Kelsius welcome the Hastings Hotel Group as Customers

Kelsius are delighted to welcome the Hastings Hotel Group on board as customers. The major deal worth six figures over the entirety of the contract will see FoodCheck rolled out to all 7 hotels and 2 affiliate restaurants.
The digital food safety system has replaced paper based manual monitoring and record keeping previously in operation.
In relation to the agreement, Kelsius Chief Executive, Andrew Logan said “We are delighted to welcome the Hastings Group as a food safety partner of Kelsius. Food safety is such a critical element for every hospitality business and this is recognised by our agreement. The Hastings Group is one of the most prominent and well established businesses in Northern Ireland and it is no coincidence they boast some of the finest hotels in the country. The Hastings Group has set the standard in HACCP management and is seeking to enhance this investment by partnering with Kelsius to reinforce their core ethos of prioritising food safety and protecting its clients and reputation.”

Picture: Grand Central Hotel, Belfast
The Hotel Group, which boasts some of the most prestigious hotels throughout Ireland, is made up of the following:
Culloden Estate and Spa, Hollywood, Co. Down
The Europa Hotel, Belfast, Co. Antrim
The Everglades Hotel, Co. Derry
The Grand Central Hotel, Belfast, Co. Antrim
The Slieve Donard Hotel, Newcastle, Co. Down
The Stormont Hotel, Belfast, Co. Antrim
Ballygally Castle, Co. Antrim
The Percy French Restaurant, located on the grounds of the Slieve Donard
The Cultra Inn, located on the grounds of the Culloden Estate

Picture: Slieve Donard Hotel, Co. Down
The Hastings Group
The Hastings Hotel Group is the largest independent hotel group in Northern Ireland with seven luxurious properties across the province. This family owned company was established in the late 1960’s. Sir William Hastings founded Hastings Hotels in 1966 by with the purchase of the Stormont and Adair Arms Hotels. In 1971 he bought a group of six railway hotels and set about building his business against an uncertain background.
The Slieve Donard Hotel in Newcastle is the only hotel of the original six which is still operating as a hotel today. Mr. Hastings had always been an optimistic man and continued to reinvest whenever he could in his hotels. Proof of this confidence came when he purchased the Europa hotel in Belfast in 1993 as a bombed-out wreck. He proceeded to spend £10 million on rebuilding the hotel, transforming it into to the magnificent City Centre landmark it is today and has become one of Ireland’s finest and most famous hotels.
The company continues to expand in line with the growth in tourism across Northern Ireland and in 2015 invested in the purchase of Windsor House, a renowned building in central Belfast which it has redeveloped and reopened as the Grand Central Hotel Belfast bringing with it 300 new hotel bedrooms to the heart of the city.
It has not been an easy fifty years for the Hastings Group and despite numerous setbacks and obstacles over the years, the company has continued to grow and grow.

Picture: The Europa Hotel, Belfast
The Hasting’s Group and Kelsius
The Management of the Hastings Group first became aware of the Kelsius system as it has been in operation in the Merrion Hotel in Dublin. The Hastings Group own a 50% share in the Merrion and were suitably impressed by what they saw.
This led to the installation of the FoodCheck system in the Europa Hotel in early 2017 in order to get a closer look at the benefits the paperless system. Management observed a reduction in labour time spent on HACCP and a reduction in the risk of human error. This experience further enhanced Management’s opinion of FoodCheck as they were able to experience on a daily basis the benefits the system can offer.
In the summer of 2018 it was agreed between Kelsius and the Hastings Group to begin the rollout of FoodCheck across the entire group. The newly opened Grand Central hotel was newly opened during this period and was the first to be installed.
Work began on the Group-wide rollout in mid-September with all sites installed, trained and using the system within 3 weeks.

