- About the Also Available (AA) Menu
- Methods to Create an AA Menu
- Printing an AA Menu
- Forecasting an AA Menu or Not?
About the Also Available (AA) Menu
An Also Available (AA) menu holds items that are offered in addition to the standard menu.
An AA menu can also be configured to offer its items as fallback substitutes, meaning an AA item is offered as a substitute on a resident/patient's personal menu when the menu item selection logic excludes an item from the regular menu and there is no personal substitute.
An AA menu can be set up as a weekly menu or a single day menu. As a single day menu it offers the same meals every day.
Methods to Create an AA Menu
To create an AA menu, you have the following options:
- Copy an existing AA menu as a base and modify as needed.
- Create a new blank AA menu from scratch and add items to it or copy menu items from another menu to it.
Printing an AA Menu
- AA menu items will automatically populate on people reports, such as the Tray Menu Tickets Report (People), the Person Specific Select Menus Report (People) and the Generic Select Menus Report (People).
- To print a menu report of an AA menu, select the AA menu from the Search by Menus field in the base settings for menu reports.
Forecasting an AA Menu or Not?
If Using the AA Menu to Offer Items as Fallback Substitutes: Do Not Forecast
If you are using your AA menu to offer its items as fallback substitutes (i.e., item is offered to a resident/patient when the menu item selection logic excludes an item from the regular menu and there is no personal substitute), then you will set the AA menu to not forecast (see Setting a Menu to Not Forecast).
By not forecasting the AA menu, its non-ordered items will not be included in the forecasting worksheets and the production reports.
If Using the AA Menu as an Addition to the Standard Menu: Forecast
A common scenario in which you can forecast an AA menu is as follows:
- It is a non-ordering environment in which the general population is being served, such as a cafeteria or catering setting
- Production staff just need to know the total amounts to produce; therefore the Total Needed forecasting method is applied to the standard menu,*
- To accompany the standard menu, you could have an AA menu that offers some items as a backup, or items that can be prepared easily. The Total Needed forecasting method would be applied to the AA menu.
To apply forecasting to an AA menu, see Applying Forecasting to a Menu.
*The Total Needed forecasting method can only be applied to a menu that is non-extended (i.e., does not support therapeutic substitute recipes) and has no choices.