Growing a Food Safety Consultation Business on the Road: A Day in the Life
Deb Garrison is traveling coast to coast in her RV helping farmers connect the dots of food safety while growing her consulting business. Deb operates an all-in-one Food Safety Consulting Service thru her blog AgEmpowered.com and HeavyConnect software. All designed to educate, as well as develop and prepare food safety programs for growers and suppliers alike. Additionally, Deb has experience as a third-party auditor for PrimusLabs and works with many growers each year to ensure compliance.
By managing her clients’ food safety and quality assurance with software, Deb is able to continue scaling her business on the road. Utilizing a paperless software solution has greatly increased her working capacity, allowing her to provide first-hand, on-site compliance guidance at farming operations all over America. From educational assessments to audit preparation, Deb equips farmers with the tools they need to stay ahead on evolving food safety regulations.
Here’s what a day in the life of a traveling Food Safety Consultant looks like:
blog.heavyconnect.com/growing-a-food-safety-consultation-business-on-the-road
Mornings are for simple delights and client support
Deb travels farm to farm and prefers parking her RV on-site to be near her clients for the entire consultation period. Equipped with satellite and cellular powered internet, she’s able to stay connected to her user-friendly food safety dashboard.
5 A.M. - Up and at ‘Em
Deb wakes up early and starts her day with some simple pleasures. She usually pairs a cup of her favorite pour-over coffee with a bowl of Cheerios, walnuts, and almond milk. Now, it’s time to get to work.
6 A.M. - Check Food Safety Dashboard & Provide Support
As a Food Safety Consultant, Deb ensures all of her clients are complying and properly implementing the food safety plan she’s built for them. Consulting for over 20 farms across eight states, Deb gets real-time updates from her growers on a personalized dashboard. From her morning review, Deb is able to prioritize her day to address the most urgent problems in the field. Each food safety plan is customized to meet the individual farm’s needs, so daily account support is very important. Any given morning might include:
Checking client reports on HeavyConnect’s dashboard
Identifying urgent matters + taking corrective actions
Submitting audit documentation
Deb is able to identify urgent matters and assist to take corrective actions three times faster thanks to HeavyConnect’s real-time platform.
“Before I started using HeavyConnect, it would take about three days to get paper documentation from the field to the office in order for me to assist my client with a corrective action. Now, I receive food safety reports immediately from anywhere.”
7 A.M. - Prepare for Site Visit
In order to create a comprehensive food safety plan for any farming operation, Deb’s mobile consultation business relies on safe, in-person site visits with key operational personnel.
“I like to spend part of my morning reviewing who I’m going to be talking with and what I’m going to be talking about. I’m a very efficient person and like to be well prepared ahead of every consultation.”
A day on the farm
8 A.M. – Tour the Fields and Facilities
After a productive morning, Deb meets on-site with supervisors. Usually, she’s spending this time in the field or facility helping identify workflows that will suit the operation’s unique needs:
Arrive on site
Tour the fields or facilities with supervisors
Identify existing food safety workflows
“Sometimes I will meet with people in the main office to review documentation. Most times at the initial stages, I’m exploring the property in a field or in a facility. In the field, I’m normally working with a harvest supervisor to look at their harvesting crews and existing processes. Right now, I’m working with a logistics cooler on strategies for allergen control. The work varies tremendously.”
11 A.M. – Determine the Implementation Plan
During the consultation, Deb works closely with the client to determine the best way to replace their existing food safety workflows or implement a new food safety practice. Encouraging all staff to practice food safety every day can be a major challenge, but Deb makes it a point to make compliance more efficient in the field and facility with each of her clients.
3 P.M. – Forming a New Digital Food Safety Plan
After consulting with the client, Deb heads back to her mobile office to form one of two plans:
Revamped Digital Food Safety Plan
New Digital Food Safety Plan
If the farm has an existing paper-based food safety management system, Deb usually makes edits to their existing written documentation by adding new standards or updating best practices. Once she's updated the documentation, she can start outlining the checklists on the client's digital dashboard.
