In Your Shoes - Teri Gardiner

Teri Gardiner is the owner of Food Safety Consulting (FSC), a Dundee based company specialising in delivering food safety support, systems and training for businesses of all sizes. 
 
Prior to starting Food Safety Consulting, Teri worked for 20 years throughout Europe with a host of leading brands in food manufacturing, including Tunnock's, Macphie Ltd, Grampian Country Food Group, Warburtons, Mowi and AG Barr Soft Drinks. 

Food Safety Consulting was launched in 2019, and has enjoyed three successful years, despite the pandemic. Clients include: Tate and Lyle, Montezuma's Chocolate, The Vegan Kind and Baba's Sauce.  It’s been quite a journey, with more clients enjoying virtual support, utilising cloud based working solutions to ensure standards are met in the most efficient and cost-effective ways.  
If you need advice regarding local authority approval, industry accreditation and robust food safety confidence, Food Safety Consulting is ready to help. 

https://foodsafetyconsulting.co.uk/

07963237668
 

Monday

An early start is needed for a gorgeous yoga session. I usually start the day this way, or with a brisk early walk of 4.5 miles, when it's not blowing a gale in Broughty Ferry. I’ve a couple of Zoom meetings planned with regular clients and a Teams meeting with a business looking for some help to achieve SALSA accreditation. I really enjoy working with the variety of businesses in food production. Since the lockdown in 2020 I have been involved with many new starts, from seaweed to Indian sauces and superfoods. It’s great to be part of the team taking new products to market. I finish my working day preparing and packing for the next 3 days on the road, then take a leisurely dog walk along the waterfront with Milo, our faithful pug. 
 

Tuesday

Another early start and there’s no time for exercise unfortunately. It’s 100 miles to my destination, Gardiner’s of Scotland Ltd, based in Lesmahagow. I’m always at the factory by 8:45am and ready to get to work. They are best known for making handmade fudge, tablet, and Scottish macaroon, but also speciality tins of confectionary including working with whisky brands, Oor Wullie and The Broons. I really enjoy the drive through, and I’ve taken quite an interest in cars with the latest technology. I couldn’t live without Apple CarPlay in mine, nor without adaptive cruise control either. It makes every journey so much more relaxing and there’s no better place to listen to music, a book or a podcast. I’ve test driven a couple of electric cars but I’m yet to find anything that tempts me out of my current steed. 

Wednesday

Yet another early start, and after an hour in the gym I’m ready to head back to Gardiner's. Last month we had our annual industry audit and achieved a BRC Global Food Safety Standard AA rating, which maintains the level we achieved last year! For 2023 there’s a step up from the current version, 8 to version 9, and we are in a great position to ensure a smooth transition.   We start the working day with a management meeting to review action plans following the audit. There’s great engagement from all the team and the business continues to celebrate successes.  
I’m originally from Lanarkshire and once the working day is over, I visit family who live in the area.  
 

Thursday

I recently started working with a sassy Glasgow start up, Juicy. Along with producing delicious and vibrant cold press juices, very trendy these days, they have an eye-popping range of healthy food options too. They count many celebrities amongst their clientele, including Lewis Capaldi, Kevin Bridges, and a few famous footballers. You might just bump into one of them if you visit a Juicy on Byres Road or Silverburn Shopping Centre. They have an expansion plan in place, and I’m delighted to be supporting them on this exciting journey. Once the working day has finished, it's time to get the tunes on and utilise the horsepower in my car. I’m heading home, with the vibes from Lane 8 on random. Turning the last corner as I approach home always makes me feel the love for where I live. 

Friday

Another early start, quite a theme running through my life, with an hour of yoga followed by a refreshing walk. 
I pay little attention to mainstream media / news and can’t remember the last time I watched any on TV.  My preference is to set myself up with some inspirational reading or a YouTube video. I deliberately maintain a positive mindset, and when I need to catch up on news (usually bad news) I ask my husband James for a quick rundown of worldly events. Thankfully, he’s quite a reservoir of knowledge. After a 2 hour virtual meeting with a client and cloud collaboration, it’s time to catch up on some more admin, it's not my favourite task, but it must be done. 
Friday night is always date night, and after a busy week I deserve a glass of champagne.