You’ve finally decided that your department needs foodservice software. Or maybe you have software in place and it’s not meeting your needs. How do you find that elusive “Best-in-breed” foodservice software that will meet all of your needs, most of your wants, and keep providing you a Return on Investment (RoI) for years down the road?

The first step most people take is to hit the search engines. Prowling the internet to “see what’s out there” could be a first step in the wrong direction.The first step to successfully find the BEST foodservice software out there for YOUR specific needs is to take the time to sit down and define what those needs actually are.

 These questions may include:

• Is it important that software come from a company that specializes in software?
• Does this software absolutely need to interface with an EHR/EMR? Or would that just be something that’s an “added bonus”?
• Do you have strict nutritional standards to meet, or is nutritional analysis not as important?
• Do you have recipes you’ve been using for years and love, or do you need some fresh recipes to spice things up?
• Is your foodservice department in charge of multiple facilities, or are you a stand-alone organization?
• Do you utilize select menus or does everyone get basically the same thing?
• Is an installed product satisfactory, or does the flexibility of the OnDemand environment work more to your style?
• Will the product/vendor you select today continue to meet your needs in the future?

These are just a few of the questions you need to ask yourself. Another important question should always involve what kind of budget you have to meet these defined needs and wants. The budget might have some control over what is classified as a “need” and what gets shifted to the “want” column.

Ask your Staff who frequently use recipes and menus what they like or dislike about your current system. Do they need something that’s easier to read? Are there areas where your staff know they could save tons of time with just the right tool? Are the recipes standardized, or do they make them “to taste”?

Remember to write everything down and keep that checklist in an easily accessed location. You’ll need to have that for reference so as not to forget anything important or to avoid mistaking a “want” for a “need”.

Now that you have planned for success, you’re ready to start looking for FoodService software options are out there.  We hope that you look to SureQuest Systems Foodservice software solutions; we’re here to help.

Trade shows are a great way to stay in touch with our customers as well as make new friends and form new business relationships.  This year has been no exception.  SureQuest attended PointClickCare Summit in Orlando, Florida; LeadingAge in Denver, Colorado; American HealthTech Annual Customer Symposium in Jackson, Mississippi; and the FNCE extravaganza in Philadelphia this year.

Those were great times to network, socialize and learn from other Food Service Professionals.  Your input and feedback is one of our most powerful tools that keeps the software fresh and responsive to your needs.   We hope that you enjoyed meeting with the SureQuest Teams as much as we enjoyed your company.

We are already looking forward to the 2013 Tradeshow schedule and hope you will look for us at the following shows:

• PointClickCare Summit in San Antonio
• American HealthTech Annual Customer Symposium in Jackson
• LeadingAge in Dallas
• Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics FNCE in Houston
• Texas Dietetic Association FNCE in Austin
• Association of Jewish Aging Services in Beverly Hills
• … and many more!

Take a look at photos of our Tradeshow adventures in 2012 – you may see yourself having a great time.

Read the whole story here: MarketWire

SureQuest formally announces our acquisition of NutraManager™ Software on October 15, 2012. NutraManager™ is a software solution focused on maximizing the quality of nutritional delivery through an automated solution. NutraManager’s mission is to provide our customers with a software solution which has been crafted to specifically meet their unique industry demands and enable them to enhance care from the advanced use of technology. According to Alma Sudderth, MS, RD, the COO at SureQuest, “We feel that NutraManager™ will add significantly to the already feature rich SureAssess™ Nutritional Assessment software that we currently market. Our plans are to incorporate those features that their customers love, into the SureAssess OnDemand version which is planned for release in January 2013.”

NutraManager™ is the brainchild of Maggie Gilligan, MS, RD and the sole product of Nutra Tech Technology, LLC which will cease operations. It is with great pleasure that we can also announce that Mrs. Gilligan will be joining the management team at SureQuest this Fall as Director of Customer Success.

Gone to the “Cloud” – almost everyone……sounds like a ballad from the 60′s doesn’t it?

What is the Cloud? Simply put, it is the Internet. The Cloud can be as big as you need it to be – without the costs and the infrastructure that have always been limiting factors.

