MENUCALC CASE STUDY: FOOD SYSTEMS UNLIMITED
Longwood, Florida-based Food Systems Unlimited is a cutting-edge restaurant management corporation with franchises in food courts, malls, and airports throughout the United States. The company’s innovative style, creative food concepts and focus on fine ingredients and excellent service have earned it a reputation for serving the most “distinctive food court cuisine” in the industry. Food Systems Unlimited features three unique fast food restaurants – Asian Chao®, Maki of Japan®, and Chao Cajun®, offering Chinese, Japanese, and Cajun-style cooking respectively. Founded in 1991, the company now has more than 75 restaurant locations nationwide.
SITUATION
Growing consumer health consciousness has prompted lawmakers in selected counties in California, New York, Washington, and Oregon to pass ordinances mandating that chain restaurants post nutrition information. This is to help diners make educated, healthful ordering decisions. Other states are on the way. Many restaurants consider the measure unworkable, citing the enormous cost of nutritional analysis. Laboratory food analysis can cost $500 to $1,000 per recipe. Nutrition CD-ROMs for menu analysis are also priced at thousands of dollars. Faced with these prohibitive costs, Food Systems Unlimited marketing manager Bouahong Vongmany consulted MenuCalc founder and CEO Lucy Needham, who claims to effectively slash them in half by utilizing a database of 20,000+ ingredients compiled primarily from USDA Nutrient Laboratory data. Vongmany is delighted with MenuCalc’s analysis and service.
ACCURATE, COST-EFFECTIVE, AND CUSTOMER-ORIENTED
“MenuCalc is much more economical and efficient than other options we explored, such as laboratories and third-party consultants,” said Vongmany. “Also, the company’s nutrition analysis is guaranteed for accuracy, which is critical since we don’t want to give our customers potentially misleading data. Plus, it’s great that MenuCalc’s staff includes a fully-qualified Registered Dietitian, whom I can easily reach at all times. I feel as if I have my own dietician on-site!”
Vongmany also says that she appreciates MenuCalc’s outstanding customer service and ability to manage the entire process of nutrition analysis, which saves Food Systems Unlimited valuable time and resources. The MenuCalc team reviews analyses to ensure regulations compliance. They offer secure storage/archiving, correct portion sizes, and presentation of “A Healthy Choice” recipe claims. In addition, they proactively guide clients in redesigning dishes/recipes for increased healthiness and nutrition.
“I am extremely happy with the level of customer service and support provided by Lucy Needham and her team,” said Vongmany. “They respond very quickly to all our questions and have gone out of their way to help us gather the additional information we needed to complete our analysis.”
SUPERB CONSULTING SERVICES
Under the supervision of lead dietitian Alyson Mar, MenuCalc offers consulting services to advise clients regarding industry issues, laws, and developing food trends. “Our goal is to exceed our client’s expectations in every way,” said Mar. “In addition to giving our clients a turnkey solution for nutrition analysis, we serve as their knowledge resource. In contrast, most companies charge high prices for specialized assistance, often up to $500 for a single question.”
Vongmany describes herself as very satisfied with MenuCalc’s help in this arena. “Since we have to observe constantly evolving laws, it’s great that Lucy and her team are experts on regulations. They help us understand the rules better and show us different ways to display information. I’d recommend MenuCalc to any restaurant looking for quick, accurate, reasonably priced, and dependable service for nutritional analysis.”
ABOUT MENUCALC
MenuCalc is one of two nutrition analysis applications developed by FoodCalc® LLC, currently headquartered in Santa Barbara, California. For more information, please schedule a demo or call 805-453-5045.