How to make Food Safety Easier through Tech - with Christine Schindler of Pathspot

Embark on an enlightening journey through the intricacies of food safety with Christine Schindler, the innovative mind behind Pathspot. As the founder and CEO, Christine brings her background in biomedical engineering and global public health into the bustling world of food service, ensuring diners enjoy meals that are just as safe as they are delicious. At Create last year, Meredith took the conversation to the next level, exploring how restaurants are upping their game in hygiene practices with the help of cutting-edge technology.

Get ready for a masterclass in prevention and improving health awareness as we discuss the pandemic's silver lining: a universal pivot towards prioritizing health and safety. Christine and her team at Pathspot are at the forefront, employing a network of sensors that transform back-of-house operations into a digital fortress against contamination. Hear how their hand-washing  system is a true game-changer, providing real-time feedback on hygiene standards and safeguarding against potential health threats. It's not just about washing hands; it's about redefining the standard of cleanliness for the entire industry. Join Meredith and Christine for a compelling dialogue on how technology is serving up a future where dining out is synonymous with peace of mind.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

We're here at Create this week and recording some very special podcasts for Nations Restaurant News. We're going to be interviewing eight different executives from restaurants and also from the Ambassador Community to explore different themes of each of the chapters of the path to digital maturity.

Speaker 2: 0:51

We are live at Create with Christine Schindler, the founder and CEO of Pathspot, and, christine, I am so excited to have you with us. I really admire what you are doing with technology, because you brought it to what I will call an understated area of the restaurant industry, one that is hugely important. I would love to hear, just as a beginning how did you start to be passionate about food safety and come to this as something that was a problem that desperately needed to be solved?

Speaker 3: 1:20

Thank you for the time and also for those words of support. Food safety, I think, is one of the most energizing and exciting areas in the industry today and, honestly, my background is in biomedical engineering and global and public health, so I started my career on the research side of that world all in the healthcare spectrum but I just started to realize that there were all these public health challenges that existed in our day-to-day lives and other applications outside of the hospital networks, like in the food service industry, that could benefit from tools and technologies to elevate the incredible work that team members were doing and making sure that it was safe while being done. And then, obviously, post-20, it's just been such an interesting world. More than ever, both employees and consumers alike are more educated about overall health and safety and wellness and their own personal role in that. It's a really interesting time to be in this food safety world and to have a broader expectation on brands but also opportunity to make it a safer place for all.

Speaker 2: 2:32

Now. It must have been, I imagine, a wild ride going through the pandemic when, all of a sudden, everyone realized that washing your hands wasn't just something that your mother told you to do. It was actually critically important and one of the most important things, in fact that we continue to keep ourselves all safe, healthy and happy.

Speaker 3: 2:48

It was definitely a wild turn of events. I know for everyone in so many ways, but I kept looking at our team and saying there's a million things going on in the world right now that are so important, but we have the ability to help in this one specific way more than maybe any other company that exists right now, and so we just need to focus on that and do whatever we can to drive change. And I think if there's one silver lining to all the immense challenges that that existed and continue to exist, it's that we have a broader focus on these types of tools and opportunities that could prevent future illness from being spread.

Speaker 2: 3:29

Amazing and maybe for a lot of listeners they might have not seen PAPSBuy. Can you describe a little bit how it works, what it does, what it looks like? Is it a camera?

Speaker 3: 3:42

What is it? Tell us about it. Yeah, it's really a network of sensors. Our focus is how do we digitize all of those back-of-house operational tasks that are so important for safety but earnestly take a lot of time for restaurant team members to accomplish on a day-to-day basis, and when there's so much in their minds, how to make sure that those tasks are also being completed effectively across the spectrum? So that looks like a series of different technology-based tools in a restaurant and then a data-driven platform to look at all of that and understand what's really going on in the safety spectrum.

Speaker 3: 4:17

And that includes thermometers for doing temperature analysis of refrigerators and food itself. It includes labeling systems for knowing expiration of food. It includes digital checklists and has it forms and logs. And then it also includes our flagship product, which is a hand-washing system that mounts on the wall. It's like a kiosk-style device. It mounts on the wall next to hand-washing sinks and after employees wash their hands, they can put them underneath and in less than two seconds, see if they have invisible contamination behind In coal eyes salmonella, neurovirus, hepe, listeria all those things we don't want in our restaurants, right, and to really identify that in real time and give coaching and trainings and opportunities to formalize SOPs around hand-washing and requirements. And then we bubble up all this data from these different sensors and use it to work with food safety teams or operations teams to really drive labor efficiencies and cost savings on everything from energy to waste and spoilage to audits and team time, so that there can be a real benefit around these safety enhancements as well on a day-to-day basis.

Speaker 2: 5:26

That's amazing. Now I remember it was the hand-washing product. I know I've told you this before. It is a hand-washing product that I first heard you talk about and I remember thinking that is genius, why doesn't that exist everywhere? That's absolutely incredible, because I think most team members know that hand-washing is important. The government makes us put signs in every bathroom and say you have to wash your hands. It's not that it's new news, right. It's just that we don't always remember to do it or when we do it, we don't always do it as thoroughly as we should. And when I first heard you describe the product, I thought, if that's possible, certainly we should all have it. It's just amazing. But now you've wrapped it in the plate system to ensure food safety across the board. How do you think about what the next vector is you're going to go after in terms of that complete food safety umbrella?