Traditionally, software programs are dedicated to a single workspace, function one at a time and are limited in scope and size to the internal (IT) resources that are available. Business software delivery models have evolved tremendously over the last decade.  We’ve gone from the old “DOS” (Disk Operating Systems) programs that reside on-premise to Windows® programs, also residing on-premise, to ‘off-site hosted’ programs residing on outside servers. Now there is “Software as a Service” (SaaS) via the Cloud.

The major differences are:  ”You don’t necessarily own it anymore!” and “You don’t necessarily care where it is located anymore!”  You simply pay to use the application and you can ‘reach out’ and access it anytime, anyplace from any Internet-connected device (PC, Laptop, Tablet or Smart Phone, etc) that you are comfortable using. You’re only responsible for paying a subscription to the service for as long as it meets your needs.

SaaS is typically defined by the delivery model rather than the underlying technology. A number of software vendors call themselves SaaS vendors and although any SaaS solution is [technically] ‘hosted’, the term ‘hosted’ is not synonymous with SaaS.  Real SaaS Vendors support a single code base across all customers – also known as multi-tenancy!

In other words, real SaaS vendors develop, support and deploy a single version of software across all customers, enabling the vendor to focus on on-going value-added innovation.  Traditional on-premise software vendors that host their on-premise applications and call it SaaS simply cannot offer the benefits of real SaaS because they must expend too many of their resources maintaining multiple versions of their applications as well as the broad matrix of supporting infrastructure to deliver the application.  Because their customers are typically on different versions at any given time, these so called SaaS vendors are unable to share infrastructure and operational resources.  As a result their customers don’t benefit from these efficiencies and wind up ‘footing the bill’ for maintaining upgrades which don’t come as frequently as they could.  A true SaaS vendor with 1000 customers can upgrade all of them with a single upgrade to the Cloud.  The on-premise (or installed) software vendor must send out 1000 individual upgrades and involve each customer in the process. The next upgrade may well be ready for release before the previous upgrade process is complete.  The “hosted” software vendor without multi-tenancy, is not much more efficient – he will still need to upgrade all of his customers individually although he may send all of the upgrades to the same place in the ‘cloud’.

Major characteristics of Software as a Service (SaaS) are:

• customers share a single version of the software (application)
• customers share the same IT infrastructure and operational resources
• updates are included with the service at no extra charge
• customers enjoy world class security for data center operations, applications and data
• service level guarantees that define and insure up time, backup and disaster recovery
• ongoing maintenance, development and performance tuning
• no perpetual licenses – pay as you go pricing

The “Cloud” makes SaaS possible – it is “where it’s at!!”

Adding nutrition information to menu labeling has been, and will continue to be, a hot button topic among the retail food industry. Efforts to curtail the obesity epidemic and the co-morbities that come with it can often seem at odds with the goals of restaurants or convenience food businesses. In March of 2010 Congress passed a national law requiring chain restaurants or dining establishments with 20 or more locations to post nutrition information on menus or menu boards. The details of this ruling are still being sorted out. For more information about the menu labeling debate visit the Center for Science in the Public Interest. Proponents of the change state that it will give Americans the tools they need to make better choices while dining out; opponents state there is not enough room on menus to list nutrition information and that it is not clear what needs to be included or what doesn’t. 

Nutrition information is currently available for many of the restaurants most American’s frequent. Fast Food establishments usually have nutrition information for their menu items online or posted in the restaurant. Sites like Healthy Dining Finder collect nutrition information for many different restaurants and publish that information on their site, along with suggestions for healthy meals at the various locations.  However, this article in the Washington Post points out a very obvious problem with posting nutrition information; will people make better choices when the information is right in front of them? Several restaurants are finding no difference in how their customers eat when ordering at the establishment even when nutrition information is listed clearly in the menu.

How do you feel about including nutrition information on menus? Do you think it will be effective in making better selections while dining out, which Americans are doing more than ever? Do you have any solutions that would be more effective for the retail dining environment? Do you think that adding nutrition information to menus will have an impact on the meal choices individuals make?

Recipes OnDemand™ Recipe Management Software is able to provide accurate nutrition information for recipes using the USDA database for ingredients. This nutrition information can be printed off in easy-to-read reports for use by your customers. Nutrition information is updated instantly when recipes are altered or created from scratch. Recipes OnDemand™ Recipe Management Software is a great recipe software solution for retail dining businesses, whether it is a restaurant, hospital cafeteria, or any other type dining establishment. Contact us to see how Recipes OnDemand™ Recipe Management Software can improve your business today!

