Lancashire firm offers new app to help hospitality businesses count the calories

Chris Sullivan and David Lee, the founders of Lancashire-based Hospitality Insights and Solutions, have launched their Web based application ifoodi.com which they have developed to enable compliance with the new legislation on calories, driven by the government’s anti-obesity campaign.

Chris Sullivan, from Clitheroe, has held numerous board level roles within the industry including MD at Leisure Parcs and the Blackpool Tower from 2004 to 2007, Whitbread, Scottish and Newcastle, Starbucks, Balls Brothers and Harry Ramsden’s. He said the product has been designed specifically for hospitality operators who want an affordable, standalone system.

He said: “It will take care of the new demands to provide calorie information and the existing legal requirements around allergens. In addition ifoodi.com provides menu management, stock control and profitability all in one

affordable package.”

David, from Preston, is an experienced Operations Director with Whitbread, Scottish and Newcastle, Spirit, M&B, Stonegate and Greene King said that ifoodi.com was designed “to take hassle off the menu”. He estimates that it would take over 40 hours for a chef to manually calculate calories and allergens on a typical pub menu.

He said: “With ifoodi.com this workload is reduced to a couple of hours and no technology skills are required to operate the system.”

A key feature of ifoodi.com is a QR code which is printed on menus.

It allows customers to view for themselves the allergens and calories of each menu item, allowing them to decide which dishes are suitable and safe.

Chris said this feature was a “game-changer” for hospitality operators “as it puts the information directly in the hands of customers” to make an informed choice and unlike paper systems was digital and always up to date.

The pair believe that the calories legislation will be extended in the near future, from those businesses with over 250 employees as it is currently, to the whole of the hospitality sector, making iffo.

David Lee added: “The demand for nutrition transparency is here to stay and customers will expect it wherever they eat.”

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