CALCMENU Blog

CALCMENU: The Secret to Recipe Consistency

2013-05-15T16:50:00.000+08:00

Consistency. One cannot overemphasize the need for consistency in the single most important asset in the food industry— recipes. As the key channel to consumers, recipes must be consistent not only in ingredients and keywords but also in template and format across all brands and markets so as to maintain a standardized quality that is in line with the reputation of the company. In fact, there exists an emerging need for multinational consumer goods companies to have a centralized recipe management database which will be of aid in making their recipe information freely and universally available to consumers. This is where EGS CALCMENU, one of the world leaders in foodservice software development, comes into play.

Leading multinationals have sought professional help from EGS Enggist and Grandjean Software SA vis-à-vis their global recipe management concerns. Fusing technology with culinary expertise, EGS has been the go-to company of over a million of satisfied users and approximately 50,000 chefs from all over the globe when it comes to standardization of foodservice, food production, recipe website marketing, and brand management of the foodservice industries. The most popular solution to date, CALCMENU Web, the recipe management software developed by EGS, particularly caters to the needs of consumer brands multinationals pertinent to issues with managing, collating and globalizing recipe data.

CALCMENU Web is ideal for companies with multiple locations. With CALCMENU, recipes are centralized on one server, ensuring standardization and consistency in quality— which companies may now use as a tool for marketing products to their consumers. Another benefit brought about by CALCMENU Web is content curation, defined as amassing content and delivering it in an organized fashion, which is a marketing staple nowadays for companies with a successful online presence. This paves way for making recipe syndication to mobile applications and social networking sites achievable. With CALCMENU Web, creating and maintaining consumer sites can be done efficiently and effectively.

Aside from advanced brand website management, CALCMENU Web leads to optimized operations at minimum costs, with a reduction in management costs by approximately 15%. Some of the amazing key features of CALCMENU Web include automatic recipe costing and nutrient value calculation, multiple versions of recipes for comparisons, recipe resizing for different numbers of servings, translation of languages and characters as recipes are localized with appropriate currency applicable, imposed costs and nutrients, and suggested selling price automatically based on targeted food cost % or profit margin.

Truly with CALCMENU Web, recipes are stored, organized and presented in the most palatable of forms.

2013-01-16T09:17:00.001+08:00

Enggist & Grandjean Software SA, developer of the CALCMENU Recipe Management Software Solutions, launches the new Recipecenter.com, an extensive collection of recipes from around the world -- from amateur to professional chefs and site members who may rate and review recipes online. Our aim is to provide continued customer satisfaction, guaranteed company credibility, and great recipes for you and your families, whenever and wherever you may be. We are solely dedicated to gather, collect and share only the best recipe ideas that will surely tickle your interests!

The website also features different recipes everyday on the home page, ranging from simple to complex and classic to modern to challenge and enhance your current cooking skills. If you are a chef/cook, a culinary student, both starters and pros - or maybe just about anyone who loves food, we invite you to join and enjoy the goodness of healthy, easy-to-make yet fantastic recipes, only here at RecipeCenter.com!

FIND recipes by name, category, or even by specific ingredients

POST your own recipes online

ADD your favorites to your collection

SHARE recipes on social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest

PRINT and make a copy of your most favorite recipes

FILTER out recipes by two options, Bookmarks and Videos

With ONLINE-RECIPE RESIZING - this automatically calculates ingredient measurements for each recipe according to the desired yield information users input.

ATTENTION: End-of-life for Recipecenter Software (RCS)

EGS has discontinued development of Recipecenter Software (RCS) for Windows. You can still use RCS if you still wish to do so.

For customers who purchased a license, we will continue to provide support until May 2013.

You may still download the latest installer of RCS here:

English - RecipeCenter Software
Français - Logiciel Centrerecettes
Deutsch - Rezeptzentrum Software

Kiosk for CALCMENU

2013-01-15T13:24:00.002+08:00

The Kiosk for CALCMENU is the latest solution from EGS. It allows foodservice professionals like chefs, culinary arts students, caterers, F&B Managers and other food enthusiasts to share their recipes in CALCMENU with any PC and even via mobile. The Kiosk for CALCMENU can be viewed on any PC with an Internet browser (Windows, Macintosh, Android, etc.) and even on smartphone (iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows Phone, BlackBerry, etc.). The Kiosk is secure and private as it requires a login. Your login details in the EGS Website, which are associated with your CALCMENU product keys and serial number, are used as your login details in the Kiosk for CALCMENU.

The Kiosk for CALCMENU is available to clients of EGS CALCMENU with valid EGS Support and Update Plan.

Our latest version also works on Windows 8!

EGS CALCMENU Software Review

2013-01-14T14:49:00.000+08:00

The food industry professionals understand that it is certainly imperative to use a software for food and recipe management with other information that goes along each item and ingredient. It would nearly impossible to accomplish without using software, though it may still seem as a challenge for some to deal with technical basics. In reality, most chefs would still rather enjoy cooking and preparation rather than organizing recipe collections with a software that confuses the technical with their cooking functionality and artistry.

Recipe software should therefore be easy and pleasant to use, eliminating the challenge of actually entering data and optimizing the information of the stored data. CALCMENU is a software that makes it very convenient with more features to offer: shopping lists, automated recipe calculation, exportation of recipes to an external web service, unit conversion, etc.

