Mater Hospital Brisbane

A Luke Mangan & Company Partner

The chance to change

I jumped at the chance to change the concept of hospital food when Mater Hospitals first approached me to adapt a series of restaurant dishes for patients with a range of health and dietary conditions. 

Mater in Brisbane is known for its innovation when it comes to food, having been the first hospital in Australia to introduce a room-service model in 2013 that allows patients to order what they want to eat, and have it delivered to their bedside.

This partnership, however, took patient food choices to a whole new level with dishes like Tandoori salmon with curried lentils and raita, Middle eastern lamb with pomegranate tabouleh and gooey chocolate hazelnut tart.

I worked closely with Mater’s Nutrition and Food Services Director Sally McCray and Mater Executive Chef Aman Marwah for about a year tweaking sugar, salt and fat levels in a range of entrees, mains and desserts and launched the first menu to patients in March 2021.  

“Our Luke Mangan menus have been a huge success with our patients – they get to order tasty, healthy restaurant quality meals from their bedside at a time of their choosing,” said Ms McCray. “We know nutritional intake improves when patients have the chance to eat what and when they want and we also see much less waste.”

There’s much more to come in this partnership too – new seasonal menus, a herb and vegetable garden and more. Watch this space!