News

Nando's Restaurants is to start live trials of the Timestrip smart labelling system in selected restaurants in South Africa.

Nando's, which operates 700 restaurants in five continents, has completed product testing of the technology. Trials will start in around 30 stores in the Western Cape region to quantify savings achieved through reducing wastage and to assess the food safety benefits associated with the Timestrip label.

The news comes days after Timestrip announced it was urgently looking to raise funds before it runs out of cash at the end of May. The firm wants to arrange an equity placing on the Alternative Investment Market because at the end of March 2008 it had only £440,000 in cash.

Two suppliers to Nando's will trial Timestrip smart labels to assess how the technology helps to guarantee the condition of products shipped through the cold chain.

Jeffrey Bloch, group technical director of Nando's, said: "We are committed to the quality of the thousands of meals that are served worldwide by Nando's every day and I am excited to be moving from the product testing phase to in-store trials."