If it’s a fairly new facility, Deb forms a new digital food safety plan. When plans are finished and she’s confident with a draft, she sends it off to her clients for review and feedback.
“After feedback is received and we’ve met our goals within the plan, I move onto a final draft that gets sent to any other management personnel or staff. When the plan gets the final check of approval, I begin setting up their new online account for compliance management. I use HeavyConnect’s food safety and quality assurance software for all of my clients’ plans.”
Hitting the road
Because Deb is an all-in-one expert serving operations of all types and sizes, site visits may require multiple days of work. However, once a plan has been approved and new HeavyConnect accounts have been set up, she returns to her RV to finish up her day.
“Things change on the road and I have to remain agile and flexible. For example, I was supposed to be near McAllen, Texas, and had to cancel due to Hurricane Hanna. Regardless, I always put my customers’ needs first and fill my travel gaps with new site visits or the occasional day off exploring.”
Scaling her food safety business with software
Deb leveraged her industry expertise and HeavyConnect to redesign a normal workday without sacrificing her favorite part of the job: meeting her customers on the farm.
With HeavyConnect’s intuitive software, Deb hasn’t had to give up those relationships and is able to spend valuable time with her customers across the US, all while providing constant, proactive service. Deb monitors her clients’ reports from the field while on the road and is an early adopter of the digital transitions being pushed by the FDA’s New Era of Smarter Food Safety.
Since going paperless with HeavyConnect, Deb has increased her work capacity and overall business growth as she becomes more accessible and helpful to her customers than ever before.
“I am working with my customers daily to ensure their food safety is being reported and managed without error. Because of HeavyConnect’s software solution, I can be there for my customers from virtually anywhere on the road.”
As a food safety professional equipped with HeavyConnect’s powerful tools, you can proactively and efficiently grow your business or your farming operations’ food safety awareness.
Contact Deb if you are interested in learning more about remote food safety services.
Deb Garrison is traveling coast to coast in her RV helping farmers connect the dots of food safety while growing her consulting business. Deb operates an all-in-one Food Safety Consulting Service thru her blog AgEmpowered.com and HeavyConnect software. All designed to educate, as well as develop and prepare food safety programs for growers and suppliers alike. Additionally, Deb has experience as a third-party auditor for PrimusLabs and works with many growers each year to ensure compliance.
By managing her clients’ food safety and quality assurance with software, Deb is able to continue scaling her business on the road. Utilizing a paperless software solution has greatly increased her working capacity, allowing her to provide first-hand, on-site compliance guidance at farming operations all over America. From educational assessments to audit preparation, Deb equips farmers with the tools they need to stay ahead on evolving food safety regulations.
Here’s what a day in the life of a traveling Food Safety Consultant looks like:
blog.heavyconnect.com/growing-a-food-safety-consultation-business-on-the-road
Mornings are for simple delights and client support
Deb travels farm to farm and prefers parking her RV on-site to be near her clients for the entire consultation period. Equipped with satellite and cellular powered internet, she’s able to stay connected to her user-friendly food safety dashboard.
5 A.M. - Up and at ‘Em
Deb wakes up early and starts her day with some simple pleasures. She usually pairs a cup of her favorite pour-over coffee with a bowl of Cheerios, walnuts, and almond milk. Now, it’s time to get to work.
6 A.M. - Check Food Safety Dashboard & Provide Support
As a Food Safety Consultant, Deb ensures all of her clients are complying and properly implementing the food safety plan she’s built for them. Consulting for over 20 farms across eight states, Deb gets real-time updates from her growers on a personalized dashboard. From her morning review, Deb is able to prioritize her day to address the most urgent problems in the field. Each food safety plan is customized to meet the individual farm’s needs, so daily account support is very important. Any given morning might include:
Checking client reports on HeavyConnect’s dashboard
Identifying urgent matters + taking corrective actions
Submitting audit documentation
Deb is able to identify urgent matters and assist to take corrective actions three times faster thanks to HeavyConnect’s real-time platform.
