Strengthening Allergen Procedures and Controls

Philip Quinn, Senior Director of QA, Papa John’s International

Towards the end of 2020 PAPA JOHNS took a step back to review and plan any key actions needed to give us further confidence that we had strong allergen procedures and controls in place.

Our focus was our pizza’s, side orders and desserts, essentially any product that passed through the oven. Any items in the store which needed to comply with the PPDS already did so as these products were manufactured and labelled by our suppliers.

Key aims

• Make the allergen information more visible and easier to find online and in store.

• Central Control of our allergen data

• One ‘Source of truth’ to feed information to stores, website and apps.

• That the solutions would not add complexity to store operations.

• Removal of printed information in the store.

The Plan

1. Review and verify all information provided by the Supply Chain.

2. Determine the Printing Solution

3. Education

4. Final Build – Website, POS and Online Training

5. Validate & Verify the System

6. Natasha’s Law – Oct 2021

Supply Chain

Full review of allergens and ingredient declaration within our specifications against the information on our allergen spreadsheet and store chart. This led to a total rebuild of the spreadsheet and included improved functionality around building the pizzas from their ingredients, colour coding and a change log etc.

In the medium term we are digitizing our specification library and ultimately our allergens.

Printing Solution

We had investigated other printer hardware but decide against this option, which with the global supply chain challenges for everything including electronics, now seems a very prudent decision.

A box label and printed receipt through our current printer systems was considered the best option. This allows us to achieve our objective of providing the allergen info at the Point of Delivery. In addition, all boxes carry a QR code linking to our allergen information page.

In Store Solution

When a customer comes to store to order and confirms they have an allergen concern, this is logged and the team member can advise of allergens within the order, via links on the POS to our allergen website page. The information can also be printed through the till receipt system even if no order is placed. Additionally, we have a QR code on display in every store which allows customer and staff with smart phones to review the allergen info online themselves.

"The message to team members is not to be afraid to say they don’t know but to use the tools provided to give accurate information to the customers."

Education and Training

We have 500+ stores and 1000s of team membersthroughout the country

• Creation of online webinars and videos to provide interactive learning through our Pizza Academy.

• Visibility of completion rates of these courses.

• Educational posters with a QR code product to every store.

• External training by NSF for Papa John’s Head Office teams including Ops, Training, and Customer Care.

We worked closely with the Primary Authority on our process risk assessment and training program.

Final Build

Improved visibility of allergens on our website:

Where previously they would have had to open another link at the bottom of the website to access the allergen information,we ensured allergen visibility is key part of our customer journey from initial product selection right through to completion of the transaction. There is also an ‘Allergen Manager’ tool which allows a customerto select the allergens of concern and the system will highlight in red those products with the allergens, if theyare added to the basket.

Test & Review

All of our labels and receipts for menu items were checked and reviewed for accuracy against the website and internal spreadsheet prior to go live. This process of checks and balances will continue for each menu change.

An allergen sign-off flow chart ensures that QA, Marketing and a 3^rd party auditor review the allergen info at menu change and for a new product launches.

October 2021

• All Training has been completed

• Receipts with allergen information are now being issued

• We are reviewing feedback from customers through all of our contact points with them

• Allergen information checks will be included within our store audits