 Helping companies provide Person-Centered Care is a high priority for SureQuest Systems, Inc. This is a first in a series of blog posts focused on Person-Centered Care in the health care realm and the positive impact it can have on an entire organization.

We’re in the midst of a major culture change for the health care environment. Putting the customer first is becoming difficult with budgets being cut and finances getting tight. It can be easy to make the bottom line a higher priority than the happiness of our clientele. The companies at the forefront of this culture change are finding ways to do both successfully. This culture change is being referred to as person-centered care.

What is person-centered care? According to the Continuing Care Leadership Coalition, a membership and advocacy organization focused on improving the long-term care sector, person centered care is “the practice of basing key long term care decisions– in areas ranging from how meals are served and how bathing is offered to how work is structured in an organization – on individual resident needs, preferences, and expectations”. While this definition is tailored to long-term care it can be modified to span the entire healthcare sector. Person-centered care is the practice of basing key HEALTH CARE decisions on resident, patient, and customer needs, preferences, and expectations. This can range from menu offerings, food ordering and delivery, individual time management (visiting times, medication delivery, etc), organizational management within the company, personal space (privacy, living arrangement design, personalization), and many other facets.

The following are only a few short examples of things you can ask about when starting to implement person-centered care in your organization. Does this individual prefer to sleep at certain hours? Do they like to be referred to by a specific nickname? Are there certain individuals that should not be allowed to visit? Do they like to do specific activities in their free time? Do they practice a certain belief system that recognizes specific prayer times, activities, or dietary habits?  Food service, including menu options and delivery practices, can play a large role in providing person-centered care to your customers.

Companies across the globe are riding the wave of (culture) change and reaping the benefits in the form of happy, healthy customers. In a blog post published recently, we discussed the success Fauquier Hospital is having with it’s Bistro On The Hill, culinary healing garden, and person-centered care intitiatives. They are a wonderful example of the good that can happen when you put your patients’ happiness and health FIRST. When it comes to person-centered care don’t get left behind!

Fauquier Hospital in Warrenton, VA does it right when it comes to healthy, affordable cafeteria options. Fauquier has gone the extra mile with a unique initiative to provide menu options that meet standards and criteria, and are certified by Planetree. Fauquier is one of a only fifteen U.S. hospitals that have met these standards. Planetree is an independent group that focuses on patient-centered care and provides coaching, consulting, and education on how hospitals can provide this elevated level of care for its customers. 

Planetree provides designations to healthcare facilities that are exemplary in the area of patient-centered care. There are several categories, each with it’s own criteria that must be met. Facilities interested in designation must be able to demonstrate how they meet each category with the proper documentation. An example of a category that must be met is  “Dining, Food, and Nutrition”, with a sample criteria being that there be fresh and healthy meal/beverage options available to customers and staff 24 hours a day. Fauquier Hospital doesn’t serve its meals from just any cafeteria; rather from a restaurant-style concept called “Bistro on the Hill“. This is one hospital that isn’t jumping on the bandwagon of allowing fast food chains into its dining selections for patients and customers. And the best news- customers don’t miss them one bit.

Menus are built around fresh, local ingredients. Some of the ingredients are not only local but come from the hospital’s OWN garden, called the “Culinary Healing Garden”. Various fruits, vegetables, and herbs are cultivated just outside of the Bistro and used in recipes featured on the menus and salad bar. Fauquier believes in using food to nurture individuals, which is high on the list of Planetree’s qualifications.

Dietary management software helps make this all possible! Want to be able to provide healthy, delicious cafeteria items for your customers? SureQuest can help! SureQuest’s dietary management software allows hospital staff to input creative and unique recipes using ingredients from their garden, or search through the thousands of recipes already on the software and available upon subscription. To see the full spectrum of capabilities, please attend a demo of the foodservice management software, or feel free to contact us!

Seafood is a healthy, delicious option to include on menus and in recipes. June is National Seafood Month, which makes it the perfect time to focus on fish and seafood recipes on your menus!  There are as many preparation methods as there are varieties of fish. This fish and seafood glossary lists the many types of fish and seafood available, with explanations and descriptions of each variety. Sauté catfish, bake salmon, skewer shrimp, top your salad with tuna, serve hearty chowder, steam mussels, grill bass, or fry cod for fish and chips- the options are endless and allow for plenty of creativity!

