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Buy the Zebra Ruggedized Scanner and receive 50% off the software license through September 30th. |
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 Client Spotlight - Ocean Reef ClubIn this issue, our spotlight is on Dan Taylor, Director of Purchasing for Ocean Reef Club, a premiere country club located in beautiful Key Largo, Florida. We asked Dan to share with us how the FOOD-TRAK mobile platform has benefitted their operation. Read more... |
 Development NewsWith the upcoming release of v5.6 users have so much to look forward to! Enhancements are on the horizon for both the User Manager and the Inventory Template Manager in this version which should make things much simpler for everyone. Read more... |
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News You Can Use - Don't Let 'em Eat Cake!A Kitchen Manager for an expanding US steakhouse chain called me one day and said “I am pulling my hair out over an inventory variance that I just can’t figure out!” My first thought was that it would be a steak item, but instead he described an ongoing issue with cakes. Read more... |
 Trainer's TipLooking for something in FOOD-TRAK? Search like a pro by getting the most out of FOOD-TRAK’s search function. There are two key things to remember when searching for database items – the wildcard feature AND the “less is more” principle. Read more... |
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Client Spotlight - Ocean Reef Club |
In this issue, our spotlight is on Dan Taylor, Director of Purchasing for Ocean Reef Club, a premiere country club located in beautiful Key Largo, Florida. Amenities at this private club include 275 beautiful accommodations, 30,000 sq. ft. of meeting space, a private airstrip, marina, 36 holes of championship golf, more than fifteen restaurants and lounges and over a dozen retail shops. A FOOD-TRAK client since 1995, Ocean Reef conducts requisitions and transfers between restaurants and their warehouses and focuses on centralized purchasing for streamlined and sophisticated ordering. We asked Dan to share with us how the FOOD-TRAK mobile platform has benefitted their operation.
How did you take inventory before using the FOOD-TRAK mobile partner scanners?
"Inventory was taken using FOOD-TRAK inventory templates that we printed out. We would then manually write in quantities and provide those count sheets to the Cost Controller to input and extend in FOOD-TRAK."
After you implemented scanners can you tell us how it impacted your operation?
"Labor savings and accuracy are two main advantages to using the scanners. In the past, it would take the Cost Controller a full day to input all the inventories. Now each restaurant has their own Inventory template that they complete and the Cost Controller can pull. Also, the amount of time has been cut in half for the restaurants since all items are set-up with Bar Codes/UPC codes. No more hand written inventories. Monthly inventory is much more accurate and our variances have declined since we started using scanners."
Other than inventory, how else have you utilized the scanners to improve manual processes?
"Our Commissary uses the scanners to place all our orders and have started to use them for receiving deliveries as well. We are currently working on putting scanners in the restaurant kitchens for chefs to use for placing their orders."
What advice would you give to others considering adding mobility to their operations to maximize benefits?
"All of our employees have really embraced the scanners and understand they are making their jobs more efficient and accurate. I would definitely suggest starting with one location and expanding from there. More importantly though, have at least one SUPER USER who feels comfortable using scanners that can lead your team through training."
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News You Can Use - Don't Let 'em Eat Cake! How the FOOD-TRAK variance report saved the day. |
George - a Kitchen Manager for an expanding US steakhouse chain called me one day and said “I am pulling my hair out over an inventory variance that I just can’t figure out!” My first thought was that it would be a steak item, but instead he described an ongoing issue with congratulatory cakes. “When our guests are celebrating a birthday, anniversary or the like with us, we provide them with a small 5” cake. These cakes are purchased frozen, and we noticed a variance of 25 cakes on our last month’s Usage Report. We buy ‘em, we receive ‘em, we count ‘em and we serve ‘em as needed – there’s nothing to it. How can we have an ongoing variance?”
I suggested he begin counting the cakes daily and run the Key Item Inventory report first thing in the morning. Later George called back to report their findings, “Well, we found most days we were one cake short, so we began to keep an eye on the freezer where the cakes were stored. Sure enough, it turned out that one of our portlier line cooks was going into the freezer and scarfing down a whole frozen cake. He actually was eating a frozen congrats cake every day which he later told me was his idea of his employee meal! I reminded him of our meal policy and now that he’s not eating a cake a day our inventory variance is no more. I still don’t know what happened to the packaging! We never would have found this problem without those variance reports.”
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Development News |
With the upcoming release of v5.6 users have so much to look forward to! Enhancements are on the horizon for both the User Manager and the Inventory Template Manager in this version which should make things much simpler for everyone.
User Manager
Clients with a significant number of user profiles will find that the new User Manager Selection screen will now include email address, user group, profit center assignment, last login date and password change setting associated with each user. Multi column sorting and filtering is also available, which makes it easy to see who hasn’t logged into FOOD-TRAK recently and multi select makes it simple to delete those users that are inactive.
