Ensuring a Safe Re-Opening for Foodservice Operations

How is your foodservice operation adapting to re-openings? With great uncertainty and moving parts, it’s a hard time for businesses and customers alike. Safety is top-of-mind; keeping customers and employees safe in your space is of the highest importance moving forward. As more businesses begin to re-open, consider these factors:  

Cleaning & Sanitizing.

Some states require businesses to have a cleaning plan to re-open, and others do not. Regardless, cleaning is one way to ensure that your business continues to be a safe space for customers. Tables should be disinfected between each customer group and it should be clear this has been done. Additional high-touch items that need to be cleaned and sanitized frequently include, chairs, condiments, door handles and more. This is a