Our Story
CadiTrack - a local initiative
My name is Jason Andrews. With a lot of help and support from friends, family and colleagues, I developed CadiTrack.
Several years ago, after many years running my software company in Vancouver, my family and I moved to Cortes Island seeking a slower pace of life. We soon met Ryan Harvey, who helped us unload our moving truck. I learned that Ryan and his wife Lovena owned Gathering Place Trading (“GPT”), which imports organic teas, spices and sea salt from ethical producers around the world. As I settled into the island’s community, I began helping local business owners with their financial and operational processes.
Lovena asked me to help GPT implement a paper-based ingredient tracing process to satisfy food safety regulations. The manual system met their needs initially, but as the business was growing rapidly, they needed automation of tracking procedures to allow the limited staff to focus on day-to-day operations. I offered to help GPT procure a digital traceability system and we soon discovered there were no suitable solutions available.
Either the traceability functionality was too limited, or else it was embedded within a complex and costly suite of applications that were not relevant to GPT’s needs.
GPT’s accounting and inventory systems worked well - they just needed basic traceability functionality to satisfy food safety regulations (HACCP - Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point) and organic certification requirements.
Frustrated by the lack of suitable solutions, I decided to develop a stand-alone system that any food producer could use - and that was the genesis of Caditrack!
Caditrack’s core requirements were to provide end-to-end product traceability, including lot tracking, staff and equipment contact histories. It needed to be compliant with a wide range of certification standards. It needed to be compatible with any accounting or inventory systems. Most most importantly, it needed to have a simple browser interface that even users with limited technical expertise could use, and find useful.
GPT implemented Caditrack in spring 2021. Even the technophobes among GPT’s staff quickly took to the system. Caditrack was developed as a cloud-based, software as a service application, meaning it does not require any hardware or software, other than a web browser. It can serve as a stand-alone system or be integrated with accounting or inventory systems. PwC (Pricewaterhouse Coopers, an international consultancy) reviewed and approved Caditrack for British Columbia’s Traceability Adoption program - in fact, the province has now included Caditrack on the Grant's Vendor List.
I have had opportunities to meet with many entrepreneurs in the food industry. I am inspired by their passion for growing their businesses and I appreciate their need for simple solutions. With its easily integrated traceability solution, Caditrack mitigates risks associated with potentially devastating product recalls, helps businesses obtain and maintain compliance with food safety and other standards, and provides process efficiencies to enable these businesses to flourish.