Category: MN Certified Food Manager

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How Certified Food Protection Managers Can See a Better Food Cost Picture

How Certified Food Protection Managers Can See a Better Food Cost Picture

Certified food protection managers know that keeping an eye on food costs allows for better profit margins, waste reduction and inventory control. However, many food businesses calculate their food costs by using a simple formula involving the cost of goods versus sales hoping to hit a food cost percentage somewhere in the low thirties. While this simplified system gives a good overview, many certified food protection managers benefit from delving deeper into their food cost picture. Let’s take a look at a couple of ways to get more detail into whether your food costs are hurting or helping your bottom line.

How Certified Food Protection Managers Can See a Better Food Cost Picture
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A Certified Food Managers Guide to Food Cost Control and Better Profits

Meeting food cost goals is a must for survival in the food industry. With prices rising and product shortages becoming an issue it’s more important than ever to track food costs. Rather than simply calculating expenses versus profits, there are other steps that can help certified food protection managers see where the worst offenders are for causing costs to rise. Certified food managers should:

  • Evaluate the cost of each menu item
  • Look for substitutes for high-priced ingredients
  • Consider trimming expansive menus

It definitely will be a tedious process, but calculating the cost and profit margin on every item on your menu gives you a great picture of how you’re investing in your ingredients. You may find that you have certain items that cost way too much to produce that are throwing off your food costs. These expensive items can drain your income, so you may wish to consider raising prices or adjusting recipes to keep your menu sustainable. On the other hand, you may find that there are some items you’re practically giving away. Some certified food protection managers use these dishes to offset costs of dishes that detract from food cost goals or increase sales prices; achieving a balance between the two will help manage food costs more effectively.

When evaluating your menu, you may find some ingredients are just not sustainable when it comes to food costs and waste. There are many talented food business managers that would see more affordable, yet quality, substitutes.

You may also find that waste is high on low-volume menu items. If you’re throwing away large volumes of product, that’s going to kill food costs, so menu adjustments may be necessary.

If you don’t know how to begin calculating individual menu item food costs, we suggest you talk to your product supplier. Many significant suppliers offer software that eases the process, and many of these programs even have live cost updates so you can check week to week to see where your bottom line sits.

Have you taken the time to evaluate how you calculate food costs?

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Excellent Food Safety Training Tips You Need To Know About Clean Refrigeration

Food Safety Training Tips

You count on your refrigeration units to keep food cold, but neglecting food safety training for maintenance can result in much worse scenarios than malfunctioning equipment. Besides the hazards of food possibly being stored in the danger zone due to a poorly looked after walk-in; dirt, mold, mildew and other contaminants can come in contact with your product even if your cold storage is kept at the proper temperature. Let’s take a close look at some often overlooked aspects of refrigerator maintenance that can lead to foodborne illness risks and we will provide some food safety training tips to make your job easier.

Excellent Food Safety Training Tips You Need To Know About Clean Refrigeration
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Refrigeration Maintenance Tips for Food Safety Training

Most food businesses should already have a cleaning plan in place for the interior racks, walls and floors of their refrigeration units, but there are several aspects of refrigerators that are forgotten, especially in walk-in units. Every so often it’s important to clean and maintain refrigeration:

  • Door seals
  • Condensers
  • Drain lines

Cleaning the seals or gaskets of every refrigerator in your establishment will help keep warm air from outside forcing your equipment to work harder. Rubber seals can also be a breeding ground for mold, especially if your doors are not sealing properly. The condensation from the temperature difference inside and outside of your fridge could accelerate mold and mildew growth which could end up in your food. When you perform your regular interior cleaning, make sure to wipe down and sanitize your door seals and inspect for any damage which could be allowing warm air inside.

Condenser coils tend to collect dust and moisture creating an environment for contaminant growth that could fall into food product. Your food safety training should include a review of cleaning these coils at least once a month to prevent buildup. These coils can sometimes be behind a service panel or on the back of the compressor.

Drain lines are notorious for mold buildup due to the near-constant drip of condensation. Due to the complexity of cleaning these lines, we recommended you seek out a professional technician to service and clean your larger refrigerators once a year.

Have you taken the time recently to check on the cleanliness of your refrigerators? Do you have any additional food safety training tips for others?

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What To Know If You Are Suddenly Left Without A MN CFPM

MN CFPM Rules

All Minnesota food businesses are required to employ a certified food protection manager (CFPM), but what happens if a restaurant or other food facility loses theirs without warning? Do they have to shut down temporarily until they hire or train a new one? Fortunately, the MN food code isn’t that strict and does give some leeway for replacing a certified food manager who departs suddenly.

MN CFPM
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The Certified Food Manager Training Window

The good news is that the regulations for hiring or training a new certified protection manager in Minnesota allow for 60 days from the departure of one CFPM to the date they are replaced. Food protection certification is not transferable from one staff member to another, so be proactive in scheduling training or hiring a new CFPM as soon as possible.

If you’re looking to promote from within, there are two training options when it comes to gaining certification, online and in person. If you’ve lost a MN CFPM suddenly, online certified food protection manager classes may be the quickest and most convenient method of gaining certification. Online food certification classes can be taken at any time and contain all the materials necessary to pass the exam. In-person classes do happen rather frequently if you prefer to engage with an industry professional with experience running certified food protection manager courses. With instructor-led courses, you’ll also be able to take the exam on the same day as the training where online course study and food certification exam scheduling may have a gap.

The 60-day grace period doesn’t just apply to losing a CFPM suddenly, new establishment openings and re-openings after a temporary closure also receive this same grace period.

We never like to see sudden management departures, but do you have a plan if your MN CFPM has to depart on short notice?

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

Certified Food Protection Managers can Improve Morale

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?