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.

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

Kelsius agree deal for World’s largest deployment of FoodCheck

Digital Food Safety company, Kelsius, is celebrating after landing a deal with Reading University to install the largest single deployment of its FoodCheck Paperless HACCP system.

The deal will see 17 individual FoodCheck systems covering every element of food production and food service rolled out across the entirety of Reading University, which is comprised of three separate campuses- Whitesbridge, London Road and Greenlands.

FoodCheck ensures the highest levels of food safety are adhered to by staff and management, while also guaranteeing maximum product safety allowing for complete food safety control. In addition to the safety element, it also massively reduces the costs associated with maintaining these standards – in some instances up to 30 hours per week.

Kelsius will deploy 20 FoodCheck tablets and over 100 temperature sensors to enable Reading University comply with regulations in the complex area of food safety.

Kelsius Sales Director Paddy Hearty said “We are delighted to have secured this deal with Reading University as it was a number of months in the preparation. We look forward to ensuring the team at the University continue to meet the high HACCP standards they strive to implement. This deal reinforces our position within the Digital Food Safety market.”

Reading University is home to 17,000 students and over 4,000 academic and support staff and was recently ranked in the top 1% of Universities worldwide (QS University Worldwide 2015/2016).

Neil Stafford from Reading University said, “The new Kelsius system is Fantastic, I am able to add/ remove staff, tasks, vendors and products within minutes. Get instant updates/ alerts on fridge and freezer issues. It does not deter the staff from using it as it is so simple to use. My aim was to provide the staff with an easy system to use, that they would not be afraid to use. I can train staff within minutes as it is so simple. I have a full tractability on everything within the system and again so easy to gain reports.

The support I have received from Geraldine and Denise has been fantastic. FoodCheck makes my job easier.”
For more information please contact us.

Liam Glynn talks FoodCheck

Liam Glynn, proprietor Centra Carnmore, Galway talks to us about FoodCheck.

Liam installed FoodCheck in 2015 after he completed a refurbishment on his shop and here he tells us his FoodCheck story.

Contact us today if you feel the benefits outlined By Liam appeal to you.

 

Kelsius Wins €2m Food Safety Deal with Musgraves

FoodCheck by Kelsius, a cloud-based food safety monitoring system, to be introduced to the SuperValu and Centra store network.

Kelsius, the food safety monitoring technology firm headquartered in Donegal is to offer its revolutionary new FoodCheck technology to SuperValu and Centra stores.

Once adopted by retailers, this has the potential value of €2m over the next 12 months. The FoodCheck system replaces the current industry standard paper based manual monitoring and record keeping, helping to provide immediate operational savings to stores and allowing staff to spend more time in direct customer interaction.

Commenting on the contract, Eamonn Quinn, Executive Chairman of Kelsius said “Food safety is the most important issue for any company operating in food retail as the reputation of a brand can be irreparably damaged through just one major incident. Our cloud based technology enables food retailers replace existing onerous paper based check systems and save time and money whilst implementing the very best solution for food chain management. The recorded information is available immediately as it is needed and reduces the possibility of human error in the recording of data as well as providing precise data for management. We are delighted to partner with SuperValu and Centra, helping us become the retail industry standard for excellence in food safety monitoring.”

Ray Bowe, Head of Food Safety for SuperValu and Centra added, “Implementing rigorous food safety and quality controls is fundamental to SuperValu and Centra. This new to market Kelsius’ FoodCheck system ensures excellence in food safety monitoring and we are delighted to be able to offer this to our retail partners. This innovative system helps us continue to offer the highest standards of food safety and quality to our shoppers that they have come to expect.”

Kelsius’ FoodCheck technology replaces the current paper-based systems that require repetitive manual monitoring and record keeping. FoodCheck’s web based temperature monitoring and food safety compliance system automates these tasks. The system utilises systematic and preventative regimes meaning that the industry standard HACCP processes are fully followed and that nothing is left to chance in the hugely important area of food safety.

All data is stored electronically. Alerts of non-conformance are generated automatically by the system and sent as text messages to supervisors/ managers. Ultimately, this results in a more efficient and cost-effective process allowing staff to spend more time on customer service in customer facing roles as opposed to ‘behind the scenes’ in convenience stores, restaurants, hotels, fast-food outlets or catering companies. Kelsius’ FoodCheck system is the only system of its kind currently available in the market.

Applegreen Awards Kelsius Contract for FoodCheck

Applegreen awards Kelsius contract for FoodCheck across Ireland’s largest Independent fuel retailer’s food offer.

Kelsius, the food safety monitoring technology firm headquartered in Donegal has recently signed an agreement to roll out its revolutionary new FoodCheck technology across the Applegreen Network.

The contract has a potential value of €1million over 3 years as the technology rolls out across the expanding Applegreen Network and sees the FoodCheck system replace the current industry standard paper based labour intensive manual monitoring and record keeping allowing staff spend more time in direct customer interaction and sales.

Commenting on the contract, Eamonn Quinn, Executive Chairman, Kelsius said “Food Safety is a huge issue for all food businesses. The reputation damage of even one major incident can take many years to repair. Achieving a consistent standard across a branch network that has real time visibility allows retailers to know that they are on top of this issue. Using existing paper records a retailer only discovers there is a problem when it’s too late. Using FoodCheck reduces time spent on administrative tasks and allows staff to spend more time with customer related duties. FoodCheck uses wireless temperature sensors and a tablet application to automate the HACCP process. The recorded information is stored in the cloud and immediately available to the company. We are delighted that Applegreen a company renowned for being an innovator in its industry has awarded us this important contract.”

Joe Barrett, Chief Operations Officer of Applegreen further commented “We at Applegreen are delighted to be using Kelsius FoodCheck technology across our growing Applegreen network. We pride ourselves on our customer service and innovative food options whether in our small local stations or in our larger Motorway Service Areas. It’s important that our staff spend as much time as possible in customer facing roles and the FoodCheck technology ensures that the hugely important area of food safety management is managed with meticulous attention to detail but without the onerous hours of paper reporting and filing. As an independent Irish company we were delighted to be supporting another growing Irish company who came up with the perfect solution for Applegreen.”

Kelsius’ FoodCheck technology replaces the current paper-based systems that require repetitive manual monitoring and record keeping. FoodCheck’s web based temperature monitoring and food safety compliance system automates these tasks. The system utilises systematic and preventative regimes meaning that the industry standard HACCP processes are fully followed and that nothing is left to chance in the hugely important area of food safety. All data is stored electronically. Alerts of non-conformance are generated automatically by the system and sent as text messages to supervisors / managers. Ultimately, this results in a more efficient and cost-effective process allowing staff to spend more time on customer service in customer facing roles as opposed to ‘behind the scenes’ in convenience stores, restaurants, hotels, fast-food outlets or catering companies. Kelsius’ FoodCheck system is the only system of its kind currently available in the market. FoodCheck combines wireless sensor technology for food temperature monitoring and recording with an intuitive tablet based application which also facilitates the management and recording of hygiene related tasks.

Related Links
Checkout.ie Article
Donegal Daily Article

Pictured at Applegreen’s Motorway Service Area at Lusk, M1 on the occasion the announcement of the Kelsius contract with Applegreen to roll out Kelsius’ FoodCheck technology across the entire Applegreen network were Eamonn Quinn Executive Chairman, Kelsius and Joe Barrett, Chief Operations Officer, Applegreen.