Create a culture of food safety in your organization
Last week we talked about the role of multi-unit restaurant managers in promoting food safety and how having a management system in place can help standardize food safety across all locations. This week, we turn our focus to restaurant executive teams and pose the question: have you prioritized food safety by incorporating it into your restaurant’s culture?
Company leadership has the responsibility of implementing a culture that emphasizes cleanliness, accountability, teamwork, and the importance of following recognized food safety systems and protocols. Let’s take a look at how this can be achieved.
Executive Leadership’s Role in Food Safety
Food safety goes far beyond passing health inspections and meeting regulatory requirements. Creating a comprehensive food safety culture that is embraced throughout your organization should be one of the primary goals of senior leadership. Through proactive, well-executed, systematic food safety, the entire industry becomes stronger.
Developing a Culture of Food Safety
There is no one size fits all paradigm for instituting an effective and sustainable food safety culture. While individual organizations may trek different paths toward fulfilling this mission, they share one uniform goal: keeping consumers safe.
Following active managerial control (AMC) principles, your food safety management system should strive to:
- Recognize potential foodborne illness hazards in day-to-day operations
- Define standard operating procedures for critical steps
- Monitor the effectiveness of actions utilized to control hazards
- Train employees to prevent hazards by following specific control procedures
- Have certified food protection managers on staff
Chick-fil-A, a family-owned and privately held restaurant company, prides itself on living up to high food safety standards. Chick-fil-A food handlers wear color-specific gloves for various kitchen tasks to avoid cross-contamination. Staff members use disposable sanitizing wipes, rather than reusable cloth towels, to clean dining tables and customers in eating areas are provided with pre-moistened sanitizing hand wipes. As a ServSafe certification training partner, Chick-fil-A is a staunch believer that exemplary food safety procedures result in higher quality food and enhanced profit margin through prevention.
Learn more about how Chick-fil-A and other high-performing companies are prioritizing food safety as a part of workplace culture in our whitepaper, Developing a Culture of Food Safety.
Do You Have a Culture of Food Safety in Your Organization?
How do you know if your organization is prioritizing food safety and fostering a culture of food safety throughout? Download our Score Your Organization worksheet to analyze your brand’s food safety culture and score your organization on essential food safety management principles. What you discover might surprise you.