Product/Service

CostGuard® Food Service Software

Source: At-Your-Service Software, Inc./CostGuard® for Windows
Food service software, including modules Recipe/Menu Costing, Inventory Control, Sales, and interfaces with other systems.

CostGuard is designed specifically for food service. There are three modules which work separately or together: inventory, recipe/menu costing, and sales. There are a number of interfaces which connect with other applications. VendorTransport™ connects your inventory with your suppliers' information. Other interfaces connect CostGuard with point-of-sale systems, accounting, nutrition, and catering.

Inventory lowers your food costs and saves time. We'll extend your inventory instantly, identify shrinkage problems, track receiving, automate purchasing, audit pricing, and keep as much history as you want. Our incredible variety of reports are completely customizable. Inventory control has never been so easy!

Recipe is a tremendous food costing tool. You'll have instant "pre-cost" information based on your most current food costs. No more guesswork, no more surprise food cost fluctuations. Standardized recipes mean greater consistency, better food costs, and more satisfied customers. Re-work you current recipe and develop new concepts in a snap!

Sales Analysis tracks your sales mix information for any period of time. We'll provide an instant analysis of your most/least popular and profitable items. Customized reports help you make informed decisions about your menu's cost-effectiveness. Sales Analysis provides an instant "perfect" or "theoretical" food cost based on your most current inventory costs.

VendorTransport™
This capability alone will save you countless hours. If your supplier can provide and accept data electronically, then VendorTransport is for you. (Note: the fancy term for this is EDI, or Electronic Data Interchange).

VendorTransport links your data with your supplier. It creates inventory items, maintains inventory prices, and exports purchase orders in your suppliers' formats. Please note that specific capabilities may vary depending on the supplier; call for details.

If we don't currently interface with your supplier, tell them to call us immediately. If we developing a VendorTransport with that supplier, you'll receive it for free!

Multi-Unit Controller (MUC)™
This dynamic module lets you manage multiple units from the same computer. Multiple units can be in the same physical location (e.g., hotels, hospitals, clubs, multi-concept restaurants, cruise ships, etc.), or separate facilities (multi-unit ownership, chains, franchises, management groups, etc.).

Additional Details

Here is additional information about Hand Held Inventory, and Interfaces. Our list of interfaces is constantly growing. Please call us with your needs.

Hand Held Inventory Unit (Requires: Inventory)
We use the rugged Percon PT2000 hand held unit with 256K RAM. It weighs 12 ounces, and includes a 4-line 16-character LCD display plus 34 splash-resistant alphanumeric keys. It works on three AA alkaline or NiCad batteries. One year limited warranty against defects in materials and workmanship. Options include:

  • PT Dock: stores and recharges unit; cables directly to PC for faster uploading.
  • TOPGUN™ Laser Scanner: trigger-activated bar-code scanner sits directly on top of PT2000.
  • Percon Wand: hand held bar code reader.
  • Extended warranty is available; please call for details.

Point-of-Sale Interface (Requires: Sales)
The interface reads the sales mix directly into Sales Analysis for reporting. Perpetual depletion (menu explosion) additionally requires Inventory and Recipe. Additional hardware and/or software may be required; please contact your point-of-sale dealer, or have them call us for interface details.

We interface with the following manufacturers, and others who may not be listed:

  • "Open" systems: Aloha, Digital Dining, HSI, PosiTouch, QuickTouch, RMS Touch, Sable, Squirrel, Touch'n'Serve, TouchMenu, etc.
  • "Proprietary" systems: Casio, Comptrex, Datasym, NCR, Omron, Panasonic, PC/POLL, Sharp, TEC, etc.
  • MICROS 1700 through 8700

Accounting Interface (Requires: Inventory)
Transfers receipts from Inventory into Accounts Payable. There's no need to re-key invoice information into your accounting software! We can even distribute the same invoice over multiple cost-of-goods categories (such as food and supplies). In addition to QuickBooks, there are a number of other programs we interface with. Please get in touch for additional details.

Catering/Event Management Interface (Requires: Recipe)
Transfers recipe costing information for accurate bidding and proposals:
Please call us for our current list of interface partners.

Nutrition Interface (Requires: Recipe)
Transfers selected recipes & ingredients for complete analysis:
Please call us for our current list of interface partners.