Tips from Trestle: The Senior Living Food and Hospitality Podcast

How does a senior living community build a brand families trust before they ever tour? Aaron Fish talks with Sara Mitchell, now COO and CMO of the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame, about branding, rebranding, and authentic marketing. Recorded live while Sara was president and co-founder of a senior living marketing agency, the episode covers Google reviews and SEO, boomers turning 80, tour-day hospitality, rebrand mistakes, recruiting, website and Facebook metrics, lead forms, consistent messaging, and resident ambassadors. A practical listen for senior living marketers, executive directors, sales teams, and operators.
Tips from Trestle is sponsored by: WiseOx AI, Link Consulting, Dining With Dementia, & The 100% Leader

What if a better end-of-life experience in senior living begins long before someone’s final days?
Aaron Fish sits down with Heather Holmes, co-founder of The Vibe, a nature-inspired dementia care home in Gretna, Nebraska. Heather brings experience in senior living, therapeutic recreation, and death doula work to a candid discussion about dementia care, family conversations, and the way communities support caregivers through grief.
They explore how The Vibe plans to use gardens, natural light, music, food, and a quieter daily rhythm to create a sense of home. Heather also explains why she wants teams to learn each person’s story early, talk openly about end-of-life wishes, and give families room to ask difficult questions.
The conversation ends with a practical challenge for senior living operators: get clear on what you believe about aging, caregiving, and death—then ask your team what they believe. A thoughtful listen for leaders in memory care, assisted living, hospitality, and family support.
TFT is sponsored by WiseOx AI, LINK Consulting, Dining With Dementia, & The 100% Leader

Why do capable senior living leaders become overwhelmed, reactive, and stuck answering every question?
In this episode of Tips from Trestle, Aaron Fish sits down with Jill Valdez, Founder and COO of Link Consulting, to explore one of senior living’s most pressing operational challenges: leadership clarity.
Jill explains why a strong caregiver, department head, or marketer is not automatically prepared to become an executive director—and what organizations must do to help emerging leaders succeed. Together, Aaron and Jill unpack how unclear roles, weak delegation, and inconsistent accountability affect team culture, employee engagement, resident satisfaction, family trust, occupancy, and financial performance.
You’ll hear practical strategies for:
Delegating without losing control
Setting clear decision-making guardrails
Building accountability through standups, shift handoffs, and KPIs
Developing department leaders instead of creating bottlenecks
Connecting leadership behavior to resident experience
Diagnosing the gap between today’s reality and a thriving community vision

A must-listen for executive directors, regional operators, owners, clinical leaders, hospitality professionals, and anyone building stronger senior living teams.

Can AI make senior living feel more personal, not less?
In this episode of Tips From Trestle, host Aaron Fish talks with Lance Bell, CEO and Chief AI Officer of ServingIntel, about how senior living communities are killing pen-and-paper workflows and building unified AI operating systems for dining, housekeeping, retail, and maintenance. Aaron and Lance explore how proactive AI check-ins let caregivers walk into a resident's room already knowing about her recent yoga class or an overcooked breakfast — turning small moments into major trust builders. They also cover in-room pre-ordering, voice-AI order taking, real-time AI satisfaction surveys, and how eliminating operational friction directly impacts NOI, staffing, and resident quality of life. A practical, candid conversation for senior living operators exploring AI, hospitality technology, and resident experience strategy. Learn more about ServingIntel at servingintel.com.

What happens when a two-time James Beard semifinalist brings restaurant systems into senior living dining? Host Aaron Fish sits down with Steven Cameron, VP of Culinary Experience at Trestle Hospitality Concepts, to break down the four complaints every dining room hears — and which ones are solvable with equipment and SOPs versus culture and training.
Steven shares the real story of clocking a 28-minute table greet, then using host stands, back waiters, server sections, and reservations to cut dinner service from two and a half hours to 52 minutes, with residents helping shape the change. They also cover point-of-sale systems senior living operators overlook, how to adapt fine dining structures for assisted living and memory care, and how a standardized catering program can become an unexpected revenue stream.
Connect with Steven at trestlehospitalityconcepts.com or scameron@trestlehc.com.
Tips from Trestle is sponsored by: WiseOx AI, Dining with Dementia Workshop, and the 100% Leader.
Keywords: senior living dining, restaurant efficiency, hospitality leadership, point-of-sale systems, resident experience, dining room service, senior living operations, culinary leadership.