MenuLogic K12 started as a unique SN software, but has transformed into something more. As we have connected with our customers, we realize the unique role that our team can play in helping power the business of school nutrition. With school nutrition teams drowning in workload, real solutions require more than what a summary report or patchwork approach to training can deliver. Knowing that we needed to offer more support through courses, tools, and SN business resources, MenuLogic K12, the Business Solutions Ecosystem was born. Our ecosystem is comprised of key elements, all working together to boldly progress school nutrition programs forward:

• Learning
• Technology
• Processes
• Tools
• Community
• People

These key elements were the driving force behind the four spaces in our Ecosystem: Our Tech, The Hive, Partner Stack, and Pro Shop. Our holistic approach is designed to facilitate capacity building* within the business of K12 school nutrition programs. We recognize, from our own experience, that leading and operating these programs is a complex endeavor, requiring a unique blend of expertise and support.  

We’ve combined our tenacious minds and school nutrition hearts to create a system that integrates learning, technology, tools, processes, community support, and access to skilled professionals, all tailored specifically for K12 school nutrition teams. This systematic support empowers school nutrition teams to gain both time and confidence to deliver exceptional outcomes to students. Let’s work together as we become an extension of your team, offering an accelerated approach to effectively achieve your school nutrition vision for success!

*capacity building = efforts to enhance the abilities, resources, and potential of individuals, organizations, or systems to perform effectively, sustainably, and adaptively.

Our Tech is web-based custom software built for K12 school nutrition, by an experienced K12 school nutrition director. It combines user-friendly production record and menu features with powerful data analytics and visualization to inspire confident decision-making for you and your team. This software was created to serve a unique purpose with two specific goals in mind: 

Goal #1: To empower K12 school nutrition teams with the freedom of informed and confident decision-making.

How are we accomplishing this?
Our software gives the user real-time, ready-to-use information at the point it is needed for them to make decisions that spark real change in their school nutrition program (increased participation, cost management, operational monitoring).  The quality data we collect (via production record) is aggregated and visualized in multiple ways: unique district dashboard, lookup & forecast tools, or in any of our powerful reports (see “How is Our Tech different?”). This provides an objective source of truth for school nutrition teams to understand the “big picture” of the program’s performance, but also allows the ability to drill down easily (by site group, site, menu cycle day, and menu item) to know where opportunities exist.

Goal #2: To ensure that any solution we offer is created with usability and purpose top of mind.

How are we accomplishing this?
We continually work to purposefully enhance and grow the existing software.  It was and still is built with an incredible amount of thought and care for the user – whether that be Kitchen Manager, Supervisor, Menu Planner, or Director. Our production records were built with Kitchen Managers specifically in mind and allow for OVS situations like no other software does. Our menu cycles and menu days were built with the Menu Planner in mind and provide critical information about popularity and profitability at the point of planning. Our Dashboard and Reports were built with Supervisors and Directors in mind, allowing for a quick birds eye view of the district, sites, and overall participation and financials.

MenuLogic K12 goes beyond the standard task-based features (e.g. production records, menu planning) and gives greater purpose to the work completed there by putting the massive amounts of data collected by SN teams to good use. In order for data to be useful, it must be aggregated and visualized into information. To make information most powerful, we also provide a hub and community full of ideas and training resources! Unlocking data-driven information means providing the ability to incorporate or optimize crucial organizational initiatives such as: Quality Control and Improvement, Compliance Monitoring, Menu Engineering, Forecasting, Budget Engineering, and more!

Have you ever felt guilty because you just haven’t had the time to search through all the reports in your existing software to find the answers you are looking for? It must be there, right? Ask yourself when the last time was that you received more answers than questions from a report in your existing software. One-off snapshots of costs, nutrition, or # of items sold don’t tell you enough. You need this information aggregated for you (via technology,  after all – you’re only human). To be useful, it must be readily available  when making decisions. You also need the details in the data to understand the story. We have both. Your data tells a unique story to your district and we provide both the plot summary and the details to your story.

Many SN software offer methods for POS, Inventory, Ordering and Recipe Analysis. MenuLogic K12 does not replace these and can work alongside any of those systems that you are currently using.

