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The foodservice industry is navigating an unprecedented wave of change in the wake of COVID-19, pushing quality assurance front and centre. A recent survey of more than 600 foodservice professionals revealed that nearly 90% of food safety managers, operations managers and franchise managers say COVID-19 has made it harder to recruit and retain employees, with nearly 40% of respondents unsure if food in their restaurants consistently meets corporate standards1. NSF EyeSucceed™ is a transformational training modality that uses augmented reality (AR) paired with wearable smartglasses to improve both virtual and in-person training, consistency and operational efficiency, contributing to better experiences for employees and consumers.

NSF EyeSucceed co-founders Tom Chestnut and Jennifer Tong applied their more than 40 years of collective foodservice experience to develop a solution that addresses the growing demand for AR capabilities in the restaurant industry.

“The need for smart solutions that are cost-effective has been growing for years. Following the pandemic, the food industry is seeking even more ways to leverage new technologies to improve training and efficiency while maintaining quality and consistency”, said Tom Chestnut, co-founder of NSF EyeSucceed.

NSF EyeSucceed provides foodservice businesses with a customised suite of applications, helping to keep pace with the rapid hiring and increased consumer demand that has resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic”.

Another finding from the survey revealed that 51% of quick service restaurant (QSR) brands say AR could make training faster and 40% say AR could reduce human error.

“Our proof-of-concept testing and implementation in five global markets has proven that NSF EyeSucceed delivers transformational solutions”, said Jennifer Tong, co-founder of NSF EyeSucceed. “We are encouraged by the wide use of applications for this technology to truly transform the foodservice industry, from decreasing the need for in-person visits to vastly improving employee training. For foodservice managers, this means reduced costs while also enhancing food quality and safety for both employees and consumers”.

Wendy’s® is a long-time leader in quality assurance and is focused on continuously evolving its programs to drive industry innovation. As such, the company was among the first to investigate AR for this use and to pilot smartglasses using NSF EyeSucceed.

“Since introducing NSF EyeSucceed to our suite of quality assurance tools in 2020 through a pilot program, our team at Wendy’s has experienced greater efficiency in our food safety and supplier oversight practices, from product evaluations to audit improvements”, said Jorge Hernandez, Vice President of Quality Assurance at Wendy’s. “This hands-free solution has been especially useful throughout the pandemic, as it has provided connectivity between sites and deepened supplier relationships, despite travel restrictions around the world. As a result, we’ve seen time and cost savings and positive feedback from our employees and supplier partners. We look forward to completing the pilot program, including testing the glasses for employee training, and scaling up key learnings.”

NSF EyeSucceed enables:

• Enhanced Training and Wearable Learning – Hands-free smartglasses can be used to train employees at workstations for shorter onboarding and on-the-line accuracy, allowing for immediate product sale and food waste reduction and higher retention of training material.
• AR-Fueled Corrective Intelligence – NSF EyeSucceed applies next-generation AR solutions to detect human error, driving quality, consistency and cost efficiency. Use of the solution can monitor a product such as a burger being made the exact same way, no matter where you are in the world.
• Anytime, Anywhere Maintenance – NSF EyeSucceed assists workers to keep machinery in top working order with intuitive instruction available on-demand and at the point of need. Frontline workers can install, set up and maintain equipment via livestream, and connect with technical experts to diagnose and fix issues with the aim to avoid asset downtime and technical travel time.
• Hands-free Tools – NSF EyeSucceed supports greater efficiencies in food safety by making self-audits, reporting and inspection easier with hands-free technology and digitising documentation for everything from task checklists to inventory management, without the need for app or web development.
• Remote Work – The technology eliminates the need for travel and on-site visits by offering real-time remote audits, inspections, tech support and collaboration while maintaining quality and safety expectations. This was proved especially helpful during COVID-19 lockdowns when travel was restricted.

Another leading QSR saw the following results when using NSF EyeSucceed:

• Training costs reduced by ~65% and employee satisfaction with training increased by 83%
• Training accuracy improved by 50%; improved retention and confidence over traditional platforms
• 75% savings in maintenance costs and lost revenue.

NSF EyeSucceed is supported by Glass Enterprise Edition 2 and runs on Google Cloud’s secure, flexible and stable cloud infrastructure. As the only Glass Provider for the food industry, NSF EyeSucceed uses the most advanced smartglass technology to deliver NSF’s custom food industry software applications and patents, created specifically to optimize back-of-house operations. NSF EyeSucceed is currently in the top five of Google’s top 10 Glass Enterprise Edition deployments and it is now implementing at scale. NSF is part of Google Cloud’s Partner Advantage Program and will be listed on its Independent Software Vendor (ISV) Connect network.

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