INVO
FoodifyCase study

From thousands of individual customer choices to one connected production and delivery.

Foodify pairs a flexible meal choice with high-volume food production. We connected customer demand to recipes, planning, purchasing, inventory, production, packing and final order assembly, all the way to the customer's door.

The shape of the Foodify operation

9
facility zones covered in this case study
13
stages in one connected data flow
1
shared data layer across the whole operation
high-SKU
a large range of dishes, variants and calorie levels
B2C
thousands of individual delivery points
door to door
process scope: from the customer’s tap to the delivery

INVO's role

How we connected the process into one system

  1. 01

    We mapped the operation

    We traced the path of an order from the customer's decision to the delivery at their door.

  2. 02

    We designed the data flow

    We connected demand, recipes, planning, inventory and logistics into one target flow.

  3. 03

    We built and fitted the system

    We created a solution that matches the way Foodify actually works.

We do not reduce our work to rolling out WMS, MES, Purchasing and Packing. We are showing the path: a customer places an order, Foodify turns thousands of individual decisions into one workable production schedule, and we map that process and connect it digitally from demand through to the final delivery.

Client context

B2C meal-plan delivery built on deep personalization

Foodify runs B2C meal-plan delivery. Unlike a plant that makes one product or a handful of them, it has to handle a large range of different dishes, variants, calorie levels and individual customer configurations every single day.

Customers either pick their own meals or follow a ready-made plan and the recommendations of an assistant. Every order is at the same time an instruction to the whole operation. The system has to know what the customer ordered, for which day, in which variant, how much has to be produced, which ingredients that takes, when production has to start, how the meals are packed, which bag they belong to, and where and when the order is delivered.

What we set out to achieve

  • Connect customer demand to production demand
  • Create one source of recipe and food-technology data
  • Forecast demand more accurately before the order cut-off
  • Tie purchasing and inventory to the production plan
  • Run production, portioning and packing digitally
  • Give every product and lot full traceability
  • Assemble individual customer orders in a digital process
  • Connect the bag to the customer, the route and the delivery
  • Close the loop so actuals return to planning

Method

In every zone we worked through the same five steps

We walk through every zone of the facility in the same sequence: from the operating context, through our analysis and the solution, to the change we achieved together.

  1. 01

    Context

    What this stage looks like in Foodify's daily work.

  2. 02

    Problem

    What drifts out of line when the stage is not connected to the rest of the process.

  3. 03

    Analysis and mapping

    How we reproduced the way the process actually runs.

  4. 04

    What we built

    How the system supports this specific part of the operation.

  5. 05

    The key change

    What we actually changed in the operation by connecting the data.

Facility zones

The Foodify plant as a single operation

We walk through the Foodify plant along the path of a single order, from the customer's decision to the bag at their door. We do not present the system as a set of modules. We show how our solution supports every specific stage of the real process.

01

Customer Demand & Planning

Demand EngineIt all starts with a customer order

At Foodify demand does not come from a site or a bulk institutional order. It comes from thousands of individual customer decisions made in the app every day.

  1. Customer Orders
  2. Forecast
  3. Production Demand
Customer Demand & Planning

Context

A customer can pick individual dishes or a ready-made plan, change the number of meals, the calorie level, the delivery day and the address, order meals for several family members, add a Foodpack or the Kids Menu, and edit the order within the allowed window.

Problem

Every one of those decisions changes what has to be produced, bought and delivered. If orders live in a separate e-commerce world, the plant only knows what was sold, not what has to be made, and in what quantity.

Analysis and mapping

We mapped the path of an order from the customer tap to a specific line in the production plan: what the customer ordered, for which day, in which variant, how much has to be produced and when production has to start.

What we built for Foodify

  • Orders connected straight to the plant: Customer Order → Production Demand
  • A system that resolves customer choices, meal swaps, moved delivery days and family orders into concrete production demand
  • Demand updated with every change

The key change

We merged two previously separate worlds, sales and production, into one flow in which a customer decision immediately becomes an instruction to the whole operation.

02

Recipes & Dietetics

Recipe & Food TechnologyThe recipe as the digital basis of production

A large range of dishes, variants and calorie levels needs one consistent source of recipe data. A recipe is not just a list of ingredients. It is a model of how a meal actually gets made.

  1. Recipe
  2. Technology
  3. Yield
  4. Nutrition
  5. Cost
Recipes & Dietetics

Context

Nutrition, planning, purchasing, production, portioning, labeling and the customer-facing information all read the recipe. Every one of those processes has to read the same data.

Problem

Without a full model of the process you cannot calculate demand or food cost correctly: a kilogram of ingredients is not a kilogram of finished product, and losses appear at every step of preparation.

Analysis and mapping

We reproduced the real path of a meal: Raw Material → Preparation → Cooking → Cooling → Portioning → Finished Meal, together with the semi-finished items, yield and losses at each operation.

