Hy-Vee, an employee-owned grocer that operates more than 240 retail stores in eight states, has partnered with CM Systems LLC to deploy the ComplianceMate food safety system across its entire portfolio of brands. The system is now being used in all its in-store kitchens, including its Italian, Asian, Hickory House, Market Grill, Meat, Seafood, Deli, and Bakery areas.

The award-winning ComplianceMate system uses a highly customizable food safety management software that automatically tracks key indicators of food safety risk. As the system generates data, it can alert any level of management—from store level to corporate offices—of potentially unsafe food before the food is served to the public.

ComplianceMate also facilitates above-unit auditing for Hy-Vee and its third-party auditing group. Auditors now utilize the ComplianceMate system to gather and preview food safety data prior to entering stores. This data allows them to be more prepared with a proactive plan of action based on data gathered and analyzed in advance, so they can complete their quality and food safety reviews faster.

Hy-Vee chose ComplianceMate for its ability to create almost any type of configurable checklists for any regulatory or brand-specific compliance benchmarks that could be alarmed with smart notifications. That way, the system can proactively draw attention to potential issues long before they become actual problems.

In turn, this functionality offers Hy-Vee leaders greater real-time visibility into each store's food safety performance.

"ComplianceMate protects brands and their customers, but in the process, it also delivers enhanced operational effectiveness through analytics, dashboards, etc.," says Steve Getraer, president of CM Systems. "We empower teams to achieve elite food safety performance with even less labor, ultimately improving service to Hy-Vee's own customers."