EGS has developed CALCMENU - a suite of Recipe and Back Office Management Solution for the foodservice professionals who need to control their food costs, keep track of their inventory levels and costs and at the same time, keep the standards and quality of their menus. To be able to achieve our goal of gaining and retaining valuable customers, we have created a survey on our customer satisfaction that can assist in decision making, developing strategies, identifying strengths and weaknesses to bring out the best of our products.

This summary is a tool for identifying the most frequently used features of CALCMENU according to its users as well as their recommendations towards better recipe management software.

Frequently Used CALCMENU Features

Based on the gathered results, it can be concluded that most users enjoy using the CALCMENU software because of these two notable recipe management features:
(a) RECIPE COSTING – accurate and up-to-date costing of merchandise items to calculate profitable selling prices; (b) RECIPE STANDARDIZATION – centralized and standardized recipe enabled for different regions to effectively create and manage various kinds of recipes.

Recommended Features for CALCMENU

The report also reveals a higher percentage of CALCMENU users who would like to access their recipes and shopping lists through an iPad/iPhone or any other mobile devices. Meanwhile MENU ENGINEERING, a feature which allows the users to have sensible decisions in recipe costing as it analyzes the profitability of the menus, comes next in line among other recommendations. Once your recipes are stored in the system, there are numerous features you can use and above all, you have made your collection easily accessible. As the leading web solutions provider in the industry, with 24 years on its label, we continue to serve our customers worldwide with our line of recipe software making sure they meet their standards – economic, feature-rich, and user-friendly.

All About CALCMENU Web 2013

2012-12-19T15:59:00.001+08:00

Software and technology has been of great assistance in the daily living of individuals and regular operations of many companies worldwide. In the corporate world, the implementation of different automated software performing their respective purposes plays a significant role on the organization’s innovation and growth. For an instance, data management is one of the important processes in any organization. Well-managed data is a crucial factor that is easily observed when there is optimized productivity and an increase in the company’s efficiency. However, many inconsistencies occur when the organization becomes overwhelmed with great collections of records in several diverse applications. Worse case scenarios such as financial loss and poor company credibility will happen eventually if these inconsistencies are neglected.

Hence, EGS never fails to provide our customers accurate and up-to-date recipe management software for better processes of storing and organizing recipe data. In fact this coming 2013, the developers of the CALCMENU Web Recipe Management Series proudly introduce the upgraded version of CALCMENU Web Professional named CALCMENU Web 2013. This latest enhancement includes the highlighted features of the former software among handful new ones to offer nothing but the most reliable recipe management software catered especially for the foodservice professionals.

Key features which were adapted and improved for CALCMENU Web 2013:

· ADVANCED DATA CONSOLIDATION – With the new CALCMENU Web, users are now able to collate and centralize the recipes of the different brands, sites (or countries), and properties. Likewise, additional data such as brand information, prices, and nutrient information from various organizations can be used to update CALCMENU Web’s merchandise list.

· RECIPE STANDARDIZATION – For better data management, recipe-related data can now be maintained, translated, and standardized properly through the system.

· USEFUL CM WEB FEATURES FOR EXTERNAL CONTENT – CALCMENU WEB has web methods to allow external web sites to search and display recipe details. You can publish recipes and control recipe visibility dates to external websites. Recipes can be shared to all or selected consumer web sites. Consumer websites can be easily created and maintained by utilizing the CALCMENU WEB Service.

· SHOPPING LIST – An enhanced feature of the old CALCMENU Web, recipes can be resized for different numbers of servings and the merchandise quantities, which can be defined in both metric and imperial units, will be computed at the same time.

· RECIPE VERSIONING AND COMPARISON - Users are able to create multiple versions of the recipes, in which they can also compare with other versions to see what data has changed.

· SEARCH FILTER - Full Text Search is now available when searching Merchandise and Recipes, also able to filter within both descriptions

CALCMENU Web 2013 is definitely a promising recipe management program which every foodservice professional must have. Aside from having its new theme of oranges and khakis, warm tones similar to a setting sun, the program is renowned for its user-friendly interface including easy-yet-helpful functions that even software newbies need less training in operating the system. Another reason to enjoy this software is that it guarantees the data stored are safe against potential dangers such as security issues and external threats. With these points stated, EGS ensures better data organization, high-level of security, and user convenience granting specific customer needs in such an economic way and making foodservice businesses one step ahead their competitors.

CALCMENU Cloud – A Sneak Peek to our newest Solution!

2012-11-22T08:58:00.000+08:00

A fun feature of CALCMENU Cloud on the Recipe Module is the Picture Control where the user can add more photos, edit, delete, set default, zoom, and even arrange the food pictures in steps!

Recipe Picture Control- Easily add and browse photos to upload.

Recipe Picture Control (EDIT)- Opens the picture editor to modify the selected picture – rotate, resize, crop, flip, draw text, and more!

Recipe Picture Control (ZOOM IN) - To display a bigger size of the selected image – great for first-time food preparations and when you want to magnify the image.

Recipe Picture Control (ARRANGE) - A pop-up window opens to let the user organize the images’ positions by dragging the image. This can be used as a training tool for showing the procedures step-by step!

