Senior living operators still face a volatile pricing environment when it comes to food costs as expenses threaten to eat away at recent gains in margins.

From rising costs for menu staples to kitchen supplies, operators are bolstering their culinary programs with new menus and new tactics to reduce food waste, improve service and boost the bottom line.

This year ” has been very reactionary with the roller coaster ride of wondering what’s going to happen to tomorrow,” said Northbridge Companies Director of Procurement Matt Tremblay during the 2025 DISHED conference in Atlanta.

The Burlington, Massachusetts-based provider sat down with its vendor partners for ways to reduce expense creep and “plan a little better” for cost variability in dining, Tremblay said.

Operators including Northbridge Companies, Priority Life Care and The Arbor Company have all taken steps to find ways to protect margins and find ways to reduce expenses where possible without sacrificing the new senior living dining experience residents now expect.

Locking arms to reduce expenses 

While operators have made tough choices in selecting technology vendor partnerships, so too have providers wrestled with sorting their food and beverage vendors.

This is why it’s important for senior living providers to “lock arms with your partnerships,” according to Priority Life Care Director of Culinary Experiences. The Fort Wayne, Indiana-based operator relies on one of its food vendors to forecast future price projections for key dining staples.

“They have propelled us to be more proactive in a very reactive sector,” Gallo said. “Having clear communication to know what’s upcoming and how we can pivot—that flexibility has really helped us stay in-line with our budget.”

In order to balance a budget, or plan for future year’s purchasing, Gallo said PLC will pivot menus and make adjustments where needed to prevent cost creep.

The Arbor Company hosts weekly regional meetings among leaders to identify areas where food costs can be maintained while preserving quality. The company must quickly swap out vendors and purchasing decisions based on availability of supplies or price fluctuations, according to Vice President of Culinary Ryan King.

For example, the company found a produce vendor that had a lower price for disposable gloves and relies on Arbor communities to leverage their general purchasing organizations (GPOs) to find solutions for communities in close proximity to one another. That also means ordering items like grains, oatmeal and spice ordering instead of ordering through a broadliner distributor on a monthly basis, King shared.

“We’ve got great people that work for us and they’re former restaurant people, former hotel people so they’re used to looking around like that,” King said.

The days of using pen and paper to draft a community’s dining program is a way of the past, and Northbridge relies on an integrated ordering and menu development to become an all-digital culinary operation.

Northbridge reported a cost savings of upwards of $700 per month by working with the company’s GPO partners, Tremblay said.

“It’s more pivotal now that we are having order accuracy and control costs,” Tremblay said.

Setting the culinary department up for expense control success

In order to improve occupancy, many operators tout their dining programs in sales and marketing efforts. But without a strong culinary program, operators risk losing residents and fail in attracting new customers, Gallo said.

“The market’s pretty saturated right now so we’re really trying to enhance the culinary experience,” Gallo said. “Without that culinary program, you’re not going to have census.”

To improve margins, Gallo said operators must invest in their culinary department leaders and associates to make sure they embody the hospitality-forward mindset needed in today’s senior living environment.

“Census is not the answer,” Gallo said. “Cost control to keep that margin up when you need it is really going to be key.”

As new communities are designed to be purpose-built for senior living residents, Tremblay said utility costs pose a new factor in expense control due to larger units, common areas and open concepts.

“Sometimes we have to be a little more focused and these buildings just cost more to operate than in the past,” Tremblay said.

Technology, new revenue opportunities change operations

In order to more closely monitor food costs, the Arbor Company created an internal recipe development technology application that allows chefs to create menus and view linked, real-time pricing of food costs with vendor partners to craft the most cost-effective menus. As a result, 44 of Arbor’s 49 communities are within 2% of being on-budget for 2025, King said.

“We empower our teams and expect them to be nimble and make those adjustments on the fly at the community level,” King added. “Give the teams the structure and then allow them to have flexibility at the community level whether it’s financially driven or resident satisfaction driven.”

These digital ordering platforms and menu programs have improved cost control and resulted in monthly savings.

Going forward, it’s important that operators view food as “dollars on shelves,” Gallo said to increase accuracy in product mix purchasing and put “dollars back to the budget.” For example, PLC chefs log food waste and provide production reports electronically to improve accountability and accurate planning.

Now moving into 2026, providers must find tools that can keep them at the pace at which costs change.

“We’re not waiting until financials come out to find out what your [Food Cost Per Patient Day] (PPD) is,” Tremblay said. “As you’re writing your menu every day, as costs change within the system.”

In a world of rising expenses and tight margins, operators should consider hosting special events to generate additional revenue from their culinary programs, including themed events or exclusive, ticketed multi-course menus.

Another way operators can bring in more revenue is through allowing families and guests of residents to dine in their communities and charge for those meals like a typical restaurant would, King said.

“These are micro things that you can do within your community to drive some additional revenue and keep things exciting and fresh at the same time,” King said.