February 21, 2013

(Orlando, FL) – N2N Global, the world leader in Business Solutions to companies operating in the food industry, today announced that Craig Stephen has accepted an offer to join the company as Chief Strategy Officer and member of the Board of Directors.

Craig Stephen brings 30 years of experience in developing growth and profitability strategies for global businesses.  Prior to joining N2N Global, Mr. Stephen spent 22 years at Chiquita Brands International, Inc.  While at Chiquita, Mr. Stephen led several business units, including serving as President and COO of Chiquita’s Far East and Australia Asia business unit and Vice President and GM of the North American fresh fruit business.  Mr. Stephen brings hands-on, practical experience to both client and company growth strategies.

Prior to joining Chiquita, Mr. Stephen worked at Ernst & Young, advising clients on public filings, M&A activities, audit matters, and served on the firm’s litigation support team.  Mr. Stephen graduated from the University of Cincinnati with a B.S.B.A. and earned his CPA certificate shortly thereafter.  Today, Mr. Stephen is a member of the Board of Directors of both the Produce Marketing Association and its Global Development Council.

“We are very happy to bring such a talented and experienced professional both to our Board and to our executive management team,” shared Ernesto Nardone, Chief Executive Officer for N2N Global. “Craig has a global perspective on business that is good for our clients and good for our expansion objectives at N2N Global. Our goal at N2N Global is to be the go-to firm when companies and board members need help in everything from penetrating a market, addressing difficulties in operations (technology and non-technology related), to helping them build strategic initiatives. Our executive team has been handpicked to support this objective.”

“We operate around the world with a sizable business in North America and Europe and an expanding presence in South America and Africa,” explained Angela Nardone, Chairman and Chief Innovation Officer for N2N Global. “It is important that members of our team continue to help our customers to enable business across international borders with cultural, legal, and market demand differences. Craig, Ernesto, and other members of our executive team help us deliver a scalable, market relevant platform to our clients who may currently or plan to operate around the globe.”

N2N Global is a multi-national software and services company focused in the perishables and food supply chain. N2N Global includes four major divisions: Enterprise Applications, N2N Global Services, Information Technology & Infrastructure, and Mobile Technologies. Through the combination of our four business units, N2N Global delivers turnkey business solutions on an integrated platform. Our customers include such companies as The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated, Chiquita Brands International, Cherry Central Cooperative, Sunkist Growers, and Danish Crown. In 2013, N2N Global celebrates its 30th year in business.

N2N’s QFSM assists clients with managing
 the documentation, reporting, communication, education, and auditing requirements surrounding global food safety standards.

Real-time data and transparency of operations. Robust food safety management coupled with state-of-the-art traceability. Impressive ROI. That’s what N2N Global’s Quality & Food Safety Manager delivers, says Angela Nardone, Chairwoman of N2N Global

N2N Global is pleased to announce its new cutting edge Quality and Food Safety Program for restaurants and food service companies, said Chairwoman Angela Nardone. According to 2010 estimates from the centers for disease control and prevention (CDC), about 48 million people get sick in the US every year from food-borne diseases, Ms. Nardone said. Of that number, 128,000 are hospitalized, and 3,000 die as a result of a foodborne illness. That means that 1 out of 6 consumers suffer from a foodborne illness at some point this year. With such staggering numbers, it’s no surprise that the food service industry has taken food safety compliance so seriously, Ms. Nardone added.

Ms. Nardone’s Florida based company provides operations compliance and food safety solutions for food companies, which helps ensure the world’s food supply operates in an efficient and effective manner, resulting in a higher quality of food in the supply chain. Nardone works with restaurants, retailers, distributors, growers, packers and processors around the world. Restaurant food safety is an important area to Ms. Nardone.

“It’s never been more important for restaurants and food service companies to control food safety and quality throughout the food supply chain,” Ms. Nardone added.

Ideal for the restaurant and food service industry, N2N Global’s Quality & Food Safety Manager(QFSM) provides food safety compliance and product traceability from the source to the kitchen, helping ensure that the food served is safe and that it lives up to high levels of quality and consistency.

QFSM allows food industry companies to centrally manage all of the plans that get executed remotely. Electronically deliver the specific executions and capture the results. This insures all locations are on the most current plan and provides real time electronic information for analysis and continuous improvement.