EGS CALCMENU Media: Executive Chef Chiquita Gulati

2012-04-04T16:44:00.000+08:00

Loyal EGS CALCMENU user Executive Chef Chiquita Gulati as featured in Fermina North introducing Recipe Management Technology in India!

"Today, the lady, unnerved by the industrials knives, tie up for north India with EGS, one of the leading recipe management software companies in the world."

"Most chefs are still used to cooking by estimates, which should be replaced by standard prcocedures, now that there is a technology for it. "

Executive Chef Chiquita Gulati talked about CALCMENU and EGS.

Notice to the Public

2011-12-09T09:19:00.000+08:00

Discontinuance of business between EGS Enggist & Grandjean Software SA based in St-Blaise, Switzerland and EGS Actwings GmbH with headquarters in France

If you are a client of the EGS Actwings SARL company, or you intend to buy a product from this company for products of EGS Enggist & Grandjean Software (CALCMENU, F&B Control, etc.), we inform you that we have decided to permanently discontinue our commercial relations with the company EGS Actwings SARL and Mr. Olivier Queutelot. This company no longer has the authorization to resell EGS products.

Any orders or payments made after November 17, 2011 to EGS Actwings SARL for a product of EGS Enggist & Grandjean Software SA will not be honored by EGS Enggist & Grandjean Software. Please directly contact EGS Enggist & Grandjean Software SA for any new purchase or support renewal.

If you have a support and update contract which is still valid, we will provide technical support and updates until the end of the contract.

EGS Actwings SARL remains responsible for the implementation of ongoing projects. EGS Enggist & Grandjean Software SA will resume support of such projects once they are completely implemented by EGS Actwings SARL.

We will do everything possible so that this change in no way affects the use of our software for your company, and we guarantee you quality after-sales service.

Thank you for your understanding.

For any questions, please contact us directly via info@eg-software.com & www.eg-software.com/info.request.aspx.

Igeho 2011 – a success for CALCMENU!

2011-11-29T10:53:00.000+08:00

CALCMENU joined hundreds of exhibitors in the recently concluded Igeho exhibition for international food, catering and hospitality companies held in Basel, Switzerland. In the 5-day affair of one of Europe’s most important events for the foodservice industry, EGS CALCMENU’s CEO Marc Enggist presented the different EGS solutions to CALCMENU’s visitors as well as showed a sneak peek of CALCMENU’s newest recipe management solution – CALCMENU Cloud. This cloud-based recipe management solution is geared to be formally launched in 2012.

Enggist noted a remarkable number of interested clients and visitors for CALCMENU’s recipe and back office management solutions, as well as its latest solution for 2012 -- CALCMENU Cloud. Many signed up to receive updates and information once this cloud-based solution is launched in the market. CALCMENU Cloud offers convenience on accessibility which is one of the most sought-after features paving the most current direction to the software’s future. Moreover, present strategies are providing customized solutions for medium to large groups of foodservice professionals who need recipe management, menu planning, nutritional analysis and more.

Loyal CALCMENU clients were also welcomed at the booth to update their solutions, with the CEO himself assuring them to expect better before- and after-sales service, prompt customer support and faster delivery of products and information.

Also at Igeho, Mr. Roger Zeender of Kisotec has been appointed as the exclusive Swiss distributor for the German-speaking regions of EGS CALCMENU solutions. Zeender is a Federal Diploma Chef / Production Manager and a Global Master Chef in the World Association of Chef Societies (WACS). His expertise expands EGS’ market across Switzerland and strengthens the training and support base in the country and other parts of the world.

To know more about EGS’ latest offering -- CALCMENU Cloud, visit www.calcmenu.com or e-mail us at info@eg-software.com.

Visit the CALCMENU Booth in Igeho

2011-10-19T15:25:00.001+08:00

Come and visit the CALCMENU booth at the Igeho Expo in Basel, Switzerland!

The CALCMENU booth is in
Hall 2.1/Stand D36. We will be showcasing our different recipe management solutions from November 19-23.

Save the Date!

2011-10-07T08:32:00.002+08:00

CALCMENU will be participating in Igeho, the most important international trade show for hotel and catering industry in Switzerland. Igeho will be held in Basel, Switzerland on November 19-23, 2011. Over 800 exhibitors in different fields such as Food & Drink; Kitchen technology & Cleaning; Delicatessen & Wines; and Restaurant & Hotel Requisites will gather together in Basel for five days.

CALCMENU will join top executives and specialists from the hotel and catering industry in Igeho to give you a sneak peek of its newest and the latest offering to the foodservice industry. Watch out for more details about this exciting new solution from CALCMENU!

How Do I Get Started with CALCMENU? Part 2

2011-07-05T07:59:00.000+08:00

After defining your preferences in Part 1, now it’s time to identify the other information needed in managing your recipes in CALCMENU. You can manage the categories, keywords, sources, taxes, texts, units, yield units, nutrient rules, labor and ingredients.

In Managing the Merchandise List

If you are managing your merchandise list (or ingredients list), I suggest you first create units, categories and suppliers.

