The XXXLutz Group is a popular furniture chain with stores all over Europe. Not only does it offer its customers a wide selection of furnishings, it also offers them the opportunity to relax and unwind with some delicious food and drinks in between browsing around the store for the purchases that they need. For the XXXLutz furniture chain’s restaurants, ensuring that the food is of high quality and that all legal and in-house standards are being adhered to are of paramount importance.
Since it was founded in 1945, the XXXLutz Group has established itself as one of Europe’s leading furniture stores. In addition to selling furniture and furnishings, around half of the outlets also run their own restaurants, which are a great way to top off the shopping experience. Whether it’s breakfast, lunch, a short coffee break with an ice cream or a piece of cake, the restaurant area offers a wide range of options and caters to every requirement.
The company operates 370 furniture stores, 170 of which have their own restaurant area.
The furniture chain has stores in 13 countries across Europe.
Currently, the XXXLutz Group employs approx. 25,700 people.
During the stressful day-to-day work routine, a great deal of time is spent carrying out tedious measurements and handwritten documentation. The manual recording of measurement data generates long and often confusing lists, which are highly prone to errors. Correctly recorded and documented measurement data is, however, absolutely necessary in order to comply with legal and in-house standards, such as the HACCP concept. Violation of the guidelines can result in time-consuming reworking and even heavy fines.
The XXXLutz Group’s catering establishments also recognized the potential for increased efficiency in the area of measurement and documentation. Günther Menneweger therefore opted for the testo Saveris Food digital solution in order to improve the quality of work and save a substantial amount of time. Testo’s hand-held measuring instruments and data loggers had been used previously, so the two companies have enjoyed a good working relationship for some years.
"Professional teamwork, close attentiveness, cost savings and a highly solution-oriented approach were key aspects for us."
Günther Menneweger
·Project manager in the field of planning and technical purchasing
In light of the long-standing partnership with Testo, in 2019 Günther Menneweger decided, with Testo’s support, to convert the existing quality concept of the XXXLutz catering outlets into a digital quality management system, which resulted in 30 restaurants being converted to the testo Saveris Food digital quality management system following a successful pilot project carried out in late 2020.
Up to 15 data loggers per outlet, along with hand-held measuring instruments, are used to check the temperature of food in incoming goods and during food service and to check the quality of the cooking oil. The automated measurement and transmission of data considerably lightens the everyday workload for the employees. Thus, the system enables them to fulfil the legal and in-house standards with minimal investment of time.
Instead of spending a long time searching through handwritten lists, restaurant managers and quality assurance managers can now access all data at any time via a cloud, which is accessible from any location. The increased susceptibility to errors associated with using a paper-based quality management system is significantly reduced when using the digital system, thereby contributing significantly to compliance and food safety.
The XXXLutz Group uses Testo’s fully automated data monitoring system to monitor its refrigeration equipment. The permanent temperature monitoring saves time spent manually checking the refrigeration equipment and prevents food spoilage due to temperature deviations. In the event of a limit value violation, an automatic warning is sent to an authorized person, enabling corrective action to be taken promptly. In addition, savings potentials with regard to energy costs can be realized by optimizing the settings of the refrigeration equipment.
Hand-held measuring instruments are used to check the temperatures in incoming goods, when serving food and also to monitor the cooking oil. This ensures that all limit values are adhered to when goods are delivered and food is served, thereby ensuring compliance with legal and inhouse requirements at all critical control points. Most countries also have legal limits governing the use of cooking oil. At the same time, in the context of recent developments, cooking oil is an enormous cost driver. It is therefore essential to change the oil used at the optimum time in order to maximize the cooking oil life cycle and achieve the best possible balance between quality and cost efficiency.
With the aid of digital checklists, which are stored on the control unit of the testo Saveris Food quality management system, the employees of the XXXLutz restaurants are guided through the individually scalable checks, so that punctual and full processing can be traced at any time, e.g. for audits. All hand-held measuring instruments and data loggers used in the testo Saveris Food digital quality management system transmit the recorded data fully automatically to the cloud, from where it can be viewed at any time, regardless of location.
Günther Menneweger considers the greatest advantage to be the considerable time savings and increased efficiency that the employees of the XXXLutz restaurants can enjoy through using the testo Saveris Food digital quality management system. However, going paperless also makes the day-to-day work routine here much easier. Instead of long handwritten lists that require time-consuming documentation and storage, all measurement data can now be accessed digitally via the cloud at any time and from any location, and checks that have been carried out can be traced at any time. Cost savings can also be achieved by optimizing the cooking oil life cycle and the temperature settings of refrigeration equipment, as well as reducing temperature-related losses. In this way, the testo Saveris Food digital quality management system helps to ensure compliance with legal and in-house company standards and to improve time and cost efficiency.