In the challenging environment of a group home, menu planning techniques can provide a highly effective means of reducing both food budgets and the high costs associated with staffing.
Whether your facility caters to the needs of children, adults or seniors, a comprehensive menu planning program can assist you in providing a nutritious and flavorful menu while also reducing your costs.
The secret to accomplishing more while using fewer resources is organization and effective planning.
Organize and Automate the Ordering Process
The demands of a specialized residential community require a highly organized and regimented approach to the ordering and purchasing of food.
Unless your staff dedicates a substantial amount of time and attention to the ordering process, your budget will suffer from excessive food purchases and subsequent spoilage. Or, worse, you may run out of staples or specialty items necessary for preparing the day’s meals.
Even the most organized staff can overlook an item or two when placing a food order. But with an automated menu planning tool, both your order and pull lists are automatically generated. This means no more last-minute retail shopping trips, which eat up precious staff time and result in budget overruns.
This approach takes the guesswork and human error out of the ordering process, cutting unnecessary food costs and freeing up staff members to attend to other tasks.
Use Advance Planning Techniques
The further in advance your staff can plan menus and supplier orders, the more efficient and cost-effective your food service program will be. This is especially true if some or all of your residents have special dietary needs.
Even if your resident population count fluctuates frequently, an automated menu planning tool can adjust required quantities on the fly.
Advanced planning allows you to consolidate and concentrate the efforts of your staff, and allows you to take advantage of supplier promotions and bulk purchasing discounts.
Use Computer-Assisted Menu Planning for Integration
Computerized menu software is one of the most effective tools for cutting both food costs and staffing requirements.
Grove Menus proudly offers the industry’s most comprehensive menu-planning tools, for use in assisted living, residential care facilities and group homes. Our adaptive approach means that you can customize your facility’s menus to meet residents’ needs.
Our recipes are as delicious as they are nutritious, and they take the guesswork out of both ordering and preparation. With chef-inspired seasonal options that are dietician approved, your residents will be delighted with every meal.
Even our customers who administer small facilities report significant time and cost savings every week.
Contact Grove Menus today to learn more about our advanced food menu program, and to schedule your free demonstration of our group home menu planning tools.