Case Studies

CONTROLLING CATERING PROFITABILITY IN THE FACE OF SPIRALLING COSTS

 

There’s no doubting it, it’s tough out there! Faced with spiralling food inflation and rocketing fuel prices, the current environment is conspiring against those at the forefront of keeping a tight rein on catering’s profitability.

 

For university catering operations managers, who can be responsible for maintaining a healthy margin at as many as 50 outlets across different campuses, having an accurate handle on costs and selling price at any one time is, today, becoming even more crucial.

 

However the process of retrieving the right information at the right time can be quite an undertaking, depending as much on staff entering the data promptly and comprehensively, as well as being able to pull up the relevant reports.

 

Therefore having a management information facility that automates much of the work by benchmarking against key performance indicators and maintains a running tally on other important business intelligence such as stock levels, can be a godsend, particularly if the system also makes it easier for the data to be inputted and analysed.

 

Fretwell-Downing Hospitality (FDH) is a market-leader in the provision of management information systems. As well as supplying more than 100 local authorities with management and nutritional analysis systems across the country, FDH is already working with a number of universities including Sheffield Hallam, York and Canterbury in the provision of Saffron Spice to provide ‘real-time’ information and tailored reports.

 

Saffron Spice is geared to provide detailed line-by-line data including full stock management, purchase order management, recipe and menu management, production planning and control, staff time and attendance, sales data capture/EPOS, and forecasting.

 

Further modules can also be added to provide a comprehensive nutritional analysis for all bought-in products and dishes produced on-site, with reports that can benchmark the nutrient content against set parameters to achieve a balanced menu.

 

Importantly Saffron Spice interfaces not only with an organisation’s financial system, but also EPOS and cashless catering systems.

 

This enables university catering staff to have an immediate insight into how much food has been made, how much has been sold and at what price, and the percentage wastage.

 

Once a university has decided to invest in a management information system, FDH ensures that a close working partnership is maintained so that the system is set up to produce exactly the reports and information that are needed by the client.

 

As FDH’s sales director Andrew Markwell explains: “Our approach is to listen closely to what the client is aiming to achieve rather than simply installing an off-the-peg, one-system-suits-all solution, as each university catering situation will be different.

 

“University catering is a complex business, not least with the need to appeal to a diverse customer base and the ongoing pressure to successfully compete with the High Street offers.

 

“Therefore with this in mind, it really pays for caterers to know exactly what the state-of-play is with their own business and be able to use that information to make informed and prompt decisions to help retain profitability.”

 

For further information, please contact: Andrew Markwell, sales director, Fretwell-Downing Hospitality on 077859 01284 or email: andrew.markwell@fdhospitality.com