Laitila food services have been using JAMIX Kitchen Intelligence System since the late 1990’s for managing their kitchen operations. Laitila is a town of 8,500 people in southern Finland. It provides food services in schools, kindergartens, and health care facilities. Deploying the web-based JAMIX System recently has boosted the utilization of the system. Along with that the system has provided even more benefits for the food services – both from the economical aspect, as well as through the daily practices.
Web-based JAMIX Provided Motivation For Using The System More
Determination together with the web-based JAMIX System has made things happen. ”All in all it is about the attitude, do you want this or not. We understand the benefits we get from the JAMIX System. That is what pushes us forward”, tells Kitchen Manager Juha Laiho. Food Service Worker Salla Kuoppa-Tiittanen continues: ”We had this enthusiasm towards the web-based system. You can use it on a tablet, as well.”
Juha and Salla are the admin users of the JAMIX System. In addition to them, the chefs use the system in their daily work. Along with trainings and using the system everybody has a positive attitude towards it. Laitila food services publishes their menus online directly from the system with the JAMIX MENU Service. This way the JAMIX System reaches the end-customers, as well.
”JAMIX is the guiding thread for our kitchen operations”
Both admin users recognize lots of benefits from using the system. ”JAMIX provides us financial guidelines for operations. We can see in the system, how we have spent our money. Through optimizing portion sizes, for example, we are able to allocate the money where we want it to be”, says Juha. Salla continues: ”With JAMIX we have been able to keep our budget. On the other hand we have been able to make savings, which we’ve been able to use for something special. For example, we were able to invest more into the Christmas lunch.”
The system provides tools for forecasting sales, and it is easy to make changes for the recipes, if needed. The system provides a huge benefit also for calculating the order quantities: ”I cook for more than 1,000 people. If I was to think the quantities for minced meat and potatoes by myself, it would just be terrible. JAMIX makes ordering so much easier. We order the quantity that is on the recipe”, tells Salla providing an example from real life. Orders that are the right size help in inventory management. ”We have nothing unnecessary here, so it easy to keep the inventory in order”, Juha explains.
The operations run smoothly and accurately thanks to the system: ”I weigh ingredients according to the recipe, and I know that the portion sizes and the amount of portions will be enough. No need for guessing”, Salla points out. ”Now that we fine tune our recipes, the portion size will be in place. We order and cook according to that. It has been great to notice along the way, that wastage is nonexistent.”
Juha emphasizes the importance of waste monitoring, as well, and brings up other information management: ”JAMIX has the information you need for food safety. The items include information on prices and nutritive content.” The system and the information it includes provide support for new employees, as well. ”It is also an investment for the future, and not only for us who are working here now”, says Juha.
JAMIX MENU Application Promotes Transparency Towards The Customers
Laitila food services publish their menus online with JAMIX MENU Service. ”With the eMENU Service we can communicate the content of the food we serve. Transparency is our goal, and we work for it”, Juha explains. You can communicate also information on special diets through JAMIX MENU Service: ”There are customers with special diets, and we have instructed them to find information in JAMIX MENU application. We aim at having all that information in there”, Salla specifies.
Laitila food services actively promote the JAMIX MENU Service so that customers would start using the application. ”I founded a food committee, and we have students from different schools participating. I took Jamix to the committee, as well, and now the students promote the application forward. It was also rewarding, that one teacher came to tell us, that she had started to use the JAMIX MENU application once it was available, and that she was very pleased with it”, tells Juha. In the future, the online menu will be added into the section ”What are we having in school today”, in the website of Laitila.
Systems Will Play A Big Role In The Kitchen In The Future, As Well
Salla and Juha are concerned about the small number of younger people in the industry. At this moment also external threats, like the Covid-19, raises a concern. On the other hand Juha sees that a system helps to reduce possible threats related to the origin of food, for example: ”The transparency the JAMIX MENU service provides us. You can see what our food is made of. You have all the information there.”
Even if people will physically cook the food also in the future, the role of systems will grow in the future. ”The industry will be faster. The systems you have known at one point, won’t necessarily be the same in the future”, Salla predicts.
Experiences About Deployment And Co-operation With JAMIX
Even if Laitila had used the JAMIX System for a long time, they moved to the web-based system through a deployment project. ”I thought it would be a hard work, and that it would take a lot of time to even update our recipes. Now that I think back on it, it wasn’t that huge once we started to work on it”, Salla recalls. Juha continues: ”The motivation was so strong. This is truly a good system now.”
Juha underlines the importance of training when deploying the system: ”It has a huge significance how you get the people involved, and how you sell the idea to them. Support in the start is such a big thing.” Salla points out, that it is important to start using the system right after the training: ”You are bound to forget the things, if you don’t start using the system right away.”
Both Kitchen Managers are pleased with the co-operation with JAMIX.
Tips For A New JAMIX Customer
”You need to budget time and money for deploying JAMIX. We manage JAMIX along with work, so it is not impossible if you don’t have a person to do it. Still, managing the system requires time and persistence”, Juha points out. ”The system cannot help you if you don’t put your information in it. And the information should be accurate and correct from the start. Once you have the information in the system you will benefit from it in the future. You will get faster with the system as you use it, so you will need less and less time for doing it. And then you will get recipes and all other information out of it. Still, this will not be completed at any point, you need to work continuously”, Salla advises.
Juha points out the results you get for the work invested in the system: ”When you have patience to do things thoroughly, it will reward you, and we have experienced that. We have praised JAMIX weekly. So it does require time and money, but it will pay it back. We generate a minimal amount of food waste.”
