One of the main concerns for any restaurant owner is food safety. As a restaurant owner, it’s your duty and responsibility to provide a delicious and safe meal to your guests.
With all the processes that go into fulfilling and delivering each order, managing food safety can become overwhelming for restaurant owners. Thankfully, there are simple tips and guidelines any owner can follow to ensure a wonderful dining experience for your customers.
Here are the essential steps to ensuring food safety for your restaurant. Do note that there may be mandatory additional safety and sanitation guidelines that your restaurant may need to follow depending on where you operate.
The Essential Parts of Food Safety
One of the main philosophies of food safety revolves around the concept of “prevention is better than cure”. While you are not curing anything per se (except maybe your specialty ham), preventing food from getting unsafe to eat should be your main priority.
Through proper storage, preparation, and sanitation, you can minimize issues revolving around food safety. It is absolutely crucial to follow every safety and sanitation protocol when operating a restaurant. Even skipping a step or two here or there can get your business in trouble both legally and financially.
#1 Storage
Proper storage is essential for food safety, as raw ingredients usually have bacteria and pathogens inside them that can contaminate other foods or surfaces. These contaminants ideally go away after washing and cooking, but until then the ingredients have to be stored properly.
When it comes to food storage, it’s important to be aware of the temperature “danger zone” of 5°C to 60°C. Common food-poisoning bacteria like salmonella and E. coli thrive in these temperatures, which is why it’s critical to store food out of this temperature range.
Calibrate your freezers and refrigerators and set them to the ideal storage temperatures. For fridges, your temperature should be set at 4°C or below. For freezers, your temperature should be set below -15°C.
What you store your food in is just as important as where you store them. Ideally, you should be using separate non-toxic containers for each and every ingredient. Make sure they’re clean and sealed shut as even the smallest of air gaps can introduce airborne contaminants to your ingredients.
Store raw foods separately from cooked foods. Bacteria from raw foods can make their way to cooked foods and compromise the safety of the dish. Use sealed or covered containers when storing raw foods. If you’re using a fridge, it helps to store raw food in lower compartments as they can have meat juices that drip down and contaminate lower compartments.
If you are suspicious about certain ingredients or if they’ve been sitting in the temperature danger zone for more than 4 hours straight, do not hesitate to throw them out. Check the use-by dates on your ingredients and food products and make sure you’re not serving any spoiled food.
Remember, your customer’s health and safety are on the line every time you serve them a dish. It’s your responsibility to ensure that what they eat is up to safety standards. Don’t second guess if you feel like one of your dishes is unfit for consumption. When in doubt, throw it out!
#2 Preparation
How a meal is prepared can greatly affect the flavor, quality, and safety of the dish. Preparation can be broken down into two stages: washing and cooking, with each step having a specific process per ingredient.
Washing is the stage wherein bacteria, pathogens, or other contaminants are removed from the ingredient through a cleaning process that involves either soaking the ingredients in food-safe chemicals or rinsing them with running water.
For produce, washing is necessary to remove bits of soil and farming chemicals that may still be present in the ingredient. A simple rinse with clean running water is effective in removing most soil and contaminants, but specialized fruit and vegetable washes are available for thorough produce cleaning.
On the other hand, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) does not recommend washing meat and poultry through running water as it is ineffective in removing foodborne pathogens. In fact, running water can spread the bacteria from the meat to other ingredients and kitchen surfaces.
When preparing meat, you can either just avoid washing the meat or use food-grade acidic solutions to wash them. Common acidic solutions such as white vinegar, lemon juice, and lime juice are effective in cleaning and reducing bacteria on the meat. Using these solutions, however, will affect the flavor of the meat.
If you are dealing with frozen foods, it’s also important to properly thaw out your ingredients before cooking them. Do not thaw your ingredients out on the counter, as prolonged exposure can cause airborne pathogens to find their way into your ingredients.
When thawing or defrosting, the CDC advises you to thaw them in the refrigerator, in cold water, or in the microwave. Do note as well as once an ingredient has thawed out or defrosted, it must be cooked immediately after. Refreezing thawed-out meat can be dangerous as it can make pathogens and bacteria more concentrated within the meat.
The next part of the preparation is the cooking stage. Cooking is the process of making food safe and edible mostly by applying heat. You can also cook food chemically through certain acids, but for this part, we will mainly focus on cooking via heat.
Applying heat breaks down proteins and fibers found in food and turns them into more digestible forms. Heat also kills off foodborne bacteria and pathogens that are present in meat, overall making it safer and healthier to consume.
