Lone Star Foodservice Maximizes Operations with CAI Provisions

Lone Star Foodservice is a family-owned purveyor of high quality, Prime and high Choice steaks, chops and other meat products. With a history that dates back more than 60 years, the company provides product to fine dining establishments throughout Texas, including Austin, Houston, the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, San Antonio and elsewhere. The company also services national chain accounts and maintains a fleet of nine trucks to deliver fresh steaks to its customers.

Lone Star’s mission is to source and deliver the finest cuts of natural beef, pork and lamb. The company’s commitment includes partnering with local farms and ranches, and marketing exceptional brands such as all natural Niman Ranch and Certified Angus Beef®.

Lone Star operates a state of the art, climate controlled facility and utilizes advanced portion control technologies to produce reliably consistent products. In addition, the company maintains a one of a kind, custom dry aging room, and employs an artisanal steak trimming team having a combined two centuries of experience.

What sets Lone Star apart is a decision made seven years ago to take the business in a new direction towards meat suppliers using sustainable, responsible practices. Franklin Hall, CEO of Lone Star Foodservice said, “Our focus on sustainability is embodied in our ongoing partnership with Niman Ranch a network of over 650 ranchers using sustainable grazing and humane husbandry methods and other conscientious suppliers.

The Problem

Lack of visibility across departments led to incorrect shipments.

“Our legacy packing software and stations consisted of only a barcode reader and a label printer. If the system generated a label, we assumed everything had been done correctly and the right product was being packed and sent to the right customer,” Hall said.

The Solution

Provisions software production and packing tools.

“With Provisions, our production control room, cutting floor and packing and staging areas are completely integrated. We’re able to confirm that we’re packing the correct order for the customer, along with anything else important on each order. We have complete visibility across all areas of our business, perhaps most notably in our packing area. Our sales representatives have immediate access to processed inventory, so they know exactly what is available for sale,” Hall added.

Provisions ERP helps Lone Star cut costs, increase production yields, maximize cutting station efficiency and achieve total traceability. Production ready workstations, electronic scales, bar code label printers and specialized processing and packing software simplify lot tracking through production, accurately account for processed inventory, access raw materials yields (by product accounting) and calculate the exact costs for finished goods.

“We are very pleased with our decision to implement CAI’s Provisions software,” Hall said. “Their understanding of our day to day challenges, both as a processor and distributor, and insight into industry best practices, was evident during the evaluation and software implementation process. The software provides all the capabilities of a state of the art processing and packing department. We know we’ve made a great choice for a technology partner.”

The Provisions ERP software combines production ready workstations, electronic scales, bar code label printers and specialized processing and packing software. Provisions’ convenient tools simplify lot tracking through production and accurately account for processed inventory. The software provide access to raw materials yields (by product accounting) and calculates the exact cost for finished goods.

As sales orders are entered, Provisions creates an aggregate production planning report that individual packers can easily query for specific production orders. The exact product and precise weights to be cut or packed can be v iewed on their packing workstation. Quantities packed are automatically rolled up to calculate exact yields and for use in work order receipts later. Packers can also add truck route information.

Lone Star Foodservice is also impressed with Provisions’ flexible pricing capabilities. “With Provisions, we’re able to manage very complex, customer specific pricing with ease, including staging pricing for the next week in a fraction of the time that it used to require,” Hall said.

About CAI Provisions

Provisions enterprise resource planning (ERP) software is an on demand, turnkey business management solution that helps Protein and Specialty Food Processors and Distributors operate more profitably. Provisions achieves this by helping users increase efficiency, reduce costs, improve inventory control and the accuracy of yields and costs, while eliminating shipping delays and accelerating the ability to respond to food safety issues.