Hey Chef.
I'm up here in snowy Quebec.
As you will have very quickly noticed, the moderators in this forum are GODS. I worship them. They are so benevolent and all-knowing! <3 You'll find a wealth of info without even having to ask, there is so much GOLDEN info in this forum already, it will blow you away.
I have a small hand-batch custom manufacturing kitchen near Montreal, 3 employees. We're currently limited to processed products, but we're hoping to expand our offerings to include all small batch food manufacturing, which includes a fresh/ready meal line, fish and meat. I'm not sure how big your kitchen is, but I've installed (sloppily) the vestiges of FSSC 22000:2005 in our small kitchen in the middle of BF nowhere. 22000's not yet certifiable, although we are so close I can taste it. We regularly pass both Organic and Fair Trade standards faster than anyone in the region, though. Our next - and hopefully final - mock audit is in June.
We started in 2015, It's a ton of work, we have now run 4 mock audits, mostly passing the fourth, (feeling smug). It's not an easy thing to implement but this forum, has been really helpful.
My husband is our chef, I'm the resident geek, so we are working together on putting the whole program into place. Feel welcome to reach out to me, as well. I'm no expert, by a long-shot, but I can, at least commiserate. This has been like taking the library of Congress and squishing it into a bookmobile. Use the KISS principle) and with your focus on food safety, and you'll rock it out.
Hi to FlotoYo, I look forward to seeing your posts as well, as ISO 22002 is our next target standard.