“What’s more it allows customers to fully automate their front and back of the house compliance programs,” Ms. Nardone said.

Utilizing N2N Global’s software solutions, restaurants can electronically create orders for suppliers; match the product received at the restaurant location to the original order (account for quantity, quality, and even brand discrepancies); collect GS1 compliant traceability information; assign attributes or expirations when the product is received and placed it into storage (cooler, freezer, or dry storage); decrement that inventory as used or at the end of each day; and automatically generate a suggested new order upon daily usage of existing physical inventory.

“My goal in life is to help restaurants with their food safety & quality assurance process. I am their biggest customer!,” Ms. Nardone said. “So I have a vested interest to help them provide their highest quality to the market.”

 Advances Food Safety Efforts while Bringing Greater Operational Efficiencies  with IBM and N2N Global

ARMONK, N.Y. – 26 February 2013: IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced that The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated, with more than 175 restaurant locations across the United States and three licensed locations in the Middle East, is using IBM Big Data analytics to help deliver the highest quality experience to its guests.

Serving more than 80 million guests each year, with 200 menu items made fresh from scratch in each of its restaurant locations worldwide, The Cheesecake Factory deals with large volumes and variety of data on a daily basis generated by its complex, global food supply chain. This includes information ranging from transportation of food at the right temperature to ensuring a fresh food supply to information on product withdrawals and shelf life of food items. One of the key challenges for The Cheesecake Factory is to be able to glean instant insight from this massive amount and variety of information, also known as big data, to better serve its guests and to deliver an exceptional dining experience.

Using IBM Big Data analytics built on IBM Power Systems and IBM Business Partner, N2N Global’s solution, The Cheesecake Factory has the ability to quickly alert restaurant locations to remove any ingredient that does not meet its high standards for quality and consistency, or in the event of a product withdrawal.  With this technology, The Cheesecake Factory can further ensure the highest level of quality and food safety for its guests.

In the event that an ingredient does not meet The Cheesecake Factory’s specifications such as taste, color or consistency, the company is able to communicate critical supply chain data instantly with a single point of view alleviating the cumbersome tasks of manually inputting or accessing this information.  This also brings new efficiencies to The Cheesecake Factory’s operations as managers are able to focus more time on quality of operations versus spending time on data entry.

According to the National Restaurant Association, restaurant sales top $660 billion and have a global impact of over $1.8 trillion annually. With almost one million restaurant locations in the United States alone, food service operators face a daunting challenge tackling big data while delivering an unmatched brand experience for its guests.

“As a global brand in the restaurant industry, our number one priority is absolute guest satisfaction,” said Donald Moore, Chief Culinary Officer for The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated. “It is our ultimate goal to deliver the best dining experience to our guests. With 180 restaurants globally and expanding, it is critical that we have the tools to ensure a fantastic dining experience for our guests in every restaurant from Beverly Hills to Kuwait City.”

“Advanced analytics technology helps us better leverage Big Data to ensure freshness and quality for our guests,” shared Dr. Ata (Al) Baroudi, Vice President of Quality Assurance & Food Safety for The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated. “We collect and maintain large amounts of data. N2N Global and IBM are assisting us with utilizing this data to better maintain the highest standard of quality.”

Read the Smarter Planet Blog Post. “Serving Up A Unique Dining Experience with Big Data” by Angela Nardone, N2N Global’s Chairman and Chief Innovation Officer.

Watch how The Cheesecake Factory is using Big Data analytics http://bit.ly/11WgYTz.

For more information on The Cheesecake Factory: http://www.thecheesecakefactory/

For more information on N2N Global: http://www.n2nglobal.com/

For more information on IBM’s Smarter Food initiative: http://www.ibm.com/smarterplanet/us/en/food_technology/ideas/

N2N Global is proud to announce that Phillips Gourmet is partnering with N2N Global in utilizing QFSM to manage its Enterprise Quality Assurance & Food Safety Program.

Phillips Gourmet, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Phillips Mushroom Farms, is the largest producer of value-added specialty mushroom products in theUS. Located inKennettSquare,PA, the mushroom capital of the world, Phillips Gourmet specializes in the development and production of proprietary mushroom formulations for multi-unit restaurant operators and provides a market-leading variety of ingredients to meet the needs of virtually any food manufacturer.

QFSM or Quality Food Safety Manager is N2N Global’s market-leading software application that assists companies with work flow management and document control related to food safety, compliance and quality assurance. Originally developed in 1996, in cooperation withEurope’s highly-regulated consumer packaged goods and protein industries, QFSM was brought to theUnited Statesin 2009.

“We envision using a computer and projector for our food safety audits and drastically reducing the physical paper required for documentation,” shared Bill Green, Quality Control Manager for Phillips Gourmet. “The pilot demonstrated to us that we can receive real-time or immediate corrective actions with the notification to supervisors of any procedure deviations. QFSM enables us to graphically identify through graphing or pie charts the areas where improvements are needed. This is also bringing our Food Safety program up t speed with FSMA and helping us continuously enhance and improve level of Food Safety.”

“We are pleased to have Phillips Gourmet as the newest member of the N2N Global family. It is clear why this organization is the market leader in their category,” said Ernesto Nardone,CEOof N2N Global. “We are proud to work with their exceptional team and we are excited to provide the platform that will continue to enhance Phillips Gourmet’s keen focus on Quality Assurance, Quality Control, Compliance and Food Safety.”

About N2N Global:

N2N Global is an enterprise software company that develops, manufactures, markets, distributes, and services application software for companies operating in the perishables and food supply chain. With almost 30 years in business, N2N Global includes four major divisions: Enterprise Applications, N2N Global Business Services, Information Technology & Infrastructure, and Mobile Technologies. Through the combination of our four business units, N2N Global delivers turnkey solutions on an integrated platform for the entire food supply chain.

N2N Global announces the appointment of executives to its senior leadership team

 

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(Longwood, FL) N2N Global, the leader in food industry software solutions, today announces the appointment of executives to its senior leadership team. Ronald Folwell is appointed to Chief Financial Officer, Harold Ewell is appointed as Director of Food Safety & Quality Assurance, and Jeffrey Tazelaar is appointed as Director of Business Development.

Ron Folwell serves as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for N2N Global and brings 40 years of accounting and finance experience to the executive team. Mr. Folwell began his career at KPMG as a CPA and spent 18 years with the firm rising to Audit Partner specializing in SEC reporting and mergers and acquisitions. His roles in public accounting included SEC reviewing partner, computer audit specialist, and statistical audit specialist. Following his time with KPMG, he left public accounting to join private industry and spent nearly 10 years as CFO for companies in the retail sector and wholesale distribution. He later joined DiMare as CFO for 12 years and was responsible for all aspects of financial accounting, cash management, and mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Folwell earned a bachelor’s degree in Accounting from the University of Texas at Arlington and maintains his CPA license.

Harold Ewell serves as the Director of Quality Assurance and Food Safety bringing to his role over 30 years of subject matter expertise. Mr. Ewell is responsible for enhancing N2N Global’s software solution suite and helping global customers enhance and improve internal Quality Assurance and Food Safety initiatives on a worldwide scale. Prior to joining N2N Global, Mr. Ewell spent 24 years at H.J. Heinz, a Fortune 500 enterprise food company. While at H.J. Heinz, Mr. Ewell managed a vast global supply chain of over 3000 suppliers for Food Safety and Quality Assurance compliance. This included the creation of the “best practices” guidelines for supplier management in the areas of environmental micro-control specific to Salmonella and Listeria, Good Agricultural Practices (“GAP”), Packaging, audit management, and material non-compliance management. His overall management of programs allowed Heinz to be best in class for the Food Safety System Certification or “FSSC 22000 and compliant for the Food Safety Modernization Act or “FSMA” requirements. Prior to joining H. J. Heinz, Mr. Ewell worked at Ralston Purina International for 6 years where he managed a microbiological testing laboratory and waste treatment experimental stations with both production and process engineering responsibilities. Mr. Ewell is a graduate of The Oklahoma State University with a B.S. in Microbiology and a Master of Science in Food Science.

