Welcome to Hospitality Ventures Consulting LLC

I thank you for attending the TKC annual meeting in Chicago last week. Your presentation was, yet again, a powerful addition to the work of the TKC (and very well received!).

Looking forward to our continued collaboration,

During his 19 month tenure at HFWBH, as the Interim Director of Retail and Wellness Services, Jeffrey has been instrumental in taking hospitality beyond the boundaries of imagination and has created a strong foundation we can now build on.

Some of many Jeffrey's major accomplishments, which has helped creating the mystique of us being a "Community Centerfor Well Being" were as follows :

1. Assembled and mentored an empowered world class talented and valued Wellness Team.
2. Implemented and created processes and training manuals to continually drive employee engagement, customer satisfaction and efficiency by focusing on the 4 pillars, patient safety and quality, caring, memorable experiences and efficiency.
3. The planning, execution and successful opening of our Greenhouse, which led to national and international press coverage. Partnering and benchmarking with national leaders in the field such as Dr. Howard Resh, the Disney Company, and national celebrities, made this feat even more remarkable.
4. Conceptualizing and implementing a hydroponic greenhouse format, which recently was certified organic by CCOF, the first in Michigan and one of less than 5 in the United States.
5. Being named and honored by the Henry Ford Hospital System at its annual 2012 Board Caucus Meeting as a recipient of the system's Focus on People award.
6. Introduction of the DK/Greenhouse fieldtrip program and the DK/ Guest Chef Program.
7. Fostered community involvement by providing a series of highly successful concerts as part of our Healing Arts Program.
8. Building partnerships with local restaurants, such as Pizza Biga and The Root Restaurant, who both are featured in Henry's.
9. Building partnerships and outreach programs with various community leaders and organizations, including among them the Eastern Market, Detroit Public Schools, Oakland County department of Health and Human Services, Haven, the Detroit Lions, The Detroit Pistons, The Henry Ford Museum, the Samueli Institute and various prestigious Universities.
10. The continued focus on creating partnerships with numerous physicians, clinical areas and programs in pediatrics, dermatology, neurosciences, orthopedics, women's health, to name a few, to further increase the clinical integration of their programs into all of the wellness areas with a focus on the DK, greenhouse, and Vita.
11. Improved our Press Ganey Scores significantly over the last 12 months (Temperature of Food improved by 17%, Quality of Food improved by 17% and Courtesy of Person Served improved by 5%). HFWBH is not only the leader within HFHS, but it is the leading hospital in the country for these categories.
12. The Wellness Profitability in 2012 improved by 20% ($825.000 over 2011) by creating efficiencies and introducing new revenue options. Overall profitability in the Wellness areas during Jeffrey's 18 month tenure has improved by considerably more than $1 million dollars.

Jeffrey created a hospital hospitality division at Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital, which has gained respect on a national and international level and created the appropriate foundation for cost efficiencies and revenue growth opportunities. Jeffrey should be commended in making our facility a true community center and providing our patients, their families and the community we serve as an experience blue print second to none.

I want to personally thank Jeffrey for all his hard work and helping us to translate an extraordinary vision into reality.

Gerard Van Grinsven

Dear Jeffrey,

I enjoyed the conference very much, and drawing to me has always been a way to concentrate on what is being said- in school my teachers did not always see it the same way, but I still have quite a few of notebooks and I remember the lessons by the illustrations I did in the margins...

I thought your ideas on actual hospitality in clinics wise and wonderful, and I hope they will find many more receptive minds and inspire initiative everywhere. My mother was a professor/doctor in historical medicine, (I'm from Leyden) and throughout history there were all manner of treating patients, some rather horrid, others quite creative and civilised... Let's hope the trend is up!

And may we put the hospitality back into the hospital.

Thank you for your inspiration,
Best regards and as we say here: "turn it into something beautiful!"("maak er wat moois van"), it's sort of a generic encouragement.
And you are doing just that, don't stop.

Fay Lovsky

Jeffrey,

Every flame starts with a spark, that catches the perfect mix of fuel, air and combustion to make it all come together. Once lit, it grows bigger and brighter and encompasses everything it touches. Throughout your time here at Northwell, which pre-dates a good portion of us reading this, you have been that spark that has set fire to a revolutionary transformation of how people view food being created in Hospital kitchens. It is no longer over-whipped glue-like mashed potatoes, with a side of canned string beans and a rubbery chicken breast covered in a bagged sauce, reheated in a cook chill machine sent from Hell to destroy all that is free-range and organic. It has evolved to what it is now. Freshly made, locally grown, daily delivered, highest quality, seasonally inspired, Michelin Chef approved gourmet, restaurant quality, delicious cuisine. You have played a major part in bringing that vision to reality. Personally, I never thought I would be seeing what I am right now in Healthcare Foodservice. The quality of the product, the care and love put into the meals by chefs, and the attention to every detail, no matter how minute, to ensure that our patients get the best possible meal during their stay at a Northwell Facility.

When I was younger, my father told me something that I once shared with you and Chef Bruno. It was an old Navy quote that was drilled into my father's soul that he repeated to me numerous times throughout my childhood. "Attitude Reflects Leadership". Just by taking the temperature in the room at any of our newly named Food and Nutrition Meetings, it was easy to see that with you and Chef Bruno leading the way, anything is possible and we had the right Captains steering our ship into the future. You had the brilliant idea of enlisting a Michelin Starred Chef to bring credibility to what we were doing. Wherever we ascend to, whatever goals we achieve, whatever history has in store for us, know this... It started with you. Your vision, life experience, industry connections, work stories, anecdotes and driest of dry-sense of humor, have made you a forever part of what we have become. Your fingerprints can be seen all over Northwell's Hospitals, patients, team members, Food and Nutrition Departments and Chef's, down to my pot washer asking why you were leaving because he thought you were a nice enough guy on our last quarterly visit. Go figure!!

Saying "thanks for the memories", sounds old and cliché and is better reserved for New Year's Eve celebrations after one too many. Thank you... for your dedication to creating a better and brighter future for Chef's to be able to use "Food as Medicine" for the sick. Thank you... for putting patient care and patient meals as a priority in Hospital Board meetings. Thank you... for caring enough to say no to frozen food, no to canned anything and no to less than the best quality everything. As a Chef all I can think of when I hear about Hospital Food now is to smile and say, " wait until they try this!" You are leaving us in very, very capable hands with Chef Bruno, but your personality and professional style will be sorely missed. We wish you only the best and brightest in whatever endeavor you will choose as your next challenge. But just know this...we will always try our very best to keep what you have sparked in all of us here, burning brightly enough for you to see wherever you are. I am humbled to call you a friend in this life. God bless you in all that you are and all that you do. Until our next meal.......CHEERS!!!!

Jeffrey,

I am sorry to hear you are leaving us! I am forever grateful for your attention to the needs of our behavioral health patients. You turned the tide for us; your pragmatic and knowledgeable interventions were so helpful and you continuously advocated for ZHH. Thank you so much, Jeffrey! I have truly enjoyed working with you and learning from you.