Industry News

WEBINAR: Identifying and Eliminating Less-than-Minimum Order Costs

Answers Systems — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 19:02:00 GMT

Please join Answers Systems, a division of AFS Technologies, as we host this informative webinar on November 16, 2:00 PM ET, led by Dave DeWalt, Owner & President, Franklin Foodservice Solutions.

Identifying and Eliminating Less-than-Minimum Order Costs

Many food manufacturers are surprised when we show them the number of "Less than Minimum" (LTM) orders moving through their systems. Even if they understand the high costs of administration and logistics required to fill these orders, they have difficulty preventing them, or even managing the enforcement of order minimums. One challenge is understanding the source of an LTM order, and determining whether it is an occasional exception or an ongoing abuse of the company's order policies. This webinar will teach a process for analyzing and classifying LTM orders, and suggests solutions for minimizing their frequency and cost.

Space is limited.
Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/912748554
Date: Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Time: 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM EST

No Kids Allowed!

Answers Systems — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 17:12:07 GMT

By Kristin Avery

For some restaurants kids don’t eat free, matter of fact they don’t eat at all. There is a new trend of restaurants banning children from dining at their establishments. Some feel this is a flat-out act of discrimination while others feel it’s simply a smart business move.

Mike Vucik is among those who support the child ban from restaurants. He’s an owner of a Pittsburgh area eatery whose children ban went into effect two months ago. In an article titled “Restaurant Bans Kids Under 6. Discrimination or smart move?” Mike Vucik says the decision for the children ban comes, “after receiving noise complaints from customers about crying kids at neighboring tables.” The article also goes on to mention, “-Last year, North Carolina's Olde Salty restaurant made a similar decision. Owner Brenda Armes posted a sign that read 'Sceaming children will not be tolerated,’ making it clear to parents when their kids scream, they'll be asked to take it outside.”

Reasons for the ban according to FindLaw.com included, “Noisy kids may break a nice restaurant's ambiance. Rambunctious children who don't listen to their parents may also end up bumping into customers in stores, and can end up being both destructive and disruptive.”

Those opposed to the children ban are parents who claim the ban discriminates against children that may have special needs. According to an article “Mother Raising Her Own Voice Over Restaurant’s Ban on Screaming Kids,” “Forbidding an autistic child to scream can be like requiring a paraplegic person to dance the Charleston, so Kelly Chambliss, the mother of an autistic son, claims a restaurant's policy against screaming children is blatant discrimination and a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.”

Other drawbacks to the ban according to FindLaw.com titled “Legal to Ban Children from Your Business?” include, “kids' parents are usually the bread and butter customer of most stores and restaurants. And, by preventing children from entering into the business, you might be reducing your business' chance of making sales from moms and dads?”

So, so far we’ve been presented with two opposing sides that are for and against restaurants banning children, but is this child ban even legal? According to abcnews.com, “Federal forbids discrimination on racial or religious grounds, but there is no blanket protection for children. For business owners like Mike Vuick that means they can set the rules.”

In this economy can restaurants afford to lose customers? Is there any direct link between restaurants not welcoming child patrons to decline in sales or are restaurant owners just tired of dealing with the floods of customer complaints about screaming children? At this point there doesn’t seem be a direct link between crying/ screaming children and declining restaurant sales. It’s more a matter of what the restaurant desired target market is. If the restaurant is going for a classy and quiet atmosphere then certainly children throwing chicken fingers and running around the restaurant screaming won’t work. It’s a matter of personal preference for the restaurant owner. So, what do you think about restaurant banning children? Are you for or against the ban? Tell us why?

Facebook Freak-out!

Answers Systems — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 16:28:40 GMT

By Kristin Avery

If you’ve been on Facebook recently then you heard the rumor that Facebook was going to start charging its users. There was one posting in particular that I saw several times and it went like this:

"FACEBOOK JUST RELEASED THEIR PRICE GRID FOR MEMBERSHIP. $9.99 PER MONTH FOR GOLD MEMBER SERVICES, $6.99 PER MONTH FOR SILVER MEMBER SERVICES, $3.99 PER MONTH FOR BRONZE MEMBER SERVICES, FREE IF YOU COPY AND PASTE THIS MESSAGE BEFORE MIDNIGHT TONIGHT. WHEN YOU SIGN ON TOMORROW MORNING YOU WILL BE PROMPTED FOR PAYMENT INFO...IT IS OFFICIAL IT WAS EVEN ON THE NEWS Facebook WILL START CHARGING DUE TO THE NEW PROFILE CHANGES. IF YOU COPY THIS ON YOUR WALL YOUR ICON WILL TURN BLUE AND Facebook WILL BE FREE FOR YOU. PLEASE PASS THIS MESSAGE ON IF NOT YOUR ACCOUNT WILL BE DELETED IF YOU DO NOT PAY!!"