Jeffrey Tazelaar is the Director of Business Development & Product Manager of Mobile Devices. Mr. Tazelaar brings to N2N Global real-world experience in the development, deployment and integration of mobile technologies. He began his career with the world’s largest retailer in Walmart’s Information Systems (“IS”) Department as a Programmer Analyst for the Walmart Global RFID initiative. He participated in the rollout of the technology across multiple departments and in cooperation with key vendors. He later left to become the RFID Product Manager for a key Motorola Business Partner whose customers included Kimberly-Clark and Procter & Gamble. During this time, he expanded into other technologies including near-field technologies among other enabling tools. As Director of Business Development, Mr. Tazelaar’s role is to build business partnerships with partner companies that can re-sell N2N Global software products world-wide. This can include hardware manufacturers, consultants, and other software companies. As the Product Manager of Mobile Devices, Mr. Tazelaar is responsible for the product roadmap and the selection and integration of N2N Global software products with handhelds, smart phones, tablets, and other mobile devices. This includes labels and printing technologies. Mr. Tazelaar is a graduate of Michigan State University, and is expecting to earn his Ph.D. in Packaging in December 2013.

Orlando, Fla. – N2N Global announces high-tech solutions and support to help agri-businesses grow in all areas of their operation. N2N Global’s product suite brings powerful solutions for all members of the food supply chain. For Supply Side companies, N2N offers agri-ERP solutions, farm management, food safety, business analytics and traceability software. For direct to consumer and buy side companies, N2N offers food safety, compliance, and asset tracking tools to help ensure the food supply is properly managed for minimized risk. N2N Global provides comprehensive solutions for companies looking for ways to improve efficiencies, enhance profitability, and ensure food safety.

N2N Global software suite provides accurate and integrated technology for agri-businesses allowing companies to make concise and timely business decisions, and communicate those decisions across business operations. In the complex and competitive agri-business arena, the ability to analyze data in one place, make split second decisions and communicate them up and down the chain of command mean the difference between success and failure for grower, packer or shipper.

“N2N’s vision allows companies to look at their business in a whole new light. This enables them to deliver value to customers, drive market share gains, and enhance customer relationships through access to information for executive decision support,” says Angela Nardone. Nardone’s Florida based companyprovides operations compliance, and food safety solutions for food companies, which helps ensure the world’s food supply operates in an efficient and effective manner, resulting in a higher quality of food in the bsupply chain. Nardone works with restaurants, retailers, distributors, packers and processors around the world.

How N2N Global Does It

N2N Global’s business analytics solution has key features to make operations more efficient. This ground-breaking solution provides comprehensive integration of data for complete traceability and visibility into every aspect of the operation. N2N Global also supplies key performance indicators “KPI” that are included in standard reporting.

As a result there are many benefits critical to agri-business success, including the ability to customize reporting for client specific requests. N2N also offers complete data transparency for executive planning and analysis. N2N’s Global solutions are easy to use for non-technical users seeking enhanced information.

N2N Global has built from the ground up, a business analytics solution that seamlessly integrates comprehensive food production and traceability capabilities with other ERP elements, including sales and operations, inventory management, warehouse management and financials.

“All of this in turn helps companies make business decisions based on real-time data and analyze the health operation based on sophisticated drill down capabilities. Data that is captured at any point along the business process can now be utilized by other functional groups to improve their overall operation. Let’s face it, with the demands by the public and federal government to keep the food supply safe and enhance traceability at every level, businesses need all the help they can get to stay in compliance and to provide the healthiest food possible and we are helping to ensure that happens,” says Nardone. “In addition, N2N helps companies look beyond the day to day. With our solutions, sales and production can see the results of the Commodity Forecast from the field and adjust their plans accordingly. Not only does N2N vision help look in the future, it also helps in analyzing data from seasons past.”

About N2N Global

N2N Global’s product suite brings powerful solutions for all members of the food supply chain. To contact Angela Nardone directly, visit her on N2N’s twitter page http://www.twitter.com/n2nglobal. For more information, please visit http://http://n2nglobal.com. Through enhanced reporting, notifications, and system “checks”, management can feel confident that less burden is placed on local staff to ensure that national suppliers are performing in a manner consistent with negotiated contracts.

