Areas, ISS, TotalEnergies...: How Customized Settings Protect Their Brands

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Key Points

Topic: Custom Configuration and Personalization

The challenge

Most HACCP solutions on the market offer a certain level of customization—enough for establishments with standard procedures. But for large chains that have developed their SOP work methods over many years, with industry-specific constraints or distinct customer requirements, this level of flexibility quickly reaches its limits. Anything that doesn’t fit into the boxes is simplified or bypassed, creating invisible gaps between the SOP and the reality on the ground—and exposing the chain to health risks that no one sees coming.

The solution

Eezytrace was designed to adapt to each client's entire SOP - not just a part of it, nor just a subset of standard controls. It incorporates the client’s terminology, the client’s work situations, and the frequencies and scopes defined by the client. The configuration is built around existing processes and evolves with them remotely, without the need for on-site visits or service interruptions.

The benefits

• The tool has been naturally adopted by field teams because it reflects what they already do
• Full standardization of practices across the entire network, including sites with distinct characteristics
• Real-time visibility into every site from headquarters—no more blind spots, no more hidden health risks
• Agility in the face of regulatory or internal changes: configuration adapts without requiring team involvement

Key results

• 550 standardized retail locations under a single SOP (Areas France)
• Administrative time on-site reduced by a factor of 4 to 6: from 1–1.5 hours down to 15–20 minutes per day (ISS Belgium)
• Commissioning within one week at most per site
• 90% of requirements are met through simple configuration, without the need for specific development

"The solution fits exactly what we need. Right now, Eezytrace perfectly meets our food safety needs, and I know that in the future I can request new modules, even in other areas." — Mickaël Pactat, Food Safety & CSR Manager, Areas France

The problem that large networks are all too familiar with

Managing health compliance across dozens or hundreds of sites is a challenge of a different nature than managing it at a single site. Each facility has its own teams, its own pace, and its own infrastructure constraints. And yet, the same SOP must be applied everywhere, in the same way, every day.

Most HACCP solutions on the market offer a certain level of customization—enough for establishments with standard procedures. But for a large chain, a brand with proprietary procedures, or a multi-sector operator where each client has its own SOP this level of flexibility is not enough. Cases not covered by the system are simplified, worked around, or handled outside the tool. The discrepancies between the SOP and the reality on the ground do not disappear—they simply become invisible.

And that is precisely where health crises arise. Not in the situations that everyone is watching, but in the blind spots that no one has been able to address properly.

What "adapting to the SOP" means in practice

Eezytrace is the only solution on the market capable of adapting an entire set of standard operational procedures into the tool. Not just a part of it, not just a subset of generic checks - but the client's complete set of procedures, using their own terminology, with their specific work situations, frequencies, and scopes of application.

In practice: the names of the processes and self-checks are the ones that field teams already use. Input fields, response types, and conditional logic between questions are configured according to the client's actual requirements. Configuration updates are performed remotely, without on-site visits or service interruptions. And 90% of needs are met through simple configuration - without the need for custom development or the delays associated with an IT project.

This is what Areas France identified as the decisive factor when selecting its HACCP solution for its 550 retail locations spread across highway, airport, and rail concessions:

"Eezytrace emerged as the top choice in our study. There are simple technical reasons, such as the ability to work offline, but above all, there’s a major advantage for an organization like ours: its flexibility. The solution adapts perfectly to our needs." — Mickaël Pactat, Head of Food Safety & CSR, Areas France

When Each Site Has Its Own Unique Characteristics: The Case of ISS Belgium

ISS Belgium operates institutional kitchens in environments that are radically different from one another—companies, hospitals, pharmaceutical facilities, and automotive manufacturing plants. Each client contract has its own expectations, KPIs, and performance metrics. Standardization is an operational necessity, but it cannot come at the expense of the specific characteristics of each site served.

That is exactly what Eezytrace's customizable settings allow for: a common framework for the entire network, within which each site has its own configuration—its processes, product lists, storage areas, and inspection frequencies.

"When Belgian health authorities see the system, they say, 'We wish everyone had the same system as you.' We have tremendous traceability; we can see exactly how many non-compliances there are and where the sites are weak." — Éric Thielemans, Director of Foodservice, ISS Foodservice & Healthcare

This customized approach has a direct impact on adoption: field teams recognize their own checks, terminology, and way of working. The tool validates what they do, rather than imposing a new method on them. And when adoption is genuine, data flows in—which allows ISS to shift from spending 90% of its time on data collection to spending 90% on interaction, corrections, and improvements in the field.

What this means for headquarters: risks that are becoming apparent

Because all sites use the same tool—with their own settings but within the same framework—data is reported in a consistent and comparable manner. The quality manager can analyze compliance metrics across the entire network from their office, detect discrepancies, identify sites experiencing difficulties, and take corrective action remotely before a problem escalates.

It is this shift—from reactive management to preventive management—that provides true protection against health risks. Not one-off audits, not on-site visits, but continuous visibility into what is actually happening in each facility.

Chains such as TotalEnergies, Buffalo Grill, and Elior have followed the same path—some have been using Eezytrace for over ten years. Not because switching would be complicated, but because the tool continues to evolve alongside them.

Why it worked

Two factors account for the sustainability of this approach.

First, a product philosophy built in collaboration with customers from the very beginning. Eezytrace wasn't conceived in an office. It was developed in collaboration with chefs, quality managers, and multi-site network managers. All features stem from customer requests - not from an abstract roadmap. This is why flexibility is built into the architecture: it isn't a layer added on top of a rigid tool; it's embedded in the way the self-checks creation engine is designed from the very beginning.

Second, a continuous feedback loop. Today’s product is the result of more than ten years of real-world feedback. Each new configuration option addresses a need expressed by an actual customer in a real-world operational context. This is what enables ISS to integrate its external audit reports into the tool, connect its IoT sensors for automatic temperature reporting, or manage its custom KPIs via Power BI. It allows Areas to expand its modules far beyond food safety. And it ensures that every new customer finds a tool that already speaks their language.