Nailing Your Next Health Inspection - Part 2
Have a Plan
If you can make the time to do a full self inspection during a regular shift, then great! Odds are this isn’t the case. Instead, break the self inspection down into several parts and knock them out day by day. Divide the restaurant into sections: prep, line, walk-in, dry storage, etc. Or, section by categories such as temperature, personal hygiene, preventing cross-contamination, etc. Whichever method you choose, make sure to be thorough. This means putting on your inspector goggles. For example, when checking in the walk-in cooler don’t just check temperatures, but look at the shelving, walls, and floors. Are food items stored properly? Do the shelves or walls need to be wiped clean? The more you do this, the more you’ll train yourself to see like a health inspector.
Brief Your Staff
You can’t do everything on your own. If you are a “I’ll do everything myself” type, then you’ll become burned out at some point in the near future. Being a good manager means you are managing a team. Invest time with them to review any issues and share the established goal. This is another area where dividing the self inspection into different sections on different days can be helpful. We don’t often have loads of time in a single day to train staff members. Breaking off bite size pieces of food safety will make it more digestible for everyone.
In addition, consistent briefing or quizzing can help you identify training gaps, so as not to have the same problems over and over again. Like working toward any goal, consistency is key. Doing the right things in the right way over and over will form good habits, and create the culture we want.
Finally, think of something to make it interesting by putting a prize on the table. ‘If we accomplish this, then we can all… insert prize’. The team will gel if they have a common collective.
