“Only 34% of restaurant operators are very confident in their ability to identify potential food safety concerns before they become an issue.” -Zenput/Technomic 2020 Restaurant Ops Report
Food safety is a chief concern for all restaurant owners and managers. Being slow or unable to address food safety issues harms a restaurant’s reputation, damages the customer base and leads to long-term negative effects on profitability. Unfortunately, many restaurant owners aren’t versed in the new ways to manage a food safety occurrence, such as better, more reliable dissemination of training to prevent food safety issues.
According to Zenput’s 2020 Restaurant Ops Report, restaurant owners’ confidence in their ability to address food safety issues is actually declining. Per the report, “[in] a Fall 2018 survey, 50 percent indicated they were very confident in their ability to identify food safety issues…” as opposed to the 34% in the current 2020 study.
Failing to adhere to food safety guidelines not only damages a restaurant’s reputation and customer base but can also result in hefty fines. So how can restaurant owners address food safety issues in a timely manner and ensure staff adhere to food safety guidelines? A multi-faceted approach works best: Leverage employee engagement through shift acquisition to ensure sick employees remain home, train employees and keep them up-to-date on current food safety guidelines and use operational best-practices to keep facilities clean.
These three initiatives don’t have to overwhelm managers. UPshow’s new Back of House software provides simple ways to achieve these goals while delivering measurable feedback to managers at venues of all sizes.
Easy Shift Switching Minimizes Food Safety Violations
Many restaurant employees can’t afford to miss shifts due to illness and come into work regardless of symptoms and the food safety guidelines. Their commitment to their job can easily result in a food safety issue. In the current environment, a sick employee poses an even greater risk for restaurants. Luckily, there’s a solution: UPshow’s Back of House software makes it easy for healthy employees to claim shifts from sick employees and for sick employees to claim additional shifts once they’ve recovered.
Managers can encourage employees to stay home in the present by being transparent about available shifts in the future. An employee who knows they will have plenty of opportunity to make up missed shifts is far more likely to stay home and recover, minimizing your restaurant’s risk of contaminating food and violating food safety guidelines.
Better Delivery of Food Safety Guidelines to Employees
With 36% of restaurant owners reporting that it takes them more than a week to address food safety issues, per Zenput/Technomic’s 2020 Restaurant Ops Report, access to training on these issues becomes critical. A well-trained staff can address food safety issues as they arise and resolve them before they become a concern.
UPshow’s Back of House software makes it easy for managers to communicate about new training courses to employees. With COVID-19 forcing rapid changes in food safety practices and guidelines, managers need this simplified way to engage employees in training.
With the status tracking display, managers are able to see who has and hasn’t completed critical new training programs around food safety guidelines. Plus, status tracking displays encourage a spirit of competition between employees and provide immediate, tangible feedback.
Operational Excellence Lowers Risks
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), restaurant staff failing to adhere to proper food safety procedures is a leading cause of foodborne illness.
Tracking operational metrics around facility cleanliness helps mitigate food safety issues, keeps your customers happy and healthy and lowers the risk of fines. UPshow’s Back of House software makes staying on top of health and safety goals simple and easy for all staff.
Utilizing UPshow’s Back of House software enables restaurants to adhere more easily food safety guidelines.
Learn More About Back of House
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