You can use your Smartphone to find restaurants near your location, pursue menus, read customer reviews and easily make reservations. With modern software, there are even apps available that will allow you to order meals delivered directly to your door. This week, we’ve decided to explore Smartphone delivery apps and whether or not they fall under ServSafe MN guidelines.
Who Monitors the ServSafe MN Procedures of Delivery App Drivers?
One of the concerns that we have when it comes to using a food delivery app is what precautions are being taken to ensure that your food will be handled in a safe manner. Let’s look at the three types of delivery apps that exist:
- Major restaurant chain apps
- Apps that order from restaurants that deliver
- Third-party courier apps
In the case of the first two options on our list, your delivery drivers will be employees of the restaurant that prepares the food. The site ServSafe MN Manager can train the drivers in proper safe food handling procedures. In the case of third-party apps, customers place their order with the third-party, not the restaurant that prepares the food. In this scenario, the delivery app is the customer of the restaurant. There seems to be a gray area as to whether the delivery app is required to have received any ServSafe MN food-safety training.
Many food courier services are outside the jurisdiction of your local health department. Your meal has been paid. The third-party app driver is simply picking it up at the restaurant and bringing to your door. Our understanding is that they do not need to be food safety certified, and are not responsible for the quality of the food that arrives at your door. It is unclear at this time if there will be any adjustments to the food code to make sure that food couriers are abiding by food safety regulation.
Protecting Food Safety While Using Delivery Apps
In speaking with a few restaurant owners, we have found some that have expressed concerns with the growing popularity of food delivery apps. Their major issue with these apps is the fact that the delivery drivers do not represent them or their business. This means that they may be putting the quality of their product in the hands of a courier. A delivery app that may not have the restaurants best interests in mind. If a guest receives a cold dinner or a carton of sandwiches that appears to have barely survived a rugby match, their displeasure may not be with delivery service, but with the restaurant itself.
We’d like to know how you feel about delivery apps. Do you prefer to order directly from the source? or Do you feel that third-party food couriers are just as reliable?