Middleby’s Bluezone turns focus to shopper safety in restaurants, retail outlets during Omicron wave

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Middleby’s Bluezone turns focus to shopper safety in restaurants, retail outlets during Omicron wave

27 Jan 2022

Liz Goodwin

Liz Goodwin is a Texas-born journalist and photographer. Although a Southerner at heart, she fell in love with the Midwest at the University of Missouri where she earned her bachelor's of journalism. When she’s not writing or behind a camera, she loves to cook, find new restaurants, and spend time outside. Her favorite baked goods include croissants and crackers, especially when topped with fig jam and brie.

NEWTON, MA; WOBURN, MA — Powerhouse Dynamics, a leading provider of IoT solutions acquired by The Middleby Corporation in 2019, is taking action to increase consumer safety as they shop and eat out.

The company has integrated the Bluezone by Middleby air purification system with its IoT platform Open Kitchen, which is used by thousands of multi-unit restaurants, c-stores and grocers across North America. The purification units use patented ultraviolet air cleaning technology to kill up to 99.9995% of viruses in the air, including ones that cause COVID-19.

“The partnership of Bluezone and Powerhouse Dynamics provides a unique opportunity to assure customers, employees, the public and our public health experts that we can make indoor dining and food shopping a safer experience,” said Karen Benedek, CEO of Bluezone Products, Inc. “We offer a proven, demonstrable and verified solution for added safety so both employees and customers can come back comfortably to their favorite restaurants and stores.”

The combined systems also align with important Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point guidelines followed by restaurant and foodservice industries, added Martin Flusberg, president of Powerhouse Dynamics.

Open Kitchen already addresses facility health through a variety of capabilities, including remote control of ventilation, monitoring of air pressure, and full automation of food safety monitoring and reporting such as cooking and cooling temperatures, times and protocols, and cleaning procedures.

The Bluezone integration adds to the strength of the platform by continuously monitoring UV air cleaning, automating UV bulb and fan settings and alerting people when the bulbs need to be replaced.

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