Food is a Terrible Thing to Waste; Part 2

In part one of our blog series, we looked at the prevalent issue of food waste and the overall contributions from K-12 schools. Though schools are only responsible for 1-2% of all food waste in the US, the overall impact is still huge and costing NSLP-participating school’s budgets by over $1 billion dollars.

Combating food waste is no easy feat, but luckily having the right software in your hands can help you tackle this issue one small step at a time. In this week’s blog, we’ll take a look at some of the different software features within PrimeroEdge to help you cut back on food waste and money waste.

Create Efficient Production Plans and Records

If you’re looking for easy ways to cut back on food waste, look no further than the production module which was specifically designed to help you plan better by providing you with multiple forecasting tools and the ability to track leftovers and waste. Not to mention, it can help save you tremendous amounts of time with one-click autofill features.

The forecasting report included in this module allows users to see historical information of items previously served at your sites and offers suggested counts so that you can avoid wasting food at the end of your serving period. If you do end up with leftovers, the production module easily lets you track those items to be carried over to a future date or return any items back to your shelves!

The Production module is perfect to help your sites avoid producing any unpopular items just for them to go to waste. It can help you cut out the guesswork with usage reports, which in turn will help you save money!

Track Inventory Counts

There are many great benefits when using the inventory module in PrimeroEdge, but when it comes to food waste – tracking your perpetual inventory is an extremely helpful way to track your items as they move through the system. For example, you would be able to strategically plan your menus based on any items you need to use soon. This way you avoid spoilage and avoid losing money.

When tied with Production, the inventory module can actually generate an order for you based on the items you need and what items you have already used. This can help you prevent any over-ordering that may be taking place in your district, and help keep money in your pockets.

As an added bonus, this module includes inventory scanning – so that you no longer need to print your count sheets which will help you cut back on paper usage and costs.

Utilize POS Reports

POS/ExpressPoint is great for tracking meals and helping you generate your reimbursement claims report. But did you know that it offers several other reports to help you cut costs? One of our favorites is the Menu Item Sales report. This report will break down which Menu Items you are actually selling so you can start evaluating what’s popular and what’s not. This report can be drilled down by site or meal-type and can also display either meals, a la carte items, or both!

Speaking of a la carte items, did you know that PrimeroEdge’s POS can actually communicate your a la carte sales to the inventory module? It’s true! Gone are the days where you have to generate a report to see the a la carte items you’ve sold and figure out if you need to order more. Now you can go straight to inventory and withdraw those items in two simple clicks!