Units
Identify which units you will use when creating new merchandise. Go to Configuration> Manage Units. CALCMENU has predefined units which you can already use. Just click the checkboxes of the units you want to use. It’s so easy! If there is a unit that you want to use but is not in the Unit List, you can quickly create a unit by clicking the Add button.

Categories
Categories are terms to classify a group of merchandise, recipes or menus. To create categories, go to Configuration> Manage Categories> Merchandise (Recipe or Menu). You can create categories for merchandise groups (oils, pork, beef, poultry, vegetable, etc.), for recipe collections (appetizers, cookie, meatloaf, salads, soups & stews, etc.) and for types of menus (À la carte, banquets, buffets, table d'hôte, etc.). You can create as many categories as you like. Categories can help you in searching and sorting your merchandise, recipes and menus. If you are creating a dessert menu for a party, you can easily filter your recipes using a category.
Suppliers
Suppliers are the companies or people which provide you with your merchandise. This is where you buy your ingredients from. Go to Supplier> Supplier List. Create suppliers by clicking the Add a supplier button. You can provide all information about your supplier or just provide the required info: Reference name. Like the Categories, you can also use Suppliers in searching merchandise. Just select a supplier from the drop-down list and all merchandise from the selected supplier will be displayed in the search results.

In Managing the Recipe List
If you are managing the recipe list, you first need to create categories, sources, yield units and taxes. These are required information in creating a recipe.

Source
A source refers to the origin of a particular recipe. It can be a chef, a book, magazine, food service company, organization, website, etc. To create a source, go to Configuration> Manage Sources.

Sources can help you in searching recipes. If you want to see which recipes came from a specific source, you can easily do so in CALCMENU. Just select a source from the drop-down list and viola! CALCMENU will automatically display recipes from that source.

Yield UnitA yield unit is the number of servings a particular recipe makes. For example, a recipe for “Chicken parmesan” yields 8 servings. “Servings” is the yield unit of the recipe. To create a yield unit, go to Configuration> Manage Yield Units.

CALCMENU made it easy for you since it has predefined yield units which are available when you create, modify and view a recipe. If you want to limit the yield units being displayed when you create, modify or view a recipe, just click the check boxes of the yield units which you want to be visible. Only these selected yield units will be displayed when selecting a recipe yield unit. If you want to use a yield unit that is not included in the list, click the Add button to start creating yield units.

Taxes
Government imposes tax. Whatever country you are in, there is tax. You shouldn’t forget assigning a tax rate on your merchandise or recipes. Go to Configuration> Manage Taxes. Create taxes by clicking the Add button. You can create several taxes like VAT or GST, sales tax and excise tax.

Now that you have created all the essential information, you can now start with creating merchandise and recipes in CALCMENU.

How Do I Get Started with CALCMENU? Part 1

2011-06-27T14:46:00.000+08:00

After using the online demo of CALCMENU, you decided that it is the recipe management solution you needed and decided to buy CALCMENU. EGS sends you CALCMENU in DVD form together with the user manual. You install CALCMENU in your computer but, you are confused as to where to start.

Here I will explain how to go about in starting to use CALCMENU.

First, you need to configure your CALCMENU. Go to Configuration> Options and Preferences. This is where you set up the basic information you will use in the CALCMENU program itself and in managing your recipes.

The Options dialog box displays the several information that you can configure. You can define your preferences for the general and default information, nutrients, picture, currency, import and contact. Define all the information that you will use in CALCMENU. For example, if you are using English as the language of the program, then select English in the General tab.

Metric or Imperial?If you want to use kilograms, grams, liter as recipe units, select Show metric units (CALCMENU has predefined units). You can also choose the Show imperial units option if you want to use units such as ounce, pound, and pint instead. If you want to use Metric and Imperial units, then click the Show both options. It’s that easy! CALCMENU gives you the freedom to choose which units to use in your merchandise, recipes and menus.

Nutrients
If you want the nutrient values for Energy, Protein and Carbohydrates in recipes, select these nutrients in the Nutrient tab. You can select several nutrients to use among the different databases available in CALCMENU such as USDA, ASA and BLS. These nutrient database are free for you to use.

Just click on each tab of the Options dialog box and see the options available to you which you can configure. It’s easy, convenient and user-friendly. You can go back to the Options dialog box if you want to modify your previous configuration.

After you’re done with defining your preferences, don’t forget to click OK.

In Part 2, we’ll talk about managing units, categories, keywords and other items used in CALCMENU.

The New USDA Dinner Plate

2011-06-07T13:50:00.003+08:00

The USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture) recently introduced a new eating guide called MyPlate which replaces the decades-old Food Guide Pyramid.

MyPlate is a plate icon sliced into four to represent different food groups. Each colored section is for fruits, vegetables, grains and proteins. A circle icon for dairy is also included in the new guide. MyPlate encourages people to eat more fruits and veggies (should be half of your meal) and reduce sodium-rich soups, bread and frozen meals.

The release of a new eating guide is part of the US’ movement to deal with the obesity problem in America. US First Lady Michelle Obama says “This is a quick, simple reminder for all of us to be more mindful of the foods that we're eating.”*

To know more about MyPlate, you can check out this website: http://www.choosemyplate.gov/.

