In recent years, the city has vigorously developed the community to provide meal services for the elderly, and one by one "canteens for the elderly" have sprung up in the streets and alleys of Jincheng. Less oil and less salt, hot and soft, delicious and affordable meals, so that the majority of the elderly save the trouble of starting a fire at home, and really enjoy the warmth of home care services.
Since last year, the "canteens for the elderly" have been further upgraded in various towns and towns to become community canteens with more functions and larger scales such as dine-in, take-out or food delivery. At the same time, the community canteen has also further explored "opening the door" to the society, and has "circled fans" of many young people with high-quality and low-cost meals, opening up the source of customers. However, the survey also found that there are also individual community canteens that are separated from the masses and "cope with the problem", and how to make community canteens more "popular and popular", become a necessity for residents, and embark on a more sustainable path, all parties need to further explore and practice.
Playing the "Foundation Card"
"Auntie is here, slow down, come and ......walk here" At noon in mid-April, Aunt Li Mei pushed her 80-year-old mother in a wheelchair and walked into the community canteen of Shuangxin Street, Jinnan District, located next to the Minxingyuan Community.
Aunt Li Mei and her mother ordered a set meal with meat and vegetables, including pot-wrapped pork, kung pao chicken, cabbage vermicelli, as well as staple rice, steamed pumpkin, and free soup, which only cost 12 yuan in total after enjoying the subsidy. Aunt Li Mei told reporters that the community canteen is close to home, there are many kinds of meals, the taste is good, and it is not expensive, she sighed while eating: "I am 63 years old this year, and I can still eat with my old mother, which is very good, and it is more troublesome to cook so many dishes at home!"
The Shuangxin Street Community Canteen, embedded in the Street Comprehensive Elderly Care Service Center, has become an important choice for elderly residents near and far to dine since its opening in October 2023. According to the reporter's observation, in about an hour at noon, no less than 40 elderly people came to the canteen to eat, and the dining room was busy, harmonious and warm. In addition to dine-in, there are also many elderly people who take their meals home to eat.
Food delivery is another function of the Shuangxin Street Community Canteen. "Some elderly people have limited mobility, or are far away from the community canteen, we can provide door-to-door delivery. Qu Hongmei told reporters that only an additional 3 yuan delivery fee is needed, and the elderly at home can eat hot meals, and the delivery fee will be paid in full to the delivery staff.
Daniel Zhang, director of the Shuangxin Street Public Service Office, said that there are more than 8,000 elderly people over 60 years old in the street, accounting for about one-fifth of the total permanent population, and the demand for community canteens is urgent. In order to improve the quality of community meals and other elderly care services, the street follows the principle of government support and social participation, and introduces Shanghai Tianhe Smart Elderly Care Service Co., Ltd., which is a professional elderly care service provider covering all types of homes, communities, institutions, etc.
Daniel Zhang inspects the operation of the Shuangxin Street Community Canteen
"Professional people have to do professional things. At present, the street comprehensive elderly care service center covers various services for the elderly, such as meal assistance and short-term care. Specific to the community canteen, our kitchen focuses on bright kitchens, so that the elderly can look comfortable and eat at ease, and the cooking process uses safer alcohol-based fuel. Daniel Zhang said.
In the view of Qu Hongmei, the pension specialist of Tianhe Company, it is necessary to achieve refinement in order to provide better meal assistance services for the elderly. "For example, we all know that the elderly generally like to eat less oil, less salt and soft meals, but it is not excluded that some elderly people have very good teeth and like meals that are a little salty or not too soft, so we let the kitchen divide it into two parts to meet the different requirements of the elderly. ”
Helping the elderly is the "core function" of the Shuangxin Street Community Canteen. From a set meal of more than 10 yuan to a variety of small bowls of dishes, the Shuangxin Street Community Canteen has now become an important activity platform for the comprehensive elderly care service center, and its popularity is rising and its awareness is increasing day by day. The canteen could only sell a few dozen meals a day at the beginning, but now it can sell more than 100 meals a day for lunch.
Qu Hongmei told reporters that recently, with the cooperation of community staff, they are constantly increasing their efforts to visit homes, based on meal assistance, and constantly extending the types of services, such as installing anti-fall sensing equipment, guarding the safety of the elderly, and providing affordable housekeeping services.
Circle fans of young people
If the community canteen of Shuangxin Street in Jinnan District focuses on a "for the old" signboard, doing fine and meticulous meal assistance services for the elderly, then the community canteen of Taoyuan Street in Hexi District is seeking more customer groups on the basis of the elderly, and constantly attracting young people nearby.
One afternoon in March, Xiao Jiang was walking on Guangdong Road, and he was about to go to a noodle restaurant he frequented for lunch. Suddenly, a radio sounded in his ears, and after listening carefully, he realized that it was the Taoyuan Street Community Canteen that was open to the public, and with the mentality of trying, he walked in.
This is a community canteen opened in the north of the West Building, "Can people who are not elderly eat here?" At noon that day, Xiao Jiang ordered a set meal of two meat and one vegetarian, less than 20 yuan, and free hot soup. From this day on, Xiao Jiang became a frequent visitor here.
Xiao Jiang works in a nearby financial institution, is a typical office white-collar worker, he has always had the habit of bringing food from home, the weather is slowly hot, the freshness of the food can not be guaranteed, this community canteen, let him have a bright feeling.
