Meal Analyser Case Study

The Business Problem

The method behind Meal Analyser was proven in research and refined in a detailed master spreadsheet, but that put it out of reach of the people who could use it most: school cooks, hospital caterers, restaurant managers and the groups that run them. They needed to start from the dishes they actually serve and get results they could trust, covering carbon, nutrition and energy together. Impact Measurement also needed a product that people could try for free and pay for online, and that would grow from a single kitchen to an academy trust or restaurant chain with many sites.

The Solution

wildesoft.net built Meal Analyser on the latest .NET platform as a website, a back end and a background reporting service. Users build a dish in one of three ways: from its name, with AI suggesting the ingredients; from their own recipe; or from a collection of recipes. AI matches the ingredients to Agribalyse for emissions and to McCance and Widdowson's UK food composition data for nutrition, but every calculation is done by the software itself, checked against the master spreadsheet, so the same dish always gives the same answer. AI then puts the results into plain words.

Each dish can then be taken further: weekly servings with plate waste, transport and disposal; an "optimise emissions" view with practical "what if" scenarios; scope emissions for carbon reporting; an Ingredient Spotlight that compares production methods; and a nutrition and energy breakdown. Results appear as clear charts and downloadable PDF reports.

For organisations, wildesoft.net added multiple logins, sites organised by region and division, and an organisation administrator's area, used by groups such as United Learning. Service reports show every dish's uptake, plate waste and carbon, with written commentary, and are produced automatically in the background as branded PDFs. A free trial, a credit system and Stripe payments let anyone try the tool and buy more analysis online, and an extensive set of automated checks keeps it dependable as it grows.

The Result

A research method has become a practical, self-service product. Caterers can analyse a dish in minutes, see its weekly impact and the changes that would reduce it, and check that greener menus still deliver nutritionally. Groups can report on whole services across all their sites, and Impact Measurement has a platform that is ready to grow with its customers.

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