Join us in the kitchen with Executive Chef Matt Love
Springmoor’s Executive Chef Matt Love originally hails from Portland, Maine, which explains his fondness for clam chowder. He has been cooking professionally from more than two and half decades, and for 14+ of those years, he has been the highest-ranking chef in the kitchen.
Executive chefs are responsible for the overall management and operation of the kitchen. This includes many complex tasks; among them are menu planning, staff management, ensuring food quality and safety, and inventory control.
Fortunately for our community, Matt is not a chef who hides out in his kitchen. He says, “You need to be a people-person” to be a great chef at Springmoor.
After serving a year as an army cook in Iraq, Matt spent 14 years in Washington, DC as the chef in a facility for retirees from the armed forces and the federal government. In 2022, a prior work associate invited Matt to visit North Carolina to consider a position with Springmoor—and the rest is history.
Matt saw Springmoor as a chance to broaden people’s ideas of what food is all about. Most of our residents prefer the Southern style of cooking many of them grew up with, and about 60% of the food coming out of Chef Matt’s kitchen is prepared in the Southern style. But Chef Matt looks for opportunities to give residents new dishes, as well as variations on their old favorites.
Matt visits the dining rooms frequently, and when he sees that residents have finished their meals, he comes over to chat with them. “I get more joy out of seeing a facial expression than from reading an excerpt from an email or from “Happy or Not?’” Matt says. “I like it when my food puts a smile on people’s faces.”
Each day, residents can provide “Happy or Not?” reports to the Dining Services Department. These reports indicate residents’ satisfaction level with the four dining areas at Springmoor: North Village Dining Room, South Village Dining Room, the Bistro, and the Garden Café. In the report, the percentage of positive and negative feedback is broken out for each of these areas.
Residents also have other ways to communicate with Matt about food. He restarted tours of the kitchen to allow them to witness the incredible behind-the-scenes operations as the Dining Services team prepares delicious food for nearly 600 people every day. He is also providing monthly “Chef Demos,” which he is using this year to focus on nutrition and healthy meals.
We are very fortunate to have Chef Matt here at Springmoor! The chef-prepared meals residents receive are, of course, central to the services we provide. One full-service meal a day is included in the independent living monthly service package, and we also can accommodate many physician-requested special diets.
Chef Matt Love says: “My Name Is My Acronym”
L – Learn your craft. “If you love something, you learn about it. It takes years of experience in a variety of settings to get the knowledge and skills you need to be a great chef in a community like Springmoor.”
O – Obsess about it. “Being a chef can’t be something you do casually. You need to take it seriously and devote yourself to the craft.”
V – Value what you do. “You must appreciate the importance of your service and the food products you provide to your community. It is a major part of their lives.”
E – Educate others. “An important part of the chef’s job is to teach other people in the kitchen how to create excellent meals. The chef should teach every person in his kitchen the secrets to great cooking. The goal is for everyone in your kitchen to be able to make everything on the menu equally well.”
Quotables from Chef Matt Love
Chef Matt’s guiding principle: “Don’t overthink it. Make food that people want.”
“People can always tell when you care about food.”
“You get a certain kind of joy when someone bites into something and it kind of ‘wows’ them.”
“We need food to survive…. You need food more than you need medicine at times…. Food is a natural healer.”
Contact Us Today to Schedule Your Visit?
Springmoor is a nonprofit Continuing Care Retirement Community offering seniors a variety of residence options that range from apartments to larger villas and homes. If you’re looking for an active senior living community in Raleigh, call us at 919-848-7080 with your questions.
You can also click here to fill out a short online form to receive a free packet of information or schedule an appointment for a personalized tour. Our friendly team looks forward to meeting you soon!
Are you interested in becoming part of Springmoor’s exceptional team? Visit the careers page of our website to view our current job openings and apply online.
