foodservice
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
by Bud Hilton
Our foodservice industry certainly has seen its share of business closings, due mainly to a poor performing economy that has redirected consumer dollars away from spending in our marketplace. Even in lesser volatile situations, many chain operators have had to at least revert to unit closings as a short-term cure to possible bankruptcy. What can you do?
There is an old adage that goes something like this . . . In times of prosperity you can hide a lot of your spend-sins; in tough economic times they meet you at your front door! Basically, your expenses have to...
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...
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...
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...
By Kristin Avery
It’s baseball season, my favorite season. My favorite team is the Tampa Bay Rays. When I’m not watching the Rays, I’ll even attend an occasional softball game. At a recent softball game, it finally occurred to me that the baseball diamond looks a lot like the Answers Systems logo. While a visual stretch for some, it was an instant connection for me. Well, once I made that initial analogy, it then opened the flood gates for a number of baseball/ Answers Systems trade promotion management analogies.
First analogy...
The first analogy between Answers Systems and baseball goes...
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