[Darin Detwiler] Welcome, everyone. This is Spoiler Alert!. We're coming to you from Nashville, Tennessee, site of this year's SmartSense LIVE 2025. I'm Dr. Darin Detwiler, and I'm here with
[Callin Godson-Green] Callin Godson-Green.
[Darin Detwiler] And you know what? We're not alone. We're with.
[Larry Payton] Dr. Larry Payton from Houston, Texas.
[Darin Detwiler] Welcome, welcome, welcome.
[Larry Payton] Thank you.
[Darin Detwiler] So, Dr. Payton, what do you do in Texas?
[Larry Payton] Thanks for having me first off. This is a wonderful opportunity to share in the industry, the technology here. But as far as what I do is I am the leader of the food safety and quality assurance group for a sushi management company in Texas. We operate in several large grocery store chains around the US.
[Darin Detwiler] And in that capacity, I would imagine that you're always encountering different challenges and different perspectives, but trying to keep a hard line in terms of this is what has to be done in terms of food safety.
[Larry Payton] In the sushi business, we actually are have a lot of eyes on us. And we want to make sure that we are being absolutely safe in all of our food handling and ensuring that everyone has a good attitude about the items that we serve them.
[Callin Godson-Green] So your business is kind of unique in a way from the others that we've heard from today, more retailer side, you sort of play the middleman role. Like you're selling on behalf of your company under your company's name, but you fall into major retailers. How do you find that technology helps you kind of balance those relationships? You obviously have to adhere to your own standards and you have your own production facilities, but you also need to meet those standards and SOPs of the retailers that you provide to, you supply, and also manufacture within, I understand that you have kiosks within those units. So how do you kind of use technology in those ways?
[Larry Payton] Yeah, that's absolutely correct. We do partner with those retailers to make sure that we're aligned first with what their programs are and then what the regulatory requirements are for our programs. And so we do utilize the great technology that SmartSense has to ensure that we have visibility across our 400 locations on a daily basis. We're able to utilize that technology to ensure compliance and verification, as well as do extra training by modifying our checklists routinely to ensure that people get the right information.
[Darin Detwiler] Sushi has an incredible history. But I would imagine that we could look at sushi and how it could potentially benefit from some advances in AI. Have you ever been thinking about AI?
[Larry Payton] Oh, that's an excellent question, Doctor. I have been thinking about AI, not only professionally, but also in my personal life. We as a company are trying to be more progressive in our thinking when it comes to technology and AI specifically. In fact, one of our co-presidents challenged everyone in our organization just last month to use some type of AI once a week. And I have taken that challenge really to heart and I've been doing it daily. And so I'm using that to look for trends in the industry. I'm using that to try to stay in advance and skim through all of the data that we get in through the information networks such as the FDA of recalls and quality withdrawals and ensuring that our folks in our network get the best information that's out there.
[Darin Detwiler] Are you finding any gains or any backwards movement in terms of there's more balance or there's more workload, more advancement or more being bogged down in the technological side of it.
[Larry Payton] Well, I was told a few weeks ago that I'm old, I'm only 50, but I actually took that challenge to heart, as I mentioned, and I've been using it. I've seen it to improve my efficiency, my time management. I'm quicker with information and I'm able to disseminate the information in more clear and concise messaging.
[Darin Detwiler] We were talking before about this idea of younger users and older users. Are you finding that younger employees, younger associates might have a different perspective on the entry level, if you will, with technology than some of older employees?
[Larry Payton] Absolutely. In fact, when I first joined this firm over 15 years ago, we used a lot of narrative, a lot of words, a lot of formal standard operating procedures. But we have all of those. demographics in our workforce. And so we've had to modify the type of information that we disseminate. In fact, we're using more visuals, more videos, or just an icon, or I've been told it's called an avatar, to identify different things. And we find that is being received very well throughout our workforce, no matter what the demographic is.
[Darin Detwiler] So are you speaking in emoticons?
[Larry Payton] I am not, yet, but I'm open to it. Do.
[Callin Godson-Green] You think in a business like yours that you're dealing, and most food businesses deal with a variety of different nationalities, but especially I suppose in a sushi business, you might have a lot of employees that whose first language isn't English. Do you think that technology has hindered their ability to work or improved?
[Larry Payton] Oh, no, I think technology helps with that. Every person that I encounter has some type of translation app on their phone. In fact, that's why I was hired in this organization, because I'm bilingual. I speak English and Texan. That's the best joke I got. But seriously, Language is a barrier sometimes, and we've been trying to break that down in every mode through either physical, interpersonal translation, but also using technology, as I mentioned, to communicate well to those who have English as a first language as a challenge to them.
[Darin Detwiler] Let's talk about bridges or bridging in a different context. How do you see the role that food safety technology can play in bridging compliance with commitment?
[Larry Payton] Let me answer it this way. I find compliance to be quite tedious. And I find that many times compliance is seen as paperwork and proof when compliance could also be demonstration of knowledge. And so, yes, I think that if we could use technology that's out there to better demonstrate and through visualization or even through some quick videos or how our teams operate safely each day, I think it could create a better atmosphere for those who are looking for compliance in our food operations.
[Darin Detwiler] What would you say to someone who's entering a leadership role, working with you as a stakeholder, maybe someone younger who came to you and said, please share with me some of your wisdom. But they might have said it with emoticons, but you get the idea.
[Larry Payton] There's so much. I would say that you have to be a continuous learner. You have to be a relationship builder. You have to be one of creating networks. And partnerships. In fact, I work across this nation with many different regulatory communities, and I really try to form partnerships with them. I try to engage them before we ever do business in their area to ensure that they know that what their bringing to the table in the safe food supply chain is important to us as well. And we want to let them know that we're out there trying to provide absolutely safe food. But being a realist that people make mistakes and we are in the handmade people production business. And so when we make a mistake, I guarantee you that we're going to have swift corrective action to try to prevent the recurrence. And when that doesn't happen, then we really got a problem and we need you to bring that to our attention so we can address it.
[Callin Godson-Green] Almost sounds like food safety culture is the main thing. You know, like if that is correct, the rest will follow because people will make the right decisions naturally. Mistakes will happen, as you said, but it's more about what happens after the mistake. Like the phone call to say this happened or we threw this away. You know, the lack of fear of repercussion when an issue occurs.
[Larry Payton] Yes, and being truthful. I often tell people, and I guess this is a good information for someone new to the industry or a new leader, is that you need to tell the truth. And I can't really help you if you're not telling the truth. So no falsifying of records, no making up grandiose stories about why this happened. Just tell me that there was a failure and let's fix the problem.
[Darin Detwiler] Our show is called Spoiler Alert. Sometimes you have to deliver bad news or you find out bad news and you got to take action that might not be too popular. In terms of A spoiler alert, what is something that you see as a concern or something on the horizon that you're always looking out for that you would say to a newer leader, hey, don't lose track of this?
[Larry Payton] In my area, we use specialized processes, acidification of cooked rice, and many health departments are looking for formal food safety plans, i.e. HASA plans and paperwork that goes along with it. But I would harken everyone to know that what's on paper is not what brings about compliance. It's what the actions are, what the culture is, what's actually taking place at the retail location is where compliance happens. not back in my office in Houston where I'm writing up this beautiful plan. It's actually happening there at the location.
[Darin Detwiler] Wonderful. Well, we want to thank you for everything you do in food safety and obviously for spending some time with us here today. And I want to thank everyone watching this, not only for what you do, but for listening to some incredible advice from Dr. Payton. And as they say in Hollywood and in the world of sushi, that's a wrap.
