Case Studies
Project Profile for the Menu Costing System
Executive Summary
Company
This wholesale food and food-related products distributor (WFD) is a Columbia, Maryland based company that is one of the top ranked food service companies in the country.
Solution Description
The Microsoft Access application provides restaurants with a highly efficient and specialized tool to better manage and realize profits from food sales.
Software and Services
- Microsoft Windows XP
- Microsoft Windows Vista
- Microsoft Access 2000
- Microsoft Access Runtime
"We have been able to get the system ready to deliver to restaurants because you get back to us and make changes in such an expedient manner ……. Thanks for all your hard work"
- Steve
Customer Profile
Sector: Food
Industry: Wholesale Food Distributor
Revenue: Over $15 billion
WFD has over 250,000 customers. They market and deliver to more than 43,000 national, private label and signature brand items and employ more than 29,500 food service professionals.
Business Situation
This wholesale food distributor was determined to provide their customers with the best service possible. Since distributing to restaurants is one of their main customer focus areas, they strive to provide them with top notch service. The distributor was using a group of Excel based spreadsheets for restaurant managers to help them control food costs. The Excel spreadsheets calculated food usage and profits along with generating reports. The Excel based system was somewhat manual and each restaurant’s spreadsheets had to be maintained by their salesperson. The distributor wanted to build a database system that was intuitive and easily used by each restaurant’s manager.
Solution
Menu Costing System
The customized solution designed by alligatortek was simple and efficient. The system required very little time to maintain while still providing valuable reporting information. The restaurant managers now have the option to view information at the detail and/or summary level which allows them to see exactly how much recipe and menu items cost. The system also provides information about which menu items generate the best profit margins and which menu items are out performing others. The system enables restaurant managers to run reports using different selection criteria so they can easily extract the data they need.
The system was originally built exclusively for a divisional office. The success of the system was so widely accepted; the corporate office requested that the system be distributed to all divisions companywide. This system goes above and beyond normal customer service which in turn gives WFD a big competitive advantage over other foodservice providers.