Health Tech Tackles Food Safety For Restaurants And Food Suppliers

PathSpot, a health tech company cofounded by Christine Schindler, is modernizing food safety with its innovative hand hygiene and food safety management platform. Born from Schindler’s public health experience and desire to address the alarming rise in foodborne illnesses, PathSpot’s technology helps restaurants and food suppliers prevent outbreaks, improve hygiene standards, and protect public health.

PathSpot: Health Tech For Safer Food

Schindler, the visionary CEO of PathSpot, embarked on her entrepreneurial journey in 2017, driven to tackle the pervasive issue of foodborne illnesses. Her background in biomedical engineering and public health, combined with her experience researching low-cost medical tools for underserved communities in developing countries, positioned her to create a health tech platform that tackles food safety.

Schindler’s journey began with a simple observation: While working in U.S. hospital systems, she noticed striking public health discrepancies, particularly concerning food safety. “I just started to see all of these public health discrepancies here that I felt they could benefit from low-cost, durable, accessible tools,” she recalls. This, combined with the rise in foodborne illness outbreaks, fueled her determination to find a solution.

The need for PathSpot is clear. In 2024 alone, high-profile outbreaks and recalls exposed vulnerabilities across the food supply chain, including McDonald’s E. coli outbreak, Boar’s Head Listeria recall due to listeria, and Costco’s smoked salmon recall due to listeria.

These incidents highlight the ongoing challenges of restaurants, agricultural producers, and food manufacturers. The high turnover in the food industry makes consistent food safety standards and practical training crucial.

Schindler’s initial focus was hand hygiene, a leading cause of foodborne illness. She developed a hand-washing system using sensors and a digital platform to detect contaminants and ensure proper hygiene. This marked the birth of PathSpot, which was dedicated to creating a safer food world.

“PathSpot is the first company to provide a practical hand hygiene verification through its HandScanner,” said Dr. Bizhan Pourkomailian, Global Food Safety Director at McDonald’s. “The HandScanner is a reliable, fast, and practical tool to verify hand hygiene and allow staff to be self-aware and self-manage to achieve hand hygiene excellence.”

PathSpot quickly expanded. In 2022, it introduced a temperature monitoring platform. The following year, it launched a digital system for managing expiration dates and conducting food safety audits, building out the capabilities of its health tech platform for food safety.

Schindler initially focused on restaurants as her primary customer base, recognizing their critical need for improved hand hygiene and food safety practices. “As a longtime restaurant operator and advisor, the number one issue that kept me up at night was a foodborne illness outbreak at one of our restaurants, despite our relentless focus on safety and sanitation protocols,” explains Mitchell Lowe, founder at IXI Capital, PathSpot investor and advisor. “PathSpot alleviates that risk, revolutionizing food safety management by providing digital oversight of the most critical risk areas at a restaurant.”

The health tech platform for food safety benefited significantly from positive word-of-mouth marketing, as satisfied customers shared their experiences with peers and industry colleagues. This organic buzz generated valuable referrals and facilitated PathSpot’s expansion into other sectors within the food industry, including restaurant suppliers, food manufacturers, grocers, cafeterias, and hotels. Its reputation for delivering effective, user-friendly solutions and strong customer relationships fueled its growth and market penetration.

PathSpot’s innovation has garnered recognition, including Schindler’s inclusion in Forbes 30 Under 30 and being among the five UBS and Rent the Runway Foundation Project Entrepreneur 2018 Venture Competition winners. The company has raised $23 million and works with Marriott, Taco Bell, Arby’s, and Chopt locations among others.

PathSpot’s Food Safety Health Tech Hurdles

Building a successful startup is fraught with challenges. PathSpot’s health tech platform for the food safety journey was no exception. Schindler faced two significant hurdles: achieving product-market fit and scaling the company effectively.

“I think the first one is, how do you make sure you have a product that can really drive impact for the groups and organizations you’re trying to serve,” says Schindler. For a tech-savvy engineer, the instinct might be to hole up and emerge with a finished product. But Schindler knew the importance of getting out and listening to potential customers.

She spent hours with restaurant owners and operators, understanding their daily challenges and incorporating their feedback into PathSpot’s products. “Talk to me about your problem. Talk to me about what handwashing currently looks like. Talk to me about safety, what’s hard,” she would urge.

This customer-centric approach was instrumental in achieving product-market fit. By understanding the specific needs and pain points of her target audience, Schindler ensured that PathSpot’s health tech platform for food safety is innovative but also practical and user-friendly.

Once product-market fit was established, the next challenge was scaling the company. This involved expanding manufacturing capabilities, building robust data systems, and growing the team.

“Can you scale the manufacturing, the data, systems, the team?” she questioned. To address this, Schindler focused on building a diversified supply chain, developing scalable data infrastructure, and assembling a talented team with expertise in various areas.

With only a few years of prior work experience, Schindler also had to develop her leadership skills quickly. She achieved this by surrounding herself with a strong team, seeking guidance from experienced advisors and mentors, and continuously learning and adapting.

Talking to other founders who had navigated similar challenges, such as scaling hardware and software for restaurant technology platforms, provided invaluable support and shortcuts, preventing potential mistakes. These connections stemmed from shared investors and participation in women’s entrepreneurship groups, creating a network for exchanging experiences and learning.

Schindler and PathSpot are proving that health tech can be a powerful force for good in the food industry. By addressing the critical need for improved hand hygiene and expanding into a comprehensive food safety platform, PathSpot is protecting public health and transforming how businesses approach food safety.