Keep your MN kitchen running smoothly. We’re sharing real-world ServSafe & NEHA Best Practices to help you train staff and ace your next health inspection.

Servsafe MN Guide to Outdoor seationg during COVID-10

ServSafe MN Guide to Outdoor Seating and COVID-19

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With the gradual reopening of business in Minnesota, restaurants, bars and eateries have been given the go-ahead to begin sit-down service as long as all seating is outdoors and meets certain criteria. Today, we’d like to give you a brief overview as to what the rules are concerning outdoor seating during this phase of reopening Minnesota during COVID-19 and provide a few ServSafe MN tips on how to serve your customers better under these regulations.

ServSafe MN Guide to Outdoor Seating
Image credit: PxHere

Outdoor Seating and ServSafe MN Tips During Corona Virus

Minnesota restaurants are able to serve guests in person starting June 1st, but it’s important to emphasize that all seating must occur outside. Here’s a quick breakdown of outdoor seating regulations:

  • Reservations are required
  • Employees must wear masks, guests encouraged to wear masks when not eating
  • No more than 50 total people, guests and staff, on the premises
  • Tables must be separated by at least six feet
  • No more than four guests from different households at one table, up to six if all members reside together

The interesting thing here is that guests must have a reservation before arriving at your restaurant. This can be hard to accomplish for restaurants who are not normally accustomed to taking reservations. Make sure that you space out reservations to ensure there is little chance for an overlap that creates a situation where several guests may be forced to congregate near your restaurant with other guests who may not be in their party.

Masks have been required since restaurants were given the ability to provide takeout service, so hopefully your staff will be used to wearing them by now. The unfortunate part is that now there will be more interaction with guests and the mask presents a communication issue. If you have access to a portable POS system such as a table-top kiosk or tablet where guests can place their own order, this may smooth the process and allow diners to place their order remotely. Please note that regulations ask you to recommend guests wear masks when not eating.

Finally, make sure that all tables are six feet apart. This recommendation doesn’t exclusively refer to the physical table itself, but the table and the space guests occupy around it, so you may wish to provide a little extra buffer room for guests to maneuver in the outdoor dining area. These tables cannot be occupied by more than four guests unless they are from the same household, then you’re permitted to seat up to six at the table.

Make sure that your staff is trained in the current ServSafe MN sanitation guidelines before you open with outdoor seating, and hopefully, Minnesota will soon be on the path to recovery and a thriving restaurant industry.

certified food managers spacing tables for social distancing

Certified Food Managers and Social Distancing in Eateries

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As we prepare for the future of restaurant service, it’s important to look ahead to some new protocols that food managers may be required to utilize as Minnesota restaurants and cafes prepare to reopen their doors for in-house service. There is some speculation that Minnesota restaurants will have to follow some sort of social distancing in order to reduce the risk of a second COVID-19 outbreak. We’ve taken a look at what some other states are doing and have some tips for certified food managers on social distancing once business resumes.

Food managers preparing for social distancing in eateries

How can Certified Food Managers Enact Social Distancing?

It’s been put forth by health officials that people should maintain a space of at least six feet apart while in public, but how would this look in restaurants?

The first thing that becomes apparent is that restaurants, cafes and other sit-down eateries will have to reduce their maximum capacity, at least at first. Multi-sectioned restaurants can achieve this by opening up the entire dining floor, even on days when business wouldn’t normally warrant having multiple seating sections. This can provide adequate space for guests with tables being more than six feet apart. Food establishments with small dining areas may not be able to seat in multiple sections, but certified food managers should rearrange dining space to ensure tables meet future social distancing protocols.

There will be times when social distancing won’t be an option, such as in cafes where the register is next to baristas. In this case, you may wish to install a shield or a sneeze guard that is hung in a way where there are no openings at mouth level. Leaving a small space between the counter and the start of the shield will allow payment and wrapped baked goods to be passed back and forth.

What about service staff? It’s impossible for orders to be taken and food delivered from six feet away. This is a scenario where a tabletop ordering system could help promote social distancing. If guests can place and pay for their order remotely, then this greatly reduces interaction between server and guest. Food will still need to be brought to the table, and at this point we can only assume certified food managers will require staff to wear masks and gloves for kitchen-to-table delivery and situations where servers must take an order in person.

Do you have plans for potential social distancing regulations once your restaurant reopens?

