Food Safety
Excellence in foodservice is a table with four legs.
It doesn’t matter how delicious your food, how gracious your service, how lovely your place, if the food safety and sanitation are lacking. The best restaurants, trucks, caterers and bakers take food safety seriously every day: it’s part of their culture, a professional skill like any other.
All commercial foodservice businesses in North Carolina are required to have a Person In Charge (PIC) who is a certified Food Protection Manager, on duty at all times during all operations.
Safe food is intentional, and it begins with competence at every position.
Custom food safety
training and audits
There are decent online and in-person options to training and certification fast, but none are as effective as in-person, group training for your team, in your restaurant, at times and days that work best for you and for them. That’s knowledge that sticks.
You gather the troops, I bring the best, most effective training your people have likely ever had, in the comfort and convenience of your place. Plant seeds of what your folks need to hear and I’ll make sure they learn in the context of professional standards and of your unique culture. Chefs and managers will be certified, and your food handlers will understand their roles in keeping food safe.
It’s also fun to do pre-training audits in your busy kitchen (without getting in the way). We walk through as an inspector would, take lots of pictures and notes, and bring that intel to training. Doing this pre- and post-training is a powerful way to prepare for no-sweat inspections.
(ROOKIE) COOKING FOR CROWDS
Churches and other organizations that feed lots of people but are not inspected may not folks with professional training, but they can still take steps to keep food safe.
Reach out if you want help training your folks or designing your kitchen for the safest, most efficient foodservice. Or ask me to send you a free digital food safety booklet so you can train your own folks!
“Not only does Dani's work reflect the sort of community that we want to support, but she is also a talented chef…”
PLAN IT RIGHT
One of the most overlooked parts of food safety is the planning that goes into a business and a building before you apply for a health department permit. Not all entrepreneurs are experienced chefs, not all chefs are experienced designers, and not all architects and builders are familiar with the North Carolina Food Code. The Venn diagram of regulatory, operational and culinary expertise is where I help people avoid costly mistakes that hold up construction, and design fails that can cause headaches forever.
Get Certified Quickly
If you are ready to test and get that certification (and you’re anywhere near Orange County NC) jump on into the ServSafe Refresher+Exam on the last Monday of each month. It’s fast and furious, a great way to remember what you’ve studied (or already know) and get you through to the finish line!
Check on it
Auditing your kitchen sounds fancy, but it’s really just me and you, or your whole crew, walking through with a blank inspection form, a camera, and an objective, nonjudgmental stance. Let’s find what’s not working and correct issues (or attitudes or cultures) before inspections. You’ll get a new perspective, a detailed report with clear action items, and a plan for improvement that engages all your staff, top to bottom.
Celebrating a PErfect score
A perfect score is not easy to achieve. Don’t be fooled by how many are here: every one of these businesses worked hard every single day. My kitchens are always taught to treat health inspectors as allies and mentors, and to live ready. A surprise inspection should be a good surprise: let them catch you doing things right, with the most important work your customers will never see.
Congratulate people when you see these, send them to me and I’ll post and share them!
