Jansen Foodservice has been around since the 1960s and is a true family business. For two generations, family members have proudly worked in the company: the founder’s son is the current managing director. Each new generation makes their unique contribution to the development of the company. Partly as a result of several acquisitions, Jansen Foodservice grew into the established name it is today. In less than 20 years, their staff increased tenfold: they currently employ 170 people. How do they remain the personal, service-oriented and down-to-earth hospitality wholesaler despite this growth? Kay Heezen, Financial Controller at Jansen Foodservice, explains: “An informal work culture and an fitting Workforce Management system are proving to be the perfect combination.”
Personalised service
“What makes Jansen Foodservice so special is our exceptional service. Our employees, from sales representatives to truck drivers, always work with the same customers. Besides creating a personal connection, it also ensures that we always know the wants and needs of each client. This is invaluable for both us and them. In total, we have around 1,750 customers, mainly in the eastern part of the Netherlands. This ranges from restaurants, fast food businesses, corporate catering, cafés, clubs and schools. We do everything for them. If they accidentally forget to order certain items, we will make sure we deliver them as soon as possible, preferably the same day. We also load products FIFO and make all kinds of customised products in our own fruit and vegetable production. We prepare these with fresh ingredients and according to specific customer requirements. Because we deliver these products ready-cut, this speeds up a restaurant’s mise-en-place.”
Kay Heezen at work at Jansen Foodservice
From handwork to a digital match made in heaven
“At first, we drew up schedules in Excel and used separate time-recording software. We regularly made manual adjustments, causing unintentional errors. We then corrected these again manually. Despite being a small organisation at the time, it took us so much time that we were really looking for an alternative to this.”
“Dyflexis is enormously flexible and is fully set up to meet the needs of our organisation.”
“In 2021, we grew from 90 to 150 employees following an acquisition. At that point, we really started to feel the need to have a clear understanding of exactly how much someone works. Mapping this helps us get a better grip on our organisation. In total, we have four sites: three wholesalers and one fruit and vegetable production hall. We regularly have open shifts, and employ 10 to 15 evening and weekend helpers per site. Not every scheduling and time recording software is a right match for this, but Dyflexis is hugely flexible and fully customisable to our needs and requirements. Now we work with standard schedules and open shifts on weekends. We used to constantly have to call and whatsapp people to fill these open shifts, now people respond themselves via the app to sign up for these. So the occupancy problem often solves itself. This works nicely – you no longer have to assign people.”
“Thanks to Dyflexis, the occupancy problem solves itself.”
“The Dyflexis app shows when you are scheduled and how many hours you have worked. Thanks to this clarity, there are virtually no more discussions about whether the hours worked are correct. This is partly because, on Dyflexis’ advice, we instituted clear rounding-off rules from the outset. Also, someone can always see how much holiday and time-for-time they have left – very handy! Besides this method of scheduling saving a lot of time, employees are very happy with the clarity regarding their work schedule.”
Smooth integrations facilitate rapid growth
“We were already working with KAB and Nmbrs. When we were looking for a planning and time recording system, KAB recommended Dyflexis to us. I’m still glad we took their advice at the time. After implementing Dyflexis, everything ran a lot more efficiently: in fact, the software ensures that we always remain flexible. Flexibility is a key element in our growth. The integration with Nmbrs and KAB means that the most up-to-date employee data is always in our system. Previously, I entered new employees into three different systems. Now I only do this in NMBRS, after which it automatically forwards the employee information to Dyflexis. As a result, I spend half as much time adding new colleagues as before! Even if someone’s contract is not yet finalised, I can already schedule them. That person will then also have direct access to the app and thus the schedules. This helps us keep the business moving and growing.”
“First, I made exports of the hours worked and had to check them by hand, which took me up to four hours at a time. I now do the time registration approvals easier and faster in Dyflexis, which only takes one and a half hours. With one mouse click, we send the correct timesheets to Nmbrs and KAB. The payroll then runs flawlessly. Thanks to this time saving, I can now focus more on analysis, which I use to drive business operations. ”
Jansen Foodservice in Doetinchem
Investing to innovate
Jansen Foodservice lives up to its name. While it all started with personal deliveries with vans throughout the region, the company grew through acquisitions and innovative developments and software. A good Workforce Management solution is part of this.
“Dyflexis contributes to our service because the system allows us to communicate internally quickly, concisely and succinctly between all four sites. This is how we keep our staff informed of what is going on. Thanks to Dyflexis, we gain more insight into business results and streamline internal processes. This allows us to offer even more service to our customers.”
“As long as Dyflexis continues to develop, our organisation can continue to grow.”
“We are currently investing in Voice Pick to largely automate our warehouses. With Voice Pick, our warehouse staff collect customer orders with a headset on. At the same time, they verbally indicate how many boxes or pieces remain on a shelf: this provides an instant stock inventory. This new way of working takes some getting used to, but it ensures that we avoid picking errors. This ultimately results in a higher First Time Right percentage, making us even more efficient and reliable. In Dyflexis, we then see what this brings in terms of benefit. Perhaps we need fewer employees per shift or can work more with weekend and evening helpers.”
“ Soon we will expand our Dyflexis system to include even more integrations. For example, we will link our telephone system so that we can automatically set someone to present or absent. We also link with PowerBI so that we further expand our KPIs. This allows us to target business results more precisely. We already know from our current KPI dashboards when most orders come in. This is a useful tool in predicting a busy period. We make grateful use of this during planning. This way, we always have the right people and, most importantly, enough of them on the shop floor to cope with the expected level of activity. As you can see, we are constantly innovating and making full use of all the possibilities that Workforce Management offers us. We are always open to new features if they advance our business, our employees and, of course, our service. As long as Dyflexis continues to develop, our organisation can continue to grow.”
