As the end of lockdown approaches and hospitality reopens, commercial kitchens should start thinking about how digitisation can help improve their operations.
Few sectors have suffered more from the economic fallout of the pandemic than catering and hospitality. Having been a ruinous year for many in the industry, businesses are now looking forward to the easing of lockdown and being able to welcome customers once again. However, facing the need to recover economically, establishments must think carefully about how they can run their kitchens to reduce expenses and ensure regulatory compliance.
Here are seven ways a digital food safety system can help make that possible:
1. Satisfy Customer Needs
As venues open their doors, they must be prepared for more hygiene-conscious customers. There will be no space for complacency, and businesses must be able to demonstrate their efforts to achieve the highest possible standards. A digital food safety system takes a proactive approach to safety by keeping you informed about potential breaches of compliance and other issues before they become serious problems.
2. Eliminate Paperwork
Paper-based kitchen management systems are inconvenient and prone to failure. Paper can get wet or dirty, or go missing, making it harder to keep track of critical factors such as food safety and cleaning schedules. Tablets and smartphones, however, can be easily wiped clean, and you can save money on paper and ink. Eliminating paperwork is also better for the environment, especially since the average kitchen uses five or six sheets of paper per day.
KitchTech Fridge Sensors
3. Automate Routine Tasks
Sage advice holds that any task that can be automated should be, regardless of the industry. The management of commercial kitchens is no exception, and there is a whole raft of routine administrative tasks that can be automated to relieve pressure on your employees and reduce instances of human error. A digital system that eliminates paperwork can also automate things like fridge monitoring and scheduling of hygiene training and expectations.
Remote Multi Venue Functionality
4. Access Information Remotely
It should be possible to continue managing all administrative tasks remotely, not only during the pandemic, but alsofor enjoying the benefits of workplace flexibility thereafter. Moreover, remote management and access to information is essential for venues with multiple sites. With a cloud-based digital food safety system, administrators can check in remotely and maintain complete visibility over compliance and other operations via a single web-based dashboard.
5. Maintain Up-to-date Records
In order to comply with food safety and hygiene regulations, establishments typically need to retain records for up to three years. Printed records not only take up space and are prone to going missing – they are also harder to keep up to date. With a digitised approach, you can keep your records in the cloud with multiple redundancies in place so there is practically zero chance of them getting lost or damaged.
6. Ensure COVID-19 Safety
Even once catering establishments are allowed to welcome guests again, the threat from the pandemic will still be far from over. Specific hygiene and workplace safety rules will continue to apply for the foreseeable future, hence the need for a digital food safety system that includes COVID-19-specific checklists. Thus, managers will need to update their food safety systems to accommodate any new procedures, such as routine site and equipment checks.
7. Prevent Record Falsification
One of the most important benefits of the digitisation of compliance is that data is much harder to falsify. Paper records, on the other hand, are less likely to be accurate, either due to error or deliberate falsification. With a digital food safety system protected behind multiple layers of security, it will be much easier to ensure accountability. After all, every digital activity creates an auditable data trail, allowing managers to quickly detect potential signs of non-compliance.
KitchTech simplifies the administration of commercial kitchens by automating everyday tasks, scaling HACCP compliance and providing complete visibility across multiple locations.
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PS…Remember, you can earn your HACCP Level 1 and 2 course here