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Team4Foods Team 4 Foodservice is a group purchasing organization that offers best of class purchasing, distribution, consulting, and marketing services to restaurants

Team Four Foodservice is a group purchasing organization, servicing the foodservice industry. The company has been formed to meet the growing needs of emerging forward thinking customers, distributors, manufacturers, and service providers. Team Four Foodservice provides purchasing leverage to its customers; sales representation and market access to distributors, manufacturers, and service providers; and business services to all Team Four members.

Opportunities to improve transitional care diningAbout 80-93 percent of older adults manage at least one or two chronic ...
10/12/2026

Opportunities to improve transitional care dining

About 80-93 percent of older adults manage at least one or two chronic health conditions, according to the NIH. As a result, seniors have to navigate health challenges that may send them through a succession of healthcare settings — from hospitals to rehab facilities to assisted living and back to home-based care. During these transitions, it’s easy for nutritional continuity to be overlooked. When foodservice operators can help improve these transitions, they also improve patient outcomes and strengthen partnerships across care settings.

There is a big opportunity for improvement here. Patients may receive carefully managed nutritional care in the hospital, only to lose that support when they move to another care setting or return home. A study from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics is exploring a possible solution. The Academy’s CONNECT Study is testing a coordinated model linking hospitals with community meal providers. Participating dietitians electronically transfer nutrition information, enabling community partners to deliver medically tailored meals, provide nutritional counseling and monitor patients following discharge.

Foodservice operators can build on this model by establishing standardized nutrition handoffs, coordinating with dietitians and developing meal programs that follow patients across care settings. Sharing information about dietary restrictions, nutritional risks and individual preferences can help receiving facilities deliver appropriate meals immediately. At the same time, this model can create new revenue streams for operators. By partnering with hospitals, rehabilitation centers and home-delivery organizations, foodservice providers can develop new service offerings while helping healthcare partners address nutritional gaps during recovery.

Capital expenditure or operating expense? Striking the right balance amid rising costsIn today’s high-cost operating env...
10/09/2026

Capital expenditure or operating expense? Striking the right balance amid rising costs

In today’s high-cost operating environment, you may be looking twice at your budget for the big-ticket items your business needs. Where buying may have once been the obvious choice for a new oven or POS hardware, leasing and subscription models are giving operators more options to acquire equipment and functionality.

These options can provide flexibility but also complicate budgeting decisions. What’s the right formula for your business? Start by considering the useful life of what you’re paying for. It may be better to buy technology that is likely to remain essential for years — the Small Business Administration notes that buying generally costs less over an asset’s lifetime. Leasing requires less cash upfront and can make sense when technology changes quickly or you want to test equipment before committing.

Next, calculate the total cost of ownership, including financing or subscription costs, maintenance, upgrades, implementation, training and eventual replacement. Then quantify your expected labor savings, waste reduction, increased throughput or other returns. It’s also important to consider your access to cash: Restaurant expenses are 36 percent higher now than they were in 2019, according to the National Restaurant Association, and borrowing costs remain elevated. The best financing structure for your business is the one that delivers the capability you need without sacrificing too much flexibility, liquidity or long-term returns.

We’re headed to AHCA/NCAL’s Delivering Solutions 26 Team Four Foodservice has a long-standing reputation as a leader in ...
10/09/2026

We’re headed to AHCA/NCAL’s Delivering Solutions 26

Team Four Foodservice has a long-standing reputation as a leader in the Group Purchasing Organization (GPO) sector, with a deep understanding of the foodservice needs in various healthcare settings. Our experience and dedication to quality have enabled us to develop tailored procurement strategies that meet the specific demands of senior living facilities. By focusing on cost savings, quality assurance, and nutritional excellence, we ensure that our clients can provide the best possible care for their residents and participants.

Discover how Team Four Foodservice can support your healthcare facility’s needs.
Visit us at booth 635

Food traceability without the deadline panic: the benefits of acting nowFoodservice operators have extra time to prepare...
10/05/2026

Food traceability without the deadline panic: the benefits of acting now

Foodservice operators have extra time to prepare for the FDA Food Traceability Rule — until mid-2028 — but getting ready for it now can put a business in a stronger and more financially secure position going into the enforcement of the rule.

