Third-Party Assessment Providers: The Key to Unbiased and Thorough Audits

Maintaining high standards in food safety and operational consistency is crucial for businesses. However, achieving this in-house often poses significant challenges. Engaging a third-party assessment provider can be an effective solution to implementing a quality assessment program.

What You Need in Assessments 

Assessments need to meet specific standards to be effective. Engaging a third-party assessment provider is the first step. Knowing what to look for in assessments is crucial to ensuring compliance, improving quality, achieving operational excellence, and mitigating risks. 

Be Objective 

Objective assessments are essential to provide an unbiased look at operations and what’s needed to make improvements. Using in-house staff to conduct assessments could lead to conflicts of interest and missed issues because of familiarity with the facility. In addition, who conducts the assessment could affect the outcome of the assessment. For instance, district managers or area coaches may prioritize financial management over thorough assessments. Conducting internal audits also may happen less frequently and cost more than an external audit. Having a third-party assessment provider conduct the assessment leads to a more thorough assessment, leading to substantial improvements.   

Be Accurate and Thorough 

When assessments are accurate and thorough, they help reduce or eliminate risks and improve performance. Partnering with a third-party provider results in rigorous assessments focused on true risks rather than overwhelming clients with lower-priority issues. A third-party assessment provider also ensures no area of the business is overlooked, meaning unexpected issues don’t catch business owners off guard. 

Be Calibrated 

Assessments should be streamlined so they are effective and consistent across every location. A qualified third-party assessment provider can set up a calibration program that implements processes and systems to maintain calibrated assessments from location to location, leading to effective assessments that result in data-driven solutions..  

Benefits of Third-party Assessments

Working with a specialized professional to conduct assessments benefits businesses in several ways. A third-party provider can help businesses avoid common pitfalls when implementing assessment programs while improving business operations.   

Stay Up-to-date with Food Codes and Regulations

Keeping up with changing regulations is challenging, and non-compliance is risky. Third-party providers are experts who stay current with food codes and regulations and, through their assessments, ensure your business stays current as well. They also offer training programs and resources for clients who want to ensure their staff remains current with food codes and regulations. 

Implement Scalable Solutions

When growing your business, scalability is vital for a smooth transition that leads to success. A knowledgeable third-party provider can aid in that growth by offering support for businesses of all sizes. They do this through scalable assessments that grow with the company and ensure consistency in the brand experience across all locations. This helps businesses protect their reputation and build customer trust, leading to increased customer satisfaction scores.  

Cost-Effective Services

Third-party assessments offer financial benefits in a number of ways. First, they are typically less costly than in-house assessments because third-party providers bring specialized knowledge and expertise to aid in compliance, reducing or eliminating risk and improving quality. This provides a significant ROI on a food safety program by implementing cost-saving measures throughout the business. Second, they can effectively follow up on corrective actions to avoid persistent or repeat problems that require additional time to address. That means staff can direct their time to more pressing business operations, knowing their food safety program is optimized for effectiveness. Third, when partnering with a third-party assessment provider with locations throughout through the United States and Canada, you can save on staffing and travel costs, increasing your ROI. 

Conclusion

Using a third-party assessment provider in your business means your assessments are objective, accurate, thorough, and calibrated to ensure success, whether for one location or many. Additional benefits include staying current on all food codes and regulations, having assessments that scale with the business, and saving costs by leveraging the third-party provider’s knowledge and expertise.

If you’re ready to partner with a third-party assessment provider, contact Steritech for a consultation or demo of OnBrand360®.