Sanitation should be foremost on the mind of every restaurant owner and manager. Taking strides to maintain proper sanitation can prevent food-borne illness, ensure diner satisfaction and keep a restaurant off the health inspector’s watch list. Although sanitation should be practiced at any establishment that serves food, it’s particularly vital at buffet restaurants. Fortunately, maintaining a sanitary buffet doesn’t have to be an uphill battle. Acquiring the right tools and upholding basic cleanliness can play a large role in keeping your buffet free of potential health hazards. In the quest for a safe, sanitary buffet, the following tips will prove invaluable.
1. Invest in Resilient Sneeze Guards
Any salad bars or buffet displays in your restaurant should be outfitted with resilient sneeze guards. As the name suggests, these durable plastic and/or glass covers prevent saliva, spittle and mucus from coming into contact with the food whenever a diner coughs or sneezes. To prevent germs and assorted bacteria from building up, you’ll need to wipe down your sneeze guards at multiple points throughout the day and thoroughly clean them once business hours are over.
2. Keep Food Warm
In addition to drawing the ire of diners, cold food can do considerable damage to a restaurant’s reputation. With this in mind, keeping food warm should be among your establishment’s key priorities. This can be accomplished with the help of state-of-the-art hot food display. These units are designed to keep food warm for long periods, effectively reducing waste and increasing diner satisfaction. Any buffet restaurant that specializes in hot entrees would be wise to invest in reliable warming displays.
3. Consistently Replenish Entrees
Food being left out too long is one of the chief causes of food poisoning at buffet restaurants. As such, it’s imperative that you swap out old food with freshly-made entrees and sides throughout the business day. You may not be crazy about the idea of wasting food, but doing so is an unavoidable part of owning or operating a buffet restaurant.
If not properly maintained, buffets can quickly become hotbeds of germs and food-borne illness. Luckily, a little bit of persistence and ingenuity on the part of restaurant owners can go a long way in keeping diners safe. In the interest of upholding proper sanitation at your buffet, remember to invest in resilient sneeze guards, keep entrees warm with the help of hot food displays and swap out old food as needed.
