Case study: how Hilton Food Group simplified supplier auditing

In this case study we explore how one of the world’s leading food businesses cut audit admin by 40% and gained full visibility across 240+ supplier audits.

About Hilton Food Group

Hilton Food Group is a leading international food packaging and processing business, supplying major retailers across the UK, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. With a product portfolio that spans red meat, seafood, and plant-based alternatives, Hilton is known for its commitment to innovation, sustainability, and quality.

Operating across a global supply chain, the company works closely with its retail partners to uphold rigorous standards in safety, traceability, and performance - delivering consistent quality to consumers around the world.

Scaling audits was creating new bottlenecks

Hilton Food Group is no stranger to high standards. As a global supplier of meat, seafood and plant-based products, the company is committed to maintaining consistent quality and compliance across international supply chains.

To support that, Hilton conducts supplier audits across all its regions. But with over 130 audits per year - and that number increasing as more suppliers were onboarded - the process was becoming hard to manage.

Audits were carried out using printed templates and handwritten notes, with teams uploading photos manually and retyping reports into digital formats. Internal sign-offs were handled via email, and following up on supplier actions meant chasing information across disconnected systems.

The result? A process that worked - but didn’t scale.

A centralised solution built for scale

To overcome these challenges, Hilton partnered with Foods Connected to digitise its supplier auditing process.

The goal was to replace fragmented workflows with one mobile-compatible platform—where audits could be created, completed, tracked and closed out in one place.

With the new solution, Hilton’s teams could:

• Access tailored audit templates directly from site
• Upload photos and notes in real time (even offline)
• Track audit statuses and close-outs centrally
• Automate reporting and trend dashboards for senior teams

What had previously taken hours of admin could now be completed and shared instantly—giving the team back valuable time and reducing the risk of missed issues or inconsistent formats.

Doubling audits without doubling the workload

Since rolling out the digital auditing system, Hilton has seen clear and measurable improvements.

• Audit volume increased from 130 to over 240 annually
• Admin time was reduced by 30–40%
• Close-outs became faster and easier to track
• Reports and dashboards are now generated automatically
• Senior teams gained real-time visibility into audit progress and performance

These improvements have helped Hilton scale its auditing efforts without scaling workload—supporting a 320% return on investment from the new approach.

Setting the foundations for long-term compliance

By digitising their auditing system, Hilton didn’t just improve operational efficiency—they laid the groundwork for a more agile, future-ready compliance model.

With better data quality, increased traceability, and faster follow-up, the team can now respond quicker to issues, track long-term trends, and improve supplier performance with confidence.

If you'd like to discover more about how Hilton Food Group transformed their supplier audits, you can get your own copy of the full case study here.

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