Home / Operational Excellence
Workstream 03

Operational Excellence

One closed loop: standards, assessment, correction, coaching

Make the standard the easiest thing to do. One closed loop from standards to assessment to corrective action to coaching, with the menu platform as the enterprise operating system.

Menu management and platform governance
Standards and playbooks
Audit and continuous improvement
Food-cost discipline
Food safety, HACCP and special-process programs
Who to talk to

Who to talk to

Matthew Thompson leads Operations Excellence as Chief Culinary Officer & EVP Operations Excellence. Elliott Soomre leads Culinary Enablement and is the working contact for platform, menu management, and standards questions.

Matthew Thompson
Operations Excellence · executive lead
Matthew Thompson
MBA, WCMC, MWMCS, PCIII, CEC, CCA, GRAE
Chief Culinary Officer & EVP Operations Excellence, Phoenix3 Collective
mthompson@phx3.com
Elliott Soomre
Culinary Enablement · platform & menu management
Elliott Soomre
Director of Culinary Enablement
Phoenix3 Collective
esoomre@phx3.com
The operating model

A closed loop, not a library

Every mature system runs through all five stages. Publishing standards without the loop produces brand claims that the field quietly diverges from.

STEP 01
Standards
What is required, written once
STEP 02
Assessment
Scheduled and unannounced
STEP 03
Scored results
Published bands, consequences
STEP 04
Corrective action
Tracked to closure
STEP 05
Coaching
Root cause, not blame

CrossCheck is the independent scorekeeper. Operational Excellence owns that every finding routes to a tracked corrective action, and is itself measured on adoption and outcome deltas, never activity.

Programs

The programs that run the loop

Audit
CrossCheck
Independent quality assurance. The scorekeeper that tells us whether the standard or the delivery failed.
Open
Daily layer
The Lineup
Pre-shift huddle and Daily Spark: seven steps, fifteen minutes, every service.
Open
Governance
Exception Request
The standards waiver workflow: time-bound, documented, compensating control required.
Open
Supply chain
Supply Chain MOG
Sourcing standards and market-basket order guides, brand by brand.
Open
Platform
Galley Codex
Platform documentation for the recipe and menu system of record.
Open
Platform training
Galley Training Center
Galley in one place: training by role, the Codex, quick guides, workflows, request forms, and one search.
Open
Galley requests

Ask once, tracked to close

Four forms, one per type of request. Every submission lands in one Open Requests view for Culinary Enablement, and you get a note on what was done when it closes.

Recipe
Recipe request
New recipes, changes, and corrections.
Open
Ingredient
Ingredient request
New ingredients, vendor items, and cost links.
Open
Access
Galley access request
New users, role changes, and location access.
Open
General
General request
Anything else for Culinary Enablement.
Open
Food safety & continuity

The floor that never moves

Food safety · Restaura
Food Safety SOP · Restaura
The standard operating guide for senior living kitchens.
Open
Food safety · Culinour
Food Safety SOP · Culinour
The standard operating guide for healthcare and behavioral health kitchens.
Open
Food safety · Infuse
Food Safety SOP · Infuse
Corporate dining: cafés, catering, and events. Guide in development; the SOP library is in force.
Open
Food safety · QCS
Food Safety SOP · QCS
Self-operated senior living: the standard QCS teaches to and verifies. Guide in development.
Open
Continuity
Emergency Standards
Emergency operations manual and the emergency menu master.
Open
Continuity
Crisis SOP
Crisis management manual and incident reporting.
Open
Special Process Program

Sous vide, cook-chill, and ROP

STD-FS-022 · Issued September 2026

Two tests under the Food Code, one program to clear them.

Every sous vide or cook-chill product has to clear the reduced-oxygen packaging rules and the process-specific requirements separately. This program sets the enterprise minimums for food safety, documentation, equipment, and training a unit must have in place before it runs a special process, and maps the pathway from interest to authorized production.

Unit HACCP plans are written to FDA Food Code §8-201.14; the four station posters put the critical limits where the work happens.

