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Special Conflict Management Best Practices For Certified Food Managers

Special Conflict Management Best Practices For Certified Food Managers

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While you always strive for harmony in the workplace, every once in a while as a manager you will have to deal with employee conflict. This week we’d like to take a look at conflict management in the work place, and how certified food managers can deal with issues as they arise.

Special Conflict Management Best Practices For Certified Food Managers

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How a MN Certified Food Protection Manager Deals with Conflict

It’s impossible to completely eliminate employee conflict, especially in stressful environments such as the food industry, but with the right approach a certified food manager can build a staff that not only gets along but enjoys working together. Talking with human resource managers and food service supervisors, we’ve come up with a few common themes concerning conflict resolution.

  • Prevent conflict before it starts
  • Don’t let conflict fester
  • Involve your HR representative

Our first tip may be hard to do sometimes, but there are ways certified food managers can prevent conflicts from occurring. Many conflicts in the workplace arise from individuals’ dissatisfaction with their roles. If a role does not satisfy an employee, they may direct their frustrations towards their fellow employees. If you can identify individuals who are unhappy with their role, you may be able to give them an opportunity express their frustrations to you before they take it out on their coworkers.

The food industry is a stressful place by nature. Another way certified food managers can manage conflict is to keep morale high. This can vary from facility to facility, but there are ways to keep morale high under stressful circumstances. Some ways include social interactions, such as organizing company events that do not involve job duties, or making sure employees can take regular breaks.

Know When To Intervene

Even with the highest morale, it is inevitable that conflict will arise. These are times when a CFPM must decide whether to address the issue or let your employees work things out for themselves. It’s not necessary to intervene in every circumstance, but you must use your best discretion. If there is a conflict that you feel will be detrimental to your operation, you need to address it. Sometimes, letting your staff work things out for themselves will lead to further problems. If there are situations which you feel that you’re unable to handle, it may be necessary to bring in a representative from human resources that has been trained to resolve employee conflict.

We know that there is no cut and dry solution to resolving conflicts among your staff, so we’d like you to leave us a comment as to how you deal with these situations.

Practical Advice For The Newly Promoted Food Manager

Practical Advice For The Newly Promoted Food Manager

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Congratulations! You’ve put in your time. You’ve worked your hardest. Now you’ve been rewarded by being promoted to supervisor at your establishment. Your first order of business is to get your MN food manager certification online. Then you’ll be officially ready to take over.

Tips for the Newly Promoted Food Manager

Once the excitement dies down from gaining your first food management position dies down, it will be inevitable that you’ll feel some anxiety during the transition. We have a few suggestions that may help you settle into your recently gained role and responsibilities.

Our first suggestion is to consider that, since this is your first management position. It may not be wise to implement changes right away. Hopefully, your company already has a system in place to assist your food production in continuing to run smoothly and effectively during the transition. It would be acceptable to make adjustments to certain procedures where you see room for improvement. However, completely overhauling the way things operate should not be one of your initial objectives.

Practical Advice For The Newly Promoted Food Manager

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Once you begin your new food manager duties, it’s important to find a comfortable management style. Many newly promoted managers often make the mistake of attempting to run their facility with an authoritarian style. When you assume your new role, it’s important to remember that you can lead your staff by working with them rather than attempting to manage every aspect of their jobs. Most employees perform better when they feel that they are trusted. There are also dangers if you choose to be too lax once you take over your supervisory role. Allowing your staff too much freedom can lead to production problems and the neglect of proper procedure. Our advice is to work closely with your staff and assess who is trustworthy and who needs more supervision.

Mold Your Operation To Reflect Your Managerial Style

As we advised earlier, it may not be appropriate to make huge changes as soon as you assume your new food manager role. However, once you have fully learned the current procedures and regulations and have become a leader of your staff, the time may be right. You can begin molding your operation to reflect your managerial style. When making changes, we suggest you always consult with whoever you report to before proceeding. You may have earned their trust enough to gain your position. However, they may not be comfortable if you make major changes to the way their business works without their consent.

We hear many stories from experienced professionals about their first supervisor job. We’re wondering if any of those seasoned veterans want to share some advice for those who are just now beginning their careers as a certified food manager.

