High food quality and reduced risks with a digitised Food Safety Plan
"The essence of iMonitor’s Food Safety Plan is that it reduces mistakes, it reduces business risks."
The challenge
Meena Anand and her team at Oh Calcutta restaurant had already implemented high food quality and safety standards in their kitchen, establishing a reputation for highest quality and service. However, Meena, the restaurant owner, who has led the Indian restaurant since its foundation in 1993, wanted to find a method to ensure food safety compliance without the tedious and error-prone paperwork and relying on one staff. “Using pen and paper to record all food safety tasks and manual monitoring was not only very time-consuming but could naturally involve mistakes,” says Meena. “I did not want the reputation and destiny of my restaurant to stay dependable on these failure-prone paper processes or in the hand of one person.”
The iMonitor solution
More visibility, improved food safety culture
With the help of iMonitor’s Food Safety Plan software, Oh Calcutta digitized all food safety tasks like critical control point checks and supplier checks, cleaning checklists or training records and achieved more visibility on all quality processes. Meena uses daily reporting on her dashboard to ensure that all employees have completed their duties and to ensure that front of house and kitchen staff are in sync. The fully transparent status of all food safety processes makes her identify potential weaknesses in the business and facilitates food safety education. As Meena states: “This visibility helps me recognize training needs to upskill staff, which is very useful for constant improvement of our food safety culture”.
Facilitated food safety audits
iMonitor’s Food Safety Plan helped The Oh Calcutta team digitize their food safety management, increase staff commitment and be constantly audit-ready. “It was important for us that the digital system covered all food safety requirements set by Auckland Council and made our auditing process simpler and less stressful” explains Meena. “iMonitor’s pre-audit check service gives me extra peace of mind before the audit happens”, says Meena. By implementing iMonitor’s digital Food Safety Plan, Oh Calcutta was able to prolong the audit cycle from every 12 to every 18 months, the longest possible audit cycle.
At least 6,000 NZD saved by remote monitoring
Besides using iMonitor’s Bluetooth enabled infra-red and penetration probes for required temperature checks, Oh Calcutta uses five of iMonitor’s wireless remote temperature sensors to monitor the temperature of their bar fridge, under-bench fridge, freezers, and walk-in chiller. The sensors control the temperature automatically and in real-time, eliminating manual temperature measurement and saving time and costs.
“Having iMonitor’s sensors saved us at least 6,000 NZD when a supplier didn’t close the door to our walk-in chiller properly. The system immediately alerted our manager that the temperature went up, who then had enough time to solve the issue to save our stock”, explains Meena, “It is good to know that I do not have to worry about our stock.”
By digitising their daily temperature measuring and food safety tasks, Oh Calcutta has not only ensured a constant high quality and facilitated their audit processes, but also prevented significant inventory loss.
Loving the Customer Service
Meena is convinced that iMonitor’s customer service is outstanding in the industry: “I am very impressed by iMonitor’s customer service. The team approached us proactively as they saw in their system that the battery of one of our sensors was low. They soon came into the restaurant and quickly exchanged them. So, I can be sure that our perishables are always kept at the correct temperatures.”
The use of iMonitor gives us confidence that we serve the best quality food to our customers. Because our reputation and loyalty of our customers is the most important factor for us.
Established in 1993, the Indian restaurant situated in Parnell, Auckland, prides itself to be one of the best Indian restaurants in Auckland. Owner Meena Anand attributes the high reputation to the high level of service, but also to the focus on constant food quality and safety culture among the 19 staff. The restaurant complies with the New Zealand Food Act (2014).
