When it comes to providing quality food to guests in the restaurant industry, it is important to have a good foundation in food safety. while some health department jurisdictions require at least one certified food safety manager at all times a restaurant is open, some only require one certified manager for the entire operation. Certifications for employees are available, but are generally not required in any jurisdiction.
With the recent COVID-19 pandemic, restaurants are starting to work towards better food safety practices. Even ServSafe, one of the certification companies for employees and managers has been offering the employee course for free during the months of April and May 2020.
While increasing food safety practices is always a good idea, the object will be for restaurants to keep working towards providing safe food and a safe environment for their guests. With restaurants having been open for an average of two weeks, as of the writing of this blog post, several restaurants around the country are already being accused of NOT keeping up with the guidelines established for them to re-open.
Unfortunately, with food inspections most likely going back to the regular operating schedule (once or twice a year based on location and funding), catching restaurants that are becoming deficient in their safety practices will be few and far between as pretty much all business decisions are based on money, and following proper safety procedures costs money.
I was explaining this to a friend recently that mentioned that buffets need to start remodeling for cafe style buffet instead of the current self-service style. Because of the current pandemic, cafe style will last for a while, then buffet owners will begin transitioning back to self-service so that they do not have to pay employees to serve the food.
As I stated previously, food safety should be the foundation upon which a restaurant should build. In the past, I have taught my students about what I call the “Triangle of Service”, seen here:
The Triangle of Service is something I have discovered while evaluating just about every restaurant available (before the pandemic). In my evaluation, I found that of the three items listed: Quality, Speed of Service, and Food Safety, a restaurant can ONLY do two of the three items effectively and must sacrifice the third item.
For example:
1. Jack-In-The-Box: Quality (Yes), Speed of Service (No), Food Safety (Yes)
2. In & Out Burger: Quality (Yes), Speed of Service (No), Food Safety (Yes)
3. Taco Bell: Quality (No), Speed of Service (Yes), Food Safety (TBD)
4. Olive Garden: Quality (Yes), Speed of Service (No), Food Safety (Yes)[yes, I know there are those of you that will disagree with my assessment on that one]
Now, this isn’t to say that EVERY restaurant excels in two of the three items. There are some that may not be able to accomplish ANY of the items in my Triangle of Service. Depending on location, I am sure many of you would say that several fast food restaurants are unable to complete all three, and I am sure there are several that will argue that they feel it IS possible to accomplish all three.
Unfortunately, in my 30 years experience in food service and my 25 years experience in food safety, I have found that a restaurant cannot accomplish all three items. Speed of Service is just too demanding of an item that to move quicker, either quality or sanitation must be sacrificed, as corners are cut somewhere. Whether it be in failing to cook items to proper temperatures or failing to wash hands to prevent cross-contamination. If the quality of the product isn’t diminished, then something in sanitation was missed.
So the question becomes, how do we fix it. Unfortunately, we have become a society dominated by instant gratification. Luckily, several restaurants have been focusing on Quality and Food Safety and ignoring speed of service that their business models have expanded over the years. Places like In & Out, Whataburger, Jack-In-The-Box, plus many others, have been working on making quality and sanitation more important that speed of service.
Until the other places that focus more on speed of service can slow down, it will be almost impossible to fix the issue with guests demanding instant gratification for every meal.
As always, if you have any questions or comments about my post, please feel free to contact me.