London-based catering firm, Fooditude, has partnered with digital food safety platform, Telsen, to enhance how it manages food safety, waste and automation. The partnership opens up an exciting chapter in the role of AI and the Internet of Things in improving food safety, intelligently monitoring production and storage and boosting the sustainability of operations. Dean Kennett, Founder and Managing Director of Fooditude, explains how the partnership has improved its operations.
Catering firm, Fooditude, has partnered with digital food safety platform, Telsen, to improve how it manages food safety, waste and automation.
Fooditude is a London-based provider of delivered-in office food services. Operating from a 20,000-square-foot central production kitchen in South Bermondsey, the company is known for its high-quality and innovative catering solutions – it delivers up to 5,000 meals a day using fresh, local ingredients, serving high-profile clients in the capital, including Pinterest, Amex and Samsara.
The company has experienced several challenges as it has scaled. It has needed: greater visibility across its entire operation, from the central production kitchen to client sites; to replace inefficient paper-based processes; and a flexible, centralised digital solution to monitor operations and ensure efficient compliance with hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP) processes and Environmental Health Officer (EHO) audits.
To overcome these challenges, Fooditude has entered a partnership with Telsen to improve food safety, intelligently monitor production and storage, and boost the sustainability of operations through Internet of Things (IoT) sensors and AI-powered insights.
Telsen’s technology:
- Monitors temperatures and humidity in fridges and freezers at the central production kitchen, ensuring compliance and preserving food quality
- Sends immediate alerts in case of temperature deviations, helping prevent potential spoilage due to fridge or freezer malfunctions, especially over weekends when the kitchen is not operating
- Uses Bluetooth food temperature probes (connected to the Telsen app) to ensure precise cooking, storage and reheating temperatures are maintained
- Provides in-app guidance and corrective actions to ensure safe food handling and minimise mishandling
- Creates customisable checklists for daily, weekly and monthly operational tasks, including health and safety audits, cleaning and fire checks, with employees receiving alerts when tasks are due
- Eliminates the need for paper-based processes and reports, simplifying compliance with health, safety and operational standards
Dean Kennett, Founder and Managing Director of Fooditude, said: “Delivering an exceptional service and exceptional food to our clients is always our primary focus. But as we’ve grown, keeping those high standards while managing checklists, compliance and operations has naturally presented, which is why we’re delighted to be working with Telsen.
“Telsen’s technology is going to automate so many important tasks. It will make us even more accurate in areas around food safety and quality, while also taking the strain away from managing audits, reports and standards. We’re already seeing the benefits and look forward to a long, successful partnership with the Telsen team.”
Joel Ross, Telsen’s General Manager, added: “It’s great to be working with Fooditude – a brilliant business and the perfect example of how our technology can help in the food and drink and hospitality sectors. Optimising resources, improving efficiency and driving up standards, we exist to empower organisations like Fooditude, helping take care of important tasks in the background so they can focus on what they do best, which is delivering amazing, fresh meals to clients.”
Dean Kennett from Fooditude speaks to Intelligent SME.tech about the partnership:
Tell me more about how Fooditude started – what gap in the market did you see?
In 2005, Fooditude (then Just Hospitality) set out to redefine office catering in London. We saw a gap – a chance to deliver a better customer experience straight to office canteens. So, we boldly chose to cook everything off-site, from scratch, in a central kitchen. Back then, this made us mavericks, pitted against traditional catering models.
Our delivered catering model still stands out today, offering clients flexibility that fits perfectly with hybrid schedules and changing headcounts. Our vision to ‘feed people happy, no matter what the working day brings’ is stronger than ever.
Today, Fooditude brings complete food programmes to some of London’s most innovative offices, including daily catering for breakfast, lunch and dinner, corporate event catering and coffee and pantry services. You name it, my team can do it.
Why did you select Telsen?
Fooditude’s primary focus is always delivering exceptional service and exceptional food to our clients. But as we’ve grown, keeping those high standards while managing checklists, compliance and operations has naturally presented challenges.
Telsen’s solution is exactly what we needed – a centralised digital solution to seamlessly manage checklists, compliance and our operations. We highly valued its team’s collaborative spirit, which has allowed for learning on both sides.
Which Telsen feature makes the most difference to daily operations and why?
Telsen’s automated checklists have transformed our daily operations. By ditching paper-based processes, we now get real-time visibility across our central kitchen and client sites.
We get to do more than streamline food safety and compliance checks – the software helps us to slash paperwork, reduce waste and shrink our carbon footprint. With instant access to compliance data, we’re ready to tackle any food safety issues on the spot, giving our team and clients extra peace of mind.
How important is preventing food waste to Fooditude and how does the partnership with Telsen help?
To focus our sustainability efforts where they matter, Fooditude needs to embrace technology like Telsen. We’re looking to achieve a 50% absolute reduction in gas and a 50% reduction in overall food waste by 2030. Catering for up to 5,000 people a day is very consuming, we need to continually improve to avoid negative consequences for communities and the planet.
Before Telsen, our team handled endless daily checklists on paper, which meant more waste and inefficiency. With Telsen’s digital tools, we’ve eliminated all that paper, further shrinking our environmental footprint. It’s about making smarter, cleaner choices at every step, and Telsen is helping us do just that.
What’s next for Fooditude?
London offices want more flexible ways to fuel their teams and delivered office catering is the perfect fit. It’s all about being adaptable – serving up fresh, on-site meals that adjust to fluctuating headcounts, diverse tastes, flexible contracts and dietary needs.
But at Fooditude, we believe workplace food is more than just fuel. When companies turn their canteen into a social hub, they’re building a space for team connection and sparking new ideas. We help clients make their canteens places people love to gather –– places with energy.
We’re confident that our catering approach brings real value to today’s workspaces. That’s why we’ve invested in expanding with an additional central production kitchen, ready to support more clients and take our services to the next level.