Given today’s fast-changing environments where catering service and maintenance is provided, service level agreements (SLAs) between customers and third-party service providers often can drive the wrong outcomes.

Following the challenges and changes of the pandemic, alongside the ever growing issue to supply chain and parts availability – in a number of cases metrics that have been previously used to judge whether a service provider such as the service and maintenance of catering equipment, have become completely irrelevant.

The message from our team at HOBART Service is clear – is it now time to review and rethink your SLAs?

As a market leading commercial catering equipment and service provider, we understand the importance of mitigating any downtime. We believe that when a piece of equipment breaks down, the critical factor is the time it takes to fix the equipment, not the time it takes for a technician to arrive on site.

However, other providers promise quick-reaction SLAs, and meet them, yet are not always in a position once they arrive on site to provide a fix. This can result in equipment standing dormant for days while parts are ordered or waiting for a more qualified technician, bringing operations to an abrupt halt.

We recently spoke with Armend Aljo, Procurement Manager at Oakman Inns and Restaurants who commented:

“Downtime would be a huge issue for our businesses as it immediately affects service delivery to our customers.”

“A 4-hour reaction time literally only works on paper in my opinion. Because you can have somebody jump in a van and go to site and look at a problem, agree a part is needed which will take 3 or 4 days and then they leave… you pay a premium for the 4-hour reaction time and get nothing in return.”

“When it comes to a 4-hour reaction time which some companies require, it is all blown out of proportion as to what really matters – which is the fix. Something that HOBART Service have always achieved for us due to being the service delivery team for the manufacturer.”

HOBART Service advise any businesses who are currently under a time-based call out SLA, yet experiencing issues such as first time fixes or parts availability, to revisit the contract and SLA regularly, whilst discussing and exploring what is business critical.

Response times simply state how quickly the service provider must respond to your report of a problem (even if just to confirm receipt of your request).

Repair times (deadline for the problem to be fully solved) also tend to be stated as non-binding targets, or sometimes, are left out entirely.

Customers need an approximate deadline for solving problems. Vendors may explain that repair times are purposely omitted because they cannot estimate repair time until they know the root cause, however, no matter the cause, you are paying for a service you are not getting; therefore, it is entirely reasonable for you to ask for a repair deadline, with a remedy if missed.

For further information about HOBART Service plans, which include three levels of service and maintenance support to suit your requirements and budget please visit https://www.hobartuk.com/service/overview or call 0844 888 7777.

Staff at Rational UK, the leading provider in hot food preparation cooking systems are celebrating their Gold accreditation recently awarded by Investors in People. Only 17% of Investors in People accredited organisations achieve Gold.

A Gold accreditation means that Rational UK have all the required policies in place but more than that, it means everyone within the business take ownership for making them come to life.

Rational the leading provider in hot food preparation equipment, would not be what it is today without its employees. Every employee is encouraged to act as an independent entrepreneur in the company – working with dedication, responsibility and in the interest of the entire company. This approach seems to be on point, as 97% of their UK employees said that they are proud to be working for Rational.

Paul Devoy, CEO of Investors in People, said: “We’d like to congratulate Rational UK. Gold accreditation on We invest in people is a fantastic effort for any organisation, and places Rational UK in fine company with a host of organisations that understand the value of people.

Commenting on the award, Helen Varley, People Manager, RATIONAL UK, said: “Here at Rational we are delighted to receive this prestigious award. The UK team consists of 60 experienced and professional individuals, who have had a part to play in the assessment; from taking part in a survey, attending a leadership context meeting presenting an overview of the business and evidence in relation to the performance indicators, to attending one-to-one assessor interviews.”

The Rational guiding principles and values permeate every aspect of its culture and ways of working. Providing maximum customer benefit has always been the company’s main mission. This is not limited to their external customers but also to colleagues and friends that they work alongside daily. Rational continue to focus on providing maximum customer benefits, keep making changes, keep improving and keep moving forward to improve the lives of both their internal and external customers.

Investors in People believe that the success of organisations begins and ends with people, “If we make work better for everyone, we make work better for every organisation. And if we do that… we make society stronger, healthier and happier.”  Readers can find out more about Investors in people at: www.investorsinpeople.com