Whitbread

Improving food quality and reducing cooking oil consumption by 30% with the Food Oil Monitor

Oil management innovations

While continuing to operate efficiently, Whitbread realised that the quality of their fries wasn’t what it could be. Operationally, consistency between batches was often hard to maintain, and even when their kitchen teams produced top-quality fries, the formula behind it was hard to pinpoint and replicate.

In line with their ongoing commitment to sustainability, Whitbread deemed the waste of perfectly usable oil as unacceptable. They saw how they could cut their company-wide carbon footprint, while simultaneously making extensive oil savings.

As the largest hotel chain in the UK – and the name behind brands including Premier Inn, Beefeater, and Table Table – Whitbread are one of the most established and respected hospitality companies in the UK.

With over 1,200 venues and 35,000 employees, safety, compliance, and sustainability are all essential values behind Whitbread’s success. This is especially true when it comes to serving their 5 million customers every month!

The Solution

During our initial consultation with Whitbread, we identified a few key areas to target:

an objective, arbitrary, digital measurement of cooking oil quality
rapid daily oil quality checks (without being a time-consuming burden)
an unequivocal decision-making process of when cooking oil should be changed

Klipspringer’s team of experts delivered a coordinated training programme for Whitbread’s staff, who mastered the Food Oil Monitor’s self-explanatory display and light-up system with ease. The Food Oil Monitor is now approved for use in all Whitbread outlets.

Specially calibrated to Whitbread’s oil formula, a daily oil quality check with the FOM330 gives store, regional and national management peace of mind as well as an audit trail. This enables them to:

prove compliance with relevant legislation (particularly the recent Commission Regulation (EU) 2017/2158)
ensure product consistency globally from restaurant to restaurant
analyse cooking oil usage to identify where oil is being changed prematurely (facilitating a reduction in operating costs)

Driving compliance and cutting carbon footprints through food oil quality management.

Why did Whitbread choose Klipspringer?

Objectivity

The FOM provides a fast and accurate reading of the Total Polar Compounds (TPC) within the oil – an objective indication of oil quality in fryers. This is crucial for consumer safety, given that an increased amount of TPC is associated with the build up of acrylamide, a cancer-causing, customer-harming chemical.

Significant reductions in oil usage and costs

Whitbread saw a return on investment from their upfront costs within just 6 months. Due to no more ongoing cost of (far less accurate) colour test strips, every saving made past this initial period was pure surplus – an average reduction in oil usage of 30%, with some Whitbread sites reporting savings of up to 52%!

Sustainability

Rather than following in the footsteps of other businesses’ vague greenwashing promises, Whitbread decided to take tangible action. Oil is one of the largest consumables across the entire food and hospitality sector – but no longer for Whitbread, following the rollout of the FOM across multiple locations nationwide.