Print Posted 05/05/2021

MEMBER SPOTLIGHT: Paul Gamble, Managing Director of Monika

In the first edition of the Food Safety Select Member Spotlight Series, we ask Managing Director, Paul Gamble all about Monika, a company that has been specialising in digital food safety systems for more than 30 years.

What is the story behind the establishment of Monika and how did you become involved in the business?

Monika is a family business spanning three generations of the Gamble family. My grandfather was a hospitality equipment supplier in the UK for many years. When my father joined the business 30 years ago, the Food Safety Act 1990 came into existence, making it compulsory to keep records of actions taken to keep food safe. This included recording temperatures of food in storage 2 to 3 times a day, which created a need for technology to help businesses manage this onerous but critical task.

Monika’s technology was the first wireless temperature monitoring solution on the market, and the first to use a food simulant rather than just measuring air temperature. Our technology was quite revolutionary – we won awards because we overcame the basic problem of wiring up infrastructure to get temperature data back to a central console. Our technology has expanded and evolved significantly since that time - more about Monika’s evolution can be found here.

I joined the UK business in the early 2000s and then established an Australian office in 2005. We have since grown from being a one-person operation to a team of 15+ with a Melbourne office, and field service staff located across Australia. After a previous career in accounting and auditing, I saw an opportunity to contribute more directly to society, which better aligned with my desire to help people and keep them safe. By joining Monika, I was able to do this and also contribute to the growth of the family business.

Tell us about Monika's technology and the problems it's solving?

Monika specialises in digital food safety systems that bring visibility to your food safety practices, while streamlining the many tasks that must be undertaken to keep people safe. There can be a lot of guesswork and uncertainty for business owners, chefs and food safety/compliance managers about how safe their food actually is, and how effectively their staff are working at implementing their food safety plan. Monika removes this guesswork, giving you access to accurate, reliable, real-time data about what’s actually going on in your business. This puts you in control and makes staff more accountable for their actions.

Our systems cover both temperature control and hygiene practices - the full spectrum of food safety tasks. From receipts/deliveries, to food storage, to food prep and service - we are an end-to-end solution for complete on-site food safety management. Our solutions are a combination of hardware, software and cloud storage - including live sensors, mobile devices and temperature probes for managing food safety tasks, and an android-based app that can be accessed from anywhere. This allows staff to remotely monitor food safety across their operations, including across multiple teams and sites.

Who are Monika's customers?

Monika’s food safety systems are used by individual operators right the way up to large national and multinational organisations. We support over 1800 sites worldwide, and 300 sites across Australia and the Asia-Pacific including hospitals, residential aged care, supermarkets, hotels, restaurants, pubs, convention centres, prisons, and more. Our systems are used mostly in foodservice and retail, but we also work in clinical or pharmaceutical settings where safe storage of temperature-sensitive products such as blood, vaccines, and medicines is critical.

Our clients include Woolworths, BHP Billiton, Facebook, Monash Health, Epworth Healthcare, ICC Sydney, Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre, Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney Zoo, Suncorp Stadium, Sofitel Melbourne, Mantle Group, Parliament House Canberra, Columbia Aged Care and Southern Cross Care – to name a few.

How is Monika making life easier for food professionals?

There are many critical points in the storage and handling of food, and multiple steps must be taken to ensure food is safe and adequate records are kept. This can be overwhelming and, at times, simply unmanageable for busy food service staff. On a paper-based system, despite the best intentions, critical tasks are easily neglected, or worse - records can be completed retrospectively.

Monika’s technology eliminates manual temperature checks of food in storage and uses smart task sequencing and scheduling technology to ensure staff know exactly what they need to do and when to keep food safe - from the moment it arrives on-site to when it is served to the customer.

All records are automatically captured to the cloud and traceable by date, time, location and batch - for full traceability. This makes performance management, audits and inspections so much easier for managers - with everything at your fingertips in a suite of customisable reports.

Is Monika's technology affordable for small businesses?

Monika’s product range includes two digital food safety systems: MonikaPrime for larger enterprises and MonikaGo for smaller operators. MonikaGo provides the basic food safety software and hardware to digitise your food safety plan. Our enterprise solution can also be an affordable option as it is modular, flexible and scalable, allowing our clients to start small by focusing on one aspect of food safety (e.g. equipment temperatures or food safety tasks), or one site before scaling up to multiple sites.

Have you seen an increase in businesses turning to Monika for automation and digitization since COVID-19 and how does Monika's technology reduce the spread of such diseases?

Yes - safety and hygiene have never been more top of mind for food businesses, but this has been offset by the challenge of running a food operation and investing in new technology during such uncertain times. The two key areas that we have seen heightened demand for our solutions are in food retail and healthcare, perhaps more so than in the hospitality sector.

COVID-19 is not considered a food-borne illness, however many of the food safety measures that a business must implement will help minimise the spread of the virus. Things like regular handwashing, cleaning, and sanitising of surfaces will all be part of a business’s food safety program anyway.

Monika’s technology can easily be adapted to include additional tasks that form part of your COVID-safe plan. For example, you can schedule and record regular cleaning and disinfecting of surfaces like EFTPOS machines, handrails, door handles, taps, switches, shopping trolleys or baskets, toilets, lifts and more.

Tasks can be scheduled for cleaning or replacing ventilation filters and replenishing hand washing and sanitising supplies in restrooms, at hand sanitising stations, and elsewhere. Audible alerts can also be used to enact personal hygiene measures such as regular handwashing and physical distancing.

Finally, with MonikaPrime equipment sensors, you can ensure your dishwashers are washing pots, cutlery and utensils at the required temperature to destroy any viruses (80 degrees celsius).

What are some of the advantages of Monika's technology over its competitors?

Firstly, we are an end-to-end, food safety solution - there are lots of app developers and IOT (internet of things) companies out there that cover just one aspect of food safety, such as temperature monitoring or task management, but rarely do they cover everything, and sometimes food safety isn’t their focus or area of expertise.

Secondly, we have unrivaled experience and longevity in our field - our solutions have evolved and been tried and tested over 30 years. That includes laboratory testing of our temperature monitoring equipment, which monitors core product temperatures, not just air - an important distinction because the air temperature is not a reliable indicator of food temperature.

Finally, we develop lifelong relationships with our customers - we are your food safety technology partners, working with you to ensure a smooth implementation of your solution and providing all the support you need along the way from a dedicated team of experts. Implementing a digital food safety system is not a simple process - it’s a change process and quite a transformation for our customers. We have years of experience doing this and getting it right is critical to long-term success.

What sort of support is available to Monika's customers?

Monika has a dedicated phone/email helpdesk and technical support team, as well as a team of field service technicians who provide on-site training and system service/calibrations. Our clients can choose between a basic software subscription or a comprehensive support package which includes a lifetime parts warranty, software enhancements, remote and on-site support, and annual system service and calibration.