Speaker 3: 6:15

Yeah, it's a great question. We're really focused on how do we take all of these things off of the plates of team members that, to your point, are just so busy. Everyone wants to make sure food is at the right temperature and that their hands are clean, but how do we make this top of mind and also create a real culture around this accountability layer in an environment where that's so important and for us, we're really always looking for? What are the new FDA regulations? What's coming down the pipe, what's going to be expected of different teams, what are food safety teams driving? And how do we just elevate what these bodies that have done so much research and are so intentional are already doing by creating it in a way that can be digital and tracked and automated whenever possible. We're always looking at those different areas, adding more sensors, more solutions where it makes sense, or integrating with other platforms so that this information is built into the fabric of all the day to day operations that are going on?

Speaker 2: 7:15

Do your teams spend a lot of time with the FDA and CDC, helping them understand what the new tools are, or where they have pain points that they're trying to communicate back to restaurants you really need to be doing with? How is your relationship with them?

Speaker 3: 7:29

Yeah, honestly, that is so critical. I think it's a really important relationship because it helps us to understand how are we creating the stumps and processes that are most required for those different bodies and then simultaneously working with the brand leads and these incredible food safety teams that are oftentimes also driving those innovations back to the government bodies. It's been really interesting in different sectors of the food world it's different in groceries versus hotels, versus restaurants, versus packaging facilities, and so really supporting the auditing bodies and third-party components of that, as well as the teams themselves, and learning a lot as we really expand internationally, about the different organizations and structures in play there and how to support those groups and brands in their international locations as well.

Speaker 2: 8:17

This is becoming a really complex business. So you've got hotels, groceries, restaurants, manufacturing plants and now international as well. That's a lot of different places to cover.

Speaker 3: 8:27

I guess everyone needs safety right.

Speaker 2: 8:29

Where is the greatest need, but maybe the challenges?

Speaker 3: 8:33

of separate groups. Yeah, I think that's what we really realized is these types of tools and solutions are so critical for operations, no matter where you are in the food spectrum, anywhere where food is handled, stored or served. These are really critical risk areas for individuals and for brands themselves, and so we really are focused on getting the tools into no pun intended, but as many hands as possible.

Speaker 1: 8:58

Hi Carl here, Just as a quick reminder. Please remember to subscribe, like and give us five star for the Digital Restaurant podcast. Your reviews matter. They really help us make sure that we're providing the right content that's relevant for you. Thanks for listening. Keep on watching and, as always, leave your comments below with questions, thoughts and recommendations on what we can cover next time.

Speaker 2: 9:21

When you see a food safety recall of some kind in the news, are you just so frustrated because you think I could have prevented that?

Speaker 3: 9:28

I think it's an opportunity every time, any time that these things are getting out there and people are realizing the real risk factors, I always look at it and maybe in the news it'll say it's lettuce, it's cereal, but lettuce doesn't spawn illness on its own. We have accountability as the individuals handling it Exactly.

Speaker 2: 9:47

Let's just give us a little bit as I reflect on going through the pandemic. My experience, I'm sure, was different from yours. You were probably a little more focused on the hand washing, but I feel like in restaurants we had so much innovation on the front end. It was all about how to consumer's order, how do we make it easy, how do we fulfill Very front-end oriented innovation? And it feels, as time is wearing on, we're starting to realize you can't just make shiny, pretty thing on the front end. It has to work on the back end and that innovation is starting to move backwards, into the back of house, into our relationships with our vendors. What do you think is the next big innovation that we're going to see in the back of house?

Speaker 3: 10:26

I think that what you're saying is so real. We're seeing that digitization trend push back of house so frequently and, honestly, team members are requesting and, at times, demanding it If they see that these tools and technologies are all being focused at the customer, which is critical and so important, but meanwhile they're in the back of house doing hours and hours of manual labor and tasks that could be automated. It's a real discrepancy that I think is being felt, and so it's been really empowering to see so many trainings and different tools and focus on the labor itself and how can we direct that labor to be most focused on culinary or guest relations or these things that we want to be able to elevate and honestly want team members in the restaurants doing? That's the most human elements of these pieces. I've seen a lot of trends and ways to really encourage and sponsor and motivate team members in the back of house, especially with the digitization efforts. That has been really exciting to be a part of and to watch other vendors play into.

Speaker 2: 11:31

Now you and I are both startup CEOs and taking care of our babies which are our companies and helping them grow up and, as you think about starting a new company, taking it to the next level, you've definitely identified a need that no one else has here to for been able to solve. You've created a solution for it. How do you think about scaling up and getting that message out there and getting folks to embrace the technology and realize how much better they'll be when they have it in place?

Speaker 3: 12:00

For us, it's all about listening to our customers. Every solution we've brought to the table, every answer has really been to a question to someone asking me can we do this better? Can we digitize this? Can we stop using these logbooks? Can we get rid of pencil whipping in our locations? We really focus on listening and understanding where these challenges are, because I think, as a small company and as a startup, our focus should always be on how do we solve a real need and a real problem? And so it's constantly asking how can I help? How can I help in every layer of an organization, from team members on the ground all the way up to the global heads of safety. And then how do we really work with those different bodies to solve real pain points? And I think that's my takeaway for anyone looking to start a company is if you can focus on a real problem and get buy-in from those different stakeholders and continue to try to solve it. Then the product market fit comes.

Speaker 2: 12:58

I love it. I love it. Thank you so much for taking the time to talk with me today. It's been fantastic. I'm sure I'll see you around the conference later.

Speaker 3: 13:05

Yes, absolutely. Thanks for the time.

Speaker 1: 13:08

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