eMenuCHOICE
By Lyngblomsten
eMenuCHOICE is a premier technology provider in the senior living and long-term care hospitality space. Unlike typical SaaS startups, eMenuCHOICE has deep institutional roots, having been developed by Lyngblomsten, a renowned non-profit senior care organization based in St. Paul, Minnesota. This unique pedigree means the software was built in a 'living lab' where developers worked alongside actual caregivers and residents to solve the real-world problems of paper-based dining systems. Today, the company serves as a strategic partner to hundreds of communities across North America, ranging from standalone assisted living facilities to massive multi-campus Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRCs). Their market position is defined by a commitment to 'person-centered care,' where technology serves to enhance human interaction rather than replace it. By focusing exclusively on the senior living niche, eMenuCHOICE has developed a reputation for clinical accuracy and financial robustness that general restaurant POS systems cannot match. The company continues to lead through innovation in resident safety and operational efficiency, maintaining a strong focus on interoperability with other healthcare software ecosystems.
The eMenuCHOICE story began in 2012 when Matt Stenerson, a technology leader with extensive experience in complex software development, partnered with Lyngblomsten, a non-profit senior living provider with a history dating back to 1906. The initial goal was to solve a specific pain point: the high error rate and communication lag inherent in paper-based meal ordering within their care center. Stenerson and the Lyngblomsten team spent years refining the application in a real clinical environment before it was ready for external use. In 2015, the product received significant industry validation when it won the LeadingAge Minnesota 'Leading Change Innovation Award.' This milestone marked the official transition from an internal tool to a commercial product offered to the broader senior living market. Since then, Matt Stenerson has served as the company's CEO and CTO, guiding its evolution from a skilled nursing solution to a comprehensive hospitality platform that supports the entire continuum of senior care. The company’s founding philosophy remains centered on the idea that mealtime is the highlight of a resident's day and deserves the highest level of technological support to ensure safety and dignity.
Unlike many high-growth SaaS companies that rely on traditional venture capital rounds, eMenuCHOICE has maintained a unique financial structure as a product developed and owned by a non-profit organization (Lyngblomsten). This means that its development was initially funded through internal investment and revenue from the parent organization’s operations, rather than external Series A or B rounds. This self-sustaining model has allowed the company to focus on long-term resident outcomes and product quality rather than short-term VC-driven growth metrics. While specific private investment rounds are not publicly disclosed in the same manner as Silicon Valley startups, the product's expansion has been fueled by its own commercial success and the reinvestment of profits back into R&D. The stability provided by the century-old Lyngblomsten foundation gives eMenuCHOICE a unique financial staying power and a focus on mission-driven technology that is rare in the competitive POS software market. This lack of traditional 'exit pressure' allows them to maintain a dedicated focus on the niche senior living sector.
The eMenuCHOICE product suite is built around a centralized Cloud-based platform with several integrated modules. The core offering is the Point of Sale (POS) application, typically deployed on iPads, which provides servers with real-time access to resident profiles, dietary restrictions, and meal plan credits. Complementing the POS is the 'Online Access' portal, a resident and family-facing web interface that allows for remote meal browsing, order placement, and account history reviews. For the culinary team, the platform offers 'FreshMenus™,' a content library of nutritionally balanced, seasonal recipes and menus that can be pushed to the POS with a few clicks. The 'Billing & Reporting' engine is another critical module, handling the complex logic of various meal plan types (e.g., daily credits, declining balances) and providing executive-level analytics on revenue capture and food waste. Additionally, the platform offers a 'Delivery & Ancillary Services' module, which expands the POS functionality to non-dining locations like in-house salons or gift shops, allowing residents to use their meal plans or personal accounts campus-wide.
eMenuCHOICE has followed a strategic expansion path focused on the North American senior living market. Starting from its home base in Minnesota, the company has grown its footprint to serve hundreds of communities across the United States and Canada. This geographic growth has been supported by a series of high-profile partnerships with major senior living operators such as Civitas Senior Living, Ebenezer, and New Perspective. The company's expansion strategy is heavily centered on technological interoperability; by building robust integrations with the primary Electronic Health Record (EHR) providers used in North America (like Yardi and PointClickCare), eMenuCHOICE has been able to quickly enter new regions where these systems are the standard. While they have not established physical offices in the GCC or Asian markets, their cloud-native infrastructure allows them to support communities remotely across the continent. Future expansion plans include deeper integration with health data analytics to provide even more predictive insights into resident wellness through dining habits.
In the last 12-18 months, eMenuCHOICE has introduced several significant enhancements aimed at modernizing the resident experience and optimizing staff efficiency. A major recent release included the 'Online Access' family portal, which was accelerated by the needs of the COVID-19 pandemic to allow families to stay connected to their loved ones' nutritional habits. They also launched FreshMenus™, a subscription-based recipe and menu library that helps culinary directors combat 'menu fatigue' and reduce administrative prep time. Another critical update was the enhancement of their billing engine to support 'declining and inclining balance' accounts more dynamically, reflecting the industry shift toward more flexible, restaurant-style meal plans. Technologically, the platform has improved its offline sync capabilities for iPads, ensuring that service is not interrupted during brief Wi-Fi outages in large concrete facilities. They also recently expanded their API suite to allow for deeper, bi-directional data flow with emerging resident engagement apps and smart-room technologies.
The culture at eMenuCHOICE is a unique blend of high-tech innovation and non-profit care values. Because the company was birthed within a senior care provider (Lyngblomsten), employees are deeply connected to the social mission of improving the lives of older adults. The work environment is described as collaborative and purpose-driven, with a strong emphasis on 'empathy-led design.' This means that developers often spend time in dining rooms observing how staff and residents interact with the software. The company values transparency, safety, and resident dignity above all else. They maintain a lean, agile team structure that allows for rapid response to customer feedback, which is a point of pride for the organization. There is also a strong emphasis on education; employees are encouraged to become experts not just in the software, but in the evolving regulations of the senior living industry (such as HIPAA and state-level assisted living mandates), ensuring that every team member can act as a consultant for their clients.
eMenuCHOICE actively fosters a vibrant community of senior living professionals through various engagement initiatives. They are a frequent presence at major industry conferences, such as those hosted by LeadingAge and the Senior Dining Association (SDA). The company produces a wealth of educational content, including the 'Tips from Trestle' podcast collaborations and a series of white papers in partnership with Senior Housing News, focusing on topics like 'Senior Living Dining POS Essentials.' They also host regular webinars to educate operators on managing dining charges and navigating new state regulations. This commitment to thought leadership has created a community of users who see eMenuCHOICE as a resource for best practices in hospitality, not just a software vendor. While they do not have a public user forum, they maintain close-knit 'customer success' relationships and frequently facilitate peer-to-peer knowledge sharing among their executive-level clients through private roundtables and case study collaborations.