Picture: The Stormont Hotel, Belfast
Raymond Duncan, who managed the project and implementation on behalf of the Hastings Group, commented: “Having work closely with the FoodCheck system in the Europa, I was able to witness first-hand the benefits of the system to our organisation. I was in no doubt moving forward with this system across all hotels was the right decision and we will reap the rewards in the coming years. Food Safety is of extreme importance to our core principals as we put the customer to the forefront of our priorities. Knowing we have Kelsius assisting us in reinforcing our principals gives our great peace of mind. I look forward to working more closely with Kelsius in the future as their service has been second to none. I would highly recommend the Kelsius system to any Hotel or establishment if they are looking to reduce labour time and costs, prioritise food safety, and wish to implement a sustainable drive to go paperless“.

Picture: Ballygally Castle, Co. Antrim
Hastings Hotels Managing Director, Howard Hastings added “We hold our customers in the highest regard here at Hastings. This agreement helps us ensure the safety of food we produce, while allowing our staff to focus on the quality of food we provide. With the result being that we can continue to provide our customers with an excellent and memorable dining experience.”

Picture: The Everglades Hotel, Derry
Kelsius would like to thank Raymond, the General Managers & Heads Chefs and staff in all the kitchens, the hotel maintenance teams and Peter Brown and his team at EOS who all contributed valuably in the seamless transition from paper to FoodCheck.
Kelsius would also like to thank our very own team of Engineers and trainer whose dedication and hard work was instrumental in implementing the rollout.

Local Politicians Congratulate Kelsius

TD Pearse Doherty, Senator Brian O’Domhnaill congratulate Kelsius on prestigious Deloitte Listing.
Kelsius would like to thank some of our local representatives for their kind words of congratulations on our recent listing in the Deloitte Technology Fast 50.

TD Pearse Doherty
TD Doherty said “I was delighted to have received a tour earlier today of the Kelsius Facility and meet its team based in Falcarragh. Such a pioneering and creative firm which is at the cutting edge of developing new technologies to meet the needs of industry and finding solutions to some of the challenges faced by business today in the catering, food service and medical sectors.
It is a phenomenal achievement by Kelsius having been named among the Top 50 fastest growing companies in Ireland by Deloitte! This award is a testament to the hard work and talent of the local workforce and is a huge accolade for Irish Tech, despite the infrastructural challenges firms face here such as broadband and access #Comhghairdeas”

Pictured Left to Right: Ciaran Gallagher, Andrew Logan, Pearse Doherty, John Sheamais O’Fearraigh, Damian McKeever, Karl Simmmons

Senator Brian O’Domhnaill
Senator Ó Domhnaill said “I want to express my own heartfelt congratulations to the entire team at Kelsius. This award is recognition of the immense dedication and commitment of the company management and staff and to an excellent product offering. The Deloitte fast 50 listing is testament to the fact that Kelsius is a cutting edge Irish Technology company, utilising technological advancements to address challenges and provide solutions to end users of the product.
The top 50 listing includes other much larger and more centrally based companies which goes to indicate the true scale of the Kelsius success. I wish the company ongoing continued success and again wish to convey my congratulations.”
Kelsius greatly appreciate both Pearse and Brian taking time out from their busy schedules to appreciate the great work being done here at Kelsius. This award is a testament to this work as highlighted by our CEO Andrew Logan- “The Deloitte Fast 50 award is recognition that Kelsius is performing on a world stage. Our continued growth is a testament to the support of our clients and the constant desire for improvement of our product offering.”

Kelsius ranked 36 in Deloitte Technology Fast 50 2018

Kelsius attributes its growth to a fantastic team and excellent products.
Falcarragh, Donegal, 12/11/2018 — Kelsius today announced that it ranked number 36 in the 2018 Deloitte Technology Fast 50, a ranking of the 50 fastest growing technology companies in Ireland. Rankings are based on average percentage revenue growth over four years. Kelsius are the only Donegal Representative on the list and one of only four companies from the North West region.
Kelsius’ CEO, Andrew Logan, credits the fantastic team within the company and the excellent product set being behind the company’s growth over the past four years. He said, “The Deloitte Fast 50 award is recognition that Kelsius is performing on a world stage. Our continued growth is a testament to the support of our clients and the constant desire for improvement of our product offering.”

