Restaurant Food Safety Culture: Key Solutions for Managers to Consider

Quantifying food safety culture is difficult, especially when considering the dynamics of restaurants and grocery stores. When employees aren't grouped together in an office, facility or an easily observable environment, measuring food safety culture becomes more challenging. However, with proper educational tools and influence from company leadership, I believe restaurants, food service organizations and grocery stores alike can ensure food safety culture is alive and well.


What key factors contribute to poor food safety culture in retail?

• Distance from the home base: Who are your "eyes and ears?” Well, it should be your leadership, but even area directors can't always be physically present to thoroughly inspect every location. Various business needs tend to pull leaders in different directions, so they might not always be around to help instill a food safety culture mindset.
  
• Managers who don't care: We always aim to promote and hire the right people as managers, but every now and then, you may stumble upon a "bad apple" that allows low morale to spread like wildfire. That can rear its head in many behaviors, such as inconsistency with what they say and do, playing favorites with staff, or flat out breaking the rules in front of employees.
• Employees are afraid to speak up: When we have a group of employees who turn a blind eye to bad food safety systems and behaviors, we miss the opportunity to tackle potentially crucial issues. There are numerous reasons employees may not feel like they will be heard if they speak up about poor food safety practices. They may fear retaliation, think it won't make a difference, or perhaps they just aren’t sure who to tell. Leadership has the largest influence on how empowered employees feel to speak up, so leaders need to encourage staff to do so, letting them know that their voices will be heard if they call attention to signs of poor food safety culture.

How can restaurants enhance food safety culture?

Auditors are not always welcomed with open arms when stepping foot inside a restaurant, but when you find the right food safety company to step in and observe as a third party, there should never be a threatening or "policing" presence when the auditor arrives. Instead, they should be seen as a collaborative partner whose only goal is to help your unit, branch, or franchise succeed. There are a variety of ways auditors, and third parties can accomplish this and enhance your organization’s food safety culture.

• Third Party Food Safety Assessments provide an insight into the dynamics of the establishment to ensure the safety of the consumers.  A detailed assessment is provided as part of an agreed-upon collaborative partnership between a Certification Body and the retail establishment. The frequency of visits will be determined and guided by the Certification Body, designed to fit your company's goals. When working with ASI to conduct a Third-Party Assessment, you’d be paired with auditors that have the soft skills to excite your team and most importantly- teach them!

Third Party Brand Assessments don’t only point out what your staff is doing wrong, they also acknowledge and congratulate the best practices observed, serving as a potential motivational tool as well. Eventually, units will start to anticipate their food safety assessments so that they can show off what they have learned and how they have applied it.

• Supplier Monitoring Programs can help retailers ensure their suppliers are taking food safety as seriously as they do. Think of it as a way to make sure the supplier is doing a good job, meeting all the rules and expectations, and being a trustworthy partner. This includes Supplier Audits, Supplier Risk Assessments and compliance monitoring for overall consumer protection. Keep in mind, ASI works with some of the largest retailers in the country such as Walmart, Amazon, Kroger, and Sprouts to conduct all supplier audits.

• A Tailored Training Curriculum can be customized to fit the needs of your company. ASI accomplishes this by determining the most common non-conformances in each unit and utilizing this data to influence the curriculum, helping your organization surpass its individual goals. We can provide calibration training to your company's leaders as well to ensure consistency in operations in every area.

• Internal Auditing Programs allow retail establishments to tackle food safety from the inside out while still working with a neutral third party like ASI. Our tailored audit platform with data tracking capabilities for trendspotting is available for our clients to utilize internally, allowing restaurants to configure their own custom templates for internal auditing.

In conclusion, implementing a strong food safety culture in restaurants and retail settings presents unique challenges due to factors like dispersed locations, inconsistent management practices, and employees' reluctance to voice concerns. However, overcoming these obstacles is crucial to ensuring the safety and trust of consumers. By implementing programs for Supplier Monitoring, educating staff, and utilizing third-party assessments as a constructive tool, organizations can foster a proactive, safety-conscious environment. Leadership plays a pivotal role in this transformation, and with the right support and systems in place, food safety culture can thrive across all levels of the business.

[If your restaurant or retail establishment is looking to improve its food safety practices, please feel free to contact me (agriffiths@asifood.com ) for more details or to get a quote.]