Startup Idea: Meal Planning Software for Care Facilities and Home Agency Services
I'm not sure if my idea is going to be relevant or not. I understand if you reject it. I work at an agency that provides staffing when facilities need extra help and can't cover. I have worked at many different care facilities and in-home. I have yet to see, at any of them, a comprehensive program or plan for providing meals that people actually enjoy eating. I think software that isn't specific to any one of these facilities or agencies but can be used by all of them would be very helpful concerning food preferences. In a long-term facility this would be very helpful in serving meals and in-home and community would help significantly with doing grocery shopping and meal preparation, which is actually huge. I'm a licensed worker with a lot of education and I still find myself purchasing food and preparing meals because it is essential. It is also essential to quality of life, and there is nothing out there to make this process efficient and ensure people get what they like and need. If software could be developed that could include a number to identify people so that confidentiality wouldn't be an issue, I think it could work. Only the workers that dealt with that specific person would know their number and it wouldn't really include confidential information anyway. It should include allergies, favorite foods and beverages, preferred meals, favorite snacks, dislikes, food excluded for religious reasons, foods that are hated and they will not eat, methods of preparation, and any other category that would assist in giving people what they want so they can enjoy eating again. It is amazing how many people that can no longer be completely independent lose the ability to have foods and meals they enjoy because there is no system like this. It isn't because workers and providers don't want to provide what people enjoy, we absolutely do. There is just no easy way to get the information on a large scale. I think software that could be used by any agency, facility, family, or even a community based program with volunteers that does grocery shopping and provides meals, would be incredibly useful. It would ensure that people can have what they prefer instead of having to make general, and often very bland, choices because we don't have any way of finding out individual preference. As I said before, I realize this borders very closely on a field you do not want submissions for so I understand if you reject. I just wanted to throw the idea out there because I feel it would be amazingly useful and very much appreciated. Users of the service and family that care for them would pay for this. The numbers instead of names might not even be necessary, food and meal preference isn't confidential information. Perhaps it could be an option is a subscriber does want to remain anonymous but I think most people would be fine with just using names. The ability to have food and drink to enjoy is so basic that it isn't often thought of, but it can cause depression and many other issues when that basic need is not met.