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Hawaiian Chip Company - Third-Party Audit
With the help of: INNOVATE Hawaii
About
Hawaiian Chip Company began in 2000 and is best known for their unique, boldly-flavored sweet potato and taro chips. These chips are the creation of Jimmy Chan, who was inspired by professional chef Emeril Lagasse. Jimmy worked at perfecting the cooking method and is the proud creator of one of Hawaii's favorite snacks.
Made using only the highest-quality local Hawaiian produce, including Okinawan sweet potatoes, taro grown on the Big Island and Oahu's North Shore, and golden sweet potatoes grown on Molokai, Hawaiian Chip Company products are consistently the best sweet potato and taro chips on the market. Hawaiian Chip Company is also known for their line of BBQ sauces and hot sauces. The unique and distinct flavors of these sauces make them a very popular condiment.
The Challenge
Hawaiian Chip Company is a well-known and established brand in Hawaii. The company is known for their quality product and has had the opportunity to partner with some large firms within Hawaii—for example, Hawaiian Airlines. However, in order to expand the company outside of Hawaii and into different regions and countries, Hawaiian Chip Company needed to comply with the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) requirements and pass a third-party audit to meet customer requirements.
Assistance from Innovate Hawaii was essential when it came to food safety mandates. The Innovate Hawaii team is knowledgeable about the new and updated mandates and was ready with expert advice when we had a question. Their support has been invaluable in our company’s growth.
MEP's Role
Third-party audits often pose a challenge for small businesses, but Innovate Hawaii, part of the MEP National Network™, was able put Hawaiian Chip Company’s management in contact with expert consultants to help guide them through food safety plan development and the audit process.
This consultant was able to pinpoint areas that needed to be addressed before the audit. From here, one issue stood out—metal detection within the product. A different consultant was then brought in to help resolve this specific issue and share his professional advice on the specific type of equipment that needed to be purchased to pass this area of the audit.
Thanks to HTDC's expert guidance, Hawaiian Chip Company successfully passed their Third-Party Audit in 2018.Their guidance and expertise greatly reduced the development and implementation time.