Get your MN kitchen compliant with our state-approved Certified Food Protection Manager Training. We’re offering headache-free 8-hour initial courses and 4-hour renewals.

ServSafe Online Certification During Busy Times of the Year

ServSafe Online Certification During Busy Times of the Year

/0 Comments/in /by

During the holiday season, many restaurants are busy and need their staff fully trained and ready to work. There could be times during this hectic time of the year when your establishment needs to bring in a new food safety manager or have other staff members who still require their food safety training. Online certification may be the best option in this scenario.

ServSafe Online Certification During Busy Times of the Year

Image credit: Wonderval via Pixabay

ServSafe Online Training

While an instructor led course gives students the experience of learning in a classroom environment from an engaging teacher who is ready to answer any questions that arise, occasions do occur where your business cannot be without a fully trained manager while you await the next scheduled training session. If you have a situation where you’ve just hired a new employee and need certification right away, the benefits of a ServSafe online certification course include:

  • Online courses do not adhere to a specific schedule, they can be taken day or night.
  • There is no need or travel to take the training. Online courses can be taken from your place of business or a student’s home.
  • Online training is perfect for experienced food safety managers who may only need a refresher course before testing.

Taking a test online not only speeds up the process during your busier times, but can also be a handy tool when it comes time to renew your certifications. We always suggest to keep a copy of your training materials after you have finished your training courses so that you’ll have a guide when it comes time to review for recertification testing.

At Safe Food Training, we’ll gladly meet your online food safety training needs if you have employees who need certification right away and cannot make one of our scheduled instructor led classes.

Do you enjoy the convenience of online testing, or would you prefer to send your staff to an instructor led course?

Winter Hours and the MN Certified Food Manager

Winter Hours and the MN Certified Food Manager

/0 Comments/in /by

Now that fall is here and daylight savings time has given us one less hour of daylight in the evening, many restaurant goers are choosing to dine out earlier in the evening. For some restaurants, this could mean a nearly empty dining room as the night wears on and closing time approaches.

Winter Hours and the MN Certified Food ManagerCopyright: fiphoto / 123RF Stock Photo

MN Certified Food Managers and Winter Hours

An empty dining room is never profitable, no matter what time of day it is. MN certified food managers still need to pay the salaries of cooks and wait staff as well as utility bills. It’s important to find solutions that help you maintain a healthy profit margin during the winter months when some diners forgo eating out to save up for Christmas shopping and holiday events.

If you notice a major drop off in business an hour or two before closing, you may wish to adjust your hours of operation accordingly. Some restaurants close an hour earlier during the first part of the week so that they can reduce labor costs during non-peak hours. Keep in mind that weekends still bring out late night diners, so look at the patterns of days you still have a full dining room before adjusting your schedule.

If you’re simply not comfortable with closing early, there are still plenty of options to keep your bottom line in check. Some restaurants keep their bar or lounge open while closing a majority of their dining room. This will allow you to serve a limited menu that can be prepared with a skeleton crew in the kitchen and eliminate the need for excessive service staff eating up payroll. However, due to local liquor regulations minors may not be able to dine in your lounge, so keeping a couple of tables outside of bar area may be a wise decision.

Do you make adjustments during non-peak dining times in the winter season? Leave your suggestions in the comments section below.

A Business Case for Food Safety Training

A Business Case for Food Safety Training

/in /by

With the costs of goods and labor rising, restaurant owners and managers feel pressure to keep profit margins from evaporating. Many search for a way to cut expenses, whether it’s reducing staff, rewriting menus to reduce food costs or finding suppliers that provide goods at more affordable prices. While it’s tempting to reduce costs by only requiring key staff members to receive food safety training, there are incredible financial risks involved in skimping on employee training.

A Business Case for Food Safety Training

Image credit: Mike Mozart via Flickr

The Financial Downfall of Neglecting Food Safety Training

When exploring the financial repercussions of lax food safety training standards, one only has to look at the high-profile case of Chipotle Restaurants.

In 2015, the Chipotle chain made the news on a few occasions for sickening its guests with the Norovirus, E.coli and Salmonella on several different occasions. In fact, the CDC reported six outbreaks in a short period of time. The news could be even worse for the company, as attorneys representing Chipotle’s stockholders have discovered several other unreported outbreaks dating back to 2014. These very public events have caused Chipotle stock to plummet, being worth only about a third of what it was before these incidents became public.

Looking at the number of incidents and the variety of pathogens involved, it’s fairly obvious that although these outbreaks have stemmed from the same company, they are too different to be closely connected. It’s our opinion that there must have been significant gaps in food safety training at a corporate level. Investing in proper training may have prevented these outbreaks and saved the company a significant amount of money in lost revenue.

Not every Chipotle restaurant was affected by the outbreak, and the company has survived to remain operational today. However, if a smaller business had suffered from this type of negative publicity, they may not have the means to recover from a significant drop in revenue. Making sure resources are allocated to provide food handling training will not only keep your food safe, it may prevent a financial disaster and keep your doors open.

At Safe Food Training, we offer many different types of safe food training and will gladly tailor a course to effectively teach your staff the proper way to handle the food you prepare.

How Certified Food Managers Use Hands-Free Features

How Certified Food Managers Use Hands-Free Features to Reduce Utility Costs

/in /by

Many certified food managers utilize hands-free faucets and soap dispensers in their restaurant’s guest washrooms. These are attractive for many reasons. They keep utility costs down by only being on when someone is using them, and they generally keep guest washrooms cleaner. While restaurateurs take advantage of automated faucets in public places, there are numerous advantages to incorporating hands-free devices in the work areas of your kitchens.

How Certified Food Managers Use Hands-Free Features

Image Credit: EcoLab at NRA Show via Vimeo

How Hands-Free Options Can Lower Utility Bills

Faucets in food-service handwashing stations can be covered in countless bacteria. Soiled hands turn them on and leave contaminates from raw food and other sources on the handles. While proper handwashing technique requires faucets to be turned off with a paper towel, this does not completely eliminate bacteria on the surface. Installing a hands-free system will prevent dirty hands from spreading bacteria to faucets and reduce the risk of spreading pathogens by turning on and off the faucet.

Hand-free faucets also reduce waste. These systems only turn on when an employee is actively using the sink. This keeps the water from running while an employee dries their hands or forgets to turn it off completely. The back of the house uses more water than guest bathrooms, and reducing water waste in the kitchen can go a long way towards keeping utility costs in check.

Hand-free faucets are not the only energy saving solution for your kitchen. Installing motion-sensor light switches will keep lights off in rooms that are often empty such as janitorial closets, dry storage areas and employee break rooms. Rising electricity rates can eat into your bottom line, and making sure that unused areas are not needlessly lit can help your profit margin.

Hand-free faucets and motion-sensor light switches are only two ways certified food managers can control their utility costs. Do you use any other kinds of automation in your facility to your lower your monthly bills?