NUS invests in 'Menu Builder' tool to maximise catering profits

In addition, it makes adding nutritional labelling, in line with the Food Standards Authority's (FSA) guidelines, simple by automatically providing the nutritional breakdown of any recipe. The NUS will be using Menu Builder to do the following: • Pull in ingredients data in real time from third party suppliers on an ongoing basis to monitor price fluctuations; this will automatically trigger and update pre-existing recipes and flag changes to the user so these can be managed and profit margins protected; Menu Builder also easily incorporates both local produce as well as produce from nationally contracted suppliers. • Create recipes, fully cost them, calculate portion control, provide methodology for making them, outline preparation time and highlight any health and safety issues relating to them. • Link with an 'on demand' digital print engine to make it possible to print both menus and posters cost effectively when printing small quantities. • Build a menu against a range of commercial objectives, at both a central and local level, to minimise the risk of missing targets. • Automatically generate an order form to give to relevant suppliers. • Build recipes within a nutritional objective and provide a full nutritional breakdown of each recipe, both prior and post cooking, allowing accurate communication of nutritional data both internally and externally. Ged Parker, commercial consultant at NUS Services (NUSSL), commented: "The recent Food and Service Management Survey from the British Hospitality Association identified that one of the largest and most enduring challenges faced by caterers, other than the current poor state of the economy, is raging food inflation, which the survey put at 8% in 2008. "We therefore need to work smarter to improve our profitability; Tangent Direct's Menu Builder is an incredibly exciting innovation for us as we believe it will genuinely revolutionise the efficiency of the businesses we support." Gary Howard, commercial director at Tangent Direct, added: "Caterers are facing one of the toughest trading climates in decades. This means that accurate reporting and management of business data is essential to ensure that catering outlets can keep a keen eye on costs without reducing the quality of their food. Not only that, many caterers are struggling to provide nutritional labelling which, although voluntary at the moment, may well become statutory. "Advances in technology make it possible to simplify processes, bring everything together and put managers in control at both a local and national level."