Orlando, Fla. – N2N Global announces high-tech solutions and support to help agri-businesses grow in all areas of their operation. N2N Global’s product suite brings powerful solutions for all members of the food supply chain. For Supply Side companies, N2N offers agri-ERP solutions, farm management, food safety, business analytics and traceability software. For direct to consumer and buy side companies, N2N offers food safety, compliance, and asset tracking tools to help ensure the food supply is properly managed for minimized risk. N2N Global provides comprehensive solutions for companies looking for ways to improve efficiencies, enhance profitability, and ensure food safety.
N2N Global software suite provides accurate and integrated technology for agri-businesses allowing companies to make concise and timely business decisions, and communicate those decisions across business operations. In the complex and competitive agri-business arena, the ability to analyze data in one place, make split second decisions and communicate them up and down the chain of command mean the difference between success and failure for grower, packer or shipper.
“N2N’s vision allows companies to look at their business in a whole new light. This enables them to deliver value to customers, drive market share gains, and enhance customer relationships through access to information for executive decision support,” says Angela Nardone. Nardone’s Florida based companyprovides operations compliance, and food safety solutions for food companies, which helps ensure the world’s food supply operates in an efficient and effective manner, resulting in a higher quality of food in the supply chain. Nardone works with restaurants, retailers, distributors, packers and processors around the world.

How N2N Global Does It

N2N Global’s business analytics solution has key features to make operations more efficient. This ground-breaking solution provides comprehensive integration of data for complete traceability and visibility into every aspect of the operation. N2N Global also supplies key performance indicators “KPI” that are included in standard reporting.
As a result there are many benefits critical to agri-business success, including the ability to customize reporting for client specific requests. N2N also offers complete data transparency for executive planning and analysis. N2N’s Global solutions are easy to use for non-technical users seeking enhanced information.
N2N Global has built from the ground up, a business analytics solution that seamlessly integrates comprehensive food production and traceability capabilities with other ERP elements, including sales and operations, inventory management, warehouse management and financials.
“All of this in turn helps companies make business decisions based on real-time data and analyze the health operation based on sophisticated drill down capabilities. Data that is captured at any point along the business process can now be utilized by other functional groups to improve their overall operation. Let’s face it, with the demands by the public and federal government to keep the food supply safe and enhance traceability at every level, businesses need all the help they can get to stay in compliance and to provide the healthiest food possible and we are helping to ensure that happens,” says Nardone. “In addition, N2N helps companies look beyond the day to day. With our solutions, sales and production can see the results of the Commodity Forecast from the field and adjust their plans accordingly. Not only does N2N vision help look in the future, it also helps in analyzing data from seasons past.”

About N2N Global

N2N Global’s product suite brings powerful solutions for all members of the food supply chain. To contact Angela Nardone directly, visit her on N2N’s twitter page http://www.twitter.com/n2nglobal. For more information, please visit http://http://n2nglobal.com. Through enhanced reporting, notifications, and system “checks”, management can feel confident that less burden is placed on local staff to ensure that national suppliers are performing in a manner consistent with negotiated contracts.

Orlando, Fla. – N2N Global is pleased to announce an innovative food safety program for hotels and hospitality companies.

“Much like the restaurants and quick serve industries, the hotel and hospitality industry also sources their products from all over the world,” said Angela Nardone. Nardone’s Florida based company provides operations compliance, and food safety solutions for food companies, which helps ensure the world’s food supply operates in an efficient and effective manner, resulting in a higher quality of food in the supply chain. Nardone works with restaurants, retailers, distributors, growers, packers and processors around the world.

“Each year millions of hotel guests are served dishes with ingredients that are not always easy to trace. However, given how crucial a hotel brand is to both its stakeholders and its guests, ensuring the safety and traceability of its food sources is vital,” she said.

Through N2N Global’s tried and trusted enterprise software solution, Quality & Food Safety Manager (QFSM), hotels and hospitality companies will be able to easily and efficiently control food safety and quality within your organization. Easily adapted for the hotel and hospital industry (both food and non-food operations), QFSM electronically captures data and organizes it into a single database, making it easy for you to analyze real data identify trends and introduce continuous improvement in order to achieve better oversight, better results, and better enterprise compliance within given guidelines.

“Hotel food safety is more than just about checking off boxes. With so many different department involved in the food services process, training is also a key component. QFSM helps customer manage training, certifications, and ensures staff is always up to date with the best information.”

Many hospitality operators also have numerous standard operating procedures (SOPs) and quality assurance/quality compliance (QA/QC) strategies that are not associated with food. QFSM is designed to track and report these activities, such as room cleaning and hotel sanitation, which makes QFSM even more beneficial and an even greater value.