ServSafe Managers Delivering Holiday Takeout Meals

4 Simple Tips For ServSafe Managers Offering Holiday Takeout Service

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With the current COVID-19 crisis and the limits on large gatherings in public places, we predict that many families who traditionally eat their holiday meals in restaurants will choose to order their family dinners for takeout rather than dine in a restaurant or banquet hall. Cooking and packaging large dinners for holiday festivities presents a challenge for food managers who may not be accustomed to this type of service. This week, we’ll take a look at how ServSafe Managers can overcome those challenges and offer advice on how to make sure the holiday takeout dinners you provide are safe from foodborne illness.

ServSafe Managers Delivering Holiday Takeout Meals
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How ServSafe Food Managers Can Provide Safe Holiday Takeout

For most of the year, takeout is pretty simple. A customer calls in their order and then it’s prepared for either delivery or ready when a guest arrives to pick it up. The process for holiday style dinners will have to include a more detailed plan due to the nature of these types of meals. Turkeys, hams and pork roasts take much longer to cook, side dishes must be produced in greater quantities and restaurants will require much more hot-holding space if they wish to provide heated Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners to their guests. So how can ServSafe managers pull off holiday takeouts safely?

Here’s a few suggestions:

  • Require a deadline for pre-order
  • Provide defined pickup and delivery times
  • Package hot product in reasonable portions
  • Offer ready-to-cook meals

Preparing, cooking and packaging large meals is a huge endeavor, but you can make it easier by having an exact count of how many meals you’re required to prepare. Setting a deadline before your food supplier’s last delivery date before the holiday can give you an advantage. If you fail to adhere to a strict deadline, you run the risk of running out of product to fill orders or simply not having the production capacity to cook and prepare meals in the event of a massive influx of families looking for last-minute solutions. It’s also helpful to have precise times for guests to pick up their meals. This allows for an easier pace and will ease any congestion should we still be under COVID-19 capacity restrictions around the holidays.

In order to keep food safe from the spread of bacteria, it’s important to prepare food in reasonable portions. Most restaurants don’t have the hot-holding equipment to keep large amounts of roasts, turkeys, and hams out of the danger zone. Keeping reasonable portions on hand will allow you to prepare more food throughout the day and slice and package during the appropriate pickup window. Offering ready-to-cook meals is another option to reduce food-safety risks. If your customers can grab prepped meals and heat them at home, this will reduce your need for hot-holding and still provide an unforgettable holiday experience.

Do you plan on offering Thanksgiving, Christmas or other holiday meals for delivery and takeout?

Highlights from New consumer Food Safety Confidence Study

Highlights From New Consumer Food Safety Confidence Survey

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As a supply chain innovator, Zebra Technologies manufactures high-tech products that help businesses manage and monitor their supply chain. Some of their products include technology related to food quality monitoring and supply chain tracking. They recently conducted an extensive survey and study about consumer food safety confidence. This lengthy study brings to the forefront many issues ServSafe food managers should pay attention to, so let’s take a look at some of the highlights.

Highlights From New Consumer Food Safety Confidence Survey
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ServSafe Food Managers and Consumer Food Safety Concerns

In conducting this study, Zebra surveyed 4,957 consumers and 462 food and beverage firms worldwide. While each region had its share of diverse concerns, the results of those surveyed in the U.S. and the rest of North America shed some light on how our customers view food safety. Some consumer food safety stats that should concern ServSafe food managers include:

  • 60% would never return to a business where they consumed tainted product
  • More than 80% believe all businesses have an ethical responsibility to enforce strict safety standards
  • Approximately 70% feel it’s important to know how their food is handled and prepared
  • 69% would like to know how their food is sourced

As you can see from the first two statistics, consumers believe in strong food safety standards and trust will be easily lost, even after just one incident. That’s why it’s vital that your food business has clearly outlined safety standards and there are no training gaps when it comes to food safety.

It may come as a surprise that more restaurant-goers feel the need to know where their food comes from and how it’s handled. It’s no longer enough just to trust that restaurants have strict food handling procedures.

To respond to consumers who are looking to know every detail of food production, ServSafe food managers should be prepared to answer questions as to the source of their ingredients, especially potentially vulnerable items such as seafood. Customers will eat much more confidently if their concerns about sourcing and handling can be quickly addressed.

On a final note, consumers were asked what they perceived to be the biggest issues when it comes to food safety. The top answers include:

  • Kitchen staff hygiene
  • Foodborne illness outbreaks
  • Contaminated product
  • Consuming recalled ingredients

As you can see, three out of four issues all concern the state of product before it reaches your facility. Do you feel it’s important to know where your ingredients come from?

