Whiteford's Partners with Envysion to Utilize Industry-Changing Health & Hygiene Audit Program Following a Successful Pilot
After seeing compelling pilot results, Whiteford's, Inc./Newberry Restaurant Group moves to long term adoption of new audit and scoring program created by Envysion to help their restaurants pivot safely during challenging times.
SUPERIOR, Colo., Oct. 15, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Envysion, the authority in managed video and loss prevention solutions for restaurants, today announced the launch of their "Health & Hygiene Audit" subscription product, following a successful pilot -- a robust program designed to monitor food safety, hygiene and operational best practices. The program collects multiple data points on a daily basis to assess compliance to policies set in place by restaurant operators, allowing the operators to track any metric that can be seen on video. Restaurants are scored, and measured on a color-coded, easy-to-read dashboard, providing a tool to facilitate coaching and improvement.
Created during the COVID-19 crisis, with the unprecedented need to guarantee environmental safety for workers and customers alike, the specialized audit program was rolled out to a handful of early adopters, and is now in use at sites nationwide. Users are able to monitor wide-ranging data points like glove & mask compliance, drive thru and dining room staffing, uniform and cell phone policy compliance, food safety and restaurant cleanliness.
"Coronavirus happened, and it facilitated a need to change our operations," Argus Wiley, COO of the South Carolina-based Whiteford's/Newberry Restaurant Group. Wiley reports that their initially low compliance with mask and glove mandates drastically improved by using the Health & Hygiene Audit data to coach low-performing stores during one-on-one meetings with the company's area coaches and store managers.
Wiley explained that with the exception of a couple of outlier stores, his group of restaurants achieved nearly 100% compliance, thanks to the Envysion Audits. For Whiteford's, having a tool to identify the outliers is crucial. According to Wiley, improvement to mask and glove compliance standards has been steady.
"We see stories on the news all the time, and we don't want to be one of those stories," said Wiley. "We're not perfect, but we are way better than we were, and way better than if we didn't have this tool." Wiley also notes that public perception is crucial to his business, "if we don't have gloves and masks on, we might have patrons that won't come back to that restaurant." To help reinforce the "safe and protected" message, Envysion provides operators with badge-shaped window decals stating that the restaurant operator is subjecting itself to an outside monitoring service.
"We're monitored for gloves and masks, and things like that to make sure we are keeping everyone safe. We are committed to doing that," Wiley states. "I think people, and… employees actually really like it that we are taking their safety and their health seriously."
While monitoring food and safety measures may seem like no-brainers, Wiley reports yet another, more surprising metric that needed to be monitored during the pandemic, speed of service. "With the Coronavirus and the closing of our dining rooms…we had to be fast. Now, all of the sudden, [the 50% of] customers that normally come in [to the dining room], are coming through the drive thru." Wiley says what was once a guideline for a two-person drive-thru staff suddenly became a necessity—and one well worth monitoring.
"We had to change how we do business. We recognized it and shifted labor over there. We took the labor off the front counter…we helped fill those gaps in cars and increase our sales," Wiley said. Subsequently, the Whiteford's/Newberry Restaurant Group reported a 15% increase in sales in for the 2nd Quarter of 2020. Wiley credits the sales increase to his ability to monitor drive thru operations and direct staffing to harness the surge.
"It was a good quarter for us, I think largely based on our ability to speed up our drive thru the way we did with Envysion's help."
"It's very rewarding to see such strong evidence that our product offering can be applied—even during such extreme times—to help QSR and fast casual operators protect their patrons and employees, said Envysion Chief Revenue Officer, Scott Tubbs," It's even better to hear that we helped them thrive."
For its part, Envysion sees the early success of its Health and Hygiene Audits as just one more tool they provide restaurant operators to protect their business, brand, people, and profits. Sources at the company say they will continue to build on early success of this audit program to extend their offerings to more restaurants of all sizes. The Envysion Health and Hygiene Audits are competitively priced at less than $1 per day, to help restaurant's do more with less.
About Envysion
Envysion® is the authority in managed video solutions for restaurants, convenience stores and retailers. We have transformed video surveillance into a strategic operational management tool by integrating video, audio and data from POS and other business systems. Our managed video solution provides access to live and recorded video across multiple locations, streamlines loss prevention investigations, and facilitates convenient operational audits – all via one robust platform. Envysion protects your business and employees by using video to reduce loss, mitigate risk, transform your operating culture, secure your brand promise, reduce employee turnover, and empower your staff with actionable information to drive better management decisions.
About Whitefords Inc.
Whiteford's Inc. has been a KFC franchisee for 45 years. Newberry Restaurant Group is the operating company that runs the Arbys side of the business. Currently operating KFC and Arby's restaurants in South Carolina and Georgia, the company continues to grow.
SOURCE Envysion
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