Maintaining accurate temperature logs in a fast-paced food service environment is a constant challenge for most restaurant and retail companies. Data logs are essential to compliance and regulation management to ensure quality products are served to customers. However, keeping track of a paper-based log is undoubtedly a hassle.
Among the dozens of tasks that a food service operator must execute, maintaining a temperature log is possibly the most susceptible to inaccuracy, unpleasant surprises, and loss of critical data. Fortunately, advances in digital technology are relieving these pain points in the food service industry.
Advances in monitoring technology enable digital thermometers to measure temperatures to an accuracy of better than 1 degree. That’s certainly an advance over analog methods – still, a highly accurate measurement is only one benefit of moving temperature management into the digital domain.
Digital technology can track who performed measurements, on which items and when, using tamper-proof electronic time stamps. Furthermore, once data is captured in a digital format and stored in the cloud, analytics can reveal hidden trends and highlight similarities and differences between various shifts or locations. These benefits hold tremendous promise of transforming illegible temperature logs into a source of continuous improvement.
24/7 Visibility into Food Temperatures
Perhaps the biggest problem with manual or analog data collection is the lag between a temperature excursion and awareness by management necessary to take timely corrective action. Put simply, paper can’t send out alerts. In addition, data is restricted to the location where logs are stored. This prevents regional managers from reviewing daily logs at different locations, unless they physically travel to each location. Not a small task for managers overseeing locations miles apart from each other.
Once data is moved into the cloud, however, the power of dashboards and remote monitoring simplifies product temperature management. Managers can see exactly what was measured, when, and by whom in any location.
Imagine losing your monthly temperature notebook. That’s a scary proposition! With a bowl of spilled soup or just an absent-minded toss in the wastebasket, you can lose an entire month’s worth of data in a split second. An accident could put your next health inspection at risk, jeopardizing your brand’s reputation. By uploading your data directly to the cloud, you can ensure that your data is secure and accessible in a moment’s notice.
The SmartSense Dashboard brings the benefits of digitization to the food service industry. This effective and user-friendly cloud-based system eliminates the hassles associated with manual logging systems. The result: more accurate information, better analysis, and proactive insights through real-time alerts. The future of temperature logging is digital, and SmartSense is leading the way.
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