Eurobake
Since its inception in 1999, Eurobake Bakery has established its reputation in the confectionery market, supplying pastries and desserts to various grocers, specialty stores, and ethnic markets across ten Western states, with a presence that continues to expand.
The new owner of Eurobake, Josh Svenhard, wanted to pursue new sales opportunities but doing so required upgrading the food safety plan to current FDA standards under FSMA (Food Safety Modernization Act) and most customers required a 3rd party audit with a GMP verification at minimum or the upgraded (always preferred) GFSI and/or Costco addendum. After countless presentations from assorted software companies, Eurobake selected FoodReady to provide its cloud-based Food Safety Management and Quality Assurance platform and chose to work toward GFSI/Costco audit readiness. Eurobake initially expected it would take 18 months after hiring a full-time QA manager to pass a third-party audit.
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“Eurobake passed an FDA inspection within 4 weeks of implementation, passed a GMP audit within the first 3 months, and passed a GFSI audit within the first 8 months. We also passed a Costco audit. Our timeline for preparedness was driven by Eurobake’s needs and it could have been much faster if we did not have so many unique attributes,”
Josh Svenhard
Owner of Eurobake
Why Eurobake Chose FoodReady
“When I bought Eurobake we wanted to become GFSI certified and the company was floundering on its path to being compliant. Compliance starts with good data and easy retrievability. Harvesting data is particularly important but can be difficult if the process to gather interrupts efficient manufacturing. You also need to be able to retrieve and turn the data over at any moment to the FDA, USDA, or whoever requires it while you are being audited or inspected,” Josh Svenhard, Owner of Eurobake.
Needed a Tool to Reach Compliance at a Faster Rate
“I have been building food safety programs for companies since 2009 and this process has taken anywhere from 6 months to a year, including facilities that had USDA in place to make them comply with FSMA and GFSI. I needed Eurobake to reach compliance at a faster rate.”
“What I noticed is that every other food safety software we looked at starts from a premise, either accounting or manufacturing, or in the worst case scenario, manufacturing and then accounting, and the food safety module is an afterthought. The food safety features are bolted onto a dinosaur of a software program.”
“Food safety as a mandatory path has only become important in the last 10-15 years in the food industry. Nowadays, the FDA, USDA, SQF, and consumers no longer care if the food quality is good if it cannot be proven food-safe. What attracted Eurobake to FoodReady software is that FoodReady started with food safety and food traceability as its core. And because of this construct, it can easily be bolted on to accounting or manufacturing modules without corrupting or overcomplicating the data gathering process,” Josh Svenhard, Owner of Eurobake.
What Happened After Implementing FoodReady at Eurobake
“FoodReady was able to use its software to build out the food safety / HACCP plans for all the Eurobake products and from there build out the necessary SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) and necessary checklists. Eurobake passed an FDA inspection within 4 weeks of implementation, passed a GMP audit within the first 3 months, and passed a GFSI audit within the first 8 months. We also passed a Costco audit. Our timeline for preparedness was driven by Eurobake’s needs and it could have been much faster if we did not have so many unique attributes,” Josh Svenhard, Owner of Eurobake.
What Features of FoodReady Does Josh Like Most?
“The flow chart is the first page of every food safety plan and because the FoodReady flow chart is automated you can drill down into the SOPs and checklists that are attached to the FoodReady flow chart without having to create a food safety library of knowledge within your employees and management team (which can be huge binders of documents that your food safety team can spend hours paging through). Because this flow chart is automated with everything attached you will never have to do this again. Everything is within the app.”
“You cannot build a holistic food safety program without capturing every piece of data that’s important to every aspect of business, from accounting to logistics, to warehousing. What’s really cool is because of that FoodReady is becoming an even greater and more powerful tool as it adds on additional modules. If you buy into the Enterprise program from start to finish as we did, you can almost run your whole business through FoodReady with very minimal other input necessary,” Josh Svenhard, Owner of Eurobake.
Results
Eurobake passed its first 3rd party audit meeting the requirements for Costco within 5 months of engaging FoodReady but also did exceptionally well during a surprise FDA audit after only a few weeks of using the software. FoodReady provided HACCP plans, SSOPs (Standard Operating Procedures), PRPs (pre-requisite programs), checklists for daily items like sanitation and opening and closing procedures, as well as batch management and traceability. Eurobake now produces batch records on a daily continuous basis. Eurobake has expanded its customer list greatly since the FoodReady software implementation and FoodReady consultation.
FoodReady Process
Eurobake worked with FoodReady Software and Consultants to achieve their food safety goals.
Gap Assessment
When Josh Svenhard acquired Eurobake, it had a limited food safety program with minimal documentation and did not have a full-time QA manager. Eurobake’s Plant manager had left recently due to a family emergency. Everything from Preventive Control/HACCP food safety plans, SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures), and Recall Plans needed to be re-written and updated.
Development of Food Safety Program
Preventive Control/HACCP food safety plans, SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures), and Recall Plans were developed inside the FoodReady software with the help of FoodReady team members and then reviewed with the client.
Execution
FoodReady software was implemented which included training all of the bakery employees on filling out daily batch record monitoring logs and checklists along with wireless temperature readings. A new inventory management system was developed and implemented. Traceability was created inside Eurobake including the receiving of all ingredients and suppliers and tracking of which lots were used in which batches.
Audit Preparation
FoodReady co-founder Dave Seddon is a longtime SQF auditor and has worked in the food industry for over 25 years. He helped Luke Duffy, FoodReady’s Director of Quality, in performing an internal audit of Eurobake’s facility in preparation for the 3rd party Costo audit. Any gaps identified by FoodReady were then addressed prior to the audit. FoodReady arranged for the 3rd party Costco audit.
Surprise FDA Inspection
A surprise FDA inspection occurred at Eurobake within a couple of weeks of starting the relationship with FoodReady resulting in a massive success story. Eurobake had a history of conformance issues that needed to be closed out before the audit could begin. Thanks to newly implemented systems and controls from Food Ready, Eurobake was able to move forward and close previous findings. During the inspection, no critical deficiencies and only minor corrections were discovered.
Audit Support
Eurobake passed their 3rd party audit on their first attempt with only a few non-conformances which FoodReady helped Eurobake correct.
New Clients for Euro Bake
Eurobake has leveraged access to new clients through successful audits to expand its bakery business and grow its revenues by 2 X per year.
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