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. 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). If your restaurant is making environmentally friendly changes like minimizing waste and using reusable, compostable or recyclable packaging products, the cleaning products you use can also be part of the story you share with guests. If you’re thinking about adopting greener cleaning practices or finding less toxic products to clean and sanitise your facility, look for the Green Seal, Environmental Choice Program, Greenguard or Chlorine Free Products Association labels on products, or ask Team Four about how you can safely make eco-friendly (and budget-friendly) changes to the products you use. In times when labor is in short supply, restaurants often have to revisit what tasks are essential. Unfortunately, that often means focusing on food preparation and food-related customer service at the expense of other important tasks happening behind the scenes. Cleaning practices may suffer as a result. Your restroom maintenance is one area that might easily slip off of your list of priorities, but do your best to keep it on the list. A survey from Harris Interactive found that 50 percent of restaurant guests who had a negative experience with a restaurant bathroom will mention it to friends and family. Based on that bad experience, whether it relates to dirty toilets, bad odors or something else, your guests are apt to make assumptions about the level of care you put into your food and food safety (and opt for a different restaurant next time). Make sure you don’t leave guests with a bad impression before they even have a chance to taste your food. At a time when energy prices are high and it’s more important than ever to make efficient use of labor and time in restaurants, your equipment needs to do its job well. When it comes to cleaning tableware, how well does your dishwasher do? Is it ever necessary to rewash items or polish them by hand? Depending on what kinds of new foods you’re bringing to the menu, you may need to make some changes. A recent Restaurant Business report says that beyond proper racking and scraping of tableware prior to loading in the dishwasher, you may need to consider new washing products that are designed to remove high-protein foods or other foods that call for tableware to be washed differently. Restaurants are having to do more with less, make training new staff as straightforward as possible, and uphold safety protocols – so where any processes can be made easier, why not make a change? Cleaning products are one example. They should be simple to use. Can your cleaning products be used in a variety of applications and locations across your restaurant? The food safety company Ecolab advises restaurants to make the cleaning process less complex by using multifunctional cleansers specifically designed to require fewer steps, less time and less dependency on certain temperatures. Consumers still care a lot about restaurant safety – and according to a new Deloitte survey of 1,000 consumers who had eaten in a restaurant in recent months, they want to see it in action. More than half of the respondents (55 percent) said they would be willing to pay 10-15 percent more at a restaurant if they were told about the safety and cleanliness measures the business was taking to protect their food during transport and preparation. Further, consumers are noticing both traditional cleaning measures and more recent Covid-safety measures more acutely right now. Find ways to make your safety efforts more visible – in cleaning surfaces around your facility, preparing food or protecting employees and guests, and even with signage that explains all you’re doing to protect the people you’re serving and employing Poultry may be an especially hot commodity right now amid supply chain strains, but don’t let that result in the relaxation of any food safety standards on your part. Poultry is still among the top commodities responsible for foodborne illness, so it’s especially important to take care when preparing it. Keep raw poultry and its juices away from other foods during preparation and refrigeration. Don’t wash poultry, which can contaminate nearby surfaces. Cook it to an internal temperature of 165°F and ensure an accurate measure by inserting the thermometer into the thickest areas, avoiding bone. Cleaning was once something restaurant employees tried to keep hidden behind the scenes. But now, your guests take comfort in knowing what you do to keep your facility clean and limit the spread of illness. What’s more, they are more likely to be watching what your team does to maintain safety between guests and during the course of a busy shift. Make your cleaning procedures a continuous part of your training and empower employees to take responsibility for safety within your business, knowing they have your backing. Wherever possible, employ digital tools to keep track of cleaning tasks that might be overlooked during a busy period and to provide regular alerts to staff about tasks that need to be completed. |
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