World Vegetarian Day: Romaine-ing in control with Product Information Management

With 10% of the world’s population now identifying as vegetarian, World Vegetarian Day aims to bring awareness to the “ethical, environmental, health and humanitarian benefits” of the lifestyle.

Additionally, free-from food continues to be a rapidly growing market in the United Kingdom. It has been reported that around 65% of 25 to 34-year-olds now claim to purchase some form of free-from product on a regular basis, and as events such as World Vegetarian Day and Veganuary grow in popularity every year, it is likely that vegetarianism and veganism will become even more prevalent.

This being the case, and as the food and beverage sector becomes increasingly inclusive to consumers with dietary restrictions, the need for clear product labelling has never been more apparent. While there is no legislation that dictates that vegetarian or vegan products need to be labelled as such, doing so increases consumer confidence in the food and drink products that they are purchasing.

ARCUS^® Product Information Management (PIM) is a cloud-based solution that automates, digitises and streamlines the process for collecting detailed product information, while providing a shared view and process for all departments.

Tailored questionnaires are configured to meet specific company requirements, and these are then sent to suppliers who directly enter the vital product information and upload any supporting documentation themselves. This not only ensures that ARCUS^® PIM users are collecting all the product specifications that they require, but data accuracy for the likes of nutrition, allergen information and packaging is enhanced.

This information is stored centrally in the cloud, meaning that key stakeholders can access it at any time and from any location. This helps to further digitise the product on-boarding process, as do the bi-directional workflows, which are mapped to match specific business product approval processes and feature automated reminders against key milestones and tasks.

Using ARCUS^® Connect, the software’s native API, this product information can then be automatically fed into recipe management, menu production and a whole host of other downstream systems. This not only confirms that staff and customers have the relevant information to a product’s vegetarian credentials, but that a single source of data is used in this streamlined end-to-end solution.

If you would like to find out more about ARCUS^® PIM, you can get in touch or you can download the PIM factsheet.