Cumulatively, the 2018 Fast 50 winners generated approximately €2.5 billion in total annual revenues in 2017. The average revenue of companies featured in the ranking was approximately €50 million, while the average growth rate of the companies over the last four years was 373%. Compared with last year, there are 17 new companies on the ranking. 12 of these are first-time entrants, while five companies have re-entered the list, having featured in previous years.
All four provinces are featured in this year’s awards. 27 of the winners are Leinster-based, 14 are based in Ulster, followed by Munster with 8 companies, and Connacht with 1 company. Overall, 12 counties are represented in the 2018 listing.

Announcing the winners at the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 programme, David Shanahan, Partner, Deloitte, said: “Congratulations to our 2018 Deloitte Technology Fast 50 companies. Through these awards, we recognise Irish technology companies that are at the cutting edge, using technology for progress, to address the challenges that we all face and to create opportunities, both for themselves and for those that use their products.
“We know that these companies are operating in an uncertain international marketplace. And yet they are prospering against this backdrop – in fact, it was particularly evident this year that the vast majority of revenues for the ranking companies are coming from export markets. This demonstrates the impact Irish indigenous tech companies are having in global markets.”
The Deloitte Technology Fast 50 Awards took place in Dublin on 2 November 2018 and were hosted by science and technology journalist, and founder of Whipsmart Media, Jonathan McCrea. Keynote speaker on the night was Mark Casey, Global Leader of Telecoms, Media & Entertainment at Deloitte.
Details of the full Deloitte Technology Fast 50 ranking list are available to download at www.fast50.ie.

Hotel & Catering Review Gold Medal Awards

Kelsius would to offer our congratulations to a number of our Clients who have been shortlisted as finalists in the Hotel & Catering Review Gold Medal Awards.

The Awards are taking place on the 26th of September 2017 at The Lyrath Estate Hotel, Kilkenny.

Well done on being named as finalists and good luck in the finals! We would like to congratulate the following businesses and people (Finalist Categories in Brackets) who Kelsius are delighted to work with:

Ashford Castle

(Ireland’s Five Star Hotel, Ireland’s Wine Experience, Ireland’s Guest Experience)

Sheen Falls Lodge

(Ireland’s Five Star Hotel, Ireland’s Best Hotel Website, Ireland’s Wine Experience)

Kelly’s Resort Hotel

(Ireland’s Four Star Resort, Family Friendly Hotel Finalists)

The Portmarnock Hotel and Golf Links

(Ireland’s Four Star Resort, Ireland’s Best Hotel Website)

The Merrion Hotel

(Ireland’s Guest Experience)

Roisin Dubh Restaurant, Renvyle House Hotel

(Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way Restaurant)

Seasons at Guinness Storehouse

(Ireland’s Event Caterer)

Aramark at University Hospital Galway

(Ireland’s Healthcare Caterer)

Individual Awards:

Justin O’Connor of Seasons at Guinness Storehouse (Ireland’s Executive Chef of the Year)

Sandeep Bhoojedhur of Seasons at Guinness Storehouse (Ireland’s Rising Star Chef of the Year)

Stephen Connolly of Clarion Hotel Dublin Liffey Valley (Ireland’s Rising Star Chef of the Year)

Congratulations to all and best of luck!!

Testimonial from the Marine Institute Galway

Dr. Yvonne Bogan discusses how Kelsius and the CoolCheck system has been of benefit to the Marine Institute, based in Oranmore Co. Galway.

“We had the Kelsius Temperature Monitoring System installed in the Laboratories in January 2017. It has been a smooth transition to the Kelsius System and has been readily assimilated into our Quality Management System.
The Kelsius System simply “works in the background” and provides us with reliable on-going monitoring of over 100 items of equipment.

As the system is completely wireless, this has really been a huge benefit in all the labs and addition of probes to new items of equipment is effortless.

The support from the Kelsius Team has been immense, queries are always responded to promptly and staff are professional and extremely helpful.

