Keeping Everything Clean

Most customers who come to a restaurant always see the front of the house in actions with servers and hosts providing the services. Now, this post will give you, the readers, behind the scenes of restaurants, such as concerns about sanitation. As a future restaurant employee, I have to learn about food safety and sanitation because we want to prevent any lawsuit by our customers from happening.

Sanitation is important, so owners and managers are responsible for cleanliness in their restaurants. Before serving foods to the public, they have to go through certain procedures daily. They have to make sure the inside of the dining rooms and kitchens are cleaned, and employees wash their hands before services. If nobody is aware of these procedures, the owners and managers are responsible to notify their employees about these procedures by writing them down and posting them on the employees’ notice board. These procedures are preventative actions against foodborne illnesses.

Food Poison Journal

Everyone in the restaurant, including servers, has to wash his or her hands before serving foods to the customers. This may seem obvious to everyone in the restaurant industry, but some people still ignore this simple procedure and customers are not aware of it. You never know what the employees have touched before coming to work; they may have eaten breakfast or have fixed their car. In Dell Richards’s article, she explains that some employees do not wash their hands, so this causes Shigella, a foodborne illness that is contagious. “Shigella is spread through food contamination from dirty hands, from someone who didn’t follow basic hygiene essential to the well-being of the fast casual industry.” Even though it may be the servers’ fault for not washing their hands, the restaurants are still responsible for the incidents when lawsuits occur; they are supposed to make sure that servers follow the procedures.

Richards also gives suggestions of what restaurants should do to prevent lawsuits against any foodborne illnesses. One of her suggestion is to buy “systems with Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) sensoring now monitor individual employees in real time. Some of the systems can be set to give instant alerts when an employee has not washed his or her hands or used a hand-sanitizing solution.” I think this RFID is effective, but it is expensive. Some restaurants, such as independently-owned or family restaurant, cannot afford to buy it. Another suggestion is that one employee monitors everyone in the restaurant by making sure they wash their hands before each service. Richards says “monitoring is the only way to make sure that all employees are complying with HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point) guidelines for food preparation and handling.” I agree with her because this is effective and cost-efficient; I believe it is better to have someone of a high standard, such as a host, to supervise the employees to wash their hands.

This video demonstrates how to wash our hands. Although everyone knows how to wash his or her hands, this video explains why we need to wash our hands before eating a meal. This is important especially for servers and other employees in restaurant because sanitation is important for the guests if you want to avoid any lawsuits. I hope you enjoy it while you learn how to wash your hands.

Commercial Refrigerator

Restaurants have to clean their refrigerator daily to prevent cross-contamination and maintain it in good condition. Everyone knows that we store raw and left-over foods in the refrigerator to preserve them, and we rarely clean our refrigerator at home. It’s a different story for restaurants since they need to clean their refrigerator for customers’ safety. In Greg McGuire’s article, he explains about keeping a commercial refrigerator clean and in good condition, so it may last longer. “Wipe dust and dirt off coils and the compressor regularly to maximize life cycle and efficiency.” This is one of the reasons why restaurants need to clean refrigerators by keeping it in good condition, so maintenance is important as well. Another reason is the restaurants do not want dust and dirt from the refrigerator in the foods, and raw foods that are weeks old; it may create cross-contamination, even though the food is cooked. McGuire’s article about cleaning commercial refrigerator also applies to walk-in refrigerator because they both have the same purpose which is to store foods and need to be cleaned daily.

Walk-in Refrigerator

From my previous post based on my interview with my professor, I ask my professor about sanitation. He says that sanitation is very important because restaurants need to be concerned about the public health. He recommends that restaurants need to be careful when handling foods to prevent cross contamination, and employees need to wash their hands before service. In the kitchen, refrigerators also need to be cleaned and checked for maintenance daily. His suggestions are similar to the articles that I read and I recommend restaurants should follow them.

I think this post may help restaurants to succeed in business and they need to try and follow the procedure in keeping their restaurants clean, so they can prevent lawsuits from occurring. It seems like a lot of work to do before every service, but in the end it will pay off and be worth their time.

"Whatever you do, you have to have passion for it or you won't do your best."

- Chef Paula DaSilva

Kitchen Nightmares

Do you watch Kitchen Nightmares? Well, I actually watch it because Chef Gordon Ramsay, a professional celebrity chef, gives advices to the viewers. I also find the television series helpful for restaurants with similar problems because they can learn from Chef Ramsay and have a chance to make changes to their own restaurants. You may recall the phrase, “You can learn from your mistake,” but from watching this show, you can learn from the restaurants’ mistakes that may occur.

Viewers discretion is advised because there are languages that may be offensive.

The Boken Online

This video shows three owners who lack management skills in their restaurant. When there are three owners, it is easy to assume that there is good management because more people help to manage the restaurant. As you can see, the lack of management has caused the owners to be unaware of their quality of food which is not good; the only good thing about the restaurant is the customer services from the servers.

From all the episodes I have watched, I believe that Chef Ramsay’s strategies are useful in the restaurant industry. If there is a problem in the restaurant, the best solution is the owner or the manager discussing the problems with his or her staffs, such as the servers and cooks, because they understand the problems that are occurring in the restaurants. For instance, the servers may know that the customers are always complaining about the foods not coming out of the dining room for hours or the cooks do not have an updated equipment to cook the foods properly.

In the end, Black Pearl was closed because it went back to its original state with the same lack of management and the owners did not follow Chef Ramsay’s advice. Also, I cannot believe they sold the Lobster Claw Machine!

If you enjoy watching these videos or want more tips from Chef Gordon Ramsay, you can watch Kitchen Nightmare every Friday night at 8pm on FOX.