What we built for Foodify

  • Digital recipe model covering ingredients, weights, calories, macros and allergens
  • Preparation process, semi-finished items, yield, losses, the sequence of operations and the portioning rule
  • Every recipe change tied to food cost, ingredient demand, purchasing and the production schedule
  • The same change tied to portioning and what the customer sees

The key change

We created one source of truth about the product, so the same dish means the same thing in nutrition, in the kitchen, in inventory and in the customer app.

03

Predictive Planning

Predictive LayerHow many meals really have to be produced tomorrow?

In meal-plan delivery the order count and the shape of the menu change every day. Knowing the total number of customers is not enough.

  1. Customer Orders
  2. Demand Forecast
  3. SKU Demand
  4. Recipe Explosion
  5. Material Requirements
  6. Production Plan
  7. Schedule
Predictive Planning

Context

You have to know how many units of a specific dish are needed, in which variants and calorie levels, which semi-finished items have to be made first, when each element has to be ready and which work centers will carry the load.

Problem

Planning only against firm orders means the plant reacts too late: too little time is left for ingredients, people and the schedule.

Analysis and mapping

We built the chain of calculations from customer orders through the recipe explosion to the schedule, so that every element of the plan traces back to real or forecast demand.

What we built for Foodify

  • Predictive layer using historical data to forecast demand before the order cut-off
  • Foodify helped to prepare production, ingredients, resources, people, purchasing and packing earlier
  • Plan updates as real orders come in

The key change

We moved planning from reacting to firm orders to preparing the plant for the demand it expects.

04

Purchasing

Purchase EnginePurchasing that follows what Foodify intends to produce

The production plan resolves into material requirements automatically. The buyer no longer works dish by dish.

  1. Production Demand
  2. Recipes
  3. Material Requirement
  4. Current Stock
  5. Purchase Requirement
Purchasing

Context

With a large range of dishes and variants, calculating ingredient requirements by hand is the slowest and riskiest step in supply.

Problem

Without a link between the production plan and purchasing there is no clear answer to what is short, in what quantity and by when, and decisions get made on experience instead of data.

Analysis and mapping

We set the requirement coming out of the recipes and the production plan against current inventory, producing one automatically calculated purchasing list.

What we built for Foodify

  • A solution showing the buyer what is short, in what quantity and by when
  • Which supplier can supply it, at what price and what the alternatives are
  • The list made editable and turned into purchase orders

The key change

We tied purchasing directly to real and forecast customer demand.

05

Warehouse & Receiving

Digital Receiving & InventoryIngredients on hand exactly when production needs them

An incoming delivery is digitally tied to the purchase order behind it, and once received the product is immediately available to planning and production.

  1. Planned Delivery
  2. Arrival
  3. Verification
  4. Quantity & Quality Check
  5. Lot / Expiry
  6. Inventory
Warehouse & Receiving

Context

Receiving is the moment where control over ingredient cost, quality and lot traceability is either established or lost.

Problem

When a delivery reaches the system late, inventory stops being trustworthy and planning and production work on stale data.

Analysis and mapping

We put the whole receiving process in order, from the planned delivery through the inventory update to supplier quality data, and then designed the operational screens on that basis.

What we built for Foodify

  • Digital receiving process checking ordered against delivered quantities, price, quality and temperature
  • Lot, expiry date and storage location checked
  • Full history and the option of a partial receipt or a rejection

The key change

We gave every ingredient lot, date and location traceability, and put production planning on live inventory rather than an estimate.

06

Raw Material Issue & Production

Issue Queue + MESFrom the plan to what actually happens on the floor

The warehouse does not wait for a phone call from production. The system knows in advance which ingredient, in what quantity, for which hour, for which dish and to which work center it has to go.

  1. Material Ready
  2. Prepare
  3. Cook
  4. Measure
  5. Finish
Raw Material Issue & Production

Context

Prep, hot kitchen and cold kitchen run in parallel on the floor, each with its own sequence of operations and its own material requirement.

Problem

Material issued too early takes up floor space, issued too late it stops the kitchen, and execution reported after the fact gives the supervisor no real picture of the day.

Analysis and mapping

We tied the production schedule to a digital issue queue (Production Schedule → Material Queue → Picking → Production Station), and every dish to its recipe, lot, work center, sequence of operations, planned time and expected yield.

What we built for Foodify

  • Mobile issuing for warehouse operators, where every operation updates inventory and leaves a digital trail
  • Digital instructions for production staff
  • A live picture of the work, the delays and component readiness for supervisors
  • The whole run recorded: Start → Execution → Time → Weight → Yield → Loss → Finish

The key change

We moved production from a plan plus after-the-fact reports to digital execution monitored in real time.

