Fourth customers can now take advantage of up-to-date product information including allergen and nutritional data sourced directly from Erudus.

Customers using Fourth’s Recipe & Menu Engineering software can now take advantage of increased efficiency, a smoother process when creating meals and menus with the bonus of up-to-date product information including allergen and nutritional data sourced directly from the Erudus data pool. The integration partnership between Fourth and Erudus also brings added benefits to the wholesalers.

With a link between the two software platforms in place, we’ve been able to create automated data feed from the Erudus data pool into Fourth’s Recipe & Menu Engineering software. The link benefits the wholesaler by removing the administrative burden associated with collating, formatting and forwarding product data regularly to its customer for use on the Fourth platform.

Adrian Chalmers, director of data and technical consulting at Fourth, added:

Gaining up-to-date and accurate nutritional and allergen data has been a real challenge for our customers over many years, resulting in nervousness around making data public.This partnership eliminates manual checking and input of information for our joint customers, leading to confidence in the data being shared as well as saving time and energy for the operational teams in managing that data. We look forward to sharing this new approach with many more of our customers and to making their lives simpler and releasing them to focus more time on their own customer activities.

Jon Shayler, chief operating officer at Erudus, added:

Fourth is well-respected in foodservice, and we’re thrilled its customers now have the chance to overcome a significant hurdle in dealing with the challenges presented in food specifications. The ability to instantly view and communicate nutritional and allergen information is growing in importance each day.Those with access to Erudus’ data pool, either directly or via a third-party app such as Fourth, benefit by being safe in the knowledge that the specifications they are reviewing have been inputted by the manufacturer directly.Integration partnerships such as this allow for data to be pushed further, which means manufacturers enter their information once and it’s then pulled into additional software used by the industry. The amount of time saved by everyone in the supply chain from repeated uploads is enormous.

S.A.Brains are the first to benefit from the integration partnership

Wales’ biggest brewer and hospitality company S.A. Brains are the first Fourth customer to unlock the newly created benefits of the integration partnership.

Working closely with Castell Howell, as their wholesaler of choice S.A. Brains are in the unique position of being able to access up to date product information in Fourth’s Recipe & Menu Engineering software for all of the product lines they purchase from Castell Howell.

The product data automatically updates as and when it is changed by the product’s manufacturer, giving S.A. Brains the confidence and convenience of accurate data when creating recipes and menu plans.

Alan Todd, head of food and pub partnerships at S.A. Brains, said

We now have a completely transparent link direct from the manufacturer of our ingredients right through to our all-important customers. The integration of Erudus into our recipe building platform from Fourth has coincided with our link to providing better allergen information through Tenkites. By integrating this into the websites of our food led managed sites we can ensure complete allergen visibility for our customers when making menu choices. Our industry-leading approach shows our business’ true commitment to customer service and food safety.

Martyn Simpson, new product administrator at Castell Howell, said:

It is great that S.A. Brains customers can now benefit from the information provided by Erudus.With allergy care and dietary requirement more important in the food industry than they have ever been before, it gives peace of mind to customer and caterer alike that the information provided is up to date and accurate.

More about Fourth

Fourth is a leading provider of cloud-based cost control solutions to the hospitality industry – solutions that give customers complete control of their spending in all the key business areas including labour, inventory, purchase-to-pay, HR and payroll.

Fourth works with multi-national companies in the hospitality industry, including Fullers, Gaucho, Hilton, Krispy Crème, Leon, Café Nero, Soho House, Subway, Strada, Wagamama and Stonegate, equating to over 52,000 users worldwide.

Fourth are backed by New York-based Insight Venture Partners, a leading global private equity and venture capital firm founded in 1995 that supports software, internet and data service companies.

For more information, please visit the Fourth website at fourth.com or call 08450 571 234.