Uncharted Flue Season for MN food safety managers

Uncharted Flu Season Warning For MN Food Safety Managers

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Food safety managers in Minnesota and the rest of the world have had to take unprecedented precautions due to the COVID-19 pandemic and now are faced with balancing those precautions as well as monitoring employee health and hygiene as we approach the flu season. Due to the convergence of these two potentially debilitating illnesses, what can MN food safety managers do to protect their staff and their guests?

What can MN food safety managers do to protect their staff and their guests from the convergence of COVID19 and Influenza?
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How MN Food Safety Managers can Prepare for Flu Season

While there is some speculation that COVID-19 precautions may help keep flu numbers low, it’s still very important to educate your employees on workplace food safety protocols surrounding influenza. The good news is that there is a great deal of overlap when it comes to influenza prevention and Coronavirus prevention. Food safety managers should remind employees of a few health and hygiene practices:

  • Wash hands often
  • Never work when sick
  • Return home for work if symptoms begin on the job
  • Wait at least 24 hours after symptoms vanish before returning to work

These should be standard practices in any food production business, no matter what the circumstance. MN food safety managers should not just assume that their staff will follow these rules, they should monitor the health and hygiene practices of their staff. Make sure that you post proper handwashing posters at all handwashing stations and monitor these stations often to make sure they are fully stocked with soap and paper towels. You should also take the time to verify that each handwashing station is supplying hot water.

Employees should be reminded that they should never work with symptoms of illness, flu or otherwise. Fevers, headaches, coughs, runny nose and other symptoms are red flags when it comes to influenza. Remind them to be extremely cautious and call in sick should they be displaying symptoms, no matter how mild. If symptoms begin while at work, food safety managers should make sure the potentially ill employee is sent home.

Finally, it’s important to wait at least 24 hours after recovering from flu symptoms before returning to work. Just because an employee wakes up feeling better than they did the night before, it doesn’t mean that they are no longer contagious. Considering the potential for a public health crisis involving both influenza and COVID-19, food safety managers may wish to extend this period to 48 hours before allowing an ill employee to come back to work.

Have you taken the time to remind your staff of good health and hygiene procedures as we roll into the flu season?

Food Safety Professionals and Mental Health during COVID-19

Urgent Mental Health Resources For Food Safety Professionals During COVID-19

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COVID-19 has taken its toll on the physical, economic and mental health of working professionals in our country, and the foodservice industry has been especially hard hit. Many restaurants have closed forever, workers have lost jobs and many furloughed and isolated food safety professionals have confessed to overwhelming anxiety, depression, or addiction during these times. where can industry professionals turn in these trying times? We’ve created a shortlist of mental health resources for food safety professionals.

Food Safety Professionals and Mental Health during COVID-19
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Free Mental Health Resources For Food Safety Professionals During COVID-19

The National Restaurant Association has compiled a list of free mental health resources in an effort to help industry professionals who are struggling.

Some of these free resources we’d like to highlight include:

While we encourage struggling food industry professionals to check out the full list of resources the NRA recommends, we’d like to highlight four of them.

Sanvello is an app with self-care resources, connections to other members in the hospitality industry, and coaching to help you get through trying times. With a focus on the hospitality industry, the Sanvello community has the potential to help food safety professionals find relatable resources to ward of anxiety and depression.

With anxiety, depression and isolation come increased risk for addiction or relapse from addiction recovery. Ben’s Friends was founded in honor of a lifelong food safety professional, Ben Murray, whose struggle with addiction led him to take his own life. They are currently offering free Zoom meetings to food and beverage personnel who struggle with drug and alcohol addiction. With a focus on food industry professionals, they have a first-hand perspective on addiction in the industry.

Psych Hub offers comprehensive mental health resources and education that covers a great number of topics. From anxiety to suicide prevention, Psych Hub has an extensive mental health video library to assist those dealing with mental health problems during trying times.

If you need a real person to talk or text with about a mental health crisis, the Crisis Text Line is available 24/7. Just text 741741 anywhere in the United States to be immediately connected to a trained volunteer who will be instantly ready to provide support.

If you or a food safety professional friend are feeling too overwhelmed with anxiety, depression, addiction or any other form of mental health issue that these free resources don’t cover, don’t hesitate to reach out to a professional rather than self-diagnose and self-treat. Mental health is an issue that should never be ignored and neglected.