SANTA MONICA, CA - Today we received word that US Foods will participate in inTEAM's Nourish to Flourish (N2F) Data Sharing and Analytics Initiative as part of an 18-month pilot program that started this July. This joint effort is intended to yield more healthy food sales for the youngest grades in U.S. schools. US Foods’ Harold Fowler, Director of Health Systems, will join the N2F Advisory Group to help monitor the process and refine data standards, along with Premier’s Stacy Lofton, Director of Food and Nutrition Support.
“Our members can benefit from using Premier and US Foods’ integrated menu planning with pre- and post-costing, production records, inventory, and business analysis tools to better manage the supply chain and reduce waste,” said Lofton.
School foodservice operators will benefit from less paperwork due to electronic sharing of data and analytics among school operators, state agencies, distributors, and hundreds of K-12 suppliers. Tens of thousands of K-12 product specification data records are now being published in real time to a single unified N2F database. The integration of Global Data Synchronization Network (GDSN) data will help suppliers develop, refine, and market products for this sector and ultimately enhance the school meals experience for the schools and the students.
“Accurate menu planning forecasts will enable us to produce and deliver the right product to the right place at the right time,” stated Andrew Williams, Advisory Group member and Senior Financial Analyst for Tyson Foods. “Data collection and analytics designed for K-12 that includes trade and consumer feedback is essential for us to best serve specialized K-12 market needs.”
According to a press release, inTEAM will provide prototype menu planning and production records software developed in collaboration with stakeholders at no cost to pilot participants. Open source data standards for industrywide use will also be published at the end of the pilot period.
“This is why the NDC and the Urban School Food Alliance convened the first stakeholders’ meeting over two years ago,” added Scott Dissinger of the National Dairy Council. “We envisioned innovation would occur when each work group’s initiatives mature with industry support to discover and implement best practices. The Data Sharing & Analytics Initiative does just that.”
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