EF-group News, Advice, Articles & Updates

Education Catering: Trends & Sticking to a Budget

The biggest challenge for education caterers is keeping a canteen of students happy without blowing the budget. Here, we’re sharing some of the top catering industry trends you can use to inspire your next education catering strategy.

Top 5 UK Procurement Trends Impacting Care Home Groups, and Why Freshmarkets Is Your Game-Changer

Cost pressures, supply chain challenges, staffing shortages, and tighter regulation all mean care homes must do more with less. If you’re managing care home procurement, you’ll need solutions that rise to these demands like EF-groups industry-leading procurement platform Freshmarkets.

How Freshmarkets Empowers Care Home Chefs

As a care home chef, you didn’t take this job to manage stock spreadsheets or chase supplier invoices - you did it to cook. Fresh, joyful, nourishing food. And our Freshmarkets solution helps you do just that.

Smart Tech: Why Care Home Kitchens Need CaterCloud

You’re not just a chef - you’re a dietitian, a stock controller, a compliance officer, and a budget manager. Our CaterCloud solution can take the weight of your shoulders - so you can do what you do best: cook!

Supporting Care Homes with Tailored Menu Solutions

At EF-group, we help care homes deliver nutritious, compliant, and enjoyable meals with tailored menu solutions designed for the senior living sector.

Seamless Client Onboarding

At EF-group, we understand that the foundation of a successful partnership begins with a smooth and efficient onboarding process and our approach is designed to ensure that each client feels supported, informed, and confident from day one.

Smart Strategies to Keep Menu Costs Under Control

In today’s catering landscape, controlling food costs isn’t just good practice - it’s essential for business survival. With rising prices across ingredients, utilities, and services, it's more important than ever to have a clear grip on your menu spend.

Real-Time Cost Per Resident Per Day: A game changer for Care Homes

In the care sector, balancing quality service with financial sustainability is paramount. Understanding your Cost Per Resident Per Day (CPRD) is essential for effective budgeting and ensuring the well-being of residents.

Why Digital Menu Management is Essential for Care Home Catering

Catering in care home settings isn’t just about serving food - it’s a critical component of resident care. With fluctuating resident numbers, strict dietary requirements, and multiple care homes, effective menu management is no small task.

Smarter Menu Planning with CaterCloud: Balancing Budgets and Nutrition with Ease

For chefs and catering teams working in sectors like care, menu planning is about much more than creating delicious meals. That’s why we built our enhanced menu planner in CaterCloud, designed to give users greater control and clarity over weekly menu cycles.

Building Stronger Connections: EF-group’s commitment to Supplier Partnerships

Here at EF-group, we understand that the foundation of exceptional service lies in the strength of our supplier relationships. Our network comprises access to over 2,000 local, regional and national suppliers, each selected for their dedication to quality, sustainability, and ethical practices.

Navigating the Complexities of Diverse Supply Needs and Large Supply Chains in Care Homes

Managing diverse supply needs and large supply chains in care homes is a mammoth task! With the unique demands of residents and the ever-evolving regulations of the care sector, maintaining an efficient supply chain can be as challenging as it is crucial.

Flour: the cross-contact protagonist in every kitchen!

Recently Allergen Accreditation was commissioned to assess a kitchen’s management on their cross-contact controls and the main thrust of the audit was to undertake a probabilistic risk assessment. All other cereals containing gluten were tightly controlled, flour, however, needed work!

Sustainable Supply Chains: A Focus on Care Homes

For the care home industry, sustainability is not just a trend; it’s a necessary step forward. With the guidance of innovative solutions like those offered by EF-group, care homes are finding new ways to balance cost-efficiency with ESG

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