- Page Layout now includes the ability to load and display up to 100 rows of data at a time.
- Selection grid! New and improved lightweight client-side data grid control. Page navigation controls allow you to move from page to page.
- More information with fewer clicks! The User Manager grid now displays a column for the User Group(s) the user is a member of and the Profit Center(s) they have access to.
- New search box. Search for a particular user or members of a particular user group or profit center, supports use of wildcards to make search more powerful.
Inventory Template Manager
Get excited about these changes to simplify form building! A new lookup feature for item codes is coming in v5.6 and since we don’t include item code lookup on anything but procurement forms, this change is HUGE for our user community who are item code driven. Report groups are also being added for more transparency and here’s a big one… 100 items will be displayed per page instead of 15! This change will make the up/down buttons MUCH more useful.
- More powerful filtering capabilities. Filter by Template Name, Profit Center, Created By, Created(date), Modified By and Modified(date).
- Copy feature.
- Allows the selection of an existing inventory template (Profit Center or Misc.) to use as a source for a new template.
- Includes a "mapping" utility that allows locations in the source template can be mapped to a location in the scope of the new template.
Other Changes
Additional enhancements in version 5.6 also include the following:
- Profit Center Group Reporting. These changes set the stage for future report enhancements. Key reports will offer the ability to generate reports for a Profit Center Group.
- A default location can now be assigned to an isolated Profit Center Group.
- The processor has been modified to consider the default location of a Profit Center Group when determining inventory levels.
- Usage Reports - These have been re-instrumented to be more efficient when executed and show significant speed improvements.
- Data Entry Form - A check has been put in place that will disallow data entry forms to be completed if the current user does not have access to all the locations/profit centers contained on the form.
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Trainer's Tips |
Looking for something in FOOD-TRAK? Search like a pro by getting the most out of FOOD-TRAK’s search function. There are two key things to remember when searching for database items – the wildcard feature AND the “less is more” principle.
The wildcard feature allows you to search for part of a name rather than having to know the exact name. Technically the FOOD-TRAK wildcard is the asterisk before and after your search string (what you type into the search box). However, the percentage sign BEFORE your search string works in most search fields, and many people prefer that method.
The “less is more” principle relates to your search string. Instead of using a long and detailed search string try searching for less to successfully find what you are looking for. For instance if the item name is Pepper Bell Grn, many people would search for %green peppers. The search would be unsuccessful.
• Avoid using the plural form of the word – search %pepper, not %peppers
• Avoid searching for two words if you aren’t sure of the word order – search for %pepper or %green, but not %green pepper
• If your search is unsuccessful, search again. Sometimes you may expect a word to be abbreviated when it isn’t and vice versa. If you search for %pepr and don’t find what you are looking for, search again for %pepper. Or if you search for %green and don’t find what you’re are looking for, search again for %grn. Be creative! Maybe there’s another part of the name that can be searched - %bell - a word which probably isn’t abbreviated.
It's worth searching thoroughly for an item to avoid adding duplicate items to your database. Duplicate items create costing issues – a situation to be avoided.
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Featured Offering - Buy the Zebra Scanner and Get the FMA License 50% Off |
The FOOD-TRAK Mobile App – Scanner Version has all the amazing features of the FOOD-TRAK Mobile App installed on a ruggedized Zebra scanner! The built-in laser scans barcodes 10X faster than your smartphone camera.
The most popular functions are available including Inventory, Receiving, Transfers, Requisitions, Shopping Lists, Recipes and Waste. Buy the Zebra Ruggedized Scanner and receive 50% off the software license. That's $247.50 in savings! Already have FMA and want to upgrade to the scanner version? No problem, your existing FMA license works with your new Zebra scanner. In fact, when you buy the new Zebra Ruggedized Scanner, we'll handle the setup and programming at NO CHARGE! Purchase by September 30th, 2019 to take advantage of the offer! Click here for information |
Special Limited Time Offer |
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Welcome New Clients |
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Baltimore Country Club |
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Houstonian Hotel Club & Spa |
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University of Victoria |
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Boot Camp 2019 |
September 17 - 20 Cherokee Town and Country Club, Atlanta, GA
Turn your 2019 F&B goals into tangible results by joining us for Boot Camp! This 4-day instructor led training seminar provides attendees with an interactive and engaging classroom experience, including lectures, demonstrations, hands-on workshops and valuable interaction with other users. Atlanta Boot Camp is our final seminar in 2019, so if you can't join us or would like to host a seminar at your facility let us know! Fill out the form below to submit your location. We are working on the 2020 schedule now, but you can look forward to a spring seminar in Arizona to kick things off!