Customers queue up to buy food at the Taoyuan Street Community Canteen
After a period of dining experience, Xiao Jiang has his own unique understanding of this community canteen, and in his opinion, the positioning of the community canteen is just between home cooking and restaurant. "I'm tired of eating in the small restaurant outside, the meals in this community canteen are clean and hygienic, the price is affordable, and you can rest assured that the key is that this is a small variety of set meals, you can eat several dishes at one time, and the taste is also good." ”
In this community canteen, the reporter saw a scene very different from the ordinary old people's canteen, and young people in their twenties and thirties continued to enter the restaurant, sitting at a table in groups of three or two, chatting while eating, and the order was not the same, making the canteen more youthful and energetic.
Since its opening in November last year, the popularity of the Taoyuan Street community canteen has been on the rise. Background data shows that during the lunch period on the day of the reporter's visit, the consumption amount was close to 3,000 yuan, and the number of diners was close to 120. Zhang Boxiang, a pension specialist of Taoyuan Street Public Service Office, introduced that on the basis of serving the elderly people in the jurisdiction, the canteen also takes young consumers as the target customer group, and at present, the proportion of elderly groups and non-elderly groups who come to the canteen to eat has reached about 1:1. Some office workers also joined the WeChat group of the canteen community to learn about the week's recipes and special dishes in a timely manner.
Zhang Boxiang introduced the relevant data of the operation of the community canteen on Taoyuan Street
Taoyuan Street Community Canteen is a "street-level" community canteen operated by a local elderly care service provider. Zhang Boxiang told reporters that there are currently four community canteens on Taoyuan Street, in addition to the above-mentioned "street-level" community canteens, there are also two "community-level" meal service points and a home-based elderly care service station. In these government-supported, market-oriented canteens, you can enjoy multiple discounts given by the government and enterprises, and the elderly group over 70 years old can enjoy a government subsidy of 3 yuan per meal, and some canteen operators also provide additional discounts of 1 yuan per meal for the elderly over 60 years old.
Perfection in exploration
The problem of eating, especially the eating of the elderly, highlights the temperature of the city and also tests the fineness of urban management and social governance. Since 2019, Tianjin has launched meal assistance services for the elderly, and by the end of last year, the civil affairs department had promoted the opening of 1,701 canteens for the elderly in various districts, neighborhoods and communities.
The reporter visited for many days and found that the city has developed community canteens according to local conditions, aiming at "subdivided needs", which is welcomed by the elderly and the majority of young people, and at the same time, it is also constantly discovering and solving problems and exploring more sustainable operation models.
Some community canteens are still facing the problem of insufficient awareness among the masses, and it is urgent for all parties to work together to make community canteens more "popular and popular". Qu Hongmei, the pension commissioner of the Shuangxin Street Community Canteen, told reporters that when she and the grid staff visited the house, they found that the existing elderly did not know the existence of the community canteen. To this end, with the support of the neighborhood community, they increased the frequency of household visits, and in less than a week, they successfully helped 4 elderly households and the canteen to "match".
"After the old man came, he found that there was such a convenient place to eat, which was very recognized by us. Qu Hongmei said.
In Zhang Boxiang's view, the Taoyuan Street Community Canteen has been a process of continuous improvement and upgrading. Once, a resident called the community office and pointed out that some residents had a large amount of food, and whether the set meal in the community canteen could appropriately increase the amount of dishes. "Another time, at a community meeting, an elderly man asked if he could heat and keep warm the free soup, and after we communicated with the operating company, it didn't take long for the canteen to change the insulated barrel. Zhang Boxiang said.
Customers pick up free hot soup
The reporter's investigation found that in reality, there is also the phenomenon of individual community canteens "detached from the masses". For example, the canteen for the elderly in a town in a ring city of the city is set up in the corner of an apartment, not facing the street, and is far away from several large surrounding communities, and the "hidden" location is rarely known to the surrounding residents. Although the dishes in this canteen are good and the prices are affordable, only two or three elderly people came to eat during the one-hour lunch meal time of the reporter's on-site experience and observation, and more diners were local staff, making the elderly canteen seem more like a unit canteen.
In fact, how to make full use of social resources, realize the "two-way rush" between the market and residents, and avoid being separated from the masses or unsustainable, is indeed a problem that needs to be constantly explored and solved. The reporter learned that some districts in the city are also trying to incorporate some existing commercial canteens into the community canteen system. In the Xintiandi commercial complex of Youth Hostel Sports Xintiandi on Youyi North Road, Huatang Zhiwei Catering on the fourth floor has been incorporated into the street canteen system for the elderly, named "Huatang Zhiwei Home Care Service Station on Jingang Road, Taoyuan Street", and eligible elderly people can also enjoy a preferential subsidy of 3 yuan for dining here.
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"The canteen for the elderly that we advocate is a 'comprehensive canteen'. Tianjin's meal assistance service for the elderly takes a completely market-oriented path and gives full play to the decisive role of the market in the allocation of resources. I also see on Douyin that many young people will also come to the elderly canteen to 'check in'", and we also welcome more young people to come to eat. Zhu Feng, Secretary of the Party Group and Director of the Tianjin Civil Affairs Bureau, said in an interview with the media.
Based on helping the elderly and embracing the whole society, a small community canteen carries the fireworks of the whole city.
(Jinyun News reporter Chen Qingpu Some of the pictures in this article are provided by the interviewee)