*Reuters.com

Increased Profits: It’s Right On the Menu

2010-11-05T10:38:00.000+08:00

Restaurant menus may easily be dismissed as a mere list of food selections until one takes a look at the true power it holds in making or breaking the success of any restaurant business. The menu directly reflects your restaurant’s personality and concept, and is a major factor in its profitability. It is actually the strongest and most consistent internal-marketing tool your restaurant employs. The menu is the only advertising material for your restaurant that you can be a 100% sure will be read by the guest and will directly influence them on their food choices, as well as the amount of money that will be spent.

Thus, aside from remarkable dishes and ambiance, a well-designed and well-engineered menu should also be on top of a restaurant’s priority list. Treat the menu as if your entire food business depends on it because it really does! Ample planning and research on customer demographics and pyschographics should be done as they directly influence the type of menu and food items you should have. Several factors should also be considered: location, competition and importantly, your restaurant’s operational costs: food costs, profit, etc.

With this, a careful analysis of the salability of your food items also known as Menu Engineering should likewise be considered towards grooming your menu. Your menu should emphasize what you do well. Menu Engineering allows you to distinguish which of your food items are contributing greatly or poorly to your over-all profit, over a time period. There may be items which are popular to customers but are not as profitable, while there are items which are both popular and profitable. Some items in your menu may appear to be unpopular but is highly profitable, while some are neither popular nor profitable. Given these information you can determine and plan out which items in your menu you should push to sell or which ones are better off taken out from the list. Menu Engineering can also make it easier for you to do strategic pricing based on your current food costs, trends, etc. (For more information on Menu Engineering, you can check out this entry.)

Your menu is the constant communication tool between you and your customers so it is important that it is able to get your message across instantly. The proper placement of food items is vital for an effective menu. You might not be able to control the customers’ choices but at least, you can direct them to the choices you expect. Items should be arranged in such as way that they will direct the diner’s attention to specific items which will greatly increase their probability of being ordered. To put it simply, the menu should highlight items that will bring the highest gross profit and lowest food cost. This could be done through typography, color combinations, themes or making items standout by enclosing them in a box.

Strategically arranged menu items also make it easier for the customers to navigate through the menu. This results in fewer customer complaints and thus, happier customers who eventually turn out to be loyal diners. These loyal customers are the best source of word-of-mouth advertising which more often than not, brings in new customers.

Variety should also be present in your menu. You should be able to provide your customers with a wide array of choices but this doesn’t mean that you should be changing your menu ever so often. Always have the regular items and house specialties on your menu. You should give your customers something that they would want to always go back for.

Truly, a well-designed menu coupled with Menu Engineering is a great way for you to boost your profits. You might just be surprised by how a simple revamping of your menu can do wonders in turning your foodservice business into a powerhouse.

Sources:

(1) Image source: http://blog.timesunion.com
(2) Miller, Jack E. and David V. Pavesic. Menu Pricing and Strategy: Fourth Edition. US:Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1996.

Software as a Service

2010-10-19T13:13:00.000+08:00

Along with the advent of “cloud computing” which transforms software from products to more of a service and enables the sharing of resources and information on a wider level, software companies have also began developing software with the same concept and which offers the same convenience. This type of software is slowly making its way into both small- and large businesses’ systems or even homes.

At first thought, such software would seem impractical and costly. But frankly, it’s the opposite. Allow me to give you the facts on this new software technology, Software as a Service, as well as on its perks.

Software as a Service veers away from the typical software in a sense that instead of the all-too-familiar setup where you buy, install and use, this software would only require you to avail of a service access, connect and use. This is because the software that you are using is not actually installed on your computer (thus no confusing installation procedures, installers, etc.) but on the Software Developer Company’s server and all the resources and maintenance that go with it are being handled by the company who owns it. For you to be use the software, you would have to acquire rights to access and connect to their server for a certain period and use the software program from there.

This service basically utilizes a remote connection method – via the Remote Desktop Tool found in most PCs and an Internet connection—which enables you (the user) to access and use the software program installed in the Software Developer Company’s server. Software licenses are given to the users to access the server and use the software within the limited time period, for a fixed fee. Access and use are disabled once the user reaches the end of the time period, unless a renewal for the service is requested.

Think of it as like going to the movies. You do not actually pay to own a copy of the film nor do you borrow it to watch at home, rather, you pay the movie theather for you to be able to watch the film in the theater, within a scheduled screening time. If you would want to watch again, you can buy another ticket.

Such technology is even made greater with these perks:

