Civica Catering Management (formerly Saffron)

We provide the smart, innovative catering management software caterers need, to keep people fed – quickly, safely and sustainably

High food costs, wage increases, new legislation and wide-spread industry uncertainty are among the challenges facing catering providers.

We’re supporting customers across the public sector, education, health and care and foodservice industries to improve the efficiency of complex catering operations, through streamlining stock control, purchasing and menu engineering.

Civica Catering Management software (formerly known as Saffron catering software), Civica Cashless Catering and Civica Education Payments are a complete solution for public sector service providers. Together they deliver peace of mind, help you be more productive and improve experience for those using your services.

We can help you:

Drive growth through differentiating your service by working as your strategic innovation partner
Safeguard services by delivering nutritious meals on budget, rapidly altering recipes and menus in response to changing ingredient prices and availability
Tightly manage costs by controlling what’s purchased centrally while engaging more easily with a wider range of suppliers
Power free school meal programmes using our data-driven technologies
Protect customer wellbeing and ease anxiety by better supporting those with allergies and medical conditions
Cater more sustainably by cutting food waste, tracking carbon and buying local to reduce food miles.

Civica Catering Management at a glance

Discover what we can do for your sector

Why choose Civica Catering Management?

Improve efficiency to deliver faster and more reliable services with easy repeatable processes and centralisation.

Drive down costs by improving procurement control and visibility of data so you can track and share this information easily with stakeholders.

Help your customers make safe and sustainable choices, that protect their wellbeing while reducing the social impacts of food waste and CO2.

What we do for your sector

Contract Catering

Food inflation, supply chain issues, staff attrition and the rise of free school meal programmes are challenging caterers like never before. As your strategic innovation partner, we’ll work with you to face these challenges, differentiate your business and drive growth. What you can expect when choosing Civica as your catering management system provider:

Key account management, regular strategy meetings and a pricing model that rewards growth
Improved efficiency and easy repeatable processes that are quick for people to learn, with Check, our paperless kitchen management app and fast flexible cashless EPoS solutions
More control over your supply chain with EDI integration and digitised procurement and dynamic menu planning that make it easier to do business with a wider range of suppliers
Improved visibility of sales data so you can better understand demand and create tailored menus for different markets and locations
More insight into sustainability through tracking food waste and CO2 impacts.

Local Authorities

Local authority catering managers continue to face increasing budget cuts while being expected to meet nutritional standards. Civica Catering Management helps authorities to serve healthy, personalised meals, while providing an efficient and compliant service. What you can expect:

A strategic innovation partner to help you sell your services to neighbouring schools and MATs, through key account management, regular strategy meetings and a council pricing model that rewards growth
Centralised paperless kitchen management for easy repeatable processes that are quick for people to learn plus fast pre-order, parental payments and fast flexible EPoS solutions for improved efficiency
More control over your supply chain with EDI integration, digitised procurement and dynamic menu planning that make it easier to do business with a wider range of suppliers
Improved visibility of sales data so you can better understand demand and create tailored menus for different markets and locations
The sustainability insight you need to hit Net Zero targets through tracking food waste and CO2 impacts and making it easier to buy local.
Easier ways to protect pupil wellbeing and reassure parents, with nutritional data against menus, allergen management and reporting for schools/parents.

Multi-Academy Trusts

School catering managers continue to face increasing budget cuts while being expected to meet nutritional standards. Civica Catering Management helps you to serve healthy, personalised meals, while providing an efficient and compliant service. What you can expect:

· A strategic innovation partner to help you sell your services to neighbouring schools and MATs, through strategy meetings and a pricing model that supports growth

· Centralised paperless kitchen management and administration of menus for improved efficiency with easy repeatable processes that are quick for people to learn

· Rapid service throughput using pre-order, parental payments and fast flexible EPoS solutions

· More control over costs through improved supply chain management and centralised sales and FSM data

· The sustainability insight you need to hit Net Zero targets through tracking food waste and CO2 impacts and making it easier to buy local.

· Easier ways to protect pupil wellbeing and reassure parents, with nutritional data against menus, allergen management and reporting for schools/parents.

Read more about school catering software.

Health and Care

Healthcare catering operates seven days a week, 365 days a year, delivering a vital element of a patient’s recovery. Civica Catering Management supports customers across NHS Trusts, private hospitals, care homes and day centres with electronic meal ordering (EMO) and detailed analytics. What you can expect:

Deliver a positive patient experience, resulting in improved CQC performance and patient feedback
Ensure healthy, safe and nutritious food choices for your patients and get it right first time, every time
Produce efficiencies at every stage of your catering process, from purchasing and payment to stock control and menu engineering, and ensure compliance at every stage
Cater more sustainably by providing carbon value data, tools to reduce plate, trolley and production waste and make it easier to work with smaller local suppliers.

Read more about our catering management technology for healthcare.

Civica digital bedside meal ordering drives £180k saving

Driving food reduction and improving patient satisfaction for Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Sodexo.

Read the case study

Civica Catering Management helps Lancashire County Council transform catering operations

Introducing Civica Catering Management software has helped the council to identify and address inefficiencies, boost productivity and increase transparency in school kitchens.

Learn more