The foodservice businesses are
getting a huge hit all across the spectrum; from operators and broadliners, to
manufacturers and all rest of the industry. As discussed in Mr. David
Yaffe-Bellany and Mr. Michael Corkery article, published on April
11th 2020 in the New York Times, the impact of the industry shoot
down represents not only the loss of employment and sales, but also translates
in enormous amounts of food that is being wasted due to the foodservice
business chain disruption.
It is understandable that much of
this disruption is due to the lack of knowledge on the novel virus, since it is
a new phenomenon, we all are facing unexpectedly. It is also true that
part of this disruptions is likewise due to the measures Governments are taking
world-wide in order to control the virus, especially those rules related to
social distancing. Nevertheless, it is part our responsibility too -as
foodservice operators- consumer’s misinformation on food safety standards, that
have already been in place in order to prevent cross contamination and/or food
transmission of viruses and germs, providing healthy and secure environments
for customers.
This lack of knowledge on food
safety standards by the general public, added to the reasonable lack of
knowledge on how the Covid-19 virus is spread was understandable at the
beginning of this pandemic. Though, now that we -as a society- have a better
insight on the virus and its transmission, we are taking appropriate and - in
some cases- redundant actions to create a much safer environment for our
workers, and at the same time, a safer experience for our customers.
Whereas it is because businesses’
responsible behavior toward customers, communities and personnel, and/or
because already established practices and minimum food safety
measures in the foodservice industry, the truth is that safety -food safety- is
emboldened into the main set of most foodservice operators and safety practices
are widely used in our industry.
The bottom-line is, that safety
measures are so common in our industry that are taken for granted, and somehow,
we are -being part of the foodservice industry- responsible for customers to
fall into the ‘law of diminishing marginal utility’ of our own food
safety standards. It is time, for all of us to push back.
But how does an economic
term apply to a foodservice business safety standard? easy. In general, the
‘law of diminishing marginal utility’ stands that the amount of satisfaction
(utility) provided by the consumption of every additional unit of a good,
decreases as we increase the consumption of that good.
First, let’s picture our food
safety as that particular good which stands in the law premise and the utility
as the satisfaction of knowing that what you are eating is safe.
Then, we understand and therefore
stand by the fact that everything we do and how we do it gravitates around food
safety and customers trust.
When a foodservice operator
opens, one of its main tasks is for sure to gain customers trust by providing
them meals as good or even better (in taste and safety) as the ones they could
prepare at home. It is very unlikely you get sick at home, so it is
a business that from its very beginning, spins around customers trust.
Food safety is a value in our
industry. It is the reason why our industry is regulated requiring every single
ounce of food to be properly handled, packed, delivered, kept and prepared before
customers can even take a bite of a meal.
The food safety is so integrated
into our thinking, businesses models, and practices that in order to jump into
any business within the industry, we consider it as a ticket into the game. And
it is indeed, because it is also the ticket into our customers trust.
After years of foodservice
evolution, it looks like we simply forgot how important that costumers trust is. We
focused our scoop on different and more innovative things because customers
meal after meal feel so safe, that no matter what happened, they kept coming to
enjoy a meal at our places.
It seems to me that we have lost
the “safety satisfaction" of eating away from home. Now, when rules
got challenged, we realized that such trust and customers safety perception is
so extremely important, that they have massively decided -in great part because
of this-to reduce or stopped purchasing from local foodservice operations.
Perhaps, if such important value
hadn't been so underestimated, the foodservice industry would have not received
such a huge hit from the very beginning, and transitions from dine-in to
grab-n-go or delivery, would have been easier and in higher returns than
currently showed under this stressful pandemic.
One of such measures that make
our industry operation safe, is the food temperature and what is known as
the kill temperature for products. According to CDC guidelines “Food is safely
cooked when the internal temperature gets high enough to kill germs that can
make you sick”. If you need to review the current recommendations, please visit
the following link for Safe Minimum Cooking Temperatures Chart.
The FDA also recommends
food to be kept hot if it is not planned to serve it right away after cooking
it. This is the case for most food that is prepared for grab-n-go, catering
events, pick-up and delivery. It is important that food is kept not lower than 140°F in
a warmer case, chafing dish, warming tray, or slow cooker.
If food’s
temperature drops lower than 140°F, it is important to bring it back up to
the recommended temperature showed in the safe minimum cooking temperatures
chart above. The reason is simple, if food got
cross contaminated or if any pathogen got on the food and the food dropped
below the safe temperature of 140°F, by raising the temperature up to the
recommended temperature, it is expected that the food is safe to eat, because
it reached a temperature high enough to kill germs that can make you sick.
That is
just right, so simple it usually slips our minds how important is temperature
managing in our business. But as important is letting our customers know that while
keeping the temperature in our grabs-n-go, to go food, we are keeping them
safe, while providing them great experiences.
As part of our efforts to refloat
our industry, it is important we stop assuming that -being an industry in
crisis-, consumers know all the endeavors we are setting up to have a safe
environment for our employees and our customers, because they are not aware of
either the new nor the former measures that had been already in place before
this Covid-19 crisis braked upon all of us.
We need
to resurface those safety measures that because of regulations, or procedures
based on our core values, keep our employees and customers safe.
By promoting our values, and our
safety measures to the open market, we will regain a well-deserved trust, and
will do our part in driving back our customers as much as possible under the
“new normal” situation.
What about you? What are you
doing to help refloat your business and alongside it, the foodservice industry?
We´ll love to hear what initiatives that now are out there will make possible a
strong coming back of our industry.
Keep safe and let’s work harder
for our community!