Note: This customer story was originally published on when our Digital Food Safety platform was offered under the Jolt brand. Jolt is now part of SmartSense, and customers who adopted Jolt have since gained access to the expanded SmartSense platform. The testimonials below reflect the customer's experience with the Jolt product, which is now delivered and supported under the SmartSense name.
"Jolt is the system we will use going forward. We'll never switch back to pen and paper."
– Grant Groen, 10 Store, 3rd Generation Owner/Operator
Grant Groen is a 3rd generation McDonald's Owner Operator. Along with his sister, the family owns 23 locations across Kentucky and Ohio.
"Employee accountability is always a struggle," said Grant. "Even for families like ours who have been doing this for decades."
Fred Laport, the Groen family's Director of Operations, helped Grant build solid processes and operations across his stores.
"Fred has been with McDonald's for 32 years," Grant told us. "So, with our combined experience, I believe we have processes downright. It's just a matter of getting real execution in every store."
"We knew digital operations were the future, so we wanted to embrace it early," said Fred Laport.
The Groen family launched Jolt and instantly saw the change digital food safety brought to their daily operations.
"You can immediately see the benefits Jolt offers," said Grant.
Because the platform only requires one employee instead of two to complete food safety checks, the Groen family McDonald's locations saw productivity gains alongside better food safety compliance and reporting.
"Jolt is the system we will use going forward," said Grant. "We'll never switch back to pen and paper."
Today, those same capabilities and more are available through SmartSense, giving operators like the Groen family an even stronger foundation for digital food safety as the platform continues to grow.
Heather Jacobs, General Manager for one of Grant's locations, noted how impressed EcoSure was during their most recent visit.
"EcoSure was extremely happy with the results that Jolt was able to surface for them on the spot," she said.
Digitizing food safety gives complete visibility into daily operations, particularly during audits and inspections. Auditors can view accurate information for any date range and see how each store is performing temperature checks.
"Jolt makes it easy for employees to do food safety checks on time," said Heather. "That's the real advantage for us at the ground level. We get more done in the store, and it's done the right way."
The results the Groen family experienced are exactly what SmartSense's digital food safety solution is built to deliver for McDonald's and QSR operators nationwide. Consistent compliance, reduced labor time, and the real-time visibility that makes audits less stressful and daily operations more accountable.