Perkins Protects Customer Confidence with AccuPro

It’s a germ-filled world out there. News of superbugs, pandemics and food-borne illnesses dominate our media. All too often, we hear about people becoming ill from contaminated food after dining out.

Restaurants, cafeterias and commercial kitchens everywhere are on alert, and rightfully so. One negative story can have devastating consequences to a business.

Foodservice standards are set by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA), down to the local Board of Health, intended to ensure the safety of patrons. They cover all areas of the facility, from dedicated hand-washing and dish-washing sinks, to food-storage temperatures, to the use of hair nets. Public health officials conduct routine inspections to enforce these regulations, maintaining public safety standards and offering patrons peace of mind. When establishments fail these inspections, customer confidence erodes, having detrimental effects on business.

Sanitizing is key to eliminating bacteria on food-contact surfaces. Studies have shown that improper cleaning of equipment causes nearly 10 percent of all food-borne illness.

In the time between inspections, it’s up to each business to establish, and adhere to, sanitizing and testing procedures that meet these standards and provide the clean, safe environment their patrons expect.

Leaders in every industry know: if you can’t deliver on your promises, customers won’t come back. This isn’t news to anyone at Perkins, Taunton, MA. Serving bakeries, restaurants, schools, health-care facilities and more, Perkins is New England’s largest wholesale distributor of foodservice and sanitary maintenance supplies. The company understands the vital role of cleaning and sanitizing products in these operations, and how critical consistently diluted cleaning solutions are to their customers. The health and safety of our children, families and communities depend on clean, safe facilities. Cleaning chemicals and sanitizers must perform as promised, no exceptions.

As part of most restaurants’ sanitizing procedure, test strips are kept on hand to monitor the dilution of sanitizer. Many health codes mandate test strips at each manual ware wash sink as an effort to encourage regular monitoring.

“We were seeing inconsistencies in our customers’ Quat sanitizer test readings, specifically in their three bay sinks. We determined the dispensers we were using weren’t providing the consistent sanitizer level our customers depend on, and that concerned us,” explained Richard Penney, Perkins Ware Wash and Laundry Division Manager. “Fluctuations in water pressure happen every day. During peak business hours, water pressure is low due to consumption. Testing during that time would show adequate sanitizer levels, while testing during off-peak times would indicate sanitizer levels were too low, due to the higher water pressure.” To state it simply, sanitizer test readings, and chemical dilution accuracy, were just the “luck of the draw” – depending on the water pressure present at the time of day.

These inconsistencies can result in warnings, or even fines, from public health officials, and for foodservice companies and distributors, it means a service call. Penney continued, “Restaurant managers don’t want to worry about what time of day it is, or what the water pressure happens to be at a given time. They want accurate dilution every time. When results are below expectation, their first assumption is typically that their chemical just doesn’t work.”

Service calls are costly to everyone involved. For the facility, it can mean downtime and potential fines for failed test results. In the long term, these inconsistencies erode customer confidence and negatively impact account retention, which is bad news for distributors and chemical manufacturers alike.

At the beginning of 2010, Perkins made the switch to AccuPro proportioner technology. “We don’t take these decisions lightly. When it’s a question of quality vs. cost, we will choose quality,” Penney explained.

Designed by Hydro Systems Company, Cincinnati, OH, AccuPro Technology consistently dispenses precise amounts of chemical regardless of water pressure, an operational ability that is ideal in instances where water pressure is high and more water is flowing through the system. In most facilities, water pressure fluctuates throughout the day. As water pressure rises, traditional proportioning devices reach their maximum vacuum generation, and beyond that, no additional chemical can be drawn into the solution, resulting in inaccurate dilution and poor chemical performance.

Too much water and too little chemical is a prescription for “lean” dilutions – and big trouble. In Perkins’ case, that means the sanitizer has lost its killing power and no longer meets expectations of end-users, health officials, foodservice suppliers and establishment patrons. When products no longer perform as they should, confidence is lost across the board.

“We were committed to providing better, more consistent chemical product performance, while maintaining customer satisfaction and loyalty. We felt the AccuPro was a good fit,” Penney noted. AccuPro Pressure Regulation Technology eliminates dilution variation, by regulating the amount of water that flows through the unit, never allowing it to “lean out.”

The Territory Managers at Perkins have noticed the difference. “Right from the get-go, I liked the AccuPro; it has been consistent. I like its metering system better than the system we were using, [which] would spike up and down depending on water pressure,” said Mark Gonet, Perkins Territory Manager. “It is compact, easy to install, and has been solid and durable.”

Gonet went on to say, “The AccuPro is more durable than the systems we used in the past. The old system resulted in a lot of service calls but I haven’t had a service call where I’ve installed the AccuPro. I’d rather use them all day long.”

Penney agreed with Gonet, “Service calls have dropped for all territories,” since making the switch to AccuPro.

At the beginning of 2010, Perkins made the switch to AccuPro proportioner technology. “We don’t take these decisions lightly. When it’s a question of quality vs. cost, we will choose quality,” Penney explained.

Dan Collins, Perkins Territory Manager, echoed the sentiments of his peers. “Since installing the AccuPro, I haven’t had one call from a customer. In our line of work, that’s great. We tend to only hear from them when something isn’t working. I haven’t heard from them, and that means it is working. I will be installing the AccuPro in several of my large accounts in the coming months; I look forward to continuing the switch.”

This is a matter of public health, customer confidence, loyalty and repeat business. There is so much at stake for everyone involved - from the chemical manufacturer, to the foodservice supplier, to the end-user. The chemical has to perform.

For more than 90 years, Perkins has been committed to providing unrivaled quality, service and value to its customers. By making the switch to AccuPro, Perkins has eliminated the “luck of the draw” and now delivers the quality product and unmatched accuracy its customers depend on, and more importantly, the peace of mind that comes with precise, accurate chemical product dilution.