Relish

About Relish

Relish was established 13 years ago to bridge the gap between local authority providers and large-scale catering organisations who wanted to take their catering in-house but had no real expertise or systems to accommodate this. Relish was launched therefore to create a niche consultancy base run by highly experienced caterers and developers.

Six years ago, Relish made the decision to develop their own ‘kitchen management software’ incorporating several modules to provide a complete end to end service, rather than using external solutions that didn’t fit requirements. Thus, they positioned themselves as a ‘one stop shop’ for schools, enabling them to provide a fully individual and bespoke service for each of the clients.  As a company they offer three types of service; in-house, consultancy and full contract, and system only.

The system accommodates the schools own supply chains, and this effects robust allergy management via unique, automated system checks which analyse ingredients used in the recipes. Menu or ingredient changes can be automatically accommodated, making compliance with Natasha’s Law seamless. Menus can be bespoke to each establishment and also to any individual child, The school has access to the system which incorporates all of the following information:  menus, recipes, allergen information, nutritional analysis, financial data and benchmarking, HACCP information and Health and Safety updates as well as HR, training and personnel data.

To emphasise the real importance of the system – children can place orders via a menu selection system matched with the allergy profile taken from the schools’ MIS. Parents can log in, pay for their child’s meals, see what the child has been eating and communicate directly with the supplying kitchen team. 

Relish has experienced a huge growth due to ongoing reputation and has achieved year on year growth. They believe their growth is down to their integrity and the ability to listen to their clients and develop what they need. 

Their system has evolved to include the provision of white label systems for MATs and local authorities as well as bespoke features for special needs schools.

“We are so fortunate we have Wonde! When we talk to schools’ we have the assurance of the Wonde solution which makes everything so much easier.”

Relish

The challenge

As Relish grew, they met with some complications due to the fragmented market of school management information systems (MIS) where each school had different MIS’s which Relish needed to integrate with. This was hugely time and resource consuming for the team. Lacking the necessary integration resources with all their customer’s MIS’ became a headache for the team.

“Our confidence with the reach, ability and networking approach from Wonde enables Relish the chance to consider further business developments and that is a huge gamer changer.”

Relish

The solution

Having conducted some research, Relish felt nicely aligned with Wonde as a company. Realising what Wonde could do for them, and how simple the transition was, the new partnership was formed “providing the confidence to increase our distribution within schools and ensure them it would be a seamless, secure experience.”

At the beginning, Relish faced a slight learning curve in understanding Wonde’s API however, thanks to its simplicity and Wonde’s responsive support, the Relish team were able to move on quickly and immediately saw the advantages.

One of the key benefits of using Wonde as their integration partner has been the influence it has had on Relish’s own systems and their customers. They were required to make slight alterations in order to fully benefit from Wonde’s solution, but recognise that this has benefited their own provision and they are better equipped as a result.

Using Wonde as their integration partner has “taken the concern away from us”. Relish can focus on their kitchen management system and the needs of parents and larger client base, while Wonde effectively manages updates in a powerful and secure way which “makes life very easy for Relish”.

“We have managed to increase our distribution, offering the fully integrated Relish service to schools, largely thanks to Wonde.  There is a good percentage of our schools we could not support if it were not for Wonde’s intuitive API.”

What’s next for Relish?

Wonde’s solution affords Relish the opportunity to consider ambitious new business developments.  The team is considering how they can provide scalability to their provision, at speed whilst becoming strong contenders in larger projects with Government bodies and Multi Academy Trusts. 

Between Relish’s system and Wonde’s connectivity, Relish has confidence in taking on new projects and exploring potential growth areas.

“Our confidence with the reach, ability and networking approach from Wonde enables Relish the chance to consider further business developments and that is a huge gamer changer.”

“We have managed to increase our distribution, offering the full Relish service to schools, largely thanks to Wonde. There is a good percentage of our schools we could not support if it were not for Wonde’s intuitive API.”

Relish