 Only 49 percent of companies have a formal food safety culture plan, according to a recent survey from Quality Assurance Magazine. Is yours among them? And even if it is, does your plan lay the right groundwork for a strong food safety culture throughout your organization? In the hectic day-to-day management of a restaurant, it can be difficult to take a step back from tactical safety procedures and consider your approach to food safety from a broader, more strategic perspective. But doing so can help you ensure you’re not just ticking items off a checklist, but that you’re protecting the reputation and longevity of your business. In a recent report in Modern Restaurant Management, food safety expert Francine Shaw mentions the key ingredients that make for a robust plan. The plan should go beyond policies and tap into a key goal that can be baked into employees’ attitudes, behaviors and overall values. To accomplish this, employees have to understand the “why” behind the plan. For example, what can go wrong for a guest or the business when food safety isn’t prioritized? Who are the human faces behind foodborne illness? Reinforce these messages in ongoing training that holds people accountable, empowers them to take action and speak up when they have concerns, and rewards them for upholding your standards. Use technology to take what you already do well and elevate it – with real-time safety prompts, transparency, and additional data that informs you of areas that need attention. All of these messages will have greater power when your restaurant’s leaders demonstrate their commitment to them and set an example for the rest of the business.
 Review your disaster response plan
A pandemic, record-setting inflation, supply-chain struggles, weather emergencies. As punishing as these times continue to be for the foodservice industry, they may also be affirming times for those who have managed to keep operations going. The businesses that are in the best position to survive in this dynamic environment tend to be those that have planned for emergencies. For better or worse, foodservice businesses are among the last businesses to close before a disaster and among the first expected to reopen after one, which makes emergency planning critical to keeping your staff and guests safe, protecting your operation’s sensitive information, and getting back on track quickly after a crisis. Your disaster response plan is one piece of this effort. Your plan should establish a team with designated roles to help you manage in a crisis and include up-to-date information on emergency contacts, insurance coverages (limits may have changed in the current market), communication protocols and other information you need to manage the resources your business needs to resume operations after an interruption. If you need help, or simply a review of what’s important to have on hand, the National Restaurant Association recently released a guide entitled Always Ready: Natural Disasters to help restaurants prepare. It brings together best practices from human resources and risk managers from independent and national restaurant brands to recommend actions for operators to take before, during and after a natural disaster. You can find the guide at www.restaurant.org. |
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