Enjoy a pay-for-what-you-only-use service with no fees for unnecessary extras. You do not have to worry about missing to read the fine print. You instantly know what you get and what you pay for. This type of software service lets you get a clearer view of the costs in addition to the benefits of not needing so much IT expertise to make it work. You pay a montly fee and you are certain that all is already included—no shocking costs or hidden fees for setting up or fixing the server, nor are there fees for periodical hardware maintenance or upgrades.
Should more people need to use the program, you can simply ask for additional licenses via email. That’s it and you’re right back on track. You do not even have to go through the hassle of shipping, pick-up and waiting for a software package to arrive nor would you need to install anything.
Since the software is installed on the Software Company’s server, all PC action like processing is happening on the server. This means, regardless of whether you are a “Mac” or a ”PC” user, whether you are using a powerful high-spec computer, an overly used laptop, an old PC running on Windows XP or even a portable device such as an iPad, iPhone or android phone--just as long as you have a reliable enough Internet connection, you are in business.
You can eliminate the hassles of waiting, delays, approvals and reminders everytime a new software version comes out. This software service lets you automatically get the latest version along with the latest features and functionalities, the moment these are made available.
You don’t need an “IT guy” (or be one) to maintain the system. The software company does it all for you! Since the company hosting the solution is handling the server, they take care of the maintenance work, the server updates, patches, security, backup, optimization, etc. No do-it-yourself routines. All that’s really left for you to do is to just use the system.
Since the server can be accessed practically on any device which has a remote desktop tool and internet connection, users no longer need to be tied down to a specific location or device to work on the software. Whether you are at home, stuck in traffic, on a business trip abroad, you can just conveniently log in and get right back to work.
Availing of software as a service is environment-friendly. This technology is paperless and plastic-less since no package is being sent when using software service. How about energy, you ask? Most software developers nowadays actually make it a point to use “green” energy for their servers. This means that these servers run on renewable energy. And they’re not even consuming much of it since energy is being shared, thus is being used more efficiently.

There is really so much more into software as a service than what meets the eye. The Internet Internet is an open window full of useful tools that are yet to be discovered and tried and this is one of such technology that can prove to be a convenient for you and effective for your business. This is mainly because such a technology allows specialized companies to do what they do the best: provide a reliable, hassle-free solution so that you can focus more on what you do best: care for and enhance your business.

Curious about software as a service? Try it out for yourself through a free trial of EGS CALCMENU and EGS F&B Control from our server.

How Can EGS CALCMENU and F&B Control Help You in Nutrient and Allergen Management? Part 2

2010-09-15T14:46:00.000+08:00

For the first part of this entry, click here.

source: dailyspark.com

4. CALCMENU Pro and CALCMENU Enterprise allow you to adjust the nutrient/allergen content in a certain food product/dish.

This is handy when you want to make changes in your recipes without altering its quality. Let’s say for instance you found out that a certain recipe has quite high sodium content, you may modify this recipe’s sodium content to fit the diet requirement or taste of your customer.

Flexibility in your recipes, i.e. being able to adjust your recipes to help improve the nutrient content in meals, will be beneficial in the long run as nutrient and mineral requirements may change over time. This can be aptly demonstrated by a study conducted in 2004 by Donald Davis, PhD, a former researcher for the Biochemical Institute of the University of Texas, Austin. His findings show that there has been a decline of up to 50% in many minerals, vitamins and nutrients sourced from fruits and vegetables over the past 100 years. A similar study by the English researcher Anne-Marie Mayer, PhD, reports similar findings more than 10 years ago.(1) Meaning, even if people of this day eat the same amount of fruits and vegetables as they did back in 1940, they are consuming about 10% to 17% less essential minerals per meal.

This finding may also explain why nutrition deficiency in humans is prevalent today. Aside from the known fact the most people today eat below the recommended diet requirement, nutrition deficiency is made worse with drinking, smoking, food preservatives and additives, bad fats, etc. With CALCMENU, you can easily adjust the nutrient content of your meals over time to fit any possible changes in future nutrient requirements.

5. EGS F&B Control allows you to manage your suppliers and storage locations.

The F&B Control Suppliers List and Lot Management features allow you to keep track of all the suppliers for every food item you have. It records each transaction you do with the suppliers including invoices, purchase orders and delivery receipts. This way, you can trace which of the ingredients/orders are from which supplier. It also allows you to constantly check with your suppliers for any changes in the allergen status of the merchandise they supply.

With F&B Control, using the Link to CALCMENU function which links merchandise from CALCMENU to products in F&B Control, you may be able to control and oversee which allergenic merchandise are stored in each location. Cross-contamination between allergenic and non-allergenic food items can occur during storage when both are stored in one location and are without proper identification.

There are indeed a lot of ways in which you can improve the aspect of your business concerning the health and wellness of your consumers without overspending from your resources and putting a risk on your own business’ well-being. Knowing the right software like EGS CALCMENU and F&B Control is actually the first and probably the most important step towards a healthy goal.

References:
(1) Burns, Sarah. Nutritional value of fruits, veggies is dwindling: Chemicals that speed growth may impair ability to absorb soil’s nutrients, Prevention Magazine. July 9, 2010.
(2) image source: producetraceabilitynews.com

How can EGS CALCMENU and F&B Control help you in nutrient and allergen management? Part 1

2010-09-07T17:47:00.000+08:00

Last week, we have talked about the importance of nutrient and allergen management tools like EGS CALCMENU and EGS F&B Control, for foodservice professionals. We have concluded that such tools are an effective way to keep up with the growing need of informing consumers of the nutrient and allergen content in food products and in improving nutrient and allergen management in the food industry.

This week, we have listed down the various ways on how these tools, specifically EGS CALCMENU and EGS F&B Control help in ensuring reliable nutrient and allergen management.

1. CALCMENU Pro and CALCMENU Enterprise automatically provide nutritional information for your recipes and menus.

Each recipe’s nutritional content can be easily calculated to up to 12 nutritional values that you have chosen from several databases or references such as USDA (American reference), BLS (German) and ASA (Swiss).