You can do that by trying to uncover challenges now. Specifically, determine which foods you receive are on the FDA’s Food Traceability List and identify what required information you already capture. Covered restaurants generally will need to maintain specified receiving data, including traceability lot codes, quantities, product descriptions, receiving dates and supplier information.

From there, test the process with suppliers and technology providers. Can they provide the necessary data consistently? Can your team retrieve it quickly? The FDA also suggests developing a traceability plan and talking about it with supply-chain partners.

Starting the process now gives you time to uncover gaps, adjust workflows and train employees before compliance becomes urgent. Use the extra runway to test the connections across your food supply chain now, when gaps can be fixed gradually rather than under deadline pressure — or during an actual recall.

What happens when your foodservice technology goes down?Increasingly, technology is underpinning foodservice businesses....
10/02/2026

What happens when your foodservice technology goes down?

Increasingly, technology is underpinning foodservice businesses. Last year, 67 percent of U.S. restaurant operators said they had incorporated more technology into their businesses during the previous two to three years, according to the National Restaurant Association. Of those operators, 69 percent said it had improved their efficiency and productivity.

That’s good news. But as technology takes on more processes that keep a business running, we become more reliant on it — and in greater need of a plan for when it suddenly stops working. Do you have one you can rely on?

Consider the possibility of an outage leaving you without POS systems, digital orders, kitchen displays or other connected tools. The Association’s 2026 emergency-preparedness guidance recommends developing alternative payment procedures because POS systems are likely to become unavailable during a power outage.

Identify your essential systems and create simple manual procedures for each one. For example, you may need paper order forms, printed menus and recipes, offline contact lists and alternative payment processes. Food safety needs a backup, too — have appliance thermometers on hand so temperatures can remain independently verifiable during power failures.

Before an outage occurs, train employees and run experiments where staff have to rely on manual processes. Planning ahead can help you ensure business doesn’t come to a standstill if and when an outage happens.

The 24-hour nutrition opportunity in senior livingThree meals a day may be convenient operationally, but this structure ...
09/28/2026

The 24-hour nutrition opportunity in senior living

Three meals a day may be convenient operationally, but this structure may not necessarily match residents’ appetites, routines or needs.

Older adults often have a shifting relationship with food. They may feel full sooner, or have reduced appetite or preferences due to medications they are taking. The National Institute on Aging recommends older adults, including those with conditions such as Alzheimer’s, have more frequent, smaller meals and nutrient-dense snacks.

For senior living operators, that creates an opportunity to think beyond the breakfast, lunch and dinner framework. Guidance from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services says facilities need not operate 24-hour foodservice, but they should make suitable, nourishing alternatives available to residents who want to eat outside scheduled mealtimes.

Some senior living communities are already embracing greater flexibility. The Cedarhurst Senior Living collection of communities provides all-day dining, including breakfast at any time. There are less labor-intensive approaches too: The Georgia-based senior living community Enrich @ 519 offers a 24-hour snack menu but also has a mini fridge continuously stocked with nutritious options to support residents with limited appetites or off-hours nutritional needs.

Taking small steps can go far in increasing your flexibility. Operators can stock accessible mini-meals — yogurt, sandwiches, fruit, cheese or fortified snacks— and coordinate their availability with residents’ medication, sleep and care schedules. The goal here isn’t to offer round-the-clock cooking but about finding ways to make good nutrition available when residents are ready to eat.

Measure manager quality before your turnover alerts you to a problemBy the time you see spikes in employee turnover, you...
09/25/2026

Measure manager quality before your turnover alerts you to a problem

By the time you see spikes in employee turnover, you may have had a management problem brewing for months. Research from 7shifts found that 44 percent of employees cited difficult managers as a driver of their departure — equal to low pay.

That can be a costly oversight. The National Restaurant Association's 2026 Hiring & Staffing Report estimated that the foodservice sector had an overall turnover rate of 122 percent. Rates varied dramatically by role: Turnover for managers was about 46 percent and much higher for other roles — 77 percent for institution/cafeteria cooks, 85 percent for restaurant cooks, 131 percent for servers, and 173 percent for fast-food/counter workers.

Foodservice leaders can look for signs of trouble sooner. Compare locations on leading indicators like absenteeism, schedule changes, overtime, new-hire retention, training completion, employee-engagement scores, safety incidents and guest complaints. Focus on changes within a unit rather than business-wide averages.

