Chefs for Seniors serves personalized meals in Tacoma and Olympia

After Ray Sprinkle suffered a heart attack almost two years ago, he found himself switching to a strict low-sodium diet — one that became hard to maintain as he relied on the food served at the dining facility in his retirement home.

Sprinkle and his wife have lived in three different retirement communities in the past few years but made the decision to move into a house three months ago because of the food.

“We moved out of the retirement community because of the food … because you cannot control the diet. And we’ve been at three different retirement communities in the South Sound area, and… they can have great food, but you have no control over what it is or how it’s prepared,” he said.

Sprinkle and his wife now rent a house in Lakewood where they have hired Chefs for Seniors to provide personalized home-made meals tailored to their needs.

A growing company

The company was founded in Madison, Wisconsin, but has grown to serve over 90 communities across the country, including Tacoma and Olympia.

According to Mary King, the owner of Chefs for Seniors’ Tacoma and Olympia franchise, chefs tailor each meal to their clients’ needs, consulting dietitians and other health professionals clients might be working with.

“We fully customize our menu to suit their dietary concerns. All of our recipes have been reviewed by a registered dietitian, so we know that they can meet these requirements,” King said.

“And we’re also able to work with any direct nutritionist that the client… works with if they have specific concerns… We’re able to tailor everything so that they’re getting the nutrients that they need, specifically for their body and their health.”

The service has already built a community of 82 clients in the Tacoma and Olympia area, not including the local events for seniors which Chefs for Seniors also caters.

King said Chefs for Seniors home cooking is priced by service such as how many people they are feeding and whether the chefs must travel out of their service area to accommodate the client, but King said Chefs for Seniors still works to keep their services affordable.

“We are very affordable. And a lot of people ... their long-term care insurance will reimburse them the cost of our service,” she said. “And so I think that that’s the biggest hurdle, is people knowing that there, that the service exists and that it is something within their reach.”

What the chefs think

For many chefs, the experience of cooking for seniors is enjoyable.

According to chef Aaron Henderson, Chefs for Seniors gives clients the power of choice.

“You have the power to choose what ingredients you’re using. Some people want what’s cheapest. Some people want, you know, organic. It’s completely tailorable up to each individual’s preference to meet their needs.”

But cooking is only half of the joy. Henderson said he also enjoys exchanging stories with his clients and learning more about them.

“I do enjoy learning people’s stories. A lot of times the clients, especially my first visit there, they’ll sit at the counter and ask questions about my history, and they’ll tell me, you know, a little bit, where they came from, where they were raised, what career they had.

“… And a lot of them have really full and rich stories to share. Yeah, and at times it feels like they really need somebody to share it with, and they don’t have many opportunities to do so.”

For King and her team, the purpose of their work is to fuel independence through adequate nutrition.

“Food is basically, it’s the structure for everything in life. You know, proper nutrition fuels independence for senior communities,” King said.

“Our motto is improving seniors’ lives through food. And I genuinely believe that that’s what we do.”

This story was originally published August 5, 2025 at 5:00 AM.