At my last health inspection, I was nearly shut down for not having a HACCP plan for the soups I was cooking, bagging and chilling. I never knew I needed one. When do I really need a plan?
HACCP, which stands for Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point, is a system you can use to minimize food safety risks for various products by identifying potential hazards at key points in the process and making sure you take steps to minimize those hazards. HACCP takes the form of a written plan with a metric at those critical points. For example, “Reheat item to 165 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 seconds,” would be one step in a HACCP plan for one menu item....
Are there any strategies for keeping service staff motivated before the busy hours come?
It is common, especially in fine dining restaurants that I’ve worked with, to bring in service staff all at the same time and then release people in a staggered fashion at the end of a shift. The uniform report time allows managers to make sure that the dining room is set and side work completed; hold a pre-shift meeting to go over specials and do a food or wine tasting; and have time for family meal....
Is there a standard formula for how much space is needed for tables in the dining room?
This question invites a response I use a lot in our industry: “It depends.”
There are a few factors that will determine how many seats you can (and should) fit in your dining room:...
Set up a wellness program for restaurant employees
Obamacare is here to stay, so it’s time to get serious about planning. For many restaurants, there’s no escaping the rising costs that come with shouldering a greater share of employees’ health-care coverage. But there are ways to manage the burden and minimize its impact, including one strategy common in other industries: employee wellness programs. These programs are based on the premise that creating healthier employees leads to more affordable health care, while also producing benefits like improved productivity, recruitment and retention....
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