WHOLE FOODS COOKS UP COST MANAGEMENT FOR DELI WITH SOFTWARE

JACK ROBERTIELLO

CHICAGO -- Whole Foods Market's Midwest Region division here has employed a software recipe and inventory management control program to handle the costs related to its growing volume of food-service and deli business.

The program has been tested in a number of sites, and has helped the division of the natural-food chain increase deli efficiency through margin controls and recipe information, as well as inventory control.

"The executive team wants better margins and more accountability out of the delis," said Marty Sanderson, a member of Austin, Texas-based Whole Foods' national food-service development team.

The system, Food-Trak, was developed by System Concepts, Scottsdale, Ariz.

The Food-Trak system, one of many restaurant kitchen software packages, lets retail deli managers cost products as ingredient prices fluctuate. It also is used to print recipes and procedures to be employed at store level.

The program is credited by Whole Foods division executives for allowing them to gain portion and shrink control as well.

The program is used to calculate margin and food-cost information, leading deli officials to sometimes temporarily eliminate products when specific ingredients with fluctuating prices become too expensive. This helps the company get control of margin and food cost, Sanderson said.

Recently, more meals executives have been saying they are having difficulty finding software programs that address the problems specific to food-service and deli programs in the supermarket setting.