Review of Restaurant Software by Quick Service Restaurant Magazine

This article is an excerpt from a review of menu software by QSR Magazine

Food Service Solutions, Inc. boasts satisfied customers nationwide with its FOODCO software. FOODCO is a comprehensive program that includes not only menu planning, but also inventory, purchasing and receiving. The program is suitable for fast-food, fast casuals, fine dining, K-12, college/university and corporate use in single or multi-unit operations.

Installation of the software is quick and the user interface is clean. Graphical icons are easy to interpret, navigation is simplistic and the program offers a built-in help function. There are plenty of short cuts and advanced capabilities for experienced users.

FOODCO helps you determine how much finished product you'll need to meet customer demand based on historical estimates and how much inventory you need on hand to hit the targets. For example, managers can estimate how many tomatoes to cut, how many heads of lettuce to chop and how many burgers to have on hand for any given time period. Experts say this is a much-needed function that helps managers stay on budget and turn a profit in hectic food service operations by forecasting what tasks need to be performed, what ingredients are needed and at what cost.

The recipe module is attractive because it automates mundane functions that free up management to focus on other pressing issues. This program views foodservice as a manufacturing process where every food item is raw material that will be part of a larger product. Using this function, managers can automatically adjust quantities of ingredients and perform advanced conversions with a few clicks while also displaying the cost of each quantity. As with all other functions of this program, historical data is recorded to help you make smarter decisions during the next budget period.

"Good programs are modular. You need an inventory system that is set up as purchased versus edible portion so you can do yield tests on every recipe," says Marie Shurer, president of Culinary Connections, a foodservice consultancy in Chicago. "You need exact costs on every product in order to calculate the cost per portion or meal by dollar and then the retail price at what margin.

" If you are introducing new items to the menu, then the program will automatically suggest your menu prices based on ideal percentages. FOODCO even allows the assignment of what utensils should be used when serving the product which decreases employee training time.

FOODCO also has reporting functions that do the heavy lifting for you. You can make decisions on how many staff to bring on depending on budgets, serving costs and meal costs. Other handy features include an online built in calculator that supports the use of positive and negative numbers. There is also a built-in safeguard to insure the integrity of the database and reports.

Photos, videos and sounds can be added to the database, which can also hand non-food items like paper, china, etc. Schurer said tracking packaging is an important feature: "You need to track packaging costs for everything. Packaging today can get expensive."

Graphing meals allows you to isolate high-cost times on the menu and make adjustments during the planning stages. This is important because changing a portion from eight ounces to six ounces may seem like a small change and may only save you a nickel. But when you simply that by the number of meals served it adds up quickly.

"What if the price of lettuce goes up? If 50 percent of your concept is a salad bar, then that impacts your menu prices. If your program does not flag vendor price increases, then you could be losing money, says Schurer. "You have to rethink whether you will still offer that item on the menu, offer it at a higher price, change some of the ingredients to try to bring the cost down or offer the item in a smaller portion to keep the menu price in line."

The features and functions of this program go on and on to help you decrease food and labor costs to make bottom line impacts. FOODCO was the best all-around program in the lot.

Download FOODCO Here!

Food Service Solutions, Inc.
1227 Eleventh Avenue
Altoona, PA 16601
Phone: 814-949-2037
FAX: (814) 941-7572

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Toll Free Phone: 800-425-1425
Email: Sales@foodserve.com

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