© 2026 Rentokil Initial plc and subject to the conditions in the legal statement..
This month marks one year since the launch of the Steritech Newsletter, ‘Setting the Standard’. Over the past 12 months, we’ve delivered research, stories, and best practices designed to help brands strengthen performance, safeguard trust, and build operational excellence. What began as a monthly platform to share our expertise has grown into a trusted source of insights drawn from hundreds of client engagements and millions of assessment data points. Here’s what we’ve learned and what continues to guide our mission forward.
Consistency isn’t just an operational metric; it’s the foundation of guest trust. Steritech data shows that locations conducting five or more self-assessments between professional visits improve their scores by an average of 4.1 points, while teams that grade themselves more critically outperform lenient scorers with average audit results of 94.2 versus 93.0. Self-assessments build rhythm and accountability between official audits, turning consistency from a goal into a daily habit.
External audits add the objectivity that brands need to scale that consistency. Studies confirm that external auditors outperform internal teams in accuracy and reliability, reducing variability across franchise networks. And when oversight weakens, the data show the risks: brands that skipped visits for top-performing locations saw score declines and significantly more priority issues on their next assessments.
Strategy also matters. Programs built on a primarily unannounced assessment model capture real-world performance and deliver measurable gains across multiple assessment cycles. Combined with Steritech’s 450-member specialist network serving nearly 135,000 locations, these practices help ensure that operational excellence isn’t an event; it’s a system.
Food safety is where performance and trust meet. Every year, 48 million Americans fall ill from contaminated food, with 128,000 hospitalizations and 3,000 deaths¹. As public oversight faces staffing and inspection gaps, brands have an even greater responsibility to uphold internal rigor.
Steritech’s analysis from National Food Safety Month found that organizations across sectors struggle most with cleanliness gaps, facility maintenance, food handling errors, and training breakdowns. Quarterly professional assessments deliver the best improvement between visits, balancing accountability with time for corrective action, while weekly self-assessments and coaching visits maintain momentum in between.
This year’s Excellence in Food Safety Awards showcased the leaders turning discipline into innovation:
These brands demonstrate what our data proves: when safety becomes everyone’s responsibility, consistency and customer confidence follow.
People are at the heart of every great operation. This year, we explored how training, coaching, and operational discipline turn field observations into measurable improvements that strengthen teams and drive performance.
Steritech’s data shows that coaching transforms store performance. In one national program, repeat failures dropped by 98%, from 59 to just 1, after implementing structured coaching assessments. The proportion of top-performing stores climbed by nearly 10 percentage points, while the lowest performers dropped from 9.5% to 3.3%. One brand saw a 69% improvement after just a single coaching cycle. These aren’t minor gains; they represent measurable progress in consistency, customer experience, and brand protection.
The key difference is intervention. Across clients, companies that integrate targeted training between assessments cut repeat failures by a factor of six. Instead of tracking the same issues repeatedly, they use performance data to guide action. Coaching helps identify whether challenges stem from skill gaps, where training helps, or will gaps, where accountability and leadership alignment make the difference.
Operational discipline amplifies these results. In a separate study across 6,000 locations, reinforcing food quality through disciplined execution produced a 3.1% lift in same-store sales. Together, these findings show that consistent coaching and disciplined execution are essential drivers of operational success.
For leaders, the message is simple: measurement alone doesn’t create change. People do. By investing in coaching, training, and operational focus, brands empower their teams to deliver excellence every day, not just on audit day.
A strong brand starts behind the scenes. Steritech’s data shows that cleanliness correlates almost perfectly with customer satisfaction, scoring 0.9584 for interior and 0.9764 for exterior spaces. Even a modest five-point improvement in cleanliness scores boosts monthly sales by 1.3%, or roughly $26,000 annually per limited-service location.
Voice of Customer (VOC) analysis reveals the same story: operational performance and customer sentiment move together. Locations with higher mystery shop scores see stronger sales and fewer dissatisfied guests, while cleanliness consistently ranks among the top themes in feedback. Using tools like OnBrand360®, brands can align field data with VOC insights to prioritize what matters most to customers and act quickly when standards slip.
Together, VOC alignment and cleanliness discipline create a feedback loop that protects reputation and drives revenue, turning compliance into competitive advantage.
We’re grateful to every reader, partner, and client who has joined us on this journey. Together, we’ve proven that data-driven insight, consistent discipline, and empowered teams don’t just improve scores; they strengthen brands. As we enter year two, our focus remains the same: helping organizations turn information into action and action into lasting excellence.
Sources:
Contact Steritech for a free survey or quote and obtain our experts will get back to you as soon as we can
Gain helpful insight from Steritech’s library of industry info and resources.