There are tools to help. Consider conducting employee surveys to identify retention challenges and areas for improving staff experiences. Create a manager scorecard and review it monthly. When several indicators decline together, assess what’s happening with staff workload, scheduling, communication and coaching practices — then support the manager before employees start making a hasty exit.

Protect food safety when a recipe changes overnightFor foodservice operators looking to protect margins, swapping out in...
09/21/2026

Protect food safety when a recipe changes overnight

For foodservice operators looking to protect margins, swapping out ingredients is a fact of life. Supply strains and resulting price hikes often call for operators to be nimble with recipes. In July, prices for food away from home were over 3 percent higher than they were the previous year. The USDA reported in June that beef and veal prices had climbed nearly 12 percent year over year.

While Team Four provides operators with a buffer against these strains, it’s still important to be aware that food substitutions you implement can generate food safety risks. An alternate brand or prepared ingredient may introduce different allergens — or come with new cooking instructions. That’s important to bear in mind when one in three Americans with food allergies report having experienced an allergic reaction in a restaurant, according to the CDC. Further, the FDA has recalled products this year for undeclared egg, milk and other allergens.

Before making a substitution official, you can help protect guest safety by comparing ingredient and allergen statements, preparation methods and storage requirements. From there, update the recipe, labels and digital systems, as well as notify your purchasing, culinary and service teams.

Make sure your automated forecasts aren’t learning from bad historyYour forecasts can help you operate more efficiently ...
09/18/2026

Make sure your automated forecasts aren’t learning from bad history

Your forecasts can help you operate more efficiently — but only if they are pulling from reliable data. Pandemic closures, supply shortages, one-time events and one-off promotions all have the potential to distort your data about guest demand.

To make sure you’re working from the most reliable information, clean up your baseline data. You can start by analyzing POS data and flagging closures, shortened hours, stockouts, and missing or duplicate transactions. Remove structural breaks in your business — like closures for renovations or pandemic-era breaks — instead of letting your system treat them as normal seasonal fluctuations. Highlight promotions, weather disruptions, special events and annual occasions like the Super Bowl or campus move-in weekends. You can learn from these recurring events and let them serve as models for the future.

From there, standardize menu-item names and categories across locations and document every historical adjustment. When you’re pulling consistent information from across your business, you’ll be able to more clearly trace your progress in future forecasts. Speaking of tracking improvements, compare your automated forecast with simple baseline results from the recent past. You’ll want evidence to show how your forecasts’ predictions have made you operate more effectively — or not — over time.

Forecasting around appetite shifts in senior livingPredicting dining demand in senior living is complicated by the ever-...
09/14/2026

Forecasting around appetite shifts in senior living

Predicting dining demand in senior living is complicated by the ever-evolving appetites of residents. Medications, health changes, activity levels and food sensitivities can all impact how much a resident wants to eat. As a result, operators have to strike a complex balance between providing sufficient nutrition and avoiding overproduction.

Making some adjustments can help operators more accurately manage demand. For example, use historical forecasts to define a base quantity of servings for advance preparation, but give yourself some leeway to finish smaller batches as people arrive in the dining room — a hybrid model that blends batch cooking with a traditional restaurant model. Delay the final cooking of proteins and other quality-sensitive items until residents actually choose them. Prepare smaller late-service batches and reduced portion sizes. Finish more predictable tasks early — like chopping, portioning, making sauces, and possibly cooking and chilling certain foods — then delay the tasks that depend on uncertain demand. Lean on techniques like sous vide to make made-to-order preparation more efficient. Where possible, offer advance ordering a bit closer to mealtimes to manage overproduction.

Consider your food waste as forecasting data for tomorrow. For example, if you expect 100 residents at dinner but only 80 typically attend, or if consumption typically drops following an afternoon event, let those inputs feed your forecast. Connect your forecasts to operational data that may exist elsewhere, including such variables as resident illness, vacations, or family visits that will cause absence. The goal isn’t necessarily just about minimizing waste, but about giving yourself sufficient flexibility to provide adequate nutrition, preserve resident choice, and make more informed choices about what residents will want from their next meal.

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8815 Centre Park Drive, Suite 110
Columbia, MD
21045

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(888) 891-3103

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