Cost Containment
Cost containment refers to strategies and measures aimed at controlling program expenses while maintaining or improving the quality of goods or services provided. It encompasses various practices, such as enhancing efficiency, negotiating cost reductions, optimizing resources, and adopting technology. Cost containment is essential for ensuring financial stability and promoting the sustainability of nutrition programs.
Quick Guides
- Identifying the Total Cost of a Meal — Summary brief for meal cost calculations
- School Tray Audit Guide— Created for Dakota Co. (MN) schools, these steps to plan, conduct, and analyze food waste can be applied by nutrition programs
Guides
- Choose to Reuse Manual on Reusable Trays— Beyond Plastics step-by-step guide to ditch disposables
Tools & Toolkits
- Plate Waste Tool — Audit tool developed by South Carolina Department on Aging that calculates plate waste scores for evaluation
- Managing Finances— Planning budgets, managing money, and more from University of Kansas Community Tool Box
- Senior Nutrition Program Spending — Resources that offer new or expanded ways to meet older adults’ nutrition, socialization, and wellness needs with OAA funds
Presentations
- The Power of Pricing: How To Improve Your Pricing and Profits— SCORE webinar to learn tips and techniques that can be implemented immediately to drive higher sales at higher prices
- Optimizing Your Pricing Strategy To Maximize Profits— SCORE webinar to understand how to price your products and services effectively and develop a strategy for maximizing your profits
- Get Predictable Returns With a Recurring Revenue Business Model— SCORE webinar that covers recurring revenue businesses, pros and cons of recurring revenue and how to manage the risks, and important metrics to understand and grow revenue and profitability
- Employee Retention Credit: The Payroll Protection Program’s Sibling— SCORE webinar that discusses the loan-free Employee Retention Credit (ERC) grant
- Best Practices To Lower Your Business Expenses and Improve Cash Flow— SCORE webinar that covers short-term cash flow, analyzing spend, RFP best practices, and more
- Best Practices in Total Compensation— SCORE webinar that covers the basics of compensation, how to access and use market data, and the basics of benefits administration
- Cost Containment Strategies Webinar Series
- Cost Containment Strategies for Foodservice (YouTube)— Webinar featuring the National Foundation to End Senior Hunger about cost containment and waste management
- Purchasing & Inventory Management (YouTube)— Webinar featuring LaTanya Clark, the nutrition and health promotion manager at Maryland’s Department of Aging
- Using Reusable Trays (YouTube)— Webinar featuring Alexis Goldsmith, the national organizing director for Beyond Plastics
- GPO 101: Approaches To Control Food Cost (YouTube)— Webinar featuring Dr. Shirley Chao the founder of FoodPolicy Insights Consulting
- Group Purchasing Organization (GPO): Where Do I Start? (YouTube)— Webinar featuring George Hawthorne, Director of nutrition, transportation, and Simply Catering to You at REAL Services, Inc.
- Reducing Meal Cost in Maryland — Bethesda NEWtrition and Wellness Solutions case study on meal costs
- How Nutrition Services Boost Your Bottom Line — Minuteman Senior Services 2017 presentation about how nutrition services can offer cost savings