Business canteen automation

A canteen is that specific type of public catering businesses, which is aimed at providing of mass service for visitors during business hours. Although food in canteens seems to be one of the cheapest, the canteen has no less strict requirements for quality of courses and service as well as specific requirements for the service rate.

A company’s canteen unlike a public one has a set of features. On top of everything else the canteen needs a sensible accounting system of the staff food service with the use of already gained identification methods and creation of benefits and limits for the staff.

The goal, which is set during the automation of businesses of this type, is not only to organize standby accounting and control but also to establish a comfortable and uninterrupted duty just as for the employees so for visitors. Herewith, the automation should provide three overall directions:

First of all, to increase throughput capability due to reduction of service time and payments.
Secondly, to improve record-keeping: not only inventory accounting – of food products and half-prepared products, but also sales accounting.
Thirdly, to guarantee a straightforward and easy method to control the employees’ funds which are spent for food.

All these problems can be solved by the “Our canteen” complex. It consists of two independent modules: “Gedemin. Public catering. Inventory accounting” and "Gedemin. POSitive:Check" that work in a data exchange mode. And an additional installation of the “Gedemin. Аccounting” module and the “Gedemin. Wage and staff” module will enable to produce a solid pattern of material and money resources accounting at businesses.

Let’s have a look at some hotspots and their realization at the canteen and find out what the given solution offers in such situations.

A standard canteen’s problem	Realiztion in Gedemin	The result
A throng and a queue increase because of the payments’ slow-up (being long about the purse, looking for the odd money)	A quick selection of a course from the menu on a touch screen. The use of a cashless transfers’ function.	Cash disposal, service rate increase, as consequence: - rising of the income as a result of the throughput capability’s increase, - minimization of working hours’ loss of the staff, - rise of the service level, - cost reduction of cash and bank transactions.
Mistakes and imposing while performing calculations	Automatic calculation of the total of a receipt by the POS system, printing of a confirmative check with a display of courses and loan balance.	Control of calculation errors. Control of the staff activity, deficiencies and abusive activity control. Sales control.
Difficulties in the division between service of inhouse employees and people who don’t work there (including business travelers and those who is temporarily staying at the territory of a company)	A possibility of conjoined food service accounting by cash and by a credit or a guest card. Employee identification by means of an employee ID, a credit or a magnetic card, etc. Integration with а recording system of personal cards. Keeping and accounting of guest cards.	A possibility of service of different population groups. Accounting and arrangement of streams of those who are taking meal.
Difficulties in accounting of loan proceeds, salary offsets.	Personalization of entries and costs on the employees, reference of reciprocal payments to personal accounts. Deduction of funds that are spent for food from salary. When using the current system of accounting automation – organization of data export into the business accounting system. Financial appraisal of benefits that are granted.	Organization of a cashless payment system, an internal credit system. Building-up a single system of reciprocal payments: automatic recognition of the sums of money, spent for food, in accounts, dotation accounting, control of cash assets turnover upon every employee. Minimization of labor costs of bookkeeping staff.
Higher labour inputs for menu planning and course costing because of the need to renew the menu day-to-day.	Cutting of time, spent in order to cost the whole menu, to a few minutes. Optimum scheduling of food production by virtue of a possibility of some flexible analysis of customer flow, sales and the balance.	Increase of calculation accuracy. Translucid planning. Reduction of bookkeeping staff.
Impossibility of detailed quantitative accounting of raw materials, labour intensity of taking and execution of inventory	Automatic accounting and control of the raw materials and half-prepared products’ balance, speed-up of a routine procedure of left over stock’s inventory	Control over raw material and output turnover, a possibility to analyse causes of deficiency.
Difficulties of accounting in the course of maintenance of various marketing programs	A possibility to build-up a flexible system of bonus programs: food benefits for employees, food on credit, concessions. Control of the limit sum excess. Special meals accounting.	Management of a peculiar mode of the canteen’s work taking into account specific needs that exist in the company
Difficulties in the course of the canteen’s work changeover (service during the late evening, set-meals and banquettes management)	A possibility of express calculations and a combining involvement of a few types of the menu with different pricing methods in each of them	Management of the canteen’s work, executed in a few modes without accounting errors
Heavy human and time labour inputs connected with statistical information accumulation, labour intensity of recording	Making of statistical, analytics and accounting reports in any terms. A possibility of prompt correction and report templating available upon request	Planning of production and allocation of funds unbending. Promptness of reporting information delivery. Enhancement of labour efficiency, reduction of error during planning.
Expenditures connected with workflow changes when it comes to legal and normative base changes	Regulation of workflow with some customizing settings.	Flexible administration.

Solving of these problems is relevant to any canteen independently of the size and specific nature of the business activities. We will help to organize the work of your canteen at the best performance and to get maximum effect from automation.