Technology can help cities and counties reduce food waste and safeguard the environment

Government foodservice and beverage (F&B) departments are acquiring inventory and procurement systems to minimize food waste, says Rohith Kori, vice president of product and corporate strategy at Agilysys, which offers an integrated hospitality software portfolio. He points to his firm’s Eatec system, which is part of the Agilysys Hospitality Core Collection and provides a foundation to help simplify F&B operations, while helping to reduce food waste. “The setup helps municipalities and other public agencies to maximize each taxpayer dollar by helping them reduce waste and spoilage along with theft and overstock,” Kori explains

Kori says the United States needs to do better in food product usage and consumption. “According to earth.org, the United States is the largest culprit of food waste, negatively impacting landfills (making up 22 percent of total municipal solid waste), greenhouse gas emissions and food insecurity. Roughly 40 percent of food in America is tossed out each year—more than $218 billion worth of food.” He adds that there is a significant need for individuals, businesses, government agencies, schools and hospitals to reduce food waste.

Cities and counties should look into acquiring technology to make foodservice operations more efficient, Kori believes. “Wasted time equals wasted taxpayer dollars. Inefficient processes, such as manually counting inventory or trying to figure out what excess produce and other stock could go to waste, are tedious, time-consuming processes that could be streamlined through modern, robust F&B technology.”

He says the Agilysys Eatec platform arms municipalities, schools and other public entities with the right technology to help ensure they have all of the ingredients for an efficient foodservice operation. “It helps control the quality and consistency of product purchase and inventory levels, and helps F&B employees perform their jobs more efficiently and effectively.”

The Eatec platform performs numerous tasks and features the core functions of purchasing, inventory, recipe, forecasting, production and sales analysis. The system also has add-on modules for cycle planning, nutrition and allergens. Kori adds: “It employs a single, centralized database that’s web-accessible, which is more efficient than having to maintain remote systems.”

The setup is accessible through Android and iOS devices. “Users can receive and transfer items and manage inventory and counts from anywhere. This technology makes everything about running foodservice more efficient, since employees can perform tasks from anywhere on the site, and even off-site when needed.”

No question, top talent is hard to keep. Kori points to research from Deloitte that shows three major factors that contribute to three-quarters of voluntary departures by employees—growth opportunities or lack thereof, employee experience or lack thereof, and disruptive technologies or lack thereof.

Kori says foodservice staffers appreciate advanced technology, and they want the same efficiencies and experiences from the tech they use at work as the tech they use at home—their mobile phones. “If organizations don’t have that, employees are more willing to seek greener pastures to improve their work experience.”

Kori asks the following question: “Do you think foodservice employees at public sector facilities like government agencies, school districts, higher education systems and health care/hospital campuses want to count inventory by hand or guess how much produce they need to have on hand without looking at historical data?” His response: They don’t. “F&B software designed for such facilities provides all the features and functions employees need to handle diverse dining scenarios.”

And foodservice customers have changing tastes, Kori believes. “Consumers eating at facilities like hospitals and schools, for instance, don’t want the foodservice experiences they had 20 years ago. They want choices like food halls that bring new concepts and trending foods (think quinoa and healthy fruit smoothies) to life.” Kori says his firm’s Eatec system helps to provide customers what they want. “Eatec does just that—it enables foodservice employees to provide delightful dining experiences in unlikely places.”

Kori explains that the Agilysys Eatec platform and the firm’s other technologies offer additional benefits: “They help improve staff and guest experiences by providing high return hospitality. This means our solutions produce happy guests who spend more and provide higher empowerment and retention for staff, so they stay in their positions longer rather than taking part in the ‘great resignation.’”

Kori’s firm also offers the PanOptic AI-powered self-checkout kiosk, which allows a guest to place multiple food items on a kiosk tray all at one time. The PanOptic AI service uses computer vision and AI to scan the items, recognize them and add them to the cart.

OMNIA Partners offers a robust portfolio of cooperative contracts in the public procurement space, and OMNIA Partners Public Sector lists several cooperative contracts under the phrase “foodservice technology.”

Michael Keating is senior editor for American City & County. Contact him at [email protected].