Issue link: http://osercommunicationsgroup.uberflip.com/i/825189
Restaurant Daily News 6 7 Sunday, May 21, 2017 COMPLIANCEMATE TEMP MONITORING SAVES CHRISTMAS You won't find any freezers at Five Guys Burgers and Fries. Famous for its hand- crafted hamburgers, it favors fresh foods, and that means frequent deliveries stored in one or more walk-in coolers. That makes continuous temperature monitoring all the more critical, as one pair of fran- chisees discovered last Christmas Eve. That evening, the food vendor made an ordinary key drop after the store was closed and staff had gone home. "They piled it inside the walk-in cooler like they always do," says Phil Surico, who, along with business partner Adam Willets, owns several Five Guys stores in New Jersey. What happened next would cause anyone to lose their cool. Surico's first indication of the problem was an email alert indicating that the cooler tempera- ture had risen out of range. Back in 2016, Five Guys began installing the ComplianceMate tempera- ture-tracking solution at all of its new stores. ComplianceMate uses wireless sensors to continuously monitor tempera- tures and automatically generate alerts when temperatures rise above or fall below customer-set thresholds. At first Surico wasn't worried – sometimes the alert just means the 35 degrees Fahrenheit cooler has temporari- ly entered defrost mode. "But then I got the first phone call from their monitoring service." He looked up the in-store video cameras, and what he saw gave him chills: the stacked boxes of product – produce, tomatoes, meat, bacon – had fallen over and out the cooler's door. Without those alerts, that acci- dent could have turned into a very unpleasant surprise on Christmas Day. "It saved us," says Surico. "If ComplianceMate's monitors hadn't caught it, an entire truck's worth of prod- uct would have spoiled by the next morn- ing. With the alert, we were able to get it corrected right away." Thankfully, Surico and Five Guys alike are conscientious about safety, and by catching the issue immediately, Surico was able to rush to the store and check the temperature of all of the fresh ingre- dients before they had a chance to exceed Five Guys' safety threshold of 41 degrees Fahrenheit. "ComplianceMate was happy to prevent the Grinch from stealing Christmas," says Thom Schmitt of ComplianceMate. "The owner got the alert, went to the store, realized what happened and was able to save the products." Though it would have been possible for Surico and his staff to scramble the next day to get product from other stores, it would have been a difficult process to get everything to the store in time for opening. How much product did they end up losing? "Nothing," says Surico. "We had zero inventory loss." For more information, go to Lakeside Center booth #9442 or visit www .compliancemate.com. LOLLICUP A ONE-STOP-SHOP FOR FOODSERVICE An interview with Alan Yu, Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of Lollicup USA. RDN: What differentiates your products from others in the market? AY: What makes us stand out the most is the combination of high quality service, competitive prices and great products. We have made it a goal to give our customers the best experience possible. That is more than just having a good product. It's about the full package. RDN: What is it about Lollicup USA that makes it a unique company? AY: As one of the few manufacturers to offer direct container services to cus- tomers worldwide, we successfully oper- ate four warehouses in Sumner, Washington, Summerville, South Carolina and two in Chino, California (HQ). We are able to service the entire country quickly and efficiently. With a state-of-the-art manufacturing plant, in- house, we are able to manufacture a lot of our Karat brand domestically, which makes us proud to say many of our prod- ucts are made in the USA. With multiple, well positioned manufacturing plants worldwide, we are also able to reduce costs and lead times, fulfill max capaci- ties, provide stability and offer value, convenience and direct container ship- ments for customers inter- nationally. RDN: What was the most significant event or series of events that affected your business this past year? AY: One of the most significant events for our business this past year was setting up our distribution in Texas. We opened a warehouse in Wilmer, Texas. We now have four warehouses in the U.S. Also last year, we doubled our manufacturing capacity of plastic cup by investing in a new, more efficient extruder by the German