Press Releases

University Caterers to Benefit from New Supplier Partnership

6th August 2007

University caterers will have greater access to management systems that can help run their business more smoothly, following a new partnership between two suppliers, Fretwell-Downing Hospitality (FDH) and Counter Solutions.
 
Hospitality management software system supplier FDH has appointed Counter Solutions, a leading provider of cashless and card-based systems to the university and hospitality sectors, as a partner and distributor. 
 
Through the partnership, Counter Solutions will exclusively promote to its clients the FDH Saffron Spice software management system, and will have exclusive sales rights for the software into the UK university sector.
 
Saffron Spice is a modular system covering multi-site stock control with full purchase, production and sales control modules and detailed management reporting. Full nutritional analysis routines are also available, together with interfaces to third party finance, HR and e-procurement systems.
 
After a detailed market survey of back office software, Counter Solutions, which has recently invested heavily in a new generation of web-based cashless systems, decided to expand its portfolio further with Saffron Spice as a complementary and high quality system that helps caterers work even smarter in a competitive environment.
 
John Norton, Commercial Director for Counter Solutions, commented “The addition of Saffron Spice to our product portfolio provides another, ‘best of breed’ application to both future and existing clients, whilst enabling us to focus on the continuing development of our core cashless applications.  This dual strategy will provide clients a further opportunity to access the unique business benefits this mix of products can provide.”
 
Charles Mobbs, Managing Director of Fretwell-Downing Hospitality Limited added: “We look forward to working with Counter Solutions, and are delighted that they have endorsed the Saffron Spice system as the best stock management system available in the marketplace. The combination of our two systems will represent an incredibly strong offer in many market sectors.”

 

London Borough of Newham - Gears up with Saffron Nutrition

20th August 2007

               

 
London Borough of Newham Catering and Cleaning Services has invested in a computerised nutritional analysis system to ensure that the borough’s school meals will meet the next stage of the Government’s nutritional standards.
 
The nutrient standards, which set 14 targets that meals must meet over a five-day period, are due to come into force in Primary Schools in September 2008 and a year later in Secondary Schools.
 
To ensure they are meeting the targets well in advance, Newham Catering Services will be using the Saffron Nutrition analysis system from this September to plan menus that satisfy the stringent requirements.  
 
The department is also working in partnership with the School Food Trust to look at how Secondary School meal providers will fare when it comes to planning menus that meet the nutrient standards. Saffron Nutrition will play an integral role in the project by providing the analysis and benchmarking of menus.
 
The nutritional analysis programme has been adapted by provider Fretwell-Downing Hospitality to coordinate with the Borough’s ‘Traffic Light’ system that colour codes the school meals so that children can make more informed, healthier choices.
 
Saffron Nutrition will not only report on the levels of the 14 nutrients, but also flag up clearly whether a certain dish meets the red, amber or green traffic light for specific parameters such as fat, sugar or salt content.
 
Anne Ledgley, Area Manager for Secondary Schools Catering, for Newham Catering Services comments: “We elected to use Saffron Nutrition as it was best suited to the work we had to carry out. We have already attained high standards for our school meals, but to meet the nutrient standards we needed to scrutinise the content of each dish to such an exacting level that it made sense to invest in a computerised system.
 
“The system will really come into its own when we look at the Secondary school menus as they are much more complex than the Primary school choices and will involve an extremely high degree of analysis.”
 
Each day 15,000 meals are prepared, cooked and served to Primary pupils and 5,000 Secondary students within the London Borough of Newham.
 

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