Ask any restaurant owner what their top five concerns related to the operation of their business is and you’ll most likely hear food safety come up as one of those items. So why is food safety so important? The obvious answer is; so the customers don’t get sick. While that is one of the main reasons that food safety is so important but making sure health inspector visits go smoothly is also toward the top of the list. Food safety may seem like an overwhelming task, but with these eight easy suggestions you’ll quickly be on the right path:

1. Store cooked and ready-to-eat foods above raw food

2. Prepare food in batches

3. Replace or sanitize buffet utensils every 1/2 hour

4. Never thaw at room temperature

5. Use products such as blast chillers and cooling paddles to cool food, not freezers and refrigerators

6. Create a daily cleaning and maintenance checklist and schedule

7. Have frequent employee training sessions on food safety

8. Ask your foodservice equipment and supply dealer for help. Many dealers have received formal training on food safety. They can provide cost-effective products that support a HACCP program as well as valuable information on constantly changing safety rules and regulations

If you have additional questions regarding food safety, feel free to contact us via phone at 800-797-3788 or click the picture of the customer service representative at the top left corner of each page of the site to launch a live chat.

Like it or not, it seems more foodservice-related mandates could be coming down the pike.  According to the Washington Post, several states have recently adopted or are considering menu-labeling laws, following a trend begun last year.  Anti-smoking laws also continue to move from state to state.  Trans fats are the dieter’s enemy du jour, but a salt may be the next item on the chopping block, according to an article in the Boston Globe.

Do you support or oppose these pieces of legislation?  While these measures may not come to pass, it could be very advantageous to be prepared in case they do.  So what can your restaurant or bar do?  Are there steps you’ve already taken to prepare?  Share your ideas in the Comments area below.

Some might say that New York City restaurants are getting their just deserts.  Others might say it’s a case of too much information (namely those on the “dirtiest restaurants” list).  According to an Epoch Times article, this is the third year that NY Senator Jeff Klein has released lists of New York City’s cleanest and dirtiest restaurants based on Department of Health inspections.  However, the senator says that he’d like to switch from a points system to a letter-grade system to make the results clearer to diners.

It turns out that this policy is old hat in Los Angeles, where a 20% decrease in food-borne illness is being attributed to the use of a letter-grade system to alert diners to the restaurant’s cleanliness.  With so many other factors at work, though, I find it hard to make the direct correlation between letter grades and illness.  Furthermore, according to The Gothamist, the New York State Restaurant Association claims the letter grades are too vague to be of much use to consumers—and they don’t offer a picture of the restaurant’s cleanliness over time.

Whether or not the letter grades have a direct affect on public health, the policy of publicizing the best and the worst is probably a good idea.  In fact, I imagine that many restaurant operators welcome this as a way to showcase their dedication to food safety.  And while the idea of playing favorites may hold some water, the press release was held in front of Mario Batali’s Del Posto Ristorante, not itself among the “dirty dozen,” but guilty of a good number of health code violations.

What do you think?  Should restaurants be called out on their dirty past?  And when corrections have been made in those restaurants, will consumers “forgive and forget” or will the reputation damage be too much to overcome?

Although teens have been in the news lately because of a university-lead push for a lower drinking age (yikes, I say!), that’s not what this particular blog post is about.  This is the tale of two teenagers who decided to take a love for good seafood to another level.  They tested the honesty of the labels of fish at various supermarkets—and restaurants—in New York.

The results are a little shocking, actually.  I’ve read on an off about mislabeled seafood, but this little experiment turned up a surprising percentage of mislabeled fish.  Though their test was admittedly small (60 samples), they found that a quarter of all their samples were mislabeled.  Two of the four restaurants they bought fish from sold mislabeled seafood, and six of the ten supermarkets they sampled also sold mislabeled seafood.

They got all that information (and a feature in the New York Times, no less) simply by sending samples off to a lab where the DNA “bar codes” of the samples were compared to the “bar codes” of known species.  They found such trickery as tilapia mislabeled as much pricier white tuna, and fish labeled red snapper that was actually an endangered species of redfish.

The young ladies say that the fish could have been mislabeled anywhere from sea to table, so they aren’t laying blame.  But it makes me wonder who is responsible, and who has the responsibility to verify the species of fish being sold.  How do you know what kind of fish your restaurant is buying to cook up and sell?  How do you assure that you are getting what you pay for?  If you’re not sure, it might be time to check the honesty of your chain of supply.  (And then serve your brilliant seafood creations on some great seafood plates!)

A city council member in Los Angeles is pushing legislation that would stop any new fast food restaurants from opening within a large chunk of the city. According to this Wall Street Journal Article Jan Perry, the council member, is pushing this idea for a 32-square-mile part of town that already has 400 fast food restaurants. Perry says she is proposing this to help make people in the area healthier.

The article states that most of the options in this area are already fast food options and that most people will choose to go there because it is fast and convenient. Perry wants to stop any more of these restaurants from opening to try to give her constituents more options. According to the article the city has received many calls from other towns requesting copies of the proposal to consider for their own towns.

While the Los Angeles City Council has not yet voted on this issue, many in the restaurant industry are already taking action. Many members of the restaurant scene in the area have already worked with the council to add exceptions for restaurants who meet certain criteria (like not having a drive-thru). Many restaurants are also taking acts like these as inspiration and motivation to make their menus healthier and more diverse. As more and more communities start to look at the restaurant industry as a player in the obesity problem in this country (whether that is true or not) restaurant owners have realized that they need to start taking action and making plans now, so that they are ready for whatever may happen.

