 Ghost kitchens represent a small but growing segment of the foodservice industry. While Euromonitor research indicates there are currently about 1,500 ghost kitchens in the U.S., by 2030 these facilities are forecast to hold a 50 percent share of the drive-thru and takeout foodservice markets worldwide, according to Statista. Ghost kitchens have promise because of their ability to accommodate consumer demand for food variety, customized dishes and convenience in ways that preserve margins.
But the food safety challenges that ghost kitchens face can be steeper than those of their conventional counterparts. Sharing a kitchen can make cross-contamination harder to prevent and food safety consistency more difficult. Understaffing and high staff turnover can compound the problem – and the nonstandard working hours of the businesses operating these kitchens can make inspections inconsistent. Ghost kitchens rely on delivery drivers, which makes it challenging for operators to monitor quality and safety once food leaves the premises. They also rely on online platforms for communicating about allergens and ingredients, so any delays in updating those systems can put consumers at risk. What’s the best way to manage these hazards? Recently, Food Safety Magazine published results from an online survey, focus groups and interviews with environmental health offers and ghost kitchen operators. Respondents said formal food safety training for staff and delivery drivers would help, as well as more frequent inspections to encourage better adherence to food safety standards. Finding ways to ensure consistent practices was also a theme, with respondents suggesting comprehensive and specific guidelines for evaluating hygiene practices, allergen control and structural standards for all of the businesses sharing a kitchen. If you operate a kitchen alongside other businesses, what practices do you use to ensure food safety consistency?  Do digital orders represent a high percentage of your overall sales? According to data from the National Restaurant Association, digital orders comprised 16 percent of all foodservice orders in 2023, more than triple the pre-pandemic share. This may call for new approaches to managing food safety. Foodservice businesses cause the highest number of foodborne illness outbreaks each year, according to the CDC. While the CDC doesn’t currently track foodborne illness outbreaks resulting from digital online orders or delivery from foodservice businesses, these orders create new vulnerabilities for the industry. As a recent Food Safety Magazine article explained, digital orders can rapidly increase the scale of orders coming into a restaurant, making it easier for safety monitoring tasks to slip through the cracks. There is more room for miscommunication to food handlers regarding allergen-free meals, or for allergen messaging that is central to the in-restaurant ordering process to be overlooked in digital channels. Placing orders in the hands of delivery drivers introduces additional risks. Technology can help businesses manage many of these hazards – by automating preparation tasks, housing allergen data online, and dialing down the volume of digital orders when needed, for example. But safety plans are needed to back up these tools. That includes having a process HACCP plan for every menu item prepared in the kitchen – especially the items most commonly ordered for delivery. Managers can also help ensure ingredients approved for a recipe aren’t substituted in the moment. In the event of a surge in digital orders, designated digital prep lines can help protect the safety of orders for delivery. Businesses preparing food in a ghost kitchen that processes orders for other brands can introduce food safety specifications to protect their menu and manage cross-contamination risks. Finally, training employees on the approved preparation method for each menu item, including the hazard controls for each dish, can serve as a safety net that reinforces all other controls.
 Cold winter nights are just right for restaurant delivery. How confident are you in the food safety commitment of those bringing food to your guests? Whether they are third-party vendors or your own staff, their approach to transporting food can impact everything from the temperature at which an order is received, to whether the food of an allergic guest is safely kept separate from other items. Any new packaging you have introduced in recent months can call for additional adjustments in how orders are handled. What mechanisms do you have in place to assess your delivery safety risks so you can make adjustments as needed?
 Food freshness and safety go hand in hand. As many operators are leaning on smaller, local suppliers to shrink the supply chain, it’s still important to ask questions of these companies that can make the difference between receiving produce shortly after it is picked, or many hours later. A recent report from US Foods cited a key question that Michael Navarrette, executive chef at Café Luxembourg in New York, always asks any prospective vendor: Where am I on your delivery route? If produce is sitting on a truck in the heat of summer, it’s vulnerable to the spread of germs that subsequent washing may miss. Knowing how large the window is between the picking of the produce and its arrival at your door can make a difference in your food quality, safety and waste.
 Restaurant delivery is a tempting option on cold, dark winter nights – but less so if that order arrives lukewarm. Any hot food you send out the door and into the cold risks entering the temperature danger zone if not protected. Make sure your delivery providers are taking care to shield food from the elements in sealed, insulated bags – and are delivering within a reasonable time frame. On your end, it may also be helpful to include reheating instructions with delivery orders to help ensure your food is eaten at the proper temperature following delivery.
 Restaurant operators are being challenged to make their delivery menu items interesting, as well as appealing and safe to consume after a car trip. But when everything from coffee to ice cream is available and popular for delivery, food packaging becomes especially important. Your to-go packaging should lock out air and contaminants that can alter the integrity of the food being transported, so ensure lids and wrapping are sealed securely. When packing items for delivery, separate cold, hot and aromatic foods that could alter the temperature, taste and quality of the food or drink next to it.
 The intense heat people are experiencing in many parts of the country this summer, along with ongoing labor shortages and supply chain challenges, require some extra vigilance when to comes to food safety. Trucks may be taking longer to get foods to their destinations, providing more opportunities for food to be exposed to the temperature danger zone – particularly in record-breaking heat. Take extra care right now in checking deliveries to ensure food is being delivered at safe temperatures, is labeled with expected use-by dates, and shows no evidence of damage or decay (e.g. unsealed packaging or evidence of pests or freezer burn). Also be aware of foods that may be dangerous to eat due to the temperature spikes in parts of the country.
 A survey from US Foods found that 28 percent of delivery drivers said they had taken food from an order – and 50 percent of drivers had been tempted. It’s worth reviewing your delivery menu and removing items that are easy to pilfer – like fries – and using tamper-evident packaging and labels suited to the food and container to make sure everything arrives as it should. Paper-based labels can tear more easily than film-based labels and are more apt to show tampering if there is a removal attempt, but they also may not stand up as well to contact with liquids or condensation. Need a source for tamper evident solutions check out our selections from various vendors at https://www.foodserviceceo.com/tamper-evident-solutions.html
 It can be a challenging task for restaurants to ensure a takeout dish measures up to the quality of an in-restaurant meal – even more so in months where the temperatures can reach extremes. Now that off-premise meals of all types are common – from catering spreads to meal kits to single takeout orders – your off-premise transport safety practices may need a tune-up. As the weather warms, double check your safety protocols (and those of third-party vendors) to make sure you’re protecting food in transit. Ensure cold foods are packed so they remain cold, are kept separate from warm foods and beverages, and that you’ve taken steps to avoid the cross-contamination of foods (by wrapping animal proteins securely and cleaning and drying any whole fruits and vegetables included in an order).
Using a tamper-evident seal on your food for delivery is a small way to demonstrate your commitment to food safety – and an extra precaution you can take to protect food that is out of your hands during transit. These labels can serve multiple purposes, so you may be able to make yours work a little bit harder for you. Consider including reheating and handling instructions where needed, nutritional or allergy information, or even branding information such as your website, logo or social media handles on your labels. You can purchase food safety seals at Amazon, we have provided a link below.
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