Reasons to use Control Catering
Hi, I'm William, founder of Control Catering. I'm just asking for three minutes of your time to
explain the reasons behind Control Catering, and how it can help
business owners and managers in everyday situations.
The concept was born from personal experience of having to effectively manage three cases of
misinformation made within my company, potentially putting people’s lives in danger.
I saw that not only does the consumer need sound information when making food choices, but the
company also needs to protect itself by doing its due diligence, knowing what is being provided, and having the resources to communicate accurate allergen information to the consumer.
Control Catering has been developed over a number of years, with the objective of taking it live to the Catering Industry in 2023. We have the backing of Leeds Beckett University Business school who are vetting and beta testing our systems. We also have the support and resources of Erudus, who are using API linked data of approximately 60,000 products. We are also working closely with UK Hospitality and many suppliers to apply pressure to the Government to streamline the laws for the Catering Industry. Caterers need to be able to navigate the currently very complex system in order to operate successfully within the law. Our goal is to make the process accessible, user friendly, cost-effective and time saving. Providing resources that document due diligence, ultimately protecting the business if something goes wrong.
How do we aim to do this? First you need to identify all ingredients, not just the fourteen legal allergens. For example, a customer tells a staff member they are allergic to mushrooms. The staff member walks into the busy kitchen to ask the chef on duty if mushrooms are an ingredient in any of the dishes. Chef is busy and not in a good mood. The staff member thinks they know the menu and decides not to ask the chef, but instead tells the customer that there are no mushrooms present. However, mushrooms are actually hidden in the sauce. The customer has an allergic reaction to the mushrooms, resulting in death. Your company is in serious trouble as witnesses at the table heard the information being relayed, and saw what happened.
Control Catering gives you step-by-step guidance on using our program. One of the most important points is that no staff member should give out verbal information about ingredients. The concise and accurate Recipe Sheet which Control Catering will guide you to create, provides the written documentation and due diligence that will be presented to the customer whose well being is of utmost importance.
The key points to take away:
- Control Catering is time and cost effective.
- Provides more control with powerful management and documentation tools to train, support and encourage accountability.
- Easily manage ingredients and quickly identify allergens, calories and price changes.
- Update your website and printed menus at the same time; manageable marketing tool.
- Help chefs control their budget with real time food costs.
- Prevent cross-contamination, identify alternative ingredients, easily traceable actions.
- Ultimately Control Catering will provide the tools to keep your business running within the realm of the law, and keep you out of jail.