If this plan came to your area, what would you do? Would you fight the proposal or try to work with it? Would anyone see reason to go after your business, or have they already? Any tips for those who are already facing this situation? Post below to offer your advice to other restaurant owners.

Today’s NRA Smartbrief newsletter features the following quote by John D. Rockefeller, Jr.: “Think of giving not as a duty but as a privilege.”

With that in mind, I’d like to return once more to a worthy cause that is specifically designed to engage restaurants, the Great American Dine Out, organized by Share Our Strength.  This group was highlighted today in a compelling little article on QSRMagazine’s website. Share Our Strength is a national campaign dedicated to wiping out childhood hunger in America.  And although money may be tight for a great many of us, it doesn’t take much to make a difference in the life of someone who truly needs the help.  Here are some “Quick Facts” from the QSRMag article:

The average monthly food stamp benefit is $93 per person—barely $1 per meal.

Households with children have a food insecurity rate almost double that of households without children, increasing their risk of hunger tremendously.

More than one-third of individuals served by food banks are children under 18.

$50 can help provide 48 preschool children with lunch for a day.

$85 can help provide a mother and her child with meals and shelter for a week.

$100 can help provide 25 bags of age-appropriate, nutritious foods for toddlers whose parents rely on Food Banks to properly feed their children.

$145 can help buy 70 bags of fresh fruits and vegetables for low-income families.

$500 can help provide a truckload of food to a food pantry to help serve an underprivileged community.

Sources: Share Our Strength (www.strength.org)

More information about Share Our Strength and the Great American Dine Out can be found within the article mentioned above or at Share Our Strength’s website.

For other community service-related ideas, check out this interesting post over at FohBoh.com.

For this fine Friday, we'll keep this short and sweet. 

First, news you need to know:
Tomatoes are officially on the safe-list (finally)!--But watch out for jalapenos and serrano peppers (dangit...they're my faves).

Things you might want to know:
Looking for some new ideas to drive traffic to your restaurant?  Skimming this California news article will offer you more than a few.  But be sure to check out the comments at the end of the article, too; it seems some people find the article to be more “sensationalism” than realism.  What has your experience been for the past few months?  Is the economy really dragging your business down—or is it the usual competitive foodservice climate?

Stuff that you absolutely don't need to know, but just might like:
Now, if you’re just not in the mood for economics, skip the news article and visit this site, iJam, instead.  I found a mention of it on Chowhound, and I’ve gotta admit, it’s pretty hilarious.  Have a great Friday!

The Parents.com list included only national chain restaurants that are familiar to many; that said, I’m not going to repeat the top 10 restaurants here.  Instead, I’m going to try to pull a few themes from the reasons these places were selected:

• Changing stations in the women’s AND men’s rooms.
• No smoking.
• Kids’ menus with a variety of foods and healthful options. 
• Freebies of any kind are good (finger food, crayons, toys, bibs, etc.).
• No trans fat.
• Nutrition and allergy information clearly posted.  (This tends to be a weak spot for independent restaurants.)
• Child-oriented programs (like rewards for reading, recipe contests, contributions to children’s charities, etc.).
• Friendly price points.  Drinks included in the meal price is a bonus.

Now, you may not be able to achieve all of these things in a day or even ever; most of the top chain restaurants don’t boast every point on this list, either.  Every little bit helps, though, and if there’s something on this list that you can implement without damaging your bottom line, you may actually see a positive return for the effort.

And if your restaurant needs high chairs, booster seats, changing stations, or other kid-friendly equipment, be sure to call Serv-U and we’ll help you choose the best models for your establishment—at the best price.

Restaurant Equipment—Steamers

Give your restaurant customers what they want: healthy food!  I'm reading more and more about the trend toward healthier restaurant offerings, and even legislation (in New York) that might require restaurants to include calorie counts on their menus.  With steamed food, you have nothing to fear when it comes time to count calories; steaming is a very nutritious way to cook.  It also saves you time and money.  Need more reasons to include a steamer in your restaurant equipment lineup?  Below is an article from SEFA's Foodservice Professional Reference Guide:
 

Benefits of Steam Cooking

1. Steam is very forgiving. Because steam cooks at 212 F it cannot burn the food. Even if you leave the product you are cooking in the steamer too long, it still remains firm and maintains good structure.
2. Cook multiple products in a steamer all at the same time with no flavor transfer. You can cook seafood, vegetables, meat, and even a cake in the same steamer compartment as long as you make sure the food does not drip down onto the food product beneath it.
3. Steam retains the highest amount of nutrients and vitamins of any other way of cooking. Therefore, it is the healthiest way to cook.
4. Vegetables maintain their brilliant colors during cooking, and enhance the presentation to your customer.
5. Steam cooks fast. You can cook some products in half the time of a convection oven.

How Steam Cooking Works

Steam is an extremely efficient heat transfer medium. It carries a great deal of energy which readily transfers directly to food (in steamers) or indirectly through a heat transfer surface (such as a kettle wall) and then into food. Steam is water (a liquid) that has been converted to its gaseous state by the application of heat energy. Heat energy typically is measured in British Thermal Units (BTU). The BTU is defined as the amount of energy required to raise the temperature of one pound of water by one degree Fahrenheit at sea level. It takes only 180 BTUs to raise the temperature of one pound of water from 32 F (0 C) to 212 F (100 C), the point at which it starts to boil. However, to evaporate that same pound of boiling water into steam requires 970 BTUs. As a result, steam carries many times the energy of boiling water. Steam readily gives up that energy load when it condenses back into water (condensate) upon contact with food.

How Much Steamer Do You Need?

This information assumes that each compartment holds three to four 12”x 20”x 2 ½” food pans, or two to three 12”x 20”x 4” food pans.