Nutrient Tab in CALCMENU Enterprise containing the nutrient information of a recipe (Click to enlarge)

Nutrition information in labels or alongside your menu is more than just following government guidelines. It is a great marketing strategy as well. It was determined that a growing number of diners actually support laws requiring restaurants to post nutritional labels on their menus.

2. CALCMENU Pro and CALCMENU Enterprise provide hassle-free product labeling.

The same program that manages your recipes and menus can also be used to create nutrition labels for your food products. With CALCMENU Pro and CALCMENU Enterprise, each of your recipes’ nutritional information can readily be printed out as labels. The labels can be placed on pre-packaged food and on restaurant menus for the convenience of the customers and are expected to provide reliable information on the food product’s nutrient content.

The nutrition information that is automatically generated in CALCMENU assures reliability. A good demonstration of this can be seen in the laboratory test commissioned by Inselspital in Berne, Switzerland. The test is part of the study to assure the quality of their catering. They wanted to check if the macronutrient and energy content of the food they are serving to hospitalized patients complies with the nutritional value calculated from recipes as well as with the recommendations issued by the German Nutrition Society (DGE). The lab results which tested the nutrient content of certain meals showed to be within 5% of what CALCMENU calculated*.

3. CALCMENU Pro and CALCMENU Enterprise automatically identify and monitor allergen content.

Part of ensuring proper nutrition is also keeping a watchful eye on possible allergen content in food products since some allergens get into the food through cross-contamination. This is brought about by improper handling during preparation, storage or transport . Thus, careful management of food production, storage, transfers and even sourcing of the raw materials will do a great deal in keeping allergen contamination at bay.

Food manufacturers and retailers should be aware of the possible presence of allergen in their food products. Allergen management tools found in CALCMENU Pro and CALCMENU Enterprise allows you to include allergen information in your merchandise, recipes and menus, This allergen can be "inherited" by any recipe and menu that uses the food product. For example, the ingredient “Crabs” is marked as an allergen (shellfish). If a recipe uses Crabs in its ingredient, the recipe will automatically be marked as having an allergen (shellfish) also. In this way, each food product that contains this allergen can easily be identified and handled accordingly.

Find out more ways on how EGS CALCMENU and EGS F&B Control can help improve nutrient and allergen management on our next post. Meanwhile, learn more about EGS CALCMENU and EGS F&B Control at our website: www.eg-software.com

*Source: Meeting the Nutritional Requirements of Hospitalized Patients: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Hospital Catering (2008) by S. Iffa, M. Leuenbergera, S. Röscha, G. Knechtb, B. Tannerb, Z., Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Clinical Nutrition, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital

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Improving Nutrient and Allergen Management in the Food Industry

2010-08-27T15:36:00.000+08:00

Nowadays, it is not enough for customers to just pick out any dish in a menu. Most of them make it a point to know what is in the dish—sometimes even demanding a detailed listing of the ingredients. It is a more vigilant approach to what you eat that can make a big difference in keeping yourself in the pink of health.

More and more health-conscious people keep track of each nutrient they take in, making sure that each intake is only within the recommended daily serving allowance. Others however, need to be more particular with the ingredients in their meal due to possible presence of allergens.

Allergens are substances in food that cause an adverse reaction, usually affecting the immune system. Virtually all allergens are proteins and can be present in large amounts and most often, survive food-processing conditions. If no extra care is made, ingestion of even a small amount, sometimes less than a milligram (e.g. a tiny fragment of almond or two sesame seeds) can lead to an upset stomach, rashes, itching of the skin or mouth, swelling of the throat and difficulty breathing. In rare occasions, allergy reactions can also be fatal.

Realizing this, most major countries have approved laws that would require food producers and retailers to label and provide on-hand information regarding the nutrient and allergen content of the food they offer.

With this growing importance of keeping the consumers informed about the nutrients and allergens, it will be more efficient and wise for food producers and retailers to invest in reliable tools which would effectively help them to do so.

Which brings to mind EGS CALCMENU and EGS F&B Control which do not only improve food processes through recipe costing, managament and product inventory but also aid and improve nutrition and allergen management.

Just how do EGS CALCMENU and F&B Control help you in ensuring reliable nutrient and allergen management? Find out in our next post.

Top Reasons Why Menu Engineering is the Key Element to Your Business’ Success

2010-02-01T18:28:00.005+08:00

In this time of economic uncertainty, when there is a growing market of individuals who are conscious about their purchases, it is best that your businesses have cutting-edge approaches to maximize profits in order to survive. In the food business today, having a list of regular customers is not enough to remain successful. One needs a well-performed sales mix analysis and pricing strategies to keep the food business thriving.
EGS has over 20 years of experience in providing chefs, restaurateurs, hospital professionals and caterers with solutions to increase their productivity, profit margin and work- efficiency.Through these we have been committed to quality, reliability and drive to provide the best possible tools in improving the way food-service business are handled.One of these latest developments in our solutions is the Menu Engineering module.
Menu Engineering
It is likely that executive chefs know the simple costs of particular dishes in their menu, but most do not really have an idea of how well these dishes perform as part of their restaurant's sales. This is where the Menu Engineering module comes in handy.

