The first Client Advisory Board meeting of the year was a mix of fine dining and constructive feedback from the clients in attendance.

The CAB meeting included a tour of the kitchen, three-course meal, survey, presentation and plenty of questions touching on the topics of labels, meals, delivery and more.

Project Angel Food Client Services Manager Scott Stephens said one of the main goals of the meeting was to get feedback on the news of the Capital Campaign and the new building that will be going up across the street from the current building at 922 Vine St.

“I thought it was great to see most of the group getting excited about some of the client-centric spaces planned for the new campus,” Stephens said. “It seems like people are really looking forward to attending cooking demos, client-focused social gatherings, or even coming to help volunteer in the new distribution space.”

Prior to the start of the CAB meeting, Music for Seniors, a music organization, serenaded clients with their jazz and old-school tunes. The group was originally started by an Oakwood high school student to bond with his grandmother. It now offers seniors weekly concerts and conversations with a high school musician over the phone.

CEO Richard Ayoub led the kitchen tour and showed clients different tidbits of Project Angel Food history like a placemat signed by Betty White and a cake recipe signed by George Michael. Clients were then treated to dinner and a presentation led by Stephens.

The topics of labels and meal appearance, which were mentioned in previous CAB meetings, were discussed again after the introduction of new labels. Stephens also asked clients about the new automated calling and texting feature that was introduced just this week to send a reminder about the CAB meeting.

“We also really wanted to gauge how aware our clients were of the agency's quality assurance measures and Russell [Fairbanks] as our current quality assurance supervisor,” Stephens said. “I really feel like our clients are in good hands with everything Russell has already implemented, not to mention his future work. Based on some of the feedback from our meeting, I think the clients, many of whom came into the event with little previous knowledge of our quality assurance efforts, now share that confidence and appreciation.”

As the CAB meetings continue into the future, Stephens hopes to keep a revolving door of clients both new and old to gain further insight into clients’ ever-growing needs. When the night came to an end, Stephens described it as “incredibly rewarding.”

“Each CAB event presents a new mix of personalities and a fresh conversation dynamic,” Stephens said. “Some groups are easier than others to get them talking. I did overhear them hitting CEO Richard Ayoub with some great questions right from the start as they took their kitchen tour. I love to see that. I really enjoy when I can key in on that one topic or specific question that catches everyone's attention and sparks a 10-minute discussion among the group.”