Chains Step Up Internal Food-Safety Programs
Industry leaders promote food safety with heightened attention to sanitation
By Janice Matsumoto, Associate Editor -- Restaurants & Institutions, July 15, 2002
While restaurant chains differ in design, menu and execution, all work to meet or surpass the same food-safety guidelines. Recent initiatives at chains include monthly quality assurance inspections, chainwide HACCP (hazard analysis and critical control point) implementation and supervision of food processing partners.
At Baja Fresh Mexican Grill, confidence in back-of-the-house sanitation procedures is so strong that some units’ walk-in coolers feature a window that forms part of a dining room wall. The chain’s assurance is based in part on a staff of seven inspectors—all past Baja Fresh unit managers and all food-safety certified—charged with ensuring each of the Thousand Oaks, Calif.-based chain’s 170 units is checked monthly.
A typical three-hour inspection, conducted monthly, covers all aspects of food safety, from checking that foods are cooled properly to confirming that products are labeled and rotated.
“If inspectors find something wrong, they train [staff] immediately on correct procedures,” says Peter Whitwall, Baja Fresh vice president of franchise operations and quality assurance.
Laptop computers and an intranet connection keep pertinent data at hand. “When they check on a restaurant, inspectors have the previous record as well, along with information on how the operation team reacted and what the action plan was,” Whitwell says.
A newly implemented HACCP program has standardized food safety at 140 units of Carlsbad, Calif.-based Rubio’s Restaurants. “We’ve always been food-safety oriented, now we’re state of the art,” says Kim Menzies, director of food and beverage, who with Quality Assurance Manager Michael Moomjian, spearheaded the move.
The companywide effort relies on store managers trained in HACCP to educate their teams. Workers learn cleaning and sanitizing steps as well as proper use of comprehensive HACCP checklists to track cooking and food-storage temperatures.
Golden, Colo.-based Boston Market ensures both food safety and quality at the food-supplier level by sending its own auditors on plant inspections rather than relying on governmental checks.
“Our audits are done by a firm we’ve hired and trained, which can convey Boston Market’s [food culture] to vendors and identify critical control points,” says John McHarge, senior director of technical services.
Although the service costs up to 25% more than general industry plant inspections, the chain values the investment. “This way we know what a vendor’s capabilities are, and they [learn] our expectations. You won’t get that from paying for a standard audit.”
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