CALCMENU - Making the business profitable with the right culinary solution.

Consistency . One cannot overemphasize the need for consistency in the single most important asset in the food industry— recipes . As the key channel to consumers, recipes must be consistent not only in ingredients and keywords but also in template and format across all brands and markets so as to maintain a standardized quality that is in line with the reputation of the company. In fact, there exists an emerging need for multinational consumer goods companies to have a centralized recipe management database which will be of aid in making their recipe information freely and universally available to consumers. This is where EGS CALCMENU, one of the world leaders in foodservice software development, comes into play. Leading multinationals have sought professional help from EGS Enggist and Grandjean Software SA vis-à-vis their global recipe management concerns. Fusing technology with culinary expertise, EGS has been the go-to company of over a million of satisfied users and ap...

The Kiosk for CALCMENU is the latest solution from EGS . It allows foodservice professionals like chefs, culinary arts students, caterers, F&B Managers and other food enthusiasts to share their recipes in CALCMENU with any PC and even via mobile. The Kiosk for CALCMENU can be viewed on any PC with an Internet browser (Windows, Macintosh, Android, etc.) and even on smartphone (iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows Phone, BlackBerry, etc.). The Kiosk is secure and private as it requires a login. Your login details in the EGS Website, which are associated with your CALCMENU product keys and serial number, are used as your login details in the Kiosk for CALCMENU.     The Kiosk for CALCMENU is available to clients of EGS CALCMENU with valid EGS Support and Update Plan .   Our latest version also works on Windows 8!  

Software and technology has been of great assistance in the daily living of individuals and regular operations of many companies worldwide. In the corporate world, the implementation of different automated software performing their respective purposes plays a significant role on the organization’s innovation and growth. For an instance, data management is one of the important processes in any organization. Well-managed data is a crucial factor that is easily observed when there is optimized productivity and an increase in the company’s efficiency. However, many inconsistencies occur when the organization becomes overwhelmed with great collections of records in several diverse applications. Worse case scenarios such as financial loss and poor company credibility will happen eventually if these inconsistencies are neglected. Hence, EGS never fails to provide our customers accurate and up-to-date recipe management software for better processes of storing and organizing recipe data. In ...

CALCMENU joined hundreds of exhibitors in the recently concluded Igeho exhibition for international food, catering and hospitality companies held in Basel, Switzerland. In the 5-day affair of one of Europe’s most important events for the foodservice industry, EGS CALCMENU’s CEO Marc Enggist presented the different EGS solutions to CALCMENU’s visitors as well as showed a sneak peek of CALCMENU’s newest recipe management solution – CALCMENU Cloud . This cloud-based recipe management solution is geared to be formally launched in 2012. Enggist noted a remarkable number of interested   clients and visitors for CALCMENU’s recipe and back office management solutions, as well as its latest solution for 2012 -- CALCMENU Cloud . Many signed up to receive updates and information once this cloud-based solution is launched in the market. CALCMENU Cloud offers convenience on accessibility which is one of the most sought-after features paving the most current direction to the software’s fut...

Come and visit the CALCMENU booth at the Igeho Expo in Basel, Switzerland! The CALCMENU booth is in Hall 2.1/Stand D36 . We will be showcasing our different recipe management solutions from November 19-23 .

After defining your preferences in Part 1 , now it’s time to identify the other information needed in managing your recipes in CALCMENU . You can manage the categories, keywords, sources, taxes, texts, units, yield units, nutrient rules, labor and ingredients. In Managing the Merchandise List If you are managing your merchandise list (or ingredients list), I suggest you first create units, categories and suppliers. Units Identify which units you will use when creating new merchandise. Go to Configuration> Manage Units . CALCMENU has predefined units which you can already use. Just click the checkboxes of the units you want to use. It’s so easy! If there is a unit that you want to use but is not in the Unit List, you can quickly create a unit by clicking the Add button. Categories Categories are terms to classify a group of merchandise, recipes or menus. To create categories, go to Configuration> Manage Categories> Merchandise (Recipe or Menu) . You can create categories for...

The USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture) recently introduced a new eating guide called MyPlate which replaces the decades-old Food Guide Pyramid. MyPlate is a plate icon sliced into four to represent different food groups. Each colored section is for fruits, vegetables, grains and proteins. A circle icon for dairy is also included in the new guide. MyPlate encourages people to eat more fruits and veggies (should be half of your meal) and reduce sodium-rich soups, bread and frozen meals. The release of a new eating guide is part of the US’ movement to deal with the obesity problem in America. US First Lady Michelle Obama says “ This is a quick, simple reminder for all of us to be more mindful of the foods that we're eating .”* To know more about MyPlate, you can check out this website: http://www.choosemyplate.gov/ . * Reuters.com

Restaurant menus may easily be dismissed as a mere list of food selections until one takes a look at the true power it holds in making or breaking the success of any restaurant business.  The menu directly reflects your restaurant’s personality and concept, and is a major factor in its profitability. It is actually the strongest and most consistent internal-marketing tool your restaurant employs. The menu is the only advertising material for your restaurant that you can be a 100% sure will be read by the guest and will directly influence them on their food choices, as well as the amount of money that will be spent.   Thus, aside from remarkable dishes and ambiance, a well-designed and well-engineered menu should also be on top of a restaurant’s priority list. Treat the menu as if your entire food business depends on it because it really does! Ample planning and research on customer demographics and pyschographics should be done as they directly ...

Along with the advent of “cloud computing” which transforms software from products to more of a service and enables the sharing of resources and information on a wider level, software companies have also began developing software with the same concept and which offers the same convenience.  This type of software is slowly making its way into both small- and large businesses’ systems or even homes. At first thought, such software would seem impractical and costly. But frankly, it’s the opposite. Allow me to give you the facts on this new software technology, Software as a Service, as well as on its perks. Software as a Service veers away from the typical software in a sense that instead of the all-too-familiar setup where you buy, install and use, this software would only require you to avail of a service access, connect and use.  This is because the software that you are using is not actually installed on your computer (thus no confusing installation procedures, installe...

Last week, we have talked about the importance of nutrient and allergen management tools like EGS CALCMENU and EGS F&B Control, for foodservice professionals. We have concluded that such tools are an effective way to keep up with the growing need of informing consumers of the nutrient and allergen content in food products and in improving nutrient and allergen management in the food industry. This week, we have listed down the various ways on how these tools, specifically EGS CALCMENU and EGS F&B Control help in ensuring reliable nutrient and allergen management. 1. CALCMENU Pro and CALCMENU Enterprise automatically provide nutritional information for your recipes and menus. Each recipe’s nutritional content can be easily calculated to up to 12 nutritional values that you have chosen from several databases or references such as USDA (American reference), BLS (German) and ASA (Swiss).  Nutrient Tab in CALCMENU Enterprise containing the nutrient information of...

It is undeniable that successful companies are those that are able to maintain at least 28-35% of their food costs, on the average, where at least 50% to 70% of their total sales are spent on food inventories, consumption as well as labor costs . Because of the impact that food costs has on the overall profitability of a food service company, one must be able to manage it carefully in order to increase profits by avoiding losses. You are probably thinking: “So how can we control our food cost?” There are many ways to do so but two of the most effective ways are to control your inventory and look into your menu pricing strategy . You may have received a good deal from your suppliers by ordering in bulk, however, think about this: you may be tying in your cash flow or store room for paying and stacking an inventory that may end up just sitting in your stock room for a long period of time. Or inversely, you may have also experienced scrambling and pulling your hair out as you scramble fo...