At first, I brushed it off but the more I saw it, the more I started to think that Facebook might actually start charging me to stay a member. Shortly after having a social networking panic attack, I came to realize this was clearly a hoax. This Facebook hoax got me to thinking. If I was convinced, I couldn’t be the only one that believed it was true. It only took a few people a couple of hours to get the rumor started before it spread like wildfire. This Facebook fabrication spread to the point where it was even covered by “The Christian Science Monitor”.

No matter where you go, rumors and misinformation are sure to follow. There may even be misconceptions and misinformation floating around your organization regarding the performance of your trade spending programs. I encourage you to get all the facts before making critical decisions that will greatly impact your organization. Answers Systems, a division of AFS Technologies, can help you squash any trade promotion management fallacies and provide the right answers to all your questions to ensure best-in-class trade promotion management for your organization. To request your online ContractPro® demonstration today, click here.

To follow Answers Systems, a division of AFS Technologies on Facebook for free, click here.

Technorati tags: contractpro, trade promotion management, facebook

Here's a Tip!

Answers Systems — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 19:42:34 GMT

By Kristin Avery

Did you know there are 1001 tips for cleaning with white distilled vinegar? Did you also know there’s an inexpensive tip for curing a sore throat? Just add one teaspoon to one cup of warm water and gargle. Well, no matter who you are everyone loves a good tip. You name it, there’s a tip for it. Everything from cooking tips to tips on how to save money on your next electricity bill. Tips are meant to provide us with useful information and make our life easier. Here at Answers Systems, we understand the appeal of tips. That’s why we have people like Natalie Rice, Senior Trainer, to provide tips on a monthly basis that make using ContractPro^® easier.

Natalie Rice, Senior Trainer

Here’s a recap of some helpful ContractPro^® tips that will make your trade promotion management life easier.

· Don’t forget, you can communicate via email about a pending claim through the Claim Detail, Claim Comments tab, and keep all of your communication in one place. Just remember to check the “do not send to Answers” if Answers does need to take action.
· When creating a contract to clear a pending claim, remember to enter a claim comment after the contract is approved. You will receive an alert of the approval in your User Messages.
· The Quick Search is an “exact search” so if you do not receive a result to your search, try the Advance Search and utilize “like”. You may just find what you are looking for.

Do you still need ContractPro^® help? Email Support

Not a current ContractPro^® client? Would you like to know more on how ContractPro^® can help your organization gain critical trade promotion management insights and increase ROI? Please Contact Us and learn more about how our service and software solutions can work for your organization. Connect and collaborate with the industry leaders today.

Tackling the Topic of "Trade Spend"

Answers Systems — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 17:39:45 GMT

By Kristin Avery

The topic of “Trade Spend” can be a difficult one to tackle. Where does one start? What key words should I type when doing an internet search? Who are experts on the topic? What information can I trust?

All right, don’t panic! Answers Systems is here to provide the answers to all your “Trade Spend” questions. You can start to tackle the topic of “Trade Spend” right here. Instead of conducting a general search on the internet that would cost you time browsing through article upon article, Answers Systems has compiled 5 of their most visited “Trade Spend” blog posts. You can trust the information provided because Answers Systems was founded by foodservice professionals and has met the unique trade spend and trade promotion management requirements of the foodservice industry for 25 years.

Now that your mind has been put at ease, here is a list of the top 5 most visited “Trade Spend” posts. If you still would like to know more about Answers Systems and our ContractPro trade promotion management solution, contact us.

1. "Trade Promotion Management: What is Trade Spend?"

