How Certified Food Managers can Deal with Supply Shortages

How Certified Food Managers Can Deal with Supply Shortages

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During certified food manager training, we have time to discuss general food service issues beyond food safety, and we’re hearing a lot of students vent their frustrations with supply chain issues. It seems that many suppliers are having a hard time getting certain ingredients, cleaning supplies and other essentials to restaurants and other food service businesses that need them. What should certified food managers do in the wake of our recent supply shortages?

How Certified Food Managers can Deal with Supply Shortages
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Solutions for Supply Chain Shortages for Certified Food Managers

Supply shortages resulting in not receiving all the ingredients necessary in order to produce every item on your menu disappoints not only certified food managers, but your loyal customers who attempt to order a menu item only to be told that it is unavailable or will be altered in some way that doesn’t quite resemble their expectations. In order to prevent customer frustration, it might be wise to:

  • Inform guests of substituted or unavailable items when seated
  • Include a printed list of unavailable ingredients in menu
  • Design specials out of items in stock to create more choices
  • Reduce menu size to compensate for commonly out of stock ingredients

Most of our patrons have been to the grocery store and been unable to find certain food items they commonly use at home, so they’ll usually be pretty understanding if they are aware of the situation ahead of time. Frustrations will start to arise when they place their order only to find they have to make another selection. It even gets worse when they’ve already ordered and a server informs them their dish is unavailable after time has passed, so make sure all of your staff is up to date on shortages in the kitchen.

When it comes to cleaning supply shortages, it’s vital that certified food managers have everything you need in order to sanitize, stock handwashing stations and clean your facilities. While you may be able to 86 mozzarella sticks or braised sea bass, you cannot 86 hand soap or sanitizer solutions. If your supplier is unable to provide essential cleaning supplies, a certified food manager should do their due diligence by searching warehouse clubs, other restaurant suppliers or even grocery stores in order to ensure your facility can still produce food safely without risk of contamination from bacteria, viruses or raw protein products.

Have you been affected by recent supply shortages?

Certified Food Protection Managers can Improve Morale

How Certified Food Protection Managers can Improve Morale in the New Year

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It’s been a tough couple of years for the food industry. Many have lost their jobs due to the pandemic and some have moved to other sectors leaving a strain on food business to find adequate staffing. With food service workers taking on longer hours or working in short staffed kitchens, it may be hard to keep a high level of morale in your establishment. Let’s look at a few ways certified food protection managers can improve morale and keep your employees happy under stressful circumstances.

How Certified Food Protection Managers can Improve Morale by visiting another restaurant or lounge for games, darts, pool or simply hanging out as a team.
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Tips for Certified Food Protection Managers to Improve Morale

Most of our nation’s food businesses are struggling to hire and maintain employees due to a number of issues as a result of the recent pandemic, and Minnesota is no exception. Food cost is on the rise, many customers are still avoiding public settings and profit margins are falling for the average food business, so many eating establishments are struggling with morale issue at every level. Just what can certified food protection managers do to improve the morale in the work environment?

There’s a few very simple thing managers can do to boost the morale of overworked employees or those that simply cannot find enough hours:

  • Shift meals
  • Extended break times
  • Fun group activities before or after shifts
  • Vouchers for family discounts on meals

Hungry employees are generally unhappy employees, especially when under the duress of a long or short-staffed shift. Providing a staff meal can go a long way to keeping your staffs stomachs full and morale high. Shift meals can also often help with reducing waste. Serving outgoing specials or menu items to the staff will keep product from rotting in the walk-in or ending up in the dumpster. There are also many cost effective meals you can exclusively provide to your staff that won’t take a toll on food costs using common ingredients already in your inventory. We’ve also seen many restaurants extend in-person dining coupons or family discounts to their employees to give them an opportunity to visit when they’re off the clock and support their place of business.

It may also be a good idea to schedule optional group activities with your staff before or after work shifts. Not only will these activities help with team building, but they’ll also boost morale as a whole among your staff. Try visiting another restaurant or lounge for games, darts, pool or simply hanging out as a team.

