Photos: Heidi Mäenpää, IINE Studio
Tampere Vocational College, Tredu, is Finland’s second largest vocational institution, with approximately 17,000 young people and adults studying there each year. Tredu has 13 campuses across the Pirkanmaa region. The largest of these is Hepolamminkatu in Tampere, where, among many other fields, students can study for a vocational qualification in the food industry.
JAMIX kitchen management system is used in food industry education for recipe management.
International and Dynamic Operations
Food industry education combines hands-on learning, a multicultural learning environment, and close collaboration between departments. Sari Soukko has worked as a lecturer in the food industry vocational qualification for just over two years, after previously teaching restaurant and catering services for 20 years. Her daily work is shaped by an international student group where a common language cannot be taken for granted. This makes teaching both challenging and rewarding.
“Everyday life for us is that there often isn’t really a common language. It makes the work both fun and demanding at the same time – you have to find ways to understand each other,” Sari describes.
Hepolamminkatu is also home to Tredun Herkku, a café shop where students prepare products daily, such as salads and main dishes, in cooperation with the bakery and meat departments. Since its renovation last autumn, customer numbers at Tredun Herkku have positively exceeded expectations, and product demand has been high.
Food industry students also got real-world experience at the national SAKUstars cultural competition for vocational institutions, which Tredu hosted in Tampere in April. In cooperation with other Tredu people, they prepared meals for 700 people daily, in addition to lunches, coffee services, and cocktail events. “That was quite a week,” Sari laughs.
JAMIX Brought Clarity to Recipe Management
Before JAMIX, the food industry department did not use standardized recipes. “We completely lacked a unified recipe system. I wanted a digital solution where students could adjust recipes themselves according to ingredient quantities and print out recipes for production,” Sari explains.
The implementation of JAMIX began from a practical need, but at the same time it responded to curriculum requirements for using digital tools. Students learn to use the system as part of their everyday work. “People were really excited about the JAMIX software, and it was easy to start using,” Sari says.
Confidence in Work and Added Value for Customers
Managing recipes digitally with JAMIX makes work easier and clearer in many ways while also being inspiring. “When you add ingredients to a recipe in the system and define the quantities, the instructions are then in order. It creates a sense of achievement for both students and me,” Sari says.
Consistent recipe management brings confidence to both learning and production. “Students can print neat recipes from the system without having to make corrections by hand,” Sari praises the system’s benefits and continues: “When products are made repeatedly and the recipe is always the same, learning becomes more reliable and students trust the recipe.”
Nutritional information is also retrieved from JAMIX for customers, bringing added value to the school’s café shop operations. “Customers ask, for example, about protein levels in vegetarian dishes, and now we can provide that information easily. It has been a new service for our customers,” Sari explains.
A Great Tool for Teaching and Learning
Implementing the system went smoothly, and support has been easy to access whenever needed. “It has been easy to reach support, and help has always been close at hand,” Sari says.
Although the system offers many features, teaching starts from the basics – the most important thing is that students understand the core logic and gain positive learning experiences.
Sari sees JAMIX as a functional tool for vocational education: “This is a great learning tool that supports both teaching and students’ everyday practical work.”
JAMIX Kitchen Intelligence System is a cloud-based all-in-one solution designed to simplify and optimize every aspect of foodservice management:
