Food Safety: Early and Often
Fatz Cafe relies on continuous training and reinforcement to establish a culture of food safety.
By Mary Boltz Chapman, Editor-in-Chief -- Chain Leader, 12/1/2007 12:00:00 AM
When the South Carolina Tourism & Hospitality Educational Foundation initiated its Food Safety Seal of Commitment in 2005, it got Fatz Cafe’s attention. “It made us ask ourselves, were we really doing all we could do with our food-safety training?” recalls Director of Training Sara Anderson.
“And when we looked in the mirror, we said, probably not,” she says. “We were already doing ServSafe [the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation’s food-safety training program] with our management, but we wanted to make sure that it was truly getting down to the front lines.”
The state association requires that a ServSafe-certified manager is on duty at all times, 75 percent of employees who handle food complete an approved training program, and all of the efforts are properly documented. In return, the restaurant receives a seal to post on the door.
Fatz went to work examining and revamping its training program. Today employees receive food-safety information as soon as they are hired and more at orientation. New kitchen employees take a food-safety pre-test and must receive an 80 percent or higher before they can begin training. Food-safety training is a key part of classroom and hands-on training. Workers take another practice quiz, then a final food-safety test.
After School
At the end of the training program, each worker sits down with the manager for a verbal exam where about 60 percent of the questions are related to hygiene and proper food handling.
"When we revamped our manual, we put that in front of the board at the restaurant association to get it approved," Anderson says. "And they approved it."
In fall 2006, all of Fatz Cafe’s restaurants in South Carolina were certified. New restaurants are certified a few months after they open.
Because restaurants in North Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee don’t qualify for the South Carolina seal, Fatz created its own Food Safety Commitment Award seal, which all units must earn.
Ongoing Efforts
The education isn’t over once a restaurant is certified. All of Fatz Cafe’s managers are required to be ServSafe certified, so courses are held at least quarterly.
The company also promotes quarterly initiatives on food-safety topics that are discussed at the monthly operator-partner meetings. Handouts and new training tools are sent via mail and e-mail, and presented during pre-shift meetings. For example, it tied the fall program to National Food Safety Month, which was in September.
"We really had to start marketing to them to get the buy-in on the importance of it," Anderson says. "These habits take time to form. Educating people on why it’s so important has really helped make it happen and make it become real-life practices. We just keep adding more and more aspects of it. It’s become a part of our culture more than it ever was."
To enhance the culture piece, the leadership team emphasizes food safety. Restaurant managers teach the ServSafe and other food-safety training to demonstrate the company’s commitment.
"We really try to coach and teach our operating partners to hold themselves accountable for food safety, and they do that automatically," says Vice President of Human Resources and Training Steve Corson. "It is something that is prevalent just about every day. They have to focus on it."
Anderson tells of a kitchen manager who has point cards that he awards for good food-safety practices. "They have a scoreboard, and the management team participates in this, too, because they have to keep this competitiveness going because everybody wants to beat the manager," she laughs.
Managers and operating partners exchange such ideas during frequent calls and meetings.
Outside Sources
The company is eager to learn from experts outside the company as well. Its units are audited by a third-party inspector, and operators build relationships with municipal inspectors.
"We try to take a proactive approach with our health departments and let them know that we’re interested in talking with them," Corson says of Fatz’ relationships with inspectors. "We want to ask them questions about what we can do to improve our food safety, and all of our operator partners understand that is an important relationship."
Anderson sums up all of Fatz Cafe’s efforts simply: "We’re sticking to basics and constantly talking about it."