07

Portioning & Packing

Portioning & Packing ControlThousands of repeatable portions and the right label

A finished dish has to become the right number of repeatable portions, and then reach the right packaging with the correct label.

  1. Ready Meal
  2. Portion
  3. Pack
  4. Label
  5. Quality Check
  6. Finished Meal
Portioning & Packing

Context

With a large range of variants and calorie levels, repeatable portion weight is what decides product quality and the real food cost.

Problem

Without digital control nobody knows how many portions a lot actually produced, what the weight variance was, or whether the product got the right label.

Analysis and mapping

We connected portioning and packing to the production lot and the recipe, so expected values can be set against actual ones.

What we built for Foodify

  • Portioning control that recognizes the dish and the number of portions required
  • The weight per portion and the lot the product belongs to
  • Expected Portions compared against Actual Portions and Expected Weight against Actual Weight
  • In packing: packaging type, weight, lot, date, label and the required product information

The key change

We brought variance and real yield under control, and tied every pack digitally to its product and lot.

08

Bag Assembly

Order FulfilmentFrom a single box to a complete customer order

This is one of the biggest differences between Foodify and classic food production. Finished meals do not go anonymously into finished goods: they have to be assembled against individual orders.

  1. Packed Meals
  2. Customer Order
  3. Picking
  4. Bag Assembly
  5. Verification
  6. Closed Bag
Bag Assembly

Context

A sample pick list for customer 12487, Tuesday: Breakfast A, Lunch C, Dinner B, Snack D, Foodpack 03.

Problem

An assembly error only shows up at the customer. A missing or swapped meal is not a production problem. It is a customer-experience problem.

Analysis and mapping

We turned the customer order into a digital pick list tied to a specific day, customer and bag.

What we built for Foodify

  • A process in which the operator assembles every product assigned to a customer
  • Completeness of the order, the right day and the right customer checked
  • Product count, extra items and the assignment to a specific bag checked

The key change

We moved the operation from producing individual SKUs to assembling an individual order ready to deliver.

09

Dispatch, Delivery & Data

Logistics + AnalyticsThe right bag at the right door, and data returning to the plan

Foodify does not deliver a large number of meals to one hospital; it serves a very large number of individual delivery points. That is why production has to be connected to the customer, the address, the bag and the route.

  1. Finished Bag
  2. Dispatch
  3. Route
  4. Refrigerated Transport
  5. Customer Door
Dispatch, Delivery & Data

Context

The final operational product is not a box of food but a correctly assembled order delivered to the right customer on the right day.

Problem

Without a shared data layer each stage only answers its own local questions, and nobody can see where the losses, delays and errors really come from.

Analysis and mapping

We connected the data across the whole chain: Customer Demand → Recipe → Purchase → Inventory → Production → Packing → Bag → Delivery.

What we built for Foodify

  • Every bag tied to its recipient, address, day, area and route
  • Analytics layer covering forecast against actual, food cost and real ingredient consumption
  • Yield, losses, production times and work-center throughput
  • Order completeness, packing throughput, assembly errors and forecast accuracy

The key change

We closed the data loop: actuals feed the next plan, so every day of production helps improve the one after it.

The Connected Flow

Connected Food Operations System

We created the greatest value not in any single module but by connecting the whole process. We tied a change to a customer order to demand, demand to the production schedule, the schedule to ingredients and purchasing, and execution data back to planning.

Customer demand

  1. 01Customer / Order
  2. 02Demand
  3. 03Recipes
  4. 04Production Forecast

Supply

  1. 05Production Plan
  2. 06Material Requirements
  3. 07Purchasing
  4. 08Receiving & Warehouse

Execution and delivery

  1. 09Production / MES
  2. 10Portioning & Packing
  3. 11Bag Assembly
  4. 12Dispatch & Delivery

Learning loop

  1. 13Data → Better Forecast

We connected data from production, packing and delivery to the forecast, to sharpen every next planning cycle.

Project outcomes

Eight shifts we achieved together with Foodify

  • Customer orders as a separate e-commerce world

    Customer demand connected directly to production demand

  • A recipe as a list of ingredients

    A recipe as a digital model of the process, yield and cost

  • Planning that starts after the order cut-off

    Forecast demand and a plant prepared in advance

  • Purchasing calculated by hand, dish by dish

    Purchase requirements calculated from the plan and inventory

  • Deliveries and inventory updated late

    Digital receiving with lot, expiry date and live inventory

  • Production reported after the fact

    Digital execution recording time, weight, yield and losses

  • Producing individual SKUs

    A complete, individual customer order in one bag

  • Data locked inside single stages

    One data layer from demand to delivery and back to the forecast

Note

At this stage we describe the outcomes we achieved qualitatively. Specific figures and KPIs will be added once Foodify confirms the data.

Connect customer demand to production and delivery.

It starts with analyzing and mapping your processes, exactly as it did at Foodify.

Talk to INVO