PROBLEM? SOLVED! | CHEFS CULINAR | CHEFS inspiration | The Magazine | ISSUE 32 WINTER 2024 Text by Stephan Fuhrer | Photos by Kai Schwabe
At the Catering Gesellschaft Himmelsthür in Wildeshausen, JOMOsoft manages production. This is not only sustainable, but also reduces costs – thanks in part to a new tracking system for GN containers...
Countless Excel files, tons of paperwork, and a lot of mental effort: In Wildeshausen alone, one of two central kitchens in Lower Saxony that supplies retirement homes, schools, daycare centers, and company canteens, the kitchen team at the Catering Gesellschaft Himmelsthür (CGH) had to manually note down and comply with up to five pages of special requests – and that was just for desserts. That's how it used to be, but thankfully those days are over...
A LOT OF ORGANIZATION
At CGH, there's something like a time before digitalization with JOMOsoft and a time after. More customers, increasingly customized offerings, and up to 70 different menus every day: "The demands on us have simply become increasingly complex in recent years," says Stefan Eggers, who is responsible for quality management at CGH. Especially since the sponsor, Diakonie Himmelsthür, has also set ambitious goals in other areas, especially around sustainability. "We urgently needed a solution – and we found it."
Around 11,000 lunches are dispatched daily from the two locations in Wildeshausen near Oldenburg and Emmerke near Hanover. There are 16 different menus. In addition, different weights and portion sizes must be taken into account for school and daycare catering. To this end, the caterer offers its customers, 60 percent of whom belong to the parent company and the rest come from outside, components for breakfast and lunch. "We act like a kind of supermarket where you can stock up," explains Eggers. 600 items must be kept in stock every day. Since summer 2022, JOMOsoft has been helping to maintain an overview. Since then, the software essentially controls the entire production process at CGH and, in addition to providing precise production instructions for the kitchen team and the resulting, needs-based portions, also ensures that allergen and nutritional management can be monitored. And even if the original menu can't be implemented because something came up, JOMOsoft helps with quick rescheduling at the touch of a button. "We use the software in a variety of ways. For example, at a private school, we offer a choice of ingredients, and we then collect the orders via the JOMOsoft module joMeal, so we can deliver exactly the quantities needed—for example, just three liters of cream of mushroom sauce instead of the usual five-liter container," reports Eggers.
SUSTAINABLY GOOD
By producing on demand, CGH is already operating in a particularly sustainable manner, in line with its own high standards. But Stefan Eggers now wants to take the next step with JOMOsoft. After all, the software makes it possible to calculate the CO2 value of meals and then pass this transparency on to its own customers. "This is the logical next step for us," says Eggers.