A huge benefit of this system for the Marine Institute Laboratories is the ability to identify temperature trends with our equipment, via the visual display. The system is practical to use and also saves time and the dashboard allows all information to be readily displayed. The temperature data and associated information is available to all staff at any time, using a simple login.The fact that daily and weekly reports are emailed to the relevant personnel has allowed a paperless system to be rationalized throughout the laboratories.

Overall an extremely efficient and effective system that is now implemented into our laboratories.”

Dr. Yvonne Bogan, Quality Manager, Marine Environment and Food Safety Services, Marine Institute, Galway

FoodCheck Testimonials | The Marker Hotel

“Prior to installing FoodCheck we were a little apprehensive as food safety is such an important part of our business here at The Marker.

Kelsius came and completed a site survey and explained how FoodCheck could be adapted to our exact requirements. This gave us great confidence we were making the correct decision. HACCP has become much more manageable and less time consuming.

We get daily reports and weekly audits which ensures we are always on top of our HACCP requirements. All units are monitored 24/7 and chefs have more time to concentrate on what they are best at – cooking.

I am delighted that we overcame our original apprehension and FoodCheck has proven its value to us many times over. I couldn’t recommend this system highly enough.”

Gareth Mullins, Executive Chef, The Marker Hotel

Behind the Scenes at Kelsius

Ever wondered what we do here at Kelsius?

Have a sneak peek at what goes on in our Offices and Production Headquarters, see our team hard at work!

The video which was filmed in conjunction with DNK Media Productions prior to the Donegal Business Awards where we were shortlisted for an award.

At the Awards we were finalists in the category of ‘Growth through Export’. Unfortunately this time we did not get selected but we were delighted to get acknowledged with our Highly Commended plaque.

Highly commended in the Growth Through Export award are Kelsius and Cloud Ranger presented by Meabh Conaghan, Enterprise Ireland with John Bowe, Letterkenny Chamber President and Roisin Diver, Donegal News.

We would like to extend our congratulations to Nomadic Dairy on winning this award. Congratulations to Cloud Ranger, who were also finalists for this award.

We would like to thank the Letterkenny Chamber of Commerce for our Nomination and for organising a wonderful event. We would also like to thank DNK Media for the fantastic video, Donna Elassad and the Donegal News for the pictures. Of course we must also thank our wonderful team pictured below who are the driving force and reason we got nominated for this award and helped our win our recent award at the National Retail Suppliers Awards which you can read about here.

Kelsius Wins Award for its Technology

Donegal based digital food safety company, Kelsius is celebrating after winning Best Software Solutions Provider at this year’s Retail Supplier Awards.

Fighting off stiff competition in this hotly anticipated category, the award recognised the company’s own technology, FoodCheck, which has been instrumental in changing the food preparation and storage practices of a host of well-known

Irish retailers including Applegreen, SuperValu, Centra & Musgrave.

Judges recognised FoodCheck’s ability to help retailers streamline their HACCP temperature monitoring processes to ensure they can avoid a food borne illness outbreak when food was being prepared on-site. This protects customers and storeowners from the catastrophic fall-out this situation can bring – as well as the cost and time savings for the retailer.

Kelsius beat of formidable competition to claim the award. Renowned and successful software companies CBE, Retail Solutions and SensorPro were runner up in this category further reinforcing the achievement.

The company is the leading supplier of paperless HACP systems in Ireland, as well as securing global deals in the Middle East, Europe and Australia.

Chief Executive Officer, Andrew Logan said, “We are delighted to be recognised for our technology, which has made a significant difference to many companies across Ireland and further afield. It has been a busy few years for the company after signing significant deals with FiveGuys UK and Applegreen and this award further reinforces how our technology is leading the way in the retail industry.”

Editor of Checkout Jenny Whelan said, “Congratulations to Kelsius for winning the Best Software Solutions Provider at this year’s Checkout National Retail Supplier Awards. The judges were won over by Kelsius’ FoodCheck system, which has become the go-to solution when it comes to HAACP in this country.”