Waiter demonstrating Servsafe sanitation post COVD-19 shutdown

COVID-19 and ServSafe Sanitation

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The coronavirus pandemic has changed the way foodservice businesses operate and will continue to change food safety procedures for the foreseeable future. Once eating establishments are finally permitted to seat guests in their dining rooms, ServSafe food managers will have to change their sanitation procedures and the way they enforce certain food handling rules after the COVID-19 shutdown. This week, we’d like to take a look at what these new sanitation procedures could look like.

ServSafe sanitation post COVID-19 shutdown

Post COVID-19 Shutdown ServSafe Sanitation Guide for Restaurant Reopening

At this time, there is no recommendation to deviate from the types of sanitizer solutions recommended in Minnesota Food Code sanitation procedures, so it’s not necessary to increase the concentration of bleach, iodine or quaternary ammonia compounds in sanitizing solutions. In fact, using a solution with higher concentrations than recommended could pose a health risk to staff and guests should excess sanitizer chemicals end up in customers’ food or create a toxic atmosphere when working in close contact with these over-powered solutions.

Whether you’re open for business as usual or your establishment is still only providing takeout service, it’s important to sanitize all surfaces regularly. The most touched surfaces should be sanitized many times a day. Make sure these frequently used surfaces are sanitized often:

  • Countertops
  • Door knobs and handles
  • Guest tables
  • Chair backs and high chairs
  • Handrails

Once we return to in-house service, we’ll have to consider many more items for sanitation to help stop a resurgence of the COVID-19 virus. While every establishment will be different, we’ve come up with a few items that aren’t normally sanitized that you may wish to include in your ServSafe sanitation training:

  • Credit cardholders
  • Touchscreens in ordering kiosks, tablets and wait stations
  • Pens used by customers to sign credit card receipts
  • Seatbacks and chair arms
  • Light switches
  • Soap dispensers
  • Other implements that may be handled or breathed on by staff or customers

We must also remember that out of the way areas should be sanitized regularly as well. Some locations may not need hourly cleaning, but regular sanitation should occur everywhere in your facility. Think of surfaces such as doors, equipment such as mixers, exteriors of refrigeration units and any other surface than may not be touched too often, but still potentially come into contact with the breath of employees and customers.

It may seem overboard to some, but ServSafe sanitation will have to take on a higher level of vigilance in the coming days once we begin to reopen our restaurants. What steps will you be taking to help prevent a resurgence of COVID-19?

COVID-19 Resources for CFPM's

COVID-19 Resources for CFPMs

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Many small businesses across the country have been hit hard by measures put into place to slow the COVID-19 outbreak, but restaurants, in particular, have taken a huge financial hit since social distancing protocols have been enacted. If you’re a small-business restaurant owner or the certified food protection manager(CFPMs ) of a small to medium sized establishment, you should familiarize yourself with some COVID-19 related resources that can help your business survive until it’s time to open up for more than just takeout service.

COVID-19 Resources for CFPMs-SBA Payment Protection Plan
Image credit: shealah_craighead via Flickr

COVID-19 Related Financial Aids for CFPMs and owners of Small Restaurants

One of the most talked about financial programs for small-businesses is the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). The PPP is a loan set up by the U.S. Small Business Association (SBA) to not only help small businesses stay afloat but be able to pay their employees during these hard times. While there are some rules to follow, the SBA may forgive some or all of your loan balance if you keep employees on payroll for eight weeks, use the money to pay utilities, rent, mortgage interest and keep payroll funded.

There are also Non-government COVID-19 related resources for restaurant owners and CFPMs. Several companies that are making it easier, and free, for restaurants to take to-go and delivery orders as well as provide ways for potential customers to know that you’re still open for take-out and delivery.

The Ordering App is waving it’s 1.5% ordering fee until July 1.

Google is offering ad credits for small and medium-sized businesses.

Yelp is offering numerous incentives. They are offering free access to Yelp Reservations and Yelp Waitlist for three months to help smaller restaurants facilitate orders. Yelp is also offering several different options for relief from restaurateurs who either utilize Yelp Ads or are considering doing so during current stay-at-home regulations.

Chowly, a system that streamlines online ordering and POS systems, is waving all set-up fees during the pandemic.

Presto has a program to provide kiosk ordering systems free of charge. These range from tablets to table-top ordering systems and can reduce direct contact with customers ordering takeout at your facility.

Finally, the National Restaurant Association has started the Restaurant Employee Relief Fund. If you’re a certified food protection manager who has been forced to reduce employee hours or in drastic cases furlough some of your staff, you may want to point staff members who have been financially impacted to this fund. Rather than providing support to businesses, the RERF is focused on the individual hospitality workers who have sustained financial hardships.

Are there any other COVID-19 relief programs for CFPMs you think we should share with other readers?