The Best Quick-Serve Product Tips For Certified Food Managers

The Best Quick-Serve Product Tips For Certified Food Managers

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During summer, more people tend to grab food while on the go. This is especially true when they’re hitting the golf course, taking their families to parks or the swimming pool. Many certified food managers create quick-serve products such as sandwiches and other ready to eat food available to their customers for this exact situation.

Certified Food Manager’s Role in Keeping Prepackaged Foods Safe

Your food safety training course normally covers this topic. But, it’s essential for certified food managers to review it before any changes in operation. This is particularly relevant since numerous outlets only sell prepackaged, ready-to-eat items seasonally. We think you should take into consideration the following four points concerning this style of service:

  • Appropriate sealing is necessary for self-serve items.
  • Always display hot & cold foods at safe temperatures
  • Displayed food must be fresh
  • Store unwrapped fruits and vegitables in a display case

The first item on our grab-and-go list may seem like common sense to most certified food managers. However, we have seen baskets of freshly made, unsealed cookies sitting on countertops for customers to grab. We have also seen unwrapped deli-style sandwiches in self-serve refrigerators. If you offer self-service for your ready-to-eat product, you must wrap it to prevent a customer who may not want to buy the item from touching it with bare hands. Products not for self-service could be left unwrapped in a display case if an employee will package them when sold. All food displayed outside a case or refrigerator should be covered to prevent contamination.

Hot and cold ready-to-eat items packaged for quick sale must follow all Minnesota Food Code temperature rules when displayed. Ensure that your employees know which products to keep hot and cold and which ones are stable at room temperature and do not require refrigeration.

Never have items in your case that are for display only. All items should be fresh and available for service to avoid accidentally serving a guest expired product.

A Case For Certain Grab and Go Items

Our final suggestion is that certified food protection managers are not necessarily required under current food handling regulations. However, it is prudent to store grab-and-go items, such as unwrapped fruits and vegetables, in a display case. Certain fruits, such as bananas, attract fruit flies and other insects. Keeping them in your display case rather than on a counter top can reduce the risk of attracting pests.

Certified food managers should consider both pros and cons when choosing between self-service and attended service for selling quick-serve products. We want to know which style your establishment uses and why it works to help you with this decision.

Advantages of NRFSP Food Manager Certification

The Truth About NRFSP Food Manager Certification

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Minnesota food manager certification is required by many restaurants and institutional kitchens. However, there is often some confusion as to the differences between NRFSP certification, ServSafe training, and the standard food workers permit classes. At Safe Food Training, we focus on offering the National Registry of Food Safety Professionals -NRFSP food manager certification.

Advantages of NRFSP Food Manager Certification

While we are able to offer other certification classes upon request, we feel that there are certain advantages to the current NRFSP program of study:

  • National recognition
  • More in-depth education concerning contaminates
  • Most courses include allergen awareness.
The Truth About NRFSP Food Manager Certification?

The certification classes that we offer are endorsed by NRFSP and recognized by the MN Department of Health. This dual recognition means the training that meets Minnesota standards will still have value if you move to a different jurisdiction. There may be some states that require you to retake the certification test locally. Even so, many employers will see your training as an attractive asset on your resume.

The next item on our list can be a valuable addition to your knowledge of food-borne illnesses. The training for basic food workers teaches that bacteria causes food-borne illness. During food manager certification training, you’ll learn about different types of contaminants and their origins. This information will help you more fully understand why bacteria spreads in certain food products. It will also give you a better insight into the consequences of improperly prepared food.

With a growing concern for food allergies, preventing cross-contamination is also crucial for the safety of sensitive guests. The current training sessions will cover food allergens and biological toxins that exist in certain foods such as shellfish. This heightened awareness of how to handle common allergy risks will help you keep guests from having a reaction to these food groups.

Two Certification Options Available Through Safe Food Training

In-person NRFSP Food Manager Certification Class

There are two ways that you can gain your certification from Safe Food Training. It’s possible to take an instructor lead class. You’ll have access to an educated and engaging teacher who can answer any questions during the training. Alternatively, you can take online food safety training if you prefer independent study.

With multiple endorsements available, we’d like to know your thoughts as to which certification classes have benefited you the most. Are there any training sessions that you have found to be more informative that others? We’d love to hear your stories.