Warming temperatures call for cool drinks. What’s a lot less appealing is the idea of bio-slime sneaking into beverages because you’re not up to date with the cleaning of your ice machines and soda guns. Regular cleaning of this equipment can be overlooked, especially when labor is tight – and these items are often cited in restaurant inspections as a result. Each day at closing, soda guns should be cleaned, ice wells emptied and sanitized, and ice machine surfaces wiped down. Each week, spray and wipe down the surfaces inside coolers as well. If these are trouble spots for you, consider a training update for team members who need a brush-up on cleaning procedures and frequency. Three years since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, we’re still living in times where food safety and cleanliness represent the hospitality a restaurant offers. But knowing where to focus can be challenging amid labor shortages. To help operators zero in on the areas that deliver the greatest benefit, Steritech developed a poster to promote the top four critical cleaning tasks in fast casual, quick service and casual restaurants. In fast casual restaurants, for example, it focuses on nonfood contact surfaces, food contact surfaces, general facility cleanliness and pest entry and harborage, then lists specific examples of what those categories cover and what best practices to follow to keep those areas clean. The Steritech website includes downloadable posters if your staff could benefit from such reminders. As effective as single-use gloves may be in protecting safety in your restaurant, they can also lull staff and guests into a false sense of security. If these gloves are part of the personal protective equipment your staff wears when serving food, ensure your team follows several procedures to ensure they are keeping food safe: Before donning gloves, wash hands thoroughly. Change gloves before touching ready-to-eat foods, before starting a new task, after handling raw meat and after four hours of continuous use. Gloves that are torn or become dirty outside of those times should be changed as well. Summer is the peak season for food poisoning, according to the Centers for Disease Control. The warm temperatures make it easy for chilled foods to enter the temperature danger zone and for foodborne bacteria to multiply. If you’re preparing and serving food outdoors or transporting foods for service outside of your facility, take some extra precautions when storing, thawing and transporting animal proteins. Store raw meat, poultry and seafood separately from (and/or below) other foods when refrigerating – and keep them refrigerated until ready to grill. When transporting these items, keep them at 40°F or cooler. These foods should be thawed in the refrigerator, in cold water or in the microwave – never on the counter. Digital tools and other systems that enable kitchen automation may at first sound like items suited to deep-pocketed, well-resourced restaurants, but they can help any restaurant save potentially significant money in the long term – by minimizing the labor hours required for tasks and preventing unsafe food from reaching guests. One simple example: Bluetooth thermometers that take food temperatures and then automatically add the results to a digital HACCP log. This removes a time-consuming, error-prone manual process from the to-do list, gives you a ready-made record to present during inspections, and provides a means of prompting staff when temperatures approach the danger zone. The thermometers can alert staff to the problem so they can take immediate steps to ensure the food isn’t served to guests. Food trucks can be a great tool for spreading the word about your business – but they can also pose challenges to your food safety procedures and make any slip-ups more visible to customers and passing foot traffic. Make sure you take good care with these major areas of concern when you’re operating away from your regular facility: Keep food at the correct temperature – don’t allow items that need to be refrigerated to sit out. Ensure staff uphold the hygiene of your business by wearing protective gear, handling food and money separately and with care, keeping long hair tied back and hands and nails clean, and cleaning messes and spills promptly to avoid attracting pests. The Tasting Table also mentions a couple of items that could be red flags for people considering whether or not to order from a food truck: a large menu (you’re more apt to be able to manage safe food storage and preparation if you have a simple menu) and a sink overflowing with dirty tools and dishes (it makes people suspect that washing up – whether utensils or hands – isn’t a priority for staff). Has a guest ever voiced a food safety concern to you about your restaurant? It’s not something you or your staff will ever enjoy hearing, but your response can go a long way in improving both the physical safety of your guests and the reputational consequences for your business. First, ensure your staff take any report seriously – even if it’s the first time they have heard such a complaint. Gather information from the person about what they ate and when, as well as any symptoms they have been experiencing. Check food safety protocols (and the food itself, if the item is still being served) to determine if there were any gaps in safety procedures at the time the person was served. Contact health authorities for additional guidance and then follow up with the guest or guests who have been affected – both to share updates on your efforts to investigate the problem and to make sure they are okay. The warmer weather on the way will beckon people outdoors – and to restaurants that serve outside. Even if you have been serving outside through the winter, your spring and summer setup likely requires some changes in protocol. Now is a good time to make sure your business is ready to shift gears and ensure that you have a number of safeguards in place: This includes weather protection like shades, heaters or maybe even cooling mists for guests; traffic protections – both foot traffic and auto traffic – to ensure roads and pathways next to and through your outdoor seating areas are free from obstructions; fire safety precautions and training if you’re using outdoor heaters or cooking outdoors; and food safety and sanitation procedures to ensure food is served safely and outdoor surfaces are cleaned and sanitized regularly. |
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