Category: Certified Food Protection Manager

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CFPMs Learn The Truth About Food Truck Operation

MN Certified Food Manager and Food Truck Operation

From a financial standpoint, owning a restaurant is out of the question for the average certified food protection manager (CFPM). Most chefs do not have the financial backing to purchase or build a restaurant, and many banks consider restaurants a high-risk opportunity, making financing hard to come by. Is being your own boss out of reach for all but a few food service workers? Buying and operating your food truck may be feasible if you’re ready to be independent but have limited financial resources. Still, CFPMs should know that the Minnesota Food Code has specific guidelines for food truck operators, especially those looking to start a food truck venture.

MN Certified Food Manager and Food Truck Operation

CFPMs and the Food Truck Revolution

The Minnesota Department of Health set up particular rules that food truck operators must follow to keep the food they serve safe. Some regulations that create a challenge for food truck owners/ CFPMs include:

  • Handwashing
  • Hot food holding
  • Dishwashing

Just like in a typical food production facility, handwashing stations must be present and have ample hot water, soap, and paper towels. Operating a food truck with self-contained plumbing can pose challenges in setting up handwashing stations. When acquiring or designing a food truck, it’s crucial to guarantee that the water tanks are engineered to hold enough water to last the entire day. Not all food trucks have on-site water hookups, so you cannot depend on a water source at every location you serve.

Hot food holding can also be an issue when providing food service from a mobile unit. Plan a menu that is easy to cook to order and does not require hot holding. If you plan to keep any food hot, it’s crucial to ensure that the food truck is equipped with heat lamps, chafing dishes, or a steam table to keep the food out of the danger zone.

Dishwashing Will Be A Consideration

Finally, dishwashing can be an issue. If you only have a limited water supply, you won’t want to waste it on washing plates and silverware. We strongly recommend using recyclable plates, utensils, and other items to serve your guests. As for cooking tools used during service, CFPMs will find keeping a backup of items such as tongs, spatulas, and other tools essential for operating a food truck is important.

Are you a MN Certified Food Protection Manager looking to branch out by purchasing your food truck? Leave us a comment or a question below, and we’ll anonymously address any other concerns you may have in a future blog.

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Tested Advice On Handling A Food-Borne Illness Outbreak For CFPMs

Minnesota has had no major food-borne illness outbreaks in the last few months. However, in 2023, Minnesota was at the center of a salmonella outbreak that killed two people in our state. While we hope that your establishment is never the cause of a food poisoning case, we felt it necessary to discuss what CFPMs should do if a food-borne illness outbreak occurs.

handling a food-borne Illness Outbreak for CFPMs
Image credit: lightwise via 123rf

Most customers will never know what you do behind the scenes when your food is being served safely and free from contaminants. However, if your guests begin getting sick, the public will quickly learn you have had food safety problems.

CFPMs and Food-Borne-Illness Outbreaks

 
The first thing any certified food protection manager should do if a guest becomes ill is assess the situation. Find out exactly what your guest consumed, and make sure to examine any of the remaining product in your inventory. If it is evident that your supply has become contaminated, stop using it immediately. Ensure it’s stored at the right temperature and hasn’t come into contact with compromising sources. If you have stored it properly, you may wish to contact your supplier to inform them that you have received a contaminated product.

If an illness spreads beyond a single guest, it could indicate a more serious situation. The certified food manager should collaborate with the local health department to identify the cause if there is a suspected food-borne illness outbreak. It’s important to keep in mind that the health department is there to help you ensure the safety of your food for your guests. By being honest and not concealing any information from them, they can offer valuable assistance in addressing food safety issues that have resulted in your customers receiving contaminated food.

Finally, consider bringing in a professional to provide your staff with a refresher course on food safety. Safe Food Training can tailor a CFPM lesson plan to address your specific situations. For example, SFT can create a segment to handle a suspected food-borne illness outbreak. We can even come to your place of business to train your entire staff.

Fix It and Prevent a Recurrence

When a food safety issue affects the public, immediate and dedicated action is necessary to fix the situation and prevent it from happening again.

We never like to see any restaurant or food producer in the news due to a food-borne illness outbreak. Quality training and diligence are the keys to food safety. Feel free to contact Safe Food Training if you would like to schedule specialized training for your staff.

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Balancing A Professional CFPM Career And Personal Life

Balancing a CFPM Career and Personal Life

The life of a certified food protection manager can be stressful and time-consuming. This becomes more evident and taxing during the hot summer months. Happy couples flood their favorite air-conditioned restaurants to celebrate the freedom of summer. At the same time, food service workers spend long hours in hot kitchens, ensuring every guest has the best experience possible. We’ve often heard it said that restaurant management is a single person’s game, but we feel that a CFPM should be able to enjoy a career and have a personal life beyond the kitchen.

Balancing a MN Certified Food Protection Manager Career and Personal Life

Achieving Work-Life Balance as a CFPM: Managing Your Career and Personal Life

A quick Google search on divorce rates in the food industry will reveal that bartenders, chefs, and restaurant managers all rank in the 25 worst professions for relationships, according to numerous sources. While we offer food safety training, not couples counseling, we engage in conversations during class breaks and after testing sessions. We feel that there should be a chance for both a successful career and a healthy relationship, and we have a few ideas that have been shared by some professionals that we have talked to who have been able to achieve a successful balance.

