HANNA SLOAN
A NEW temperature-monitoring technology developed in Cairns is revolutionising the way restaurants and food retailers can monitor food safety.
Albert Jindra developed the °Celsi software three years ago after seeing a gap in the market for accurate, frequent temperature checks in businesses’ fridges and freezers.
As new food safety regulations, set to come into effect this December, place greater importance on temperature monitoring and record-keeping in restaurants and food businesses, Jindra’s creation is a game-changer.
°Celsi is a cutting-edge system that employs advanced technology to ensure precise and real-time monitoring of fridge and freezer temperatures.
It not only saves valuable time for business owners but also contributes to the safety and quality of stored food products.
With the impending regulations emphasising the need for meticulous temperature control, °Celsi is set to be a lifeline for restaurateurs and business owners in the Cairns region.
It offers a streamlined solution to meet compliance requirements, alleviating the burden of manual temperature checks and record-keeping.
Jindra asked Edge Hill Butchery owner Rod Leaver to be his guinea pig in the early days of °Celsi, testing out the software and its automatic updates as well as alerts when temperatures neared dangerous levels for food safety.
From there, °Celsi’s customer base in Cairns and the Far North has grown to around 60 businesses, beginning with mostly butcheries and expanding to restaurants, ice cream shops, cafés and convenience stores as happy customers recommended Jindra’s software to others within the industry.
According to Jindra, °Celsi saves time and money, as business owners, chefs, and staff no longer have to spend time manually checking and recording fridge and freezer temperatures.
With new food safety restrictions coming in, temperature checks will have to be more regular and accurate,
°Celsi founder and developer Albert Jindra
“Inaccurate or sporadic records are a problem, and can lead to loss of product and money.
“With °Celsi, these checks are done and recorded automatically and regularly, leaving business owners and chefs to do the work they love, knowing their product will not be wasted.”
°Celsi’s software allows for a brief delay in temperature spikes – when fridge or freezer doors are opened, for example – before alerting users via SMS of any abnormalities.
According to Jindra, Edge Hill Butchery avoided disaster one Christmas when a power outage occurred and their backup generators failed to kick in.
°Celsi sent an alert text before temperatures got too high, and $6000 worth of product was saved from being spoiled.
Jindra has taken steps to expand into the national market, recently partnering with Melbourne company Restoke, which uses AI to help restaurants and food retailers to track invoices and stock levels as well as adjusting menu prices in accordance with changing costs.
He hopes this move will help to get °Celsi into Victorian businesses, but his focus still remains 99 per cent local to the Cairns region.
Ahead of the December 8 legislation change, business owners can visit the °Celsi website to begin a free one-month trial to see if °Celsi is the right software to help them navigate the changes to food safety regulations.
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