“Before I started using HeavyConnect, it would take about three days to get paper documentation from the field to the office in order for me to assist my client with a corrective action. Now, I receive food safety reports immediately from anywhere.”
7 A.M. - Prepare for Site Visit
In order to create a comprehensive food safety plan for any farming operation, Deb’s mobile consultation business relies on safe, in-person site visits with key operational personnel.
“I like to spend part of my morning reviewing who I’m going to be talking with and what I’m going to be talking about. I’m a very efficient person and like to be well prepared ahead of every consultation.”
A day on the farm
8 A.M. – Tour the Fields and Facilities
After a productive morning, Deb meets on-site with supervisors. Usually, she’s spending this time in the field or facility helping identify workflows that will suit the operation’s unique needs:
Arrive on site
Tour the fields or facilities with supervisors
Identify existing food safety workflows
“Sometimes I will meet with people in the main office to review documentation. Most times at the initial stages, I’m exploring the property in a field or in a facility. In the field, I’m normally working with a harvest supervisor to look at their harvesting crews and existing processes. Right now, I’m working with a logistics cooler on strategies for allergen control. The work varies tremendously.”
11 A.M. – Determine the Implementation Plan
During the consultation, Deb works closely with the client to determine the best way to replace their existing food safety workflows or implement a new food safety practice. Encouraging all staff to practice food safety every day can be a major challenge, but Deb makes it a point to make compliance more efficient in the field and facility with each of her clients.
3 P.M. – Forming a New Digital Food Safety Plan
After consulting with the client, Deb heads back to her mobile office to form one of two plans:
Revamped Digital Food Safety Plan
New Digital Food Safety Plan
If the farm has an existing paper-based food safety management system, Deb usually makes edits to their existing written documentation by adding new standards or updating best practices. Once she's updated the documentation, she can start outlining the checklists on the client's digital dashboard.
If it’s a fairly new facility, Deb forms a new digital food safety plan. When plans are finished and she’s confident with a draft, she sends it off to her clients for review and feedback.
“After feedback is received and we’ve met our goals within the plan, I move onto a final draft that gets sent to any other management personnel or staff. When the plan gets the final check of approval, I begin setting up their new online account for compliance management. I use HeavyConnect’s food safety and quality assurance software for all of my clients’ plans.”
Hitting the road
Because Deb is an all-in-one expert serving operations of all types and sizes, site visits may require multiple days of work. However, once a plan has been approved and new HeavyConnect accounts have been set up, she returns to her RV to finish up her day.
“Things change on the road and I have to remain agile and flexible. For example, I was supposed to be near McAllen, Texas, and had to cancel due to Hurricane Hanna. Regardless, I always put my customers’ needs first and fill my travel gaps with new site visits or the occasional day off exploring.”
Scaling her food safety business with software
Deb leveraged her industry expertise and HeavyConnect to redesign a normal workday without sacrificing her favorite part of the job: meeting her customers on the farm.
With HeavyConnect’s intuitive software, Deb hasn’t had to give up those relationships and is able to spend valuable time with her customers across the US, all while providing constant, proactive service. Deb monitors her clients’ reports from the field while on the road and is an early adopter of the digital transitions being pushed by the FDA’s New Era of Smarter Food Safety.
Since going paperless with HeavyConnect, Deb has increased her work capacity and overall business growth as she becomes more accessible and helpful to her customers than ever before.
“I am working with my customers daily to ensure their food safety is being reported and managed without error. Because of HeavyConnect’s software solution, I can be there for my customers from virtually anywhere on the road.”
As a food safety professional equipped with HeavyConnect’s powerful tools, you can proactively and efficiently grow your business or your farming operations’ food safety awareness.
Contact Deb if you are interested in learning more about remote food safety services.