Different varieties of fish and seafood have different characteristics, so certain cooking methods are more appropriate for certain fish. Is it lean or fatty? Dark or lighter flesh? Flaky or firm? Cooking Light Magazine grouped fish into 5 categories, making it easy to substitute one fish variety for another. Can’t get black sea bass for your recipe? That’s ok, try tilapia! Is Haddock not an option? Catfish makes a suitable substitute!

Always remember to check for food allergies when including fish and seafood on the menu. Shellfish food allergies are one of the most common types of food allergies and can cause a very serious reaction in a short amount of time.

Do you include fish dishes on your menus? What are your favorite seafood recipes? Do seafood dishes sell well in your cafeterias or restaurants?

Prefer to celebrate something besides National Seafood Month? Try one of these other quirky food holidays during the month of June:

• National Candy Month
• National Dairy Month
• National Fresh Fruit and
  Vegetable Month
• National Iced Tea Month
• June 21: National Peaches and
  Cream Day
• June 25: National Strawberry Parfait Day
• June 28: National Tapioca Day

Food holidays are a great way to break the monotony of the daily menu and make your customers excited about items on your menu. What food holidays does your food service department celebrate?

The headline for the results from the 2012 International Food Information Council Foundation says it all- “Americans Find Doing Their Own Taxes Simpler Than Improving Diet and Health”. The good news to take away from the most recent survey is that Americans are actually TRYING to improve their health, recognizing that overweight and obesity are a major issue. The main problem, as reported by survey participants, is that with all of the conflicting information available it can be hard to decipher what is accurate and what isn’t.

Some of the major points to take away from the survey are:

• More than half of Americans (55%) report that they are trying to lose weight, while 22 percent indicate they are trying to maintain their weight.  Only 20 percent report that they are not doing anything regarding their weight.
• While the majority of Americans (71%) estimated their daily calorie needs, 64 percent of them estimated incorrectly with nearly half of all Americans (49%) under estimating.  Only about one in seven Americans (15%) accurately estimates the number of calories they need to maintain their weight.
• Two-thirds of Americans report that they have given some thought to whether foods and beverages they purchase or consume are produced in a sustainable way.
• Packaging information most commonly used by American consumers includes the expiration date (76%) and the Nutrition Facts panel (66%).   Half of consumers report that they look at the ingredients list, the serving size and amount per container, and calorie or nutrition information icons displayed on the front of the package.
• Similar to past years, taste and price continue to drive food and beverage choices (87% and 73% respectively) more than healthfulness (61%), convenience (53%) or sustainability (35%). 
• Nearly nine in ten parents believe that it is good for their health to sit down and eat meals with their family, with fifty-seven percent strongly agreeing to that point.  Two-thirds of parents worry more about the healthfulness of their children’s diets than their own.

Visit the IFIC media resources web page for more information and resources regarding the 2012 IFIC Food and Health Survey.

Do you have anything in place to educate your consumers about healthy choices and dining options? Do you feel that nutrition information is something your customers pay attention to and use in their decision making process? How do you think that nutrition and health education can be improved?

Contact us or register for a demo to discover how our line of healthcare foodservice management software products can improve the healthfulness of YOUR organization and satisfaction of YOUR customers!

This is our first guest post via Kosher For Sure! Our partners are working hard to bring you the best Kosher dining around, combined with ThreeSquares® OnDemand Foodservice Management Software. Both SureQuest and Kosher For Sure! loves to hear your thoughts and comments! Want more Kosher information? Subscribe to our email blog updates!

Did you know that you eat Kosher food every day? Many of your favorites and basic foods have a Kosher Hescher (symbol) on the label. It has been estimated that approximately one third of all shelf products in supermarkets are certified Kosher.

There are around 80 Heschers used in the United States and most states have their own. Go check your refrigerator or pantry- if there is a Hescher on the label then you are eating Kosher!

What does it mean when the products is Kosher? The manufacturer must supply a complete, detailed list of every ingredient in the product, including preservatives. In addition, every step in the manufacturing process, every cleansing agent used on the equipment, and all other products produced in the same premises require close investigation and supervision of the on-site Kosher inspector, called a mashgiach.

Overall, it is a cleaner process- so many people who are  now eating organic are also looking for the Kosher symbol as a sign of safer, higher quality foods.