to airlines.
Every day they crank up the huge industrial kitchen to make breakfast, lunch and dinners ranging from traditional roast beef, to Thai curry and mango mousse.
It equates to 750,000 plated meals a year as well as 200,750 sandwiches made fresh as a supplementary offering.
But unlike the past when hospital food was something to get upset about, today’s meals are prepared with the same cooking techniques expected of master chefs.
Stock and gravy are carefully simmered from fresh bones and vegetables, creamy curries are fragranced with roasted spices, and 200kg of real potatoes are mashed every day — not reconstituted from a packet.
By the time the warm plates reach patients – transported across the grounds by robots – every detail has been carefully planned, executed and delivered to look, smell, and taste like home.
“The pressure is the expectation of people,” said Mr De Guzman.
“They want good service in clinical care, but also in the preparation of food.”
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Mr De Guzman said the secret to a happy hospital diner was not going overboard with exotic flavours, experimental dishes or unknown ingredients.
“The patients we are feeding are usually not in hospital by choice so they are not feeling well and they don’t want to experiment with different foods here,” said Mr De Guzman.
“Our patients are still very traditional so they prefer roast meats like roast beef, chicken and grilled fish, and desserts like apple pie and bread-and-butter pudding.
“They like the bread-and-butter pudding warm with custard, whether it’s winter or summer.
“They like chicken cacciatore and beef stroganoff. Lasagne is popular but not ravioli or pasta. The other really popular one is Irish stew.
“We do introduce a few other things like Thai curry.
“But they usually want the their own comfort food that they would eat at home and their expectation is it will be how they cook it themselves.”
That’s not say the hospital kitchen doesn’t offer some trendy modern dishes.
One dessert that goes down well is a decadent chocolate lava cake made famous by reality TV show MasterChef and yes, says Mr De Guzman, the gooey melted inside oozes out when the patient scoops a bite.
Mr De Guzman, whose title is Food Services manager for the Sunshine Coast Hospital and Health Service (which includes satellite hospitals such as Caloundra and Maleny), runs the catering from a separate building opposite SCUH’s Emergency Department.
It is there menus are envisioned weeks in advance and truckloads of ingredients delivered such as tonnes of fresh meat, 600kg of potatoes weekly and 10 palettes of dried goods.
Meat and produce are sourced locally from Woombye Meats and Fresh Meats while the potatoes come from Coastline Produce.
After the dishes have been simmered, chargrilled, baked or stewed, they are carefully plated by kitchen staff positioned along a conveyor belt who take ten seconds to load each dish.
From there, trays are stacked onto battery-powered ‘robots’ that travel through underground tunnels to the main buildings and ride lifts to the floors where staff then personally deliver the meals.
Mr De Guzman said the feedback from patients was mostly positive but criticisms were also taken on board, investigated and menu changes made where applicable.
Nutrition, dietary needs and allergies were other important factors taken into consideration when planning menus.
Mr De Guzman’s background includes working for the Accor global hospitality group whose brands include Mercure, Sofitel and Novotel, as well as working at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre and hospitals in Brisbane.
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