View all the photos here:

052_NRSA_2016

Food Hygiene Rates ‘Scores on the Doors’ are now mandatory in Northern Ireland. Here’s how FoodCheck can improve your rating

The Food Standards Agency of Northern Ireland has formally implemented the Food Hygiene Rating Act (Northern Ireland) 2016 meaning that by law all Food Service businesses must display the score obtained by local district councils. Scores range from 0 to 5, with 0 being lowest and 5 being highest.

This replaces the voluntary system that had been in place since 2011. It is anticipated by the Food Standards Agency that 90% of food businesses will be displaying their stickers within two months.

This development will give the public full transparency of a business’s Food Safety rating and place a greater emphasis on Food Safety for all food business Owners and Managers.

This means that restaurants, hotels, supermarkets, cafes, shops or takeaways that sell food will be required to display their ‘score on the door’ mark. Hospitals, Schools and Care Homes are also not exempt and will also be required to take action and display their rating.

Protecting your Business

There are 765,000 cases of food poisoning in the UK and Ireland each year. An association with an outbreak can be disastrous for a business. Implications such as closure, monetary fines and reputation damage can be extremely difficult to recover from, if possible at all.

The cost of poor hygiene and food safety.

With this in mind and with the public’s safety at hand, it is vital that businesses are doing their utmost to protect their customers from food safety concerns. Gaining and maintaining a high score will be paramount to keeping your customers coming through the doors and spending their hard earned money with you.

How is my score calculated?

As per the scoresonthedoors.org.uk website “A food safety officer from the local authority where the business is located inspects a business to check that it meets the requirements of food hygiene law. The officer will check:

  • How hygienically the food is handled. How it is prepared, cooked, re-heated, cooled and stored
  • The condition of the structure of the buildings. The cleanliness, layout, lighting, ventilation and other facilities
  • How the business manages and records what it does to make sure food is safe

The hygiene standards are then rated on a scale of 0 – 5 where 5 is highest.

What does my score mean?

This is the guide to help you understand what your score mean and what needs to be done to improve.

0- Urgent Improvement Necessary
1- Major Improvement Necessary
2- Improvement Necessary
3- Generally Satisfactory
4- Good
5- Very Good

How FoodCheck can help you?

FoodCheck paperless HACCP system can help you manage and maintain your HACCP records, while streamlining your food safety process and prevent falsification offering you complete peace of mind. FoodCheck can protect your business and livelihood while saving you time and money.

How will FoodCheck do this?

  • Remove Paper for your HACCP operation
  • Reduce the amount time and workload involved in HACCP
  • Eliminate Time Spent on Manual Checks of Fridges and Freezers
  • Full transparency to Management of all HACCP records
  • Peace of mind knowing HACCP records are safe and secure come Audit Time
  • Safe in the knowledge you will be alerted should you have an issue with a fridge or freezer
  • Reminders prompting staff to complete Important Tasks
  • Reporting of Daily, Weekly and/or Monthly Usage
  • Usage & Exception Reporting- Weekly highlights areas for improvement
  • Tamper proof records ensuring they are correct, accurate and prevent falsification- E.H.O’s love this!

But don’t just take our word for it:

“I have had FoodCheck in my shop for over 5 years now. It has greatly reduced the amount of time and money we spend on HACCP. We could not imagine being without the system.”

Paul Dorrity, Centra Glenshane, Derry

“In November 2015 we installed Kelsius FoodCheck system in our Deli Department. Before installation our staff had over 15 sign off sheets, from Cleaning Sheets to Traceability. This has reduced the vast amount of paperwork which has been replaced by the tablet.

The Kelsius FoodCheck has removed the risk of human error in relation to temperature and traceability management.

The tablet encourages staff to use the system, as it is so easy to input records, saving time and money.”

Noelle Keenan, SuperValu Flemmings, Monaghan

“FoodCheck benefits our business by giving us the peace of mind that all of our HACCP records from delivery, cleaning, storage and cooking are accurate, safe and true. The ability to be logged in from anywhere and see live data is fantastic. Our Environmental health officer calls it the Rolls Royce of food safety and I would have to agree.”

Paul Gallagher, Head Chef, Doubletree by Hilton, Milton Keynes