From Farm to Fork, No Guesswork
Many Kenyan hotel groups and restaurant chains are consolidating purchasing under central procurement teams to save costs and standardize quality. But consolidation comes with risk: one bad batch of produce or ingredient can compromise multiple outlets. Traceability becomes vital in such a system, especially now that counties like Nakuru are pushing food-safety laws that include mandatory traceability.
Using GS1 standards, central procurement teams can label all their goods with the Global Trade Item Number. When a box or crate arrives at a regional warehouse or restaurant kitchen, team members can scan a two-dimensional barcode to get batch-level data, harvest date, origin and quality check results. If a food recall or quality alert happens, only the affected lots are flagged and pulled, rather than dumping entire shipments.
The Serial Shipping Container Code tags each pallet or carton, making it easy to trace when and where a shipment travelled across the distribution network. Meanwhile, the Global Location Number makes sure every node from central stores, regional hubs, to individual kitchens is clearly identified, so traceability alerts and quality warnings reach the right place fast.
As Kenya works to roll out more food-safety regulation and traceability across its food system, hotel and restaurant chains that embed GS1-based traceability in their centralized procurement processes will protect their customers, reduce waste and ensure consistency in food quality and ultimately strengthen public trust in the hospitality sector.
