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Welcome!
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This page is designed to provide you with a short description of how to best utilize our newly developed dropdown calculator tool for reusable food service ware. The tool was designed to help you in analyzing and comparing the costs of various reusable food service ware options for a range of product types and materials. The reusable dropdown calculator, in conjunction with the dropdown calculator for single-use disposables, also allows you to compare the costs of reusables with single-use disposable food service ware. When thinking through the many food service ware possibilities for your school, the dropdown calculator can serve as a vital tool in helping you break down the specifics and analyze the costs of the various options.
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Utilizing this Tool
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In order to utilize this tool, there are a few easy steps you should take. In this spreadsheet there are 4 tabs, the Read me first, the Dropdown SUDs, the Single Use items, and the SUD Validation. The SUD Validation is to help the spreadsheet do calculations, and you do not need to interact with that. The Read me first is just passive information to help guide you. The Dropdown Reusables is where you can add your school/district numbers and do cost comparison. In the Dropdown Reusables tab, the cells you will be manipulating are the three columns in the upper left hand corner of the screen entitled “Type,” “Materials,” and “Expected Unit Amount Needed.” In the cell beneath the first two column headings (“Type” and “Materials”) there are down arrows which will allow you to display the dropdown menus you will be selecting from. To select the product type (trays, cups, bowls, etc.), go to the “Type” column and click the down arrow to reveal the dropdown menu — select the product type you would like to explore. Next, go to the dropdown menu for “Materials'' and choose the product material (stainless steel, melamine, stoneware, polypropylene, polycarbonate) you would like to look at. Finally, beneath the column heading “Expected Unit Amount Needed,” manually input the number of units of this product type that your school needs. The Reusable items tab you can manipulate, but will only need to if you are comparing options not currently on the calculator.
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Understanding the Results
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Now that you understand how to input the product type, material, and number of units you are interested in exploring, you must also know how to interpret the output so you can put this tool to good use. After selecting the three inputs listed above, scroll down beneath the input area to view your results. You should see a colored bar with a long list of headers, and beneath that there will be rows of information (the number of rows may vary and can even be zero). In these rows is the information about all the products in the CEH database which match the product type and material you have selected. To see the one time cost of each possibility, based on the number of units you input, scroll to the right and look for the bolded number under the last column heading entitled “One Time Cost.” If multiple rows popped up, you can compare the costs of the different product options matching the type and material you choose. As mentioned above, it is possible for no results to be produced. This simply means that there are no products of the type and material you selected within the CEH database at this time. If this is the case, we recommend that you try a different material for the given product type you would like to explore.
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Comparing Options
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As talked about throughout this brief calculator guide, the dropdown calculator tool for single-use disposables can allow you to compare product types of different materials as well as different market options of products of the same type and material. However, there is another important use of the tool as well, which we would like to mention. Utilizing this tool in conjunction with the dropdown calculator for single-use disposable food service ware, will allow you to compare costs of single-use disposables with reusables.
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Customizing the calculator
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Lastly, we would like to mention that the calculator is customizable. If you would like to understand the cost of a particular reusable item that is not already featured in this calculator, we invite you to do so. To add your particular reusable begin by going to the "Reusable items" tab in the lower left hand corner of your screen. From there scroll down to the bottom of the page until you find an empty row. Start entering the information about your product. Fill in the following columns "Type of Product," "Product Material Type," "Case Quantity," and "Case Price." When doing so, please follow the CEH language seen in the columns above as much as possible. For instance, for "Type of Product" try to use the already designated categories (Tray, Clamshell, Plate, etc) if your product fits under these terms so as not to create new unecessary headings. However, if your food service ware product does not fall under any of the previously used terminolgy, feel free to create your own. From there the columns "Price/Unit" and "Expected Unit A Total Cost" will automatically be filled in. If you are compelled to do so, you may fill in the remaining columns to the right. Through this process, you will be able to see products of your choosing and understand, from a cost perspective, how they might compare to other foodware options.
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We hope you find this tool easily accessible and useful when deciding what food service ware products are best suited for your school!
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