Hospital Recipe Management
Maintains Quality and Cost Control

Hospital Recipe Management
Maintains Quality and Cost Control

Our previous blog article explored the meaning of standardizing and scaling recipes, their progression over time, and all the essentials of a good recipe. This month, we’ll dive deeper with part two focused on the benefits of automating hospital recipe management.

The Benefits of Menu Scaled Recipes

While time and resources are necessary to manage and maintain your recipe database and distribute this information, you get out of the system what you invest into the system. Hesitancy to change is common among food service operations. You may have staff complain that recipes are time-consuming or feel they do not need them because they already know how to do things in your establishment. You may have a chef who does not want to reveal their secrets or feels it takes too long to write and develop these recipes.

A colorful vector graphic of a recipe book depicting hospital recipe management

On the contrary, an experienced food service manager knows that these claims against hospital recipe management cannot outweigh the benefits. The prime advantage of using a standardized recipe is to produce consistency in food quality and quantity, ensuring standard portion size and cost. Your organizational profits, patient and customer safety, and hospital-wide satisfaction depend on this critical practice. Your customers must be able to rely on adequate nutritional and allergen content at a minimum; furthermore, your customers deserve to receive a consistent product every time they order a menu item they like and appreciate.

Seven Effective Features of Standardized, Scaled Recipes

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Hospital Recipe Management is a Tool – standardized recipes equip food service managers in establishing control and assuring a reliable cost range. For an operation to set a menu selling price that allows the operator to make a profit, it is vital that the cost of each recipe and portion is calculated and relatively consistent.

With Nutritional Analysis, you can view nutrient information at the food item, recipe, and menu level, assuring nutritional content and addressing dietary concerns, such as special diets or food allergies. This helps ensure “Truth in Menu” requirements, especially with modified diets, patient safety, and regulatory compliance.

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Product Costing updates to recipes show real-time costing as you adjust, and you can also track cost changes of items over time.

Forecasting & Purchasing – calculate the items to order based on menu requirements with precision. Scaled recipe adherence also aids in forecasting and purchasing, reducing errors in food orders.

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Production Management – scaled recipes tie into your preparation and production quantities, aid inventory management, and reduce waste.

Process Improvement – scaled recipes also help develop work simplification principles, provide new employee and cross-training opportunities, and incorporate HACCP food safety standards.

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Labor Cost Control – standardized, scaled recipes allow for process consolidation and maximize schedule planning, which makes for even more efficient utilization of labor time. Specific instructions included in recipes can also reduce the amount of time needed for training.

Resources for Implementing Menu Scaled Recipes

If you need to reevaluate your current approach to hospital recipe management, now is an excellent time to consider automating your process. As a Computrition customer, you would have access to Computer Based Trainings (CBTs), which are self-paced lessons that can be taken at any time and show the fundamental functions and prepare users for an optimal software experience. These lessons are also ideal for new users or for users who want to refresh their software knowledge. As a bonus, these kinds of CBT lessons are great opportunities to earn Continuing Professional Education Units (CPEUs).

Between these last two articles, you now have fundamental elements to consider when seeking an effective recipe management system. If you feel your operation can benefit from standardized recipes and want to learn more about how our solution can help, reach out to info@computrition.com today!

Headshot of Thomas Olson, Computrition's Southeast Regional Sales Director

Thomas Olson has an extensive 25-year background as an award-winning executive chef and system director of a large healthcare system, with experience in various nutrition and foodservice management models. Previously a long-time Computrition user, he is now a full-time Computrition team member. A few of his favorite things include culinary creations, enhancing automation and process efficiency, and helping others with what he has learned.