What if your food safety reports could do more than document compliance? They could strengthen employee training, simplify food safety inspections, improve audit readiness, and help your team respond before a missed record becomes a larger risk.
At 1st Reporting, we are honored to highlight customers who find new ways to use the platform. One of those customers is Ace Endico, an established food distribution company that has customized 1st Reporting around its food safety, logistics, and department-specific training processes.
We interviewed Gary Peloso, Food Safety Director at Ace Endico, to share practical ideas that other food safety leaders can apply—from creating more engaging training to retrieving months of inspection records within minutes.
Supporting Food Safety Across a Growing Operation
Ace Endico began in 1982 with one delivery truck and has grown into a large foodservice distribution operation. Maintaining its standards requires Gary and his team to coordinate quality assurance, preventive controls, and regulatory compliance across receiving, warehouse, seafood, transportation, purchasing, and other departments. 1st Reporting gives them one place to manage inspections, training records, sanitation activities, food safety documentation, and corrective actions.
“As we continue to grow, our team is excited to implement new processes and advanced technology such as 1st Reporting.” — Gary Peloso, Food Safety Director, Ace Endico
Every ingredient served at a restaurant passes through a carefully controlled logistics process. Before reaching the final consumer, food must be properly received, stored, monitored, transported, and documented. Accurate receiving inspections and temperature monitoring help protect product integrity throughout this process. Gary and his team use 1st Reporting to maintain that control across Ace Endico’s daily operations.
Taking Employee Training Beyond Traditional Reporting
One of the most distinctive ways Ace Endico uses 1st Reporting is for employee training. Gary is involved in new-hire training and serves as a certified instructor and proctor for Ace Endico’s ServSafe program. Through that experience, he has seen that employees learn differently—and that handing someone a manual or PDF is not always enough.
Gary and his team create visual, interactive orientation templates for different departments. Warehouse, seafood, transportation, and production employees receive training connected to their actual responsibilities.
“Everyone learns differently. We build a whole orientation around that specific employee’s department and give people an understanding of what to expect when they come to Ace Endico.”
This customization turns 1st Reporting into more than digital inspection software for submitting reports. It becomes part of the employee’s learning experience.
During orientation, employees learn what to inspect, which standards to follow, what information to document, and when an issue requires corrective action. They also become familiar with the digital forms and workflows they will use every day. Each time employees complete department-specific inspection checklists, they reinforce the standards introduced during training.
“It becomes like muscle memory because you know what you’re looking for the next time you complete the report.”
Employees do not learn a procedure once and leave it behind in a manual. They continue applying it through the platform. This approach shows how Ace Endico has customized 1st Reporting to support how its employees learn and work.
Moving from Defense to Offense
Our conversation with Gary took place around the World Cup, making his football analogy especially timely and memorable. Before 1st Reporting, many food safety activities relied on paper forms, clipboards, binders, and file cabinets. Finding a record during food safety audits or regulatory inspections required searching for the correct document manually. Paper was also difficult to manage in seafood and produce departments, where moisture, ice, and frequent cleaning are part of the environment.
Gary compared the process to a team that is always playing defense:
“On paper, you’re playing defense. You’re constantly running to the file cabinet and trying to find something. With digital reporting, you’re able to play offense. You can filter by date or employee and pull up a complete report within seconds.”
In this analogy, an incomplete report is a penalty—or, in World Cup terms, a red card. It signals that the team must determine what happened before the issue creates a larger food safety compliance risk.
With 1st Reporting, supervisors can identify the gap earlier, follow up with the appropriate employee or department, and document the response. The team spends less time defending missing paperwork and more time staying ahead of the operation.
One System for Different Operational Teams
Ace Endico uses 1st Reporting every day across multiple departments in its food warehouse and distribution operation. The receiving team documents incoming product temperatures and shipment discrepancies. If a delivery arrives over, short, or damaged, employees submit a report that alerts buyers and purchasing personnel. They can contact the supplier while the information is still current.
Food safety personnel review temperature and thermometer calibration records, supporting cold chain monitoring for sensitive products. The seafood department completes seafood sanitation logs, while warehouse teams document warehouse inspections, equipment deficiencies, incidents, and required follow-ups.
Warehouse employees primarily use tablets and computers. Driver trainers can add information from their phones while on the road, making 1st Reporting a practical mobile inspection software solution across different working environments.
“Having all the reports in one place is probably the biggest benefit. I can pull up any report during an inspection, an audit, or for daily reference.”
Because each department performs different work, Ace Endico creates templates around specific operational needs.
“1st Reporting allows us to create different templates within one system. Each department has specific reports tailored to its needs.”
Focused checklists allow employees to answer clear yes-or-no questions and add brief comments when further action is required. This keeps reporting consistent without adding unnecessary steps.
Ready When the Inspector Arrives
The value of centralized records became clear during a recent shellfish inspection. The inspector needed to review Ace Endico’s seafood sanitation documentation. Instead of searching through months of paperwork, Gary accessed the relevant checklists in 1st Reporting. Within minutes, he presented records covering December through the inspection date.
“I was able to show my seafood sanitation checklists within minutes. It was great.”
The information was already organized and ready for review. Immediate access to these records improved audit readiness and helped the inspection move forward without unnecessary delays. Ace Endico was no longer playing defense.
Making Compliance Part of Daily Operations
For Ace Endico, digital reporting is not simply about eliminating paper. It gives employees a practical way to document their work while providing department leaders with immediate access to information.
Supervisors can submit warehouse reports from the floor. Purchasing teams can receive shipment discrepancies within seconds. Food safety personnel can review temperatures, sanitation activities, inspections, and preventive controls from one system. This connected approach brings compliance reporting into daily operations and supports a more consistent food safety management process.
Gary believes successful adoption begins by showing employees how technology supports their work.
“1st Reporting gives our team the tools to save time rather than add to their workload. Digital reporting turns compliance from a burden into a competitive advantage.”
By connecting interactive training, department-specific reporting, and inspection-ready records, Ace Endico has created a process that supports compliance leaders and the employees protecting product quality every day.
About Ace Endico
Ace Endico is an established foodservice distributor and restaurant supplier headquartered in Brewster, New York. The company provides quality food products, warehousing, culinary expertise, and delivery support.
Bring Your Logistics Workflows into One Platform
Through our work with Ace Endico, 1st Reporting has developed practical experience supporting food logistics workflows, including inspections, temperature records, sanitation programs, employee training, and corrective actions. The platform’s flexibility extends beyond food distribution. Logistics companies can customize 1st Reporting for transportation, warehouse operations, fleet inspections, equipment checks, incident reporting, deliveries, and other operational processes.
Build workflows around the way each department works. Give teams access from computers, tablets, or mobile devices while keeping managers informed with real-time data.
Learn more about 1st Reporting and request a personalized demo.