Facility Account: Suggesting a Food Item be Linked to a Vendor Product

• About Suggesting a Food Item be Linked to a Vendor Product
• Facility Account: Suggesting a Food Item be Linked to Vendor Product
  • Turnaround Time for MealSuite Nutrition Services 
• Understanding Pack Size Fields (with Examples)
  • Soda cans: 24 cans; 355 ml each can
  • Soda cans: 24 cans; 12 oz each
  • Flour: One 25 lb bag
  • Flour: 25 one lb bags
  • Watermelon: Two each; one lb each
• Confirming a Vendor Product Has Been Linked to Food Item

About Suggesting a Food Item be Linked to a Vendor Product

For a food item that is used in a menu (as an ingredient in a recipe or as prepared food added directly to menu), you can confirm if an item does not have a matching vendor product. This indicates that there is no appropriate vendor product in the distribution centre for that food item. 

If an item does not have a matching vendor product, you can submit a "Suggest Link" request to have the item linked to an available vendor product that is in your vendor product list. 

The "Suggest Link" request is sent to MealSuite Nutrition Services to verify and create the link. Once the vendor product is linked to the food item by MealSuite Nutrition Services, then that vendor product is available to be selected for the food item. 

Facility Account: Suggesting a Food Item be Linked to a Vendor Product

To display food items without a matching vendor product and then suggest a food item be linked to a vendor product, complete the following steps:

1. Open the Vendor Product Selection screen (aka Buying Preferences screen), and use the available filters to display your food item list. Select the Items Without Vendor Product Only filter (no. 2 in screenshot below) to see only food items not linked to a vendor product.
   
   
    
2. If searching for a specific food, then in the Search field enter the name of the food item and click the magnifying glass to return results (note that entering the food item ID in the Search field does not return results). 
   
   
3. For the food item you want to link a vendor product to, click its gear icon in the Actions column and select Edit (first screenshot below). The Similar Vendor Products window appears (second screenshot below).
   
   
   
   
    
4. Select the All Vendor Products filter, and in the Search field enter the name or ID of the product to be linked and click Go. The screen refreshes with a list of vendor products that match your search (second screenshot below). 
   
   
   
   
   
   Note: If the product you are searching for is not available, it indicates it is not available in your vendor product list. If so, see What If a Vendor Product is Not On a Vendor Product List for options. 
    
5. For the product you want to link to the item, click Suggest Link from the Linking Action column (first screenshot below). The Specify Pack Size pop-up appears (second screenshot below). 
   
   
   
   
   
   Note: If the product you want to link states Linking Not Available (screenshots below), it means it is currently linked to an existing food item. If you are a facility account, then even though you cannot link the product to your food item, there is the ability to create a "soft link" by selecting the heart icon (second screenshot below). When you create a soft link, the price of the vendor product will update the costing on recipes and menus, but the nutrient data of that vendor product will not be used. For more information on soft links and properly using them, see Facility Accounts: Favouring a Non-Verified Vendor Product ("Soft Link").
   
       
    
6. Enter the pack size fields. For an understanding of how to complete these fields, see Understanding Pack Size Fields (with Examples) below. 
    
7. Click the Submit Suggestion button to submit the suggestion to the MealSuite Nutrition Services team to implement; the Linking Action now states Link Pending to indicate the request has been received by MealSuite Nutrition Services.

Turnaround Time for MealSuite Nutrition Services

The turnaround time for MealSuite Nutrition Services to verify and create the link is within 24 hours. 

Understanding Pack Size Fields (with Examples)

The vendor pack size fields are explained as follows*:  

• Stock Units Per Pack (level 1) - the number of packs in a pack/carton/box.

• Qty of Single Stock Unit (level 2) - the number of individual stock units in a pack.

• Stock Unit Amount (level 3) and Stock Unit - the weight of a single stock unit and the unit of measure (e.g., oz, g). 

*Note that these fields are industry nomenclature and as such it is recommended not to attempt to take the nomenclature literally, and instead rely on the level association (level 1, level 2, level 3) to understand the vendor pack size.

For the Stock Unit field, you can create a custom unit of measurement, such as Each or CT (count). To do so, select Custom, which refreshes the pop-up with the following fields:

• Name Other Unit of Measure - enter the custom unit of measure name, such as "Each" or "CT". 
• Weight or Volume of 1 - enter the weight or volume amount of the stock unit along with the appropriate unit of measure (e.g., oz, g). 

Soda cans: 24 cans; 355 ml each can

Soda cans: 24 cans; 12 oz each

Flour: One 25 lb bag

Flour: 25 one lb bags 

Watermelon: Two each; one lb each

Confirming the Vendor Product Has Been Linked to Food Item

To confirm if the vendor product has been linked to the desired food item by MealSuite Nutrition services, open the verified vendor products of that food item to see if the vendor product is listed. To do so, see Viewing Verified the Vendor Products for a Food Item. 

If the vendor product could not be linked to the desired food item by MealSuite Nutrition Services, then it most likely would have been linked to another appropriate food item. By searching for the vendor product you can see what food item the product is linked to via the Parent Food column (screenshot below). To set columns on a Vendor Product list screen, see Setting Preferred Columns on a Vendor Product List Screen.