Click to enlarge image

Menu Engineering is one of the reliable modules found within the EGS CALCMENU+EGS F&B Control Solution, which makes it quite a popular tool among food professionals. This module aims to improve your strategy in sales mix analysis and menu pricing to bring about an increase in profit, productivity and efficiency without the need to pile up on food costs. It is undoubtedly one of the key elements in the success of your business. Its effectiveness and efficiency can be summed up in its three main functions:
Menu Engineering analyzes.
Menu Engineering initially works by analyzing the existing recipe costs of a competing meal group along with sales data. It also considers factors like the targeted average meal price suited to your establishment and the current market situation in your area. It analyzes your customers’ exact price resistance point and gauges which of the items in your menu are best-sellers and highly-profitable. Likewise, it provides an analysis on which items are costing you time and money but are not making a mark on sales and which ones contribute well or are popular but are not making enough profits.
Menu Engineering forecasts.
Using the mentioned analysis, the Menu Engineering module can tell you which items you should retain in your menu, which ones are needed to be highlighted or promoted and which items you can do without. You can also forecast future sales profitability and take note of sales trends that can be applied in planning your menus. One way that this module achieves this is by allowing you to “play” with hypothetical numbers of items sold, selling prices and the costs of goods to see the effect on the overall food costs and other parameters.
Menu Engineering creates strategies.
With the analyzed and forecasted data serving as benchmarks for comparison, Menu Engineering then provides the opportunity for professionals like you to come up with working guidelines to further improve profitability and savings.
It allows you to make intelligent strategies to improve your menu marketability , one of which is coming up with a smart marketing plan which involves menu pricing strategies, product merchandising, applying suggestive selling approaches, re-evaluating your menu layout and positioning--to name a few.
Furthermore, an effective layout can be realized through a more aggressive branding and highlighting strategy, a well-established menu format, a precise positioning and category placement as well as through product sequencing.
Menu Engineering is undoubtedly a vital element when you want your business to keep a stable footing in the food-service industry. With this simple tool on hand, there can only be room for more productivity and profitability in your business and thus, only more success.

Cost-Cutting Measures Are Still More Profitable Than Advertisements

2009-05-05T17:45:00.000+08:00

It is undeniable that successful companies are those that are able to maintain at least 28-35% of their food costs, on the average, where at least 50% to 70% of their total sales are spent on food inventories, consumption as well as labor costs. Because of the impact that food costs has on the overall profitability of a food service company, one must be able to manage it carefully in order to increase profits by avoiding losses.

You are probably thinking: “So how can we control our food cost?” There are many ways to do so but two of the most effective ways are to control your inventory and look into your menu pricing strategy. You may have received a good deal from your suppliers by ordering in bulk, however, think about this: you may be tying in your cash flow or store room for paying and stacking an inventory that may end up just sitting in your stock room for a long period of time. Or inversely, you may have also experienced scrambling and pulling your hair out as you scramble for the delivery of last minute orders which you have to use for a party or event the next day.

Setting up an advanced inventory and recipe management in your company and using it wisely will enable you to define which of your products are fast or slow moving, what right amount of stock levels should be kept and which of your menus you can increase in price, needs promotion or which ones you would need to discontinue. Investing on software solutions such as EGS CALCMENU and EGS F&B Control, to formulate your menu pricing strategies and in controlling your inventories can dramatically decrease your food costs and notably increase your profits.

How can these be done? Let me count the ways:

1. Through time savings – save time in handling inventory stock takes
2. Through precision in inventories, consumption, transfer, etc.
3. Through reducing food pilferage, wastage and spoilage
4. Likewise through reducing over-portioning when serving
5. Through a precise maintenance of par stock levels
6. Through eliminating over-ordering and under-ordering
7. Through the lowest cost supplier sourcing
8. Through a proactive and automated report generations
9. Through lesser costly human errors
10. Through optimized menu selling prices
11. Through optimized Profits
12. Through a consistent product quality

Here is an illustration of the Cost-Benefit Calculation when you invest in buying a software solution, based on the following standard assumptions:

1. Your sales on year 1 is $250,00
2. Current Food Cost Percentage is 35%
3. In order to become a profitable and a “healthy” company, you would like to target a Food Cost Percentage of 30%
4. Minimun decrease in Food Cost using a software solution is 6%
5. Your target Return of Investment (ROI) in investing in a software solution is at least 20%

(click to enlarge)

In this illustration of Payback Period and ROI, you can clearly see that investing in a software solution such as EGS CALCMENU and EGS F&B Control you can easily achieve your target food costs; in fact you can even exceed it, by just making full use of the softwares’ features.

You don’t have to worry about your investments. As the illustration shows, your savings for implementing this system can easily pay-off in one and a half year and can even exceed your target ROI!

The illustration also clearly shows that it is way more cost effective to invest on an Inventory and Back Office Management Software coupled with a Recipe Management Software, more specifically EGS Solutions – CALCMENU and F&B Control – rather than making unwanted cuts in cuisine, restaurant hours and labor expenses or spending more on advertisements and promotional activities.

Truly, investing in a system like the EGS Solutions – F&B Control and CALCMENU (particularly CALCMENU Enterprise 2008)—will make you see drastic improvements in your Food Cost and Sales Mix.