Fractional QA & Food Safety Manager
A Quality & Food Safety Manager who has run a certified plant. Without the full-time salary.
Senior QA without the full-time hire. We step in as your fractional Quality & Food Safety Manager (QFSM): SQF audit prep, your food safety plan as outside PCQI, supplier and co-man oversight, and a senior person on call when something goes wrong. You get two of us, Glenn and Liz Ward, both SQF Practitioners and PCQIs, so your program never depends on one person’s calendar. Built for snack plants and established brands.
Two SQF Practitioners · Two PCQIs · Ran a 36,000 ft² SQF-certified plant · 150+ brands across formulation and operations
Who it’s for
Most of our QFSM clients call us for one of these reasons.
Your SQF audit is coming and you’re not ready.
Documents are out of date, the last internal audit was skipped, and the auditor shows up in eight weeks.
Your QA manager just left.
Someone has to own the food safety plan, verify records, and support release decisions while you hire, or instead of hiring.
A customer raised the bar.
A retailer or a bigger buyer now requires GFSI certification, supplier approval paperwork, or tighter specs.
Something went wrong.
A major nonconformance, an FDA inspection finding, a customer complaint trend, or a near-miss recall.
Nobody on your team owns quality at your co-packer.
Specs, lab results, co-man audits and corrective actions are falling through the cracks.
Built for snack plants and co-packers with roughly 10 to 150 employees, and established brands that run on co-packers. Cookies, granola, puffed and extruded snacks, slab bars.
What a Fractional QFSM does
The work of a senior QA manager, scheduled around what your plant actually needs.
Owns the food safety plan.
We act as your outside PCQI: hazard analysis, preventive controls, and the annual reanalysis. Your facility stays responsible for the plan; we write it, keep it current and reanalyze it with you.
Keeps you audit-ready all year.
Monthly record verification, internal audits, and corrective actions closed and verified before audit day.
Backs up your SQF Practitioner.
We coach the person who holds the role and cover the system when they’re out. The SQF Code requires that person to be your employee.
Runs supplier and co-man oversight.
Supplier approval, specs, lab results, and on-site co-man audits.
Trains your people.
GMPs, allergen control, sanitation and HACCP refreshers on the floor, not just in a binder.
Answers the phone when it matters.
Holds, complaints, inspections and recall readiness, with a senior call back the same business day.
You get a monthly report: what we checked, what we found, what’s fixed, and what’s next.
Ways to work with us
Start with a sprint, or bring us on as your QFSM.
Every plant is different, so we quote each engagement at a fixed price after a 20-minute call.
SQF Audit-Ready Sprint
Best for: a plant with an audit coming in 6 to 10 weeks.
Gap assessment, document and program fixes, staff prep, a full mock audit, and support during the audit. Three on-site days.
Fractional QFSM: Essentials
Best for: smaller plants and brands with a stable program.
About 30 hours a month and one plant day: monthly verification, internal audits, outside PCQI and on-call support.
Fractional QFSM: Plant
Best for: plants that lost a QA manager or are growing fast.
About 50 hours a month and two to three plant days: everything in Essentials, plus your supplier program, training and audit hosting.
Co-Man Oversight
Best for: established brands making product at co-packers.
Annual co-man audits, spec and lab-results review, first-run attendance, and corrective actions.
Retainers run month to month after a three-month start. Sprint clients who move to a retainer within 60 days get half the sprint fee credited to their first three months.
Why Snackteva
We’ve been the ones holding the clipboard, and the ones being audited.
Glenn and Liz Ward ran a 36,000 ft² SQF-certified snack plant together, and both of them do the QFSM work. Glenn spent about 30 years in food manufacturing and is a certified SQF Practitioner and PCQI. Liz ran R&D at that plant, holds PCQI, FDQI, SQF Practitioner and Recall Coordinator credentials, and is leading an active QFSM engagement today. Between them, they’ve lived both sides of the audit: building the program, training the line, and standing next to the auditor when the questions get hard.
Most food safety consultants know the code. We also know what it takes to keep a line running while you meet it. Across formulation and operations, we’ve worked with 150+ brands and plants, so we’ve seen most of the ways programs break.
Two senior operators, not one.
We’ve both run the shifts, the sanitation crews and the holds. If one of us is on another plant floor, the other picks up your call.
Snack specialists.
Cookies, granola, puffed and extruded snacks, slab bars.
Straight answers.
If you’re not ready for an audit, we’ll tell you, and what it takes to get there.
Before you ask
Straight answers.
What is a fractional QFSM?
A senior Quality & Food Safety Manager you share. With Snackteva you get two: Glenn and Liz both work on your account. You get the experience of a full-time QA leader for a set number of hours and plant days each month, for a fraction of the cost of a full-time hire.
Can you be our SQF Practitioner?
No. The SQF Code requires the designated practitioner to be your own employee. We train and back up the person in that role, keep the system running, and serve as your outside PCQI under FSMA.
How often will you be at our plant?
It depends on the plan: one plant day a month on Essentials, two to three on Plant. Between visits we review records remotely and are on call. Both of us know your program, so visits and calls never wait on one person.
Do you work outside Washington?
Yes. We’re based in Spokane and work with plants and brands across the U.S. Plants in Washington, Idaho, Oregon and Montana are usually a day’s drive away.
We already have a QA person. Is this for us?
Often, yes. Many clients use us to support a newer QA lead, cover gaps, or handle audits and co-man oversight so their team can focus on the floor.
How much does it cost?
We quote a fixed price for each engagement once we know your products, your certification and your next audit date. Retainers run month to month after a three-month start.
How do we start?
Book a 20-minute call. We’ll ask about your products, your certification, and your next audit, then recommend a sprint, a retainer, or neither.
Start here
Your next audit is already on the calendar.
Tell us where your program stands. In 20 minutes we’ll tell you what it needs, and whether we’re the right fit.
Rather write than call?
Tell us about your plant and what’s coming up. Glenn or Liz will reply within two business days.