Region 10 Texas ESC Cooperative Adopts ‘Common Language’ Standards for K-12 Food Programs

RICHARDSON, Texas–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Texas Region 10 Educational Service Center Multi-Regional Purchasing Cooperative (R10MRPC) has selected inTEAM’s GDSN Connect software solution to help its K-12 member districts easily access specifications Global Data Synchronization Network products^® (GDSN^®) to streamline their operations and ease the burden of an ever-changing supply chain. GDSN is the common language used by the USDA, manufacturers, distributors, and operators to communicate electronically throughout the restaurant industry supply chain.

R10MRPC has long sought a solution to increase supply chain efficiency and avoid duplicative efforts among all its members. As explained by program coordinator Keri Warnick, BFA, MFA, “Use a product-specific and universally recognized GTIN^® codes (often called UPC codes) operators can seek out planned, new or substituted products critical to program compliance and effective supply chain management.

“Preparing new bids and RFPs with products that our members use, then maintaining and communicating accurate supplier catalogs to our members is a challenge. For our member districts who use their back-end software to plan menus and prepare forecasts, integrate this product information into each of their applications—and keep it up to date—was another challenge.

GDSN Connect is an innovative solution that addresses these challenges by using the industry-wide Nourish to Flourish Database, a single consolidated database of over 185,000 items, to render standardized product information from from GDSN, USDA, and other sources available to K-12 operators. With GDSN Connect, R10MRPC and its members will always have the most up-to-date data they need to plan menus, forecast needs, maintain accurate inventory, and prepare for administrative reviews. Examples of product data available through the database include product names, images, nutrients, allergens, meal design credits, ingredients, handling information, and package size information. .

Beyond simple access to product specifications, GDSN Connect also provides R10MRPC members with an easy way to export standardized and comprehensive product data into their existing software applications and initially configure their software without much manual data entry. . The solution also allows the R10MRPC to easily share catalogs and recipes from contracted suppliers with its members and electronically produce tender specifications based on GDSN standards for easier and more competitive procurement.

R10MRPC and inTEAM are excited to bring this new solution to its member districts in Texas to help ease the administrative burden of serving healthy school lunches to students.

About R10MRPC

The R10MRPC is one of the largest school food buying cooperatives in the United States, and they organize, administer, compile, advertise, award bids, and act as the coordinating center for all procurement bids. of food on behalf of more than 250 member school districts. in Texas serving about one million meals a day. The goal of the R10MRPC is to provide its member districts with substantial savings on specific commercial food products, non-food products and USDA processed products, as well as expertise in compliance with food regulations. ‘supply. By buying in volume, districts are able to save more money than bidding as a single district. The R10MRPC offers several official and legally obtained tenders to help districts meet their food procurement needs. Visit https://www.region10.org/programs/multi-region-purchasing-cooperative/overview/ to learn more.

About inTEAM

inTEAM has a 50-year tradition of supporting K-12 school nutrition departments with solutions that have transformed the way schools approach menu planning, making critical product data available in real time. during the menu planning process. The Nourish to Flourish database used by GDSN Connect is the result of an industry-wide effort to bring the global data synchronization network^® (GDSN^®) in the K-12 segment. inTEAM worked with hundreds of suppliers to prepare their data for use by K-12 and supplemented the database with information from other “silo” databases such as USDA Food Data Central and Food Buying Guide to provide a comprehensive standardized product database for use throughout K-12. Visit www.e-inteam.com to learn more.