In order to use MenuLogic K12, clients must build Menus and complete Production Records in our system since this is where the magic happens to power our data analytics!  The option to use our software for Nutrition & Allergen Sharing is available, but is not required. 

The term “All-in-one” was popular before technology, specifically SAAS (software as a service) technology exploded in the marketplace (outside of K12 school nutrition). Businesses today are regularly adding more technology products, with varied purposes, to their tech stack in order to continue to improve their efficiencies, outcomes, and bottom line.  Who decides what “all-in-one” really means anyway? That’s your decision how you design your program’s technology toolkit.

We designed our product to serve a new and totally different purpose than what already exists. While we continue to develop solutions that might replace portions of your existing software, that’s not our mission. We want to develop solutions that solve problems that haven’t been solved before – and be really good at doing that by providing exceptional technology, service and support.

No, you don’t have to wait! While we appreciate that an Administrative Review can be daunting, let us help you get through it. Many districts who use us find relief going into an Administrative Review because they are confident that what is happening at the schools is meeting the requirements because of our monitoring features.

There is no formal USDA review requirement for digital production records. Our production record includes all fields on the USDA prototype production record.   Some states may have their own formal review process, while many states leave it to the district to ensure that whatever production record they are using meets the USDA or state’s requirements. We are confident that our production record will meet and exceed their expectations. While we are trailblazers, we’re definitely rule followers!

Contact us and we will help! Most districts classify MenuLogic K12 as a micropurchase because it’s impossible to find a technology to quote that would be comparing apples to apples. USDA changes in December 2021 made this process more clear and achievable. Pricing is mid-range with other K-12 school nutrition (or school district) SAAS (fully hosted) software solutions.

The Hive is a digital space designed to foster a collaborative and business-wise environment focused on K12 school nutrition real-world application. A place where our community can come together and encourage collaboration, innovation, and growth, empowering participants to thrive both professionally and personally.  We created this space for anyone in K12 to learn and collaborate on the business of school nutrition.

The Hive is a brand new, one-of-a-kind, collaborative online space that offers courses (and CEUs!), tools,  and business-focused resources dedicated to K12 school nutrition professionals. There are plenty of existing resources on knife skills, food safety, and USDA meal requirements. While those are important topics, we don’t feel the need to add to them when other experts in those areas already have.

We asked ourselves, what is our expertise?
Our team has an extensive knowledge of K12 operations, finance, leadership and more – and we are deeply passionate about the business of school nutrition. Our courses and resources will always aim to support you to better yourself and your business. We’re excited to build this platform to be able to offer further support to both our existing software customers and the greater K12 community alike!

[insert link to The Hive]

Partner Stack is a treasure trove of valuable resources and tools, all vetted and even customized for the purpose of K12 school nutrition programs. Just like any other business, success in K12 school nutrition requires effective tools and processes. Our curated solutions are designed to meet those needs and ensure your success.

Your time is valuable.  Why not consider an existing solution rather than recreating  the wheel? It takes a lot of time to sort through and understand existing solutions. Our team of experienced K12 operators are doing the vetting for you.  Here you will find a list of our most 

Yes, we’ve considered solutions that were built for the school nutrition world, but we don’t stop there. There are many amazing, user-friendly technologies that weren’t necessarily built for school nutrition, but can be customized to fit your program’s needs.  We know, because we use them in our day-to-day, wishing we had them in our school nutrition program!

When we carefully select these tools and resources for our Partner Stack, we ensure that they are a viable option for the average school nutrition team’s use. We believe this resource vault to be a productivity powerhouse for you and your team.

HERE!

Pro Shop is MenuLogic K12’s online marketplace where every product and service is hand-picked (and  in some cases custom designed) for K12 school nutrition teams. Eliminate time spent searching or making your own solution and repurpose that time and energy into more impactful endeavors.

Our Pro Shop is filled with time-saving solutions created by a team of experienced K12 professionals who have spent years in operations and understand the pains within the industry. Our hope is that the products and services we offer here are simple to implement and make an undeniable difference in your school nutrition team’s day-to-day work. 

HERE!