Posted by Tom Tipps

There’s been a lot of dialogue around the topic of trade-spend management in the Foodservice industry; but, in all honesty I’m not sure the industry has ever really agreed on the definition of “Trade” Spending. From my perspective Foodservice trade spending involves incentives paid by manufacturers directly to their operator and distributor trading partners…to motivate those trading partners to purchase, sell or promote the manufacturers products/brands to the restaurant…. (Read More)

2. "Trade Spending Statistics: Answers Systems Clients vs. Industry Standard"

Posted by Tom Tipps

Through our decades of experience in managing trade promotion transactions for foodservice manufacturers, Answers Systems is able to validate many of these statistics with real-world examples. Technomic says, "On average 28% of trade claims are overstated." For Answers Systems' clients the numbers range from a high of 50% for new clients to a low of 22% of seasoned clients. The critical statistic is that the dollar value of invalid claims totals 15% of the total dollar… (Read More)

3. "Data Mapping Stats - Music to My Ears"

Posted by Stacy Jackson

Do you ever get songs stuck in your head? I do. Today’s song is “Surf City” by Jan & Dean. “Two girls for every boy” and “I’m going to Surf City where it’s two to one. Yeah, I’m going to Surf City. Gonna have some fun.” It’s kind of annoying, yet it got me to thinking about ratios. Surf City apparently had a 2:1 ratio of girls to boys. I started wondering what kind of ratios I might find in the quarterly report I received regarding our data mapping for our clients'…(Read More)

4. "Ultimate Questions in Business Intelligence"

Posted by Stacy Jackson

While at work this morning, I had one of those random memories pass through my mind. It was of a scene from Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. You may remember this part where Slartibartfast (crazy name, huh?) tells Arthur Dent about a race of super-intelligent, pan-dimensional beings who built Deep Thought, a supercomputer designed to calculate the answer to “the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything.” Much to the beings’ dismay, Deep… (Read More)

5. "Trade Spend or Trade Investment?"

Posted by Bud Hilton

In a recent foodservice conference someone made a case that manufacturers’ expenditures toward the trade should be considered “investment” not “spend.” An executive with a very large food manufacturer made the statement . . . “Don’t try to kid yourselves, most of it is spend, not investment.”…(Read More)

Technorati tags: Trade Spend, Trade Spending, Trade Promotion Management, Trade Spend Formula

The Eye Of The Tiger

Answers Systems — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 17:49:36 GMT

Ten Answers Systems employees spent Friday, August 5, serving the Tampa Bay Community through volunteer efforts at Big Cat Rescue, the world’s largest accredited sanctuary for exotic cats. At first, the Florida sun made it seem like this might be an impossible task, but volunteers pushed through the heat as we offered our washing and tree trimming skills in order to maintain the property and make it appealing to visitors.

Once done with volunteering, Answers Systems employees were given a special treat for all their hard work and effort. As a special treat, we got to take a tour of the sanctuary. The tour guide at Big Cat Rescue was great and very knowledgeable about the big cats. We were informed of several different species and were told stories of how the big cats got there under less than perfect circumstances. Once receiving the tour it was clear that all the hard work in the blistering Florida heat was well worth it. We plan our Fall project to be with Feeding America Tampa Bay Chapter in November.

Answers Systems feels it’s important to have a community service day benefit for employees. Not only does it give Answers Systems employees an opportunity to enrich their own lives by helping others: it’s also a way to give back to the community which they live in. Community service projects assemble employees that may not have the opportunity to work together otherwise. It creates outlets for employees to demonstrate and develop skills they can bring back to the office such as leadership, teamwork, and communication.

Technorati tags: volunteer, community service, service day benefit

What Does It Mean To Volunteer?

Answers Systems — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 15:28:34 GMT

There’s a simple but complex answer to that question. The answer is simply different for each person. This was demonstrated when Kristin Avery asked Rhonda Harms, Susan Sanford, and Ernie Norling of Answers Systems 6 questions about volunteering.

Kristin Avery first sat down with Rhonda Harms to discuss 6 questions about volunteering. Listed below are the responses to those questions.

Q: Why do you like to volunteer?

A: It feels good to know that you’ve helped others and that your efforts matter.

Q: Are there any personal experiences that came out of volunteering that really resonated with you?

A: I participated in Habitat for Humanity and it was amazing to see how a large group of people could come together and accomplish so much. It was hard manual labor, in which I was quite sore from nailing so much, but it made me appreciate the efforts by so many to spend the time and effort to provide a home to those in need.

Q: Why do you feel it’s important to volunteer?