Just like storage, cooking has a temperature danger zone. Undercooking food can be extremely dangerous and puts the consumer at risk of food poisoning. The Minnesota Department of Health recommends the following internal temperatures for cooking different products:
- Ground meats: 160°F (71°C)
- Fresh beef, veal, lamb, and pork: 145°F minimum to 170°F (63°C to 77°C)
- Chicken, turkey, and duck: 165°F (74°C)
- Fish and shellfish: 145°F (63°C)
- Eggs: until whites and yolk are firm
- Egg dishes: 160°F (71°C)
Overcooking food can also be dangerous, as it introduces carcinogenic substances and destroys the nutrients inside the food. When cooking a meal, it helps to stick to a recipe that has proper cooking directions. That way, you can replicate delicious and safe results that have been tested time and time again.
#3 Sanitation
The last essential part of food safety is sanitation. Even if food is prepared and stored correctly, it means nothing if your area is dirty. Contamination can come from anywhere, so the best approach is to keep everywhere clean.
With all the cooking, packing, and serving that goes on, certain areas get dirty faster than others. That’s why it’s important to come up with a proper system that works for your restaurant.
For front-of-house, establish protocols for payment, delivery, and entry. Have your staff wear the necessary protective equipment. When handling cash or cards, be strict with handwashing. When letting guests in, direct them to hand sanitizing stations and do the necessary temperature checks.
Wipe down pens, mop floors, and clean all your counters, phones, counters, and registers whenever. Minimize contact with your customers as much as possible, and avoid strong-smelling chemicals during operating hours as they may turn off certain guests.
During service, make sure each table is wiped clean before seating your customers. Double-check your plates, glasses, and silverware and make sure they are in pristine condition. Tiny nicks and chips on plates can cause cuts during handling, so have spare plates and saucers ready.
Wipe your restaurant floor in sections to avoid disrupting customers while they’re entering or leaving. Make sure to use “wet floor” signs to minimize slipping. Have your staff wear proper and clean attire and make sure to sanitize menus before handing them to the guests.
Remind your staff to minimize phone usage during shifts. Be strict about frequent and proper handwashing, and sanitize whatever devices are being used during operations.
After service, thoroughly clean every part of your restaurant, especially the kitchen. Sanitize and disinfect your kitchen floors and counters. Do regular maintenance on your equipment and check on your ventilation system frequently to ensure your air quality is up to standards.
Make sure to replace any broken tiles and seal up tiny cracks and holes found on your walls and floors. These small areas can become breeding grounds for germs and bacteria, so patch them up as soon as possible.
Wipe equipment handles, clean your restrooms, and make sure that you are using adequate cleaning equipment and chemicals. Inspect your staff’s protective equipment for any holes or tears.
Again, be thorough with your cleaning. When cleaning kitchen equipment, make sure to follow the instructions set by the manufacturer. When in doubt, refer to online resources on the maintenance of your equipment.
Anticipate your service for the next day. Consider stocking up on more cleaning supplies and extra dining ware for holiday celebrations to keep up with the surge of customers. Clean unused areas whenever possible, but don’t disrupt your customers while you’re at it.
Other Important Food Safety Tips
Each restaurant has its own unique take on service. Some restaurants elevate their customer’s dining experience with elaborate presentations or by using unique and exotic ingredients to bring out amazing new flavors.
When it comes to food safety, how you serve your meal and the information you give your guests is just as important as n preserving your guests’ health and safety.
Here are other important factors you have to keep in mind when serving your customers.
Take Note of Allergens
Food allergies affect around 2.5% of the general population worldwide and are a serious health concern for those affected by them. When triggered, allergic reactions can range from mild itchiness to more severe symptoms like swelling and breathing problems.
Train your staff to ask customers if they have any potential food allergies. That way they can inform customers ahead of time of allergens present in their meals and suggest alternatives in case a dish is dangerous to them.
Avoid Serving Meals at High Temperatures
Everyone loves a nice warm meal, not a burning hot mess. Serving food at the right temperature can make guests enjoy their meal more. Too hot and you might be sued for millions of dollars instead of providing a positive experience for your customers.
While some restaurants can’t help but serve meals at high temperatures to avoid kitchen congestion, you can minimize accidents by warning guests ahead of time. Just having a heads up can save a customer from getting a burnt tongue.
Take Special Care of Food Packaging
In the age of online delivery and takeout, food packaging serves as both a marketing tool and extra food safety insurance. Food packaging done right can help prevent contamination, maintain ideal food temperatures, and preserve presentation during transportation.
If you want to succeed in a restaurant, you have to have a proper online delivery and takeout platform. Investing in proper food packaging can help you achieve faster prep times without compromising your meal’s quality and safety.
Ensure Food Safety, Control Your Business
To deliver the perfect meal to your customers, you have to control every aspect of your restaurant. From choosing the right supplier to managing all deliveries, every part of the order cycle can affect the safety and quality of your meals.
A wonderful dining experience is the product of a great restaurant. A great restaurant starts with the right management system. Take control of your business and keep track of every aspect of your operations.
Make objective and sound business decisions based on past and real-time data. Listen to customer feedback and adapt accordingly. That way, you can always deliver exactly what the customer wants.