STD-FS-022
Sous Vide, Cook-Chill & ROP Standard
Standard · Special Process
PDF
STD-FS-022 · Program Map
Special Process Program: Map & Activation Pathway
Standard · Special Process
PDF
HACCP-FS-004.01
Unit HACCP Plan: Sous Vide Grilled Chicken
HACCP Plan · Special Process
PDF
HACCP-FS-004.02
Unit HACCP Plan: Cook-Chill (Hot-Fill)
HACCP Plan · Special Process
PDF
QT-SP-01
Sous Vide Production
Quick Reference · Special Process
PDF
QT-SP-02
Cook-Chill Production
Quick Reference · Special Process
PDF
QT-SP-03
Chill, Label, Store, Retherm
Quick Reference · Special Process
PDF
QT-SP-04
Validate, Calibrate, Stop, Escalate
Quick Reference · Special Process
PDF
The Standards Library

156 operating documents. Fourteen domains. One register.

Policies, standards, procedures, records, registers, and workbooks. A document that is not in the register is not a standard. Browse by domain, or open the full library to filter and search.

Open the full Standards Library →
11
Governance
Charter, hierarchy, document control, waivers, review calendar, glossary, roles
Browse →
10
Culinary Standards
Product specifications, prohibited products, scratch threshold, plate and portion, facility design, uniform, council, retail concept
Browse →
46
Food Safety
The food safety SOP library, HACCP architecture, allergen program, regulatory crosswalks, records
Browse →
8
Special Process
Sous vide, cook-chill and ROP: the standard, unit HACCP plans, and station posters
Browse →
9
Clinical Nutrition
Diet order authority, IDDSI evidence and version control, texture-modified menus, malnutrition, memory care, hydration
Browse →
11
Dining Experience
Steps of service, service recovery, experience measurement, rounding, complaints, secret diner
Browse →
11
Audit & Quality
Audit tiering, corrective action, self-inspection, tray accuracy, scoring, escalation, third-party audit
Browse →
10
Training
Academy curriculum map, certification, onboarding gates, competency validation, trainer standard, training hours
Browse →
10
Activation
Mobilization playbook, twelve-week plan, checklists, critical path, day-90 audit and exit gate, cost model
Browse →
9
Finance & Food Cost
PPD standard, labor model, food-cost governance, budget build, client reporting, inventory, pricing
Browse →
8
Supply Chain
Animal-raising claims, seafood, animal welfare, market basket governance, supplier qualification, local sourcing, traceability
Browse →
8
Workplace Safety
Hazard communication, OSHA recordkeeping, injury reporting, knife and machine safety, emergency menus, safety committee
Browse →
2
Platform & Data
Enterprise scoreboard definitions, digital audit and log capture
Browse →
3
Sustainability
Sustainability targets, Menus of Change alignment, carbon and ESG readiness
Browse →
How this workstream operates

Five principles the field can hold us to

Drawn from the Enterprise Culinary & Experience Strategic Plan. Open each to read the practice behind the headline.

01A closed loop, not a library+
Standards, then scheduled and unannounced assessment, then scored results, then corrective actions tracked to closure, then coaching. Publishing standards without the loop produces brand claims the field quietly diverges from.
02The menu as an operating system+
One recipe and menu platform as system of record with a written governance protocol; core-plus-flex architecture so flexibility is designed in rather than tolerated as drift; stage-gated menu change; simplification before innovation.
03Food-cost discipline through variance, not exhortation+
Actual-vs-theoretical variance at ingredient level, ranked by dollar volume, chased site by site. PPD discipline in senior living rides the same rail.
04Deploy through people who grade and coach+
Roving coaches and field consultants running objective instruments and root-cause coaching; certified site trainers with hard gates; a digitized daily layer of line checks, temps, and task lists.
05Audits with teeth, calibrated honestly+
Unannounced components, published scoring bands with consequences, and audit scores correlated against diner satisfaction. CrossCheck is the independent scorekeeper; Operational Excellence owns that findings route to tracked corrective actions.
What we measure
Standards adoption and task-compliance ratesAudit scores and corrective-action closureAvT variance and PPD versus targetWaste, safety, and platform data integrity
PHOENIX3 COLLECTIVE
Restaura · Culinour · Infuse · QCS
Real Food. Real Hospitality. Real Impact.
The Pass · where every plate crosses. Go to the Pass.
Home · Culinary & Experience · Nutrition · Operational Excellence · Activation · Academy