  • Go out of your way to make time for a personal life outside of work
  • Trust your staff to get the job done in your absence
  • Choose non-peak dates for special occasions

It may sound impossible, but you must make time for both to keep a healthy balance in your professional and personal life. Hearing stories of an 80-hour workweek makes us cringe. If you’re looking for ways to trim your hours to spend more time at home, you may want to rely on your staff to take on some extra responsibilities. If you’ve trained your employees well, you should have no problem trusting them to handle more responsibilities in your absence. Train your sous chef to take on some ordering or inventory duties, count on an assistant manager to help with scheduling, or train a trusted employee to receive and stock your weekly supplies.

Celebrate The 4th On The 9th

For our last tip, we’d like to offer an alternative to celebrating events such as Independence Day on the same day as everyone else. Don’t feel tied down to what the calendar says. Many restaurant professionals celebrate the 4th of July on a day before or after the holiday and go to their favorite restaurants during the week rather than on hectic weekends.

Maybe you’re one of our readers who is a certified food protection manager who has managed to balance a home and professional life. We’d love it if you could leave your tips in the comments below.

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Tested Techniques for CFPMs to Deal With Shortages

CFPMs to Deal With Shortages

When supply chain issues or unexpected call-outs leave your kitchen short-handed, you can’t let food safety slip. CFPMs handle these surprises by ensuring the team is cross-trained on the essentials, maintaining a backup list of approved suppliers, and simplifying the menu for a bit. Staying safe is all about being able to adjust quickly without cutting any corners.

The Reality of a Short-Staffed Shift

You know the feeling. It’s a Friday night in a busy St. Paul kitchen, the ticket machine won’t stop, and your lead prep cook just called in sick. To make matters worse, they shortened your produce delivery. Panic might set in for some. But as a Certified Food Protection Manager, you know that chaos is exactly when foodborne illness risks spike. You’ve got to pivot.

When you’re short on hands or ingredients, the normal flow of your kitchen can start to break down. We all know how it goes: people might start to rush, and it’s easier for things like handwashing to slip through the cracks when transitioning between tasks. Even essential steps like tempering the soup can feel overwhelming when the dining room is packed. Managing these moments is really about staying calm and leaning on the fundamentals of food safety.

Smart Menu Adjustments

Running a skeleton crew means reducing the mental load on your staff. Simplify. If a dish requires four different stations and complex temperature controls, 86 it for the night.

Trimming the menu reduces the chance of cross-contamination. It keeps your line cooks focused on cooking raw proteins to the right internal temps instead of juggling a dozen different garnishes. Less prep work also means fewer trips to the walk-in cooler, which helps maintain safe holding temperatures for your remaining inventory.

Cross-Training is Your Safety Net

You don’t want to wait until the dishwasher is out to realize that nobody else knows how to check the sanitizer. When everyone on the team understands why these steps matter, they can jump in to help when things get busy.

For example, if you’re managing a catering event and a lead server is running late, having a backup who already knows how to handle the hot-holding equipment makes a huge difference. Cross-training early on helps keep things moving smoothly.

  • Have your front-of-house staff try ‌using test strips for the sanitizer buckets.
  • Show newer prep cooks what to look for when checking the temperature of meat deliveries.
  • Make sure everyone on the line is comfortable filling out the daily temperature logs.

Vetting Backup Suppliers

Imagine your usual delivery shows up short on chicken. While it’s tempting to just grab some from a local grocery store or a random vendor to get through the rush, doing so is a major food safety risk. There are never any guarantees when you step outside your verified supply chain.

To keep things running smoothly, it helps to have a few backup suppliers you already know and trust. While having a secondary list is a great safety net, remember that even the best planning can’t guarantee a perfect shift—it just helps you stay prepared for whatever comes your way.

Handling Shortages: Risky Shortcuts vs. CFPM Best Practices

Here’s a quick look at how a trained CFPM handles common shortages compared to a risky kitchen.

Kitchen Shortage Scenario

The Risky Shortcut

The CFPM Standard

Out of chemical sanitizer

Using plain hot water and hoping the dishes are clean.

Use a small amount of unscented bleach as an emergency backup and check its strength with test papers.

Short-Staffed Prep Line

Leaving perishable items on the counter to save trips to the big refrigerator.

Using strict time and temperature controls. Pulling only what’s needed for immediate prep.

Main food delivery is missing

Buying raw meat from an unverified local market.

Ordering from a pre-vetted, approved secondary supplier with verified delivery temperatures.

Stay Ahead of the Curve with Safe Food Training

Handling unexpected kitchen shortages takes confidence. That confidence comes from solid, practical training. Whether you prefer our distraction-free In-Person classes with a high pass rate of over 90% or our flexible Online options available in English and Spanish, we’re here to help you succeed in the real world.

Register for an upcoming course today! Give me a call at (952) 210-0195, shoot an email to info@safefoodtraining.com, or book your continuing education training now by viewing our current course list.

Frequently Asked Questions

Got questions about staying compliant? Here are a few common questions we get from Minnesota food professionals.

What's the primary service that Safe Food Training offers?

We specialize in providing personalized, 8-hour certified food protection manager licensing courses tailored for food professionals across Minnesota. We also offer dedicated continuing education training alongside our full certification course.

Do you offer both online and in-person training options?

Yes, Safe Food Training provides both in-person and online learning opportunities. Additionally, we offer personalized, private training sessions that you can arrange for your entire staff at a convenient location.

I just need continuing education credits. Do I have to take the full 8-hour course?

Dealing with shortages.
Dealing with staffing shortages.

No, you don’t. We offer dedicated continuing education training specifically for professionals who need to fulfill Minnesota’s requirements. We offer these courses concurrently with our comprehensive certification course for your convenience, and they’re ideal for past clients who need to renew their certification.