company, Reifenhauser. RDN: What is the key to Lollicup USA's success? AY: The key to our success is our satis- faction guaranteed approach to each and every one of the thousands of customers that we've worked with across the nation. We have grown to become one of the major single-sources solutions for beverage and foodservice supplies, and we are the largest supplier of bubble tea products in the United States. This is something we could not have done with- out our customers, and in order to keep those customers, we have a certain set of guidelines for ourselves to put their satis- faction first. This includes reasonable pricing, flexibility in shipping, high qual- ity goods and services and even the option to shop online at our web store, lollicupstore.com. For more information, visit www.lollicup usa.com, call 626.965.8882, email info@lollicup.com or stop by booth #1464. ONCE AGAIN ORGANIC CASHEW BUTTER IN NEW 12-OUNCE SIZE Once Again Nut Butter is proud to announce a favorite product in a new size – Once Again Organic Cashew Butter is now available in 12-ounce jars. In fact, natural cashew butter is available in 12- ounce jars also, along with all of its almond butters. These SRP-friendly ver- sions of some of the company's most favorite products provide impact at retail with their attractive price point. With more than 40 years in the nut butter business, Once Again Nut Butter's employee-owners are proud to make such a delicious product. Cashew butter is excellent in a sandwich, and is a versa- tile ingredient for savory as well as sweet recipes, to make delicious sauces, spreads, smoothies and baked goods. In fact, it has an entire deck of chef-devel- oped recipes starring its cashew butter. As with all of the compa- ny's nut butters, your cus- tomers benefit from buying a product that is vegan, kosher certified, gluten-free certified and non-GMO verified. Its glass jars are superior for packaging, with excellent bar- rier properties that not only keep external contaminants and odors from the product but also prevent oxygen from entering and causing spoilage. Its nut butters have a longer shelf life and require no preser- vatives. Unlike plastic, glass has the advantage of a minimal carbon footprint, as glass can be recy- cled endlessly, with minimal energy consumption to melt down and re-manufacture. Plus, the glass jars are handy for re-use in the kitchen, in the shop and for crafts and storage containers. Sustainability has been fundamental at Once Again since the company start- ed in 1976. For more information, go to www.once againnutbutter.com. INNOVATIVE, NOSTALGIC FROZEN CUSTARD WINS WORLD DAIRY EXPO For more than 40 years, Double Rainbow has been making award-winning ice creams, frozen custards, sorbets and soy creams, and 2016 was no different. As its newest line of frozen custards, fruit ices and malts hit shelves across the country, customers clamored for its twists on nos- talgic flavor combinations and exciting new textures created by swirling rich and creamy custards together with refreshing fruit ices. Double Rainbow's indulgent new flavors include Chocolate and Vanilla Malt, Sea Salt Caramel, Original Vanilla, Vanilla and Blueberry Pomegranate, Mango Tangerine, Raspberry, Tart Cherry and its Grand Champion World Dairy Expo winner, Strawberry Lemon. Beating out more than 170 frozen desserts to claim the Grand Champion title, the award-winning Strawberry Lemon blends perfectly tart lemons and summer-sweet strawberries together in a delicious fruit ice, which is then swirled with Double Rainbow's rich and creamy Original Vanilla Custard, a classic blend of egg, cream and Madagascar vanilla. Double Rainbow is a family-owned and operat- ed business that began as the shared dream of two friends: to make perfectly creamy and deliciously simple ice cream. In 1976, in the heart of San Francisco, those friends took a leap and signed a lease on what would be their first ice cream parlor. Later that day, a double rainbow lit up the San Francisco skyline and Double Rainbow Ice Cream was born. Forty years and several hundred flavors later, Double Rainbow makes award-win- ning super-premium ice creams, custards and non-dairy frozen desserts. It has won dozens of "Best Of" awards over the years, including "Best in America" in the Grand National Lick Off. Double Rainbow strives today to continue the mission it was founded on all those years ago: to make creamy, rich, thick, absolutely delicious desserts. For more information, go to www.double rainbow.com or email info@double rainbow.com.