Certified food protection managers at understaffed kitchens may want to consider improving morale by extending break times by a few minutes or scheduling an extra 10 minutes for stressed and exhausted workers to step away from the line for a few moments. It doesn’t have to be much, but a few extra minutes can work wonders.

Do you have other suggestions for ways certified food protection managers can improve morale in your kitchen during trying times?

Deck the Halls with protocols

Deck The Halls With Protocols

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By Tim Niles, Safe Food Training Lead Trainer and Poet Laureate

It’s late in December
Santa is loading his slay
But he is still concerned
COVID will ruin the day

This crazy year
Has come with a twist
Santa had to create
A much different list

Image credit: lacheev via 123rf

Daily COVID testing
For both Santa and elves
Has disrupted the supply chain
For stocking the shelves

The reindeer are practicing
Takeoffs and landings
But they are all wearing masks
And it has proved quite demanding

If we run into fog
While pulling the sleigh
A mask covered Rudolph
Will not save the day

Image credit: tom19275 via 123rf

And entering countries
Is getting quite hard
Some want a negative test
And a vaccination card

All of the rituals
Are getting too weird
You try to eat cookies
Through a mask covered beard

How about the mistletoe
A cherished tradition…
It’s just not quite the same
With a plastic partition

Being dressed up in a mall
With a child in my lap
Has been replaced with a Zoom call
Where I look like crap

With the polar ice cap
That is currently cracking
I should skip the whole thing
And get started packing

But just when you think
That Santa might quit
Mrs. Claus rescues the day
By throwing a fit

Think of the kids
And all they’ve been through
They all had to adapt
And be flexible too

So eat a big dinner
And get on the suit
Or else your behind
Will find my foot with a boot

Santa came to his senses
Put a smile on his face
And let his kindness make the world
A much better place

The presents are coming
So no need to fret
But with backorders everywhere
You’ll get what you get

So enjoy all you can
With no more complaining
Happy Holiday to you all
From Safe Food Training

The Latest Food Safety Training On Hair Coverings

The Latest Food Safety Training On Hair Coverings

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Kitchens and food production facility managers perform an essential role in monitoring employee health and hygiene. Making sure staff stay home when they’re sick, wash their hands regularly and adhere to all personal health rules are important, but oftentimes the rules behind hair coverings can be lax, overlooked or misunderstood. In order to properly provide food safety training in your establishment concerning hair coverings, we’d like to provide a precise breakdown of the Minnesota food code regulations on the subject.

The Latest Food Safety Training On Hair Coverings
Image credit: nvxier via Pixabay

Proper Food Safety Training for Wearing Hair Coverings in the Kitchen

According to the food code, any employee working in a food production establishment must wear a hair restraint that prevents hair from coming into contact with food product. Allowed hair restraints include:

  • Hair nets
  • Hats
  • Beard and moustache nets
  • Clothing that covers body hair

While hair nets are acceptable, hats have become a very popular head covering in the food industry. Paper chef hats, linen baker’s hats and baseball caps are all acceptable types of head coverings to restrain hair. Chef and baker’s caps can add a touch of class or professionalism if members of your kitchen staff can be seen by guests, and baseball caps can be comfortable and embroidered with your business’s logo to give some uniformity to your team. In your establishment’s food safety training, make sure that you note that employees with longer hair should style their hair in a way to be completely restrained by their hair covering. Sometimes simply wearing a hat is not quite enough to prevent hair from touching food product or preparation surfaces.

As you can see by our list, food safety training for hair restraints includes much more than just the top of the head. If you have employees who sport facial hair, they should wear a specially designed hair net that restrains facial hair. You should also ensure that employees wear appropriate clothing to cover body hair. Make sure that there are no open shirts or tank tops worn in the kitchen that could expose body hair.

There are a few situations in which hair coverings are not required. Many service staff are exempt from this rule. Waitstaff, hosts and hostesses, bussers and counter attendants who only serve beverages or prepackaged items do not have to don head coverings.

Finally, we’ve been asked from time to time whether bald kitchen workers require a head covering. For consistancy in your food safety training policy, we recommend that all personnel in the kitchen abide by the head covering rule even those who shave their head.

Does your establishment’s food safety training have a uniform head covering rule in place at your business?