Challenge

A large commissary that provides full-service catering services was struggling with environmental and microbial issues in its facility. The company’s documentation and traceability were lacking, and chemicals were not being used properly by its former third-party sanitation partner. This ultimately led to dangerous micro results and failed audits.

These issues were taking significant time and attention away from the company’s service to its partners and put them at risk for losing business due to food safety issues. With the future of its partnerships in jeopardy, the catering company needed help quickly to get their facility clean and back on track.

Solution

The company was familiar with PSSI and its positive reputation as a food safety leader across the industry. They also liked the fact that PSSI offered support across North America, which was a winning solution to their partners across major cities.

PSSI jumped in right away to assess the situation and build a unified plan of action for the catering facility. A variety of PSSI teams including Operations, Food Safety, Tech Services, HR, Sales and our Chemical Innovations team, worked together to assess the facility’s needs. Our teams found significant gaps in their food safety program and began addressing immediately. This included increasing the water temperature in the facility, adding water sources for proper sanitation, increasing water pressure, eliminating ‘hot spots’ in high traffic areas for micro reasons, intensified cleaning procedures for the first 30 days, and establishing a consistent 8-Steps of Sanitation program nightly.

Result

After just a few days there were visible signs of improvements on the walls, floors, walkways, and bathrooms through the facility. Ceilings and Air Units were no longer moldy, and the employee cafeteria floors were cleaned and buffed for the first time in years. Most importantly, micro counts started to decrease, and leadership was able to focus on the catering company’s brand reputation and level of service its partners had been missing.

PSSI is approaching the third year working together with this commissary and our partnership is stronger than ever. This location now passes sanitation audits consistently and visitors frequently comment on the difference in the overall appearance of the facility.