Forecasting is based on the concept of using past information to estimate future demand.  Therefore it is considered a critical process in foodservice since it has a major role in determining managerial tasks: scheduling labor, and ordering.  It also has a major influence on the achievement of business goals such as budget control and customer satisfaction.

FoodPro’s Forecast Module uses historical data (refined by population adjustments and recent trend analysis) to calculate the number of patrons that will need to be served in the future.

However, knowing how many people you are going to serve is only the first step in the planning process. The patron forecast then uses menu item popularity statistics to generate a menu portion forecast which details the number of portions for each item served at each meal.