How Mobile Data Collection Reduced Labor Hours
The Calgary Stampede is a year-round entertainment and sports venue in Calgary, Alberta, Canada best known for the Stampede Rodeo held in its 17,000 attendee stadium. It also has a 500,000 square foot convention center (currently expanding to 1,000,000 square feet), a concert hall seating 4,000, a 2,500 person arena, a 4,500 person outdoor bar and nightclub, and a 500 person Agriculture Building. It has 3 distribution warehouses and sits on 250 acres. With multiple restaurants, bars and concessions, all venues use the FOOD-TRAK system for F&B accounting and management.
John Wattman is the Logistics Manager and directs the use of the FOOD-TRAK System. While they have been using FOOD-TRAK for many years, when John came aboard, his objective was to operate the system at the highest level possible. His blueprint for success included a 3-step plan beginning with a database cleanup, move to the cloud and fully implementing mobile capabilities, including the use of both the FMA (mobile app) and the FMP (mobile scanning computer).
The Plan and Solution
Once through the database cleanup, they had an onsite visit with a FOOD-TRAK trainer to bring the staff up to speed and address any lingering issues with process flow. The trainer worked with the Finance team, the Culinary team, Procurement department and the Warehouse employees. This was the result of John's belief that multiple departments need to be involved with the system as opposed to a single administrative employee running the system as had been the previous case.
The Results
The system is now heavily utilized by the Warehouse employees as well as team members from Logistics, Procurement, F&B management, Culinary team, IT Department and Accounting. As a result, the organization has seen significant improvements in cost and productivity. John is a major proponent of mobile data collection. According to John, "One of the biggest improvements was eliminating carbon copy transfer slips that are now done electronically using the FMPs. What used to take 56 hours per week manually takes 14 hours per week and team members are able to multi-task. As a result we were able to use fewer labor hours and re-organize the work day for team members."
Anxious to add more mobile devices, interfaces, building recipes and adding supplies to their database, John's primary recommendation for success with the system was, "Never have just one person run the project. Have continuous training with the entire team."
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 New! ET40 Enterprise Tablet
We are excited to announce the release of the newest addition to our FMP-NG line -- the Zebra ET40 Scanning Enterprise Tablet. This new 8” tablet is not only the least expensive scanner we have ever offered, but it is also the most powerful. Not your ordinary consumer tablet, this is designed for tough commercial environments. It uses the Android operating system and has a quad core processor, 64GB of flash RAM, gorilla glass, operates at temperatures between -4 degrees and +158 degrees, can withstand a drop from 4 feet to concrete, and incorporates a fast laser scanner. The tablet weighs 1.07 pounds, and can be outfitted with a rotating hand strap that mounts on the back of the tablet.
While we still recommend the TC52 and MC33 mobile devices for warehouse, liquor and receiving operations, the tablets are perfect for outlets doing requisitions, transfers smaller scale receiving and inventories. They have a much larger screen than the other scanners and since they are basically half the price of the other models, they make great economic sense for outlet use.
Click here for a video and more information on this new tablet!
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 FOOD-TRAK University
Training Packages & Schedule
FUNdamentals Package: Our most popular course! Train from virtually anywhere. Now offered in person in Scottsdale or online, the 4-day FUNdamentals training course is designed for convenient distance learning and is led by a live instructor with complete training guides. Working on your own computer workstation and the latest version of FOOD-TRAK, your instructor will take you through a series of lectures explaining the "how to" functionality of each process, followed by practice exercises outlined in the comprehensive training manual. This "real world" foodservice operation approach prepares you to return to your place of business with a clear path and the knowledge to meet your goals, control costs and maximize cash flow using your FOOD-TRAK System.
The Fundamentals course was created to teach clients how to operate and maintain an effective food and beverage database while practicing inventory techniques and methods, forecasting, ordering and procurement approaches that help drive cost savings to your bottom line.
 Crash Course Package: This 7.5 hour online course is provided over 2 half-days. It provides a jump-start on system utilization and is ideal for both new and existing staff that doesn't require as much time as the FUNdamentals class. Topics covered include inventory and purchasing as well as their correlating standard reports. The curriculum is designed to give students the essential knowledge of the basic functions needed use the system effectively for routine tasks. The Crash Course includes one hour of customized Advisory Services training to cover or supplement any additional FOOD-TRAK topics of interest. Mark your calendar for our upcoming training dates!
Comprehensive Recipe Construction Package: Offered online, this 1.5 day course focuses on clients who want to build recipes that can be used for costing, production and menu plans, catering and ideal use calculations. Ideal for culinary staff, this package provides much more depth in recipe construction for costing and ideal use purposes than the 2 hour recipe course offered through FOOD-TRAK University. Learn how to include choices (sides, salad dressing, etc.), substitutions, and even condiments or complimentary bread in recipe construction. Create accurate buffet recipes, production and menu plans, catering menu recipes and even recipes structured for integration to your POS system if desired. If you need accurate recipe costs and margins, are interested in determining your ideal food cost and finding inventory variances by item, automating production scheduling or even running perpetual inventories, this course is for you!
May 16-19, 2023 FUNdamentals
June 13-14, 2023 Crash Course
June 15-16, 2023 Comprehensive Recipe Construction
July 11-14, 2023 FUNdamentals
August 15-18, 2023 FUNdamentals
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 Help Us Celebrate One of our Own!
Please help us share in the celebration of our very own Jose Cardenas for his promotion and role as our new Chief Technology Officer! Over 17 years with SCI Jose has supported our clients and team members with a how can I help attitude! Thank you, Jose for all you do and CONGRATULATIONS!
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 Trainer's Tip
Manage your database by monitoring new items
New items added to the database need special attention. For example, templates may need to be updated, as well as recipes adjusted. Our trainers have a tip to help you easily spot new items. Here’s how!
Steps:
Go to Database>Elements>Items
In the View box, select the Name and Who Last Modified view.
Sort the Created Date column heading and select the Sort Newest to Oldest dropdown option. Now the items are listed from newest to oldest, the newest dates pinpointing the items most recently added.
By monitoring new items you are reminded to make sure the new item is well incorporated into your database. You might also spot items that should not have been added as new items. Maybe an item is already in the database with a different name or marked as inactive. Many of our clients have improved their database management and have benefited from more accurate reporting by monitoring new items.
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Welcome to the Cloud!
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Trainer's Tip
