References
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Heideküche Ehlers
Hot snack and fresh salads for the whole heath
Heideküche Ehlers takes off with iFood from agmadata
Heideküche Ehlers produces a variety of delicatessen salads, fresh cheese variations, its own sausages and ready-made meals for the hot counter of the affiliated supermarkets. Established at the beginning of 2023 as a spin-off of the market butchery of the family-owned Edeka market in Bispingen, the production company now supplies eleven supermarkets throughout the Lüneburg Heath region — and the trend is rising rapidly. Smooth processing is ensured by agmadata’s iFood ERP system, which specializes in food and is closely networked with the equipment and systems in the company’s own operations and those of its business partners.
In addition to the basic functions such as goods receipt and goods issue as well as inventory management, which not every system in question could cleanly solve for prepared dishes, the product labeling was also to be controlled via the new system. When weighing out the dressed salads, for example, which are freshly prepared and weighed out in the morning, it should be possible to assign them directly to the market to which they will later be delivered. This would be the only way to ensure correct invoicing without double entry.
It does not work without networking
“As a basis for this, reliable interfaces to the weighing stations and labeling equipment were essential,” recalls Ehlers. “That’s why we relied on the recommendations of our scale supplier and only shortlisted systems from certified Bizerba software partners.” The broadest possible support was also required for label printers, in order to remain flexible for the future beyond the existing Zebra devices.
More complex than the hardware interfaces was the clarification of the networking possibilities with the other software used. For example, the invoices created should be transferred directly to financial accounting for posting and should also be available to the tax advisor as a digital copy at any time.
“And finally, seamless collaboration with ReSy4 was particularly important to us,” Ehlers recalls. This software from guenter borchers rezepturenmanagement is considered the leader in legally compliant declaration, nutritional value calculation and allergen labeling of prepared foods and was thus already set. “Only the use of this expert software could guarantee that we would always remain on the safe side in terms of food legislation.”
One for all
The example of ReSy4 in particular made it clear how comprehensively iFood from agmadata had solved the networking issues. This means that automatic declaration can be triggered at any time via an interface for all recipes stored in iFood. The product name is then returned, adjusted if necessary, the list of ingredients according to the Food Information Regulation (LMIV), i.e. with allergens highlighted, with quantitative information on the value-determining ingredients (QUID information) and, where necessary, footnotes with the prescribed additional information for certain ingredients, as well as the complete nutritional labeling. In addition, a DATEV interface was available for trouble-free connection to the tax office, and all existing devices were also supported.
“Other suppliers tried to make us afraid of interfaces and thus wanted to force us to buy everything from a single source,” summarizes Ehlers. “agmadata, on the other hand, has given us freedom of choice and helped us integrate existing components and add other solutions to the ERP system, which we choose entirely according to our needs.” The wide range of exchange formats supported means that all options remain open for the future — whether it be the use of a document management system, a CRM system or the electronic exchange of invoices with customers and suppliers, for example.
Accordingly, the decision was made in favor of iFood in the summer of 2022. The system house, which had been supporting Heideküche Ehlers since Edeka’s time, provided a server in the cloud on which agmadata could install the software. Thus, the 20 employees in production already started working on their own system during the training sessions.
Quickly learned and set up
Since there was still sufficient time before the planned system launch in the spring, the training sessions for the individual modules were scheduled in a relaxed manner in eight units spread over several weeks. A system consultant from agmadata joined the individual meetings via video conference. “In this way, the employees got to know the new system remotely and were able to gradually familiarize themselves with all the functions,” reports Ehlers.
At the same time, they used this time for preparations, for example, creating customers and suppliers and drawing up price lists. “While agmadata’s account managers were always available to assist us, we hardly needed to take advantage of this offer thanks to the hands-on training.”
So everything was ready for the “go live” at the productive start of the Heideküche Ehlers. At the beginning of 2023, production moved to a spacious new building in the immediate vicinity of the previous location in the Edeka store in Bispingen. “This meant that we were officially independent and, in addition to food production, we also had to take care of many administrative and organizational tasks that had not previously been incurred in this way due to integration into the Edeka store.”
The software makes it possible
So from March onwards, the new software was used to book goods receipts, weigh products, create delivery bills and write invoices. From the very beginning, the transfer of accounting data and complete invoice documents to accounting as well as tax office was used. After a start-up phase, the communication with ReSy4 for the food declaration also came into use as planned and the labeling labels are printed directly from the merchandise management system.
In the coming months, even more functions of the proven software will be gradually introduced. But Ehlers’ conclusion is already clear: “Thanks to the high level of automation of the processes, iFood made the spin-off possible for us in the first place. Instead of having to deal with the administrative and logistical challenges, I can now concentrate entirely on expanding the range of goods and winning more customers for the newly founded Heideküche Ehlers.”
agagmadata gave us the freedom of choice and supported us in integrating already existing components and supplementing the ERP system with additional solutions, which we selected entirely according to our needs.
Thanks to the high degree of automation of the processes, iFood made the spin-off possible for us in the first place. Instead of having to deal with the administrative and logistical challenges, I can now concentrate entirely on expanding the range of goods and attracting more customers to the newly founded Heideküche Ehlers.