Money Saving with Monika

July 28th , 2023 by kevin

With operators feeling the pinch of rising energy, food, and fuel costs, money saving has quickly become a top priority. With over 30 years’ experience, Monika’s experience connecting teams and equipment doesn’t just enable food safety compliance – it can also save caterers up to £14,300 per year. This amount may vary depending on current operations, but we’ve broken it down into 6 key areas where a digital food safety system can reduce or eliminate costs.

1. Unnecessary Food Wastage

The most obvious saving is of course in eliminating unnecessary food waste. Monika’s discreet in-cabinet sensors cleverly simulate the temperature of perishable goods, rather than simply recording the air temperature inside the unit. This means frequent openings and closings of the door will not cause wild fluctuations, giving operators greater accuracy. Should a unit move outside a predetermined safe temperature range, an alert will be sent out to the team via Monika’s system. Staff can then take the corrective action, whether that involves closing a forgotten door, or relocating produce before it spoils. This is by far the greatest financial gain, with the potential to save up to £12,700 in food waste alone.

2. Equipment Performance

Beyond monitoring food, Monika’s temperature monitoring equipment can also provide an insight into equipment efficiency. Unstable temperatures, large fluctuations, or consistently ranging outside the pre-set safe zone can indicate a problem with a machine. This early warning means that operators can investigate and potentially perform early maintenance before it entails an expensive repair job.

As the Monika dashboard can be accessed via any mobile, desktop, or Monika’s smart handheld PA – including while offsite – managers can easily compare various unit performance across multiple locations. One unit performing more efficiently can help indicate to operators which brands perform best, aiding in evidence for an upgrade request. This proactive approach ensures appliances are not struggling, resulting in less energy expenditure.

3. Staff Labour

Digital food safety solutions all but eliminate the need for manual food checks. Whereas previously staff would need to pause in meal prep duties, use a handheld probe to record food temperatures, then physically write it down, Monika’s system records it all automatically in a fully auditable log. If the average employee spends one hour per week completing these tasks, Monika’s automated system could save up to £600 per person, per year.

4. Printing, Archiving, and Storage

Of course, once the team member has recorded the food safety checks, the logs must then be kept orderly. Paper, printing, scanning, and either a physical storage location or digital server access can quickly add up – to approximately £1000 per year on average. Monika’s system retains all past records in one convenient location, at no extra cost.

5. Compliance Management and Reporting

Having easily accessible records is vital, to ensure businesses are always audit ready. Monika’s innovative cloud-connected system updates records in real time, so the most recent statistics are always available. That means no more collating, filing, archiving, or chasing a paper trail to find the right figures. And because Monika’s dashboard can be accessed from anywhere, operators won’t even have to worry about travel costs running between various locations.

6. Incident Management and Response

Earlier we said that unnecessary food waste costs add up to be the biggest expense operators might face. That’s not strictly true. The biggest cost risk is also the hardest to quantify; the risk associated with legal fees and loss of business as a result of a food safety incident. Fines alone can cost a business thousands of pounds, but the long-term effect of a tarnished reputation is perhaps even more dire. With a Monika food safety and hygiene system, human error is all but eliminated. Temperature monitoring equipment is available throughout every stage of the preparation, cooking, and serving process. Monika’s team management capabilities can even send audio and visual task reminders to staff, to ensure simple practices like regularly wiping down surfaces are not overlooked, significantly reducing the risk of an incident.

So, how does all of that translate into a return on investment for your organisation? Based on the estimates above – and acknowledging that not all these estimates are perfectly quantifiable – operators can save up to £14,300 per year by installing a Monika system. This means the system will have more than paid for itself within just three years, and in the time delivered a total ROI of 24%.

*Please note the above estimated savings are based on a typical mid-size foodservice operation consisting of 3-5 full-time kitchen operations and staff across 1-3 sites.  

For more information on MonikaPrime please call 01664 420 022 to speak to a member of our team.