Restaurant Food Safety: Best Face Forward
Concerns about food safety don't end when plates leave the kitchen.
By Kate Leahy, Senior Associate Editor -- Restaurants & Institutions, March 1, 2009
You have to monitor your fundamentals constantly because the only thing that changes will be your attention to them. The fundamentals will never change.”
Michael Jordan was talking about sports in that passage from his 1994 book “I Can’t Accept Not Trying” (Harper One), but John Isbell, director of training and development for Glendale, Calif.-based IHOP and president of the Council of Hotel and Restaurant Trainers, says Air Jordan’s words could just as accurately sum up how managers should approach food safety. Proper hygiene practices—washing hands frequently and using scoopers to fill glasses with ice at the bar, for example—are perennially important, but attention to these fundamentals can slip without monitoring and enforcement. It is particularly true in the front of the house, where managers oversee employees of varied ages, experience levels and responsibilities.
The Importance of Being Earnest
Maintaining food-safety standards always is crucial, but recent foodborne-illness incidents have renewed discussion of best practices. Last August, Chicago-based consulting firm Technomic reported that 43% of consumers are extremely concerned about the safety of restaurant food, while 36% said they are somewhat concerned. Asked the reason for their concern, nearly three in five consumers answered it’s because they typically can’t see how food in restaurants is handled.
One effective way operators can put customers at ease is to make sure front-of-house employees put their best practices on full display.
“The front of the house and the way that they handle and groom themselves is a reflection of the cleanliness of the back of the house,” says Cynthia Ann Chandler, a registered dietitian and a food-safety instructor at Sullivan University’s National Center for Hospitality Studies in Louisville, Ky. “Your front of the house [image] sells your food. They are your cover page.”
Training Time
Food-safety fundamentals don’t necessarily change from the front of the house to the back (for a list, see “Check It Twice,” at left). What’s different are the areas of concern. Bussers and servers can contaminate flatware and glassware if their hands aren’t clean. Expediters can pass germs to tables if they aren’t using clean towels to wipe the rims of plates leaving the kitchen. Bartenders can taint beverages when using their fingers to place lemon wedges onto glasses. Risks increase if the operation maintains a self-serve salad bar. For these reasons, all employees should be trained—and regularly reminded—of food-safety basics so that they can identify and avoid potential cross-contamination situations. “The front of the house needs to understand that it is also their responsibility to clean and sanitize,” Chandler says.
Methods for training service staff vary. “I’m a big proponent of 'one-size-fits-one’ training,” Isbell says. “Everyone learns differently. There might be some people who learn best by watching videos. Have sanitation videos available for them. Other people might learn better on the job. Have them shadow someone who is excellent with food sanitation. And managers always need to lead by example.”
When training Gen Y workers in particular, “the 'why’ is just as important as the 'how,’” Isbell says, explaining that younger employees are more likely to embrace food-safety practices when they understand what such actions might prevent.
Any food safety training program should instill in front-of-the-house as well as back-of-the-house employees a sense of urgency to ensure that even in the busiest moments they follow proper procedures to prevent the spread of germs to customers.
“The front of the house is the last go-between between the food and the customer,” Chandler says. “If the kitchen is sanitary and the chefs and cooks are well-trained but the front of the house is either ill-trained or careless, you can undo all that preparation.”
Contact writer at kate.leahy@reedbusiness.com
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