A: Helping others is being human. We all care, and by volunteering or participating, we find ways and opportunities to help others.

Q: Do you have a favorite organization you like to volunteer for and why?

A: I personally like to incorporate my recreational activities to benefit others. Besides volunteering, you can participate in running, walking, or other physical events by raising money or paying to benefit a cause.

Q: Do you have any advice to those who are volunteering for the first time?

A: Try volunteering with a friend or group. You’ll have fun and be able to share the memories, which will make you want to do it again!

Please click on the YouTube link to watch interviews with Susan Sanford and Ernie Norling.

Technorati tags: volunteer, community service

6 Question About NRA 2011

Answers Systems — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 15:49:34 GMT

Recently Kristin Avery sat down with Tom Tipps to have a conversation about his National Restaurant Association Show experience held in Chicago this past April 29, 2011.

1. In a 100 words or less, what is NRA?

NRA stands for National Restaurant Association and has been around since at least the early 70’s. The NRA show is really an industry gathering recognizing that everyone in the industry is either in a restaurant operations business, distributor, or manufacturers [sic]. Many of our manufacturers attend who sell through distributors to restaurants, so it’s an industry wide function and it’s a great opportunity to stay updated on industry trends. Not only can restaurants stay up-to-date on industry trends, but the whole distribution area can stay updated on consumer insights for consumers who are restaurant patrons. It’s almost a must attend if you’re in the industry and it’s almost mandatory if you’re a key decision maker in the industry.

2. What year did you start attending the NRA conference?

My first NRA was in 1974, so I have been attending now for about 30 years. When I first started going the industry was doing about $50 billion in sales. I also remember going to the IFMA (International Foodservice Manufacturers Association) meeting back in the early 70’s, IFMA which is a part of NRA, and predicting that the industry someday would be a $100 billion industry. Today we are close to $600 billion. The industry has grown a lot, more than many had ever imagined. If you look at consumer spending, the dollar spend in restaurants is more than the dollar spend in supermarkets/ retail grocery industry.

To watch more of the conversation about NRA, please click on the YouTube link.

Technorati tags: NRA, National Restaurant Association, Foodservice

Trade Promotion Management - More Than Meets The Eye

Answers Systems — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 19:36:59 GMT

By Kristin Avery

Have you ever wondered how you receive your fast food so fast? Honestly, I’ve never given it a second thought. All I know is that I turn into a five-year-old who’s been denied a toy when my food takes longer than two minutes. The television show “How Do They Do It?” on the Discovery Channel recently helped me put this fast food efficiency into perspective and led me to do some additional research on the topic.

CNN Money provides a taste of how complex fast food drive-through technology really is. According to the article, “Candid Camera at the Fast-Food Drive thru” on the CNN Money website, “Here's how it works: when a customer places an order at the drive-thru speaker, the order is taken by someone at a remote ‘order center.’" The order is then sent right back to the restaurant where it was received.” The article then goes on to say, “The second component of the technology is even more interesting, and somewhat controversial. It involves a camera located at the drive-thru order window that takes a picture of the customer and the car. According to Gagnon, the pictures help staff accurately match the order to the customer, thus cutting down on botched orders.” To read more details about how the drive-through systems works, please click on the link. http://money.cnn.com/2006/11/06/news/companies/wendys_cameras/

“The Long-Distance of a Fast-Food Order” from the New York Times states that employees at that specific fast food location may not even take orders. When describing a typical fast food drive-thru transaction, the article point out how far – literally - some establishments go to provide customer service: “What made the $12.08 transaction remarkable was that the customer was not just outside Ms. Vargas's workplace here on California's central coast. She was at a McDonald's in Honolulu. And within a two-minute span Ms. Vargas had also taken orders from drive-through windows in Gulfport, Miss., and Gillette, Wyo. “

Wow! All that just to receive a number 4. Well, there’s also more than meets the eye here at Answers Systems. More that goes into providing the most accurate data and ensuring that claims are processed in a timely fashion. There is a level of complexity that goes into creating and maintaining trade promotion management solutions.

Answers Systems offers two contract management and trade spending solutions for the foodservice industry. For Foodservice Manufacturers, Answers Systems can increase contract profitability and measure trade promotion management effectiveness with the ContractPro® solution. ContractPro provides foodservice professionals with a high tech, online solution that allows users to input, approve, and track the performance of their distributor and bid/ chain operator agreements.

For Multi-Unit Operators, Answers Systems can maximize value of their existing supplier programs, identify opportunities for new rebate programs and perform price verification with the ValuTrak™ solution.

Answers Systems has a whole support team that works day in and day out to provide the most easy-to-use, easy- adopt trade spending management solutions. Just in the accounting department alone, 13,000 checks are printed and distributed a month. Settlement has the constant challenge of processing thousands of claims to meet required turnaround times.

The Answers Systems team also includes Six Sigma green belts with expertise in Lean process improvement methodologies. Our Project Management team, Business Analysts with Six Sigma certifications and Quality Assurance team are all part of the group that contributes to; requirements collection, project execution and quality product/process delivery. All these processes are monitored and implemented within a consistent and centralized Project Management Office team. We are SAS 70, Type II Certified and we are Sarbanes Oxley Compliant

Wow! All of that just to ensure your business receives the best trade promotion management. It just goes to show you that not everything is what it seems. If you dig a little further, you might find that there’s more than meets the eye.

Technorati tags: trade spending, trade promotion management, foodservice

Facing Non-Compliance

Answers Systems — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 16:33:18 GMT

Captain Obvious once said . . . Your Best Customer is Your Existing Customer! Most of us in the Foodservice industry feel that some of our best customers are our contracted chain accounts because once we sell them, the cases keep repeating. Good Concept! The problems start when manufacturers make price concessions for a large multi-unit chain and finds out later that ALL units may not be purchasing or case predictions are understated. Years ago suppliers didn’t have to worry much about this issue simply because they didn’t have good reporting systems to identify operator unit level compliance or non compliance on a regular basis, across all distribution. So, the problem just did not exist!!!

Shifting gears to current times we know that technology, Foodservice expansion and improved sophistication have come together to provide much better opportunities for identification of the critical information elements that can drive our decisions. Every day that passes challenges suppliers to “get much better at utilizing information”. Many outside concerns, in the business of information gathering and interpretation, continue to dig deeper into info-elements and continue to pile this “stuff” in the laps their clients. The piles grow and most users of such data are simply not well equipped to “do anything with it” because they are busy running their day to day business. Visionaries knew this would happen. Too much water-for-the-sponge! The “Information Aftermarket” is HERE! It just may be time to ask for some help in planning the strategy and tactics to deal with the hot lava flow of data.

So, let’s investigate WHY many suppliers find it difficult to act on such available data. After all a hypothetical big operator/customer having, let’s say 400 units . . . liked and approved our product, communicated it downward and now we determine, from our data, that only 300 units are purchasing. What do we do? Well, solution is not as easy as one might think. Let’s look at what the manufacturer has to deal with:

It is not that easy to go tell a big operator . . . you approved it, so why can’t you dictate it? You “promised” compliance, based on my pricing, so what happened? First of all, many suppliers have a tough time getting those kinds of words out of their mouth with a customer. Second, they are not totally sure who in their organization to assign that task . . . the highest National Account person? The NAM over the specific operator? The Sales VP? The Broker that is close with the Operator Headquarter?

One also has to be careful because when some operators are confronted they may choose to hand the supplier back the monkey with . . . “it is your job to get your message into our units and it appears that you have not been totally successful”. Although a weak position, some manufacturers may not have good answers.
Another problem is, with many operators, compliance is dependent upon partnering franchisees who can affect a lot of “off-contract” purchasing and are very difficult to control.

The bottom line is – the right strategy and accompanying tactics may be difficult to determine and even harder to exercise.
Information overload has done a few things. It has helped to identify promises versus activity. It seems to have dictated that suppliers must find better ways to address the visibility that they have so actively craved. It also has presented some potential job opportunities for a handful of consulting specialists in the marketplace that know how to help suppliers maneuver through the maze of issues across many multi-unit channels, while at the same time taking some third party ownership of undesirable issues.

Our group is very concerned that we work with the industry to address these topics with as much background information that we can get. So, we are asking you, as an equally concerned supplier, to help us by completing the very short and very simple questionnaire. Once we have compiled and analyzed this data we will present our findings back to you. Thank you ahead of time for your participation.

PLEASE COMPLETE AND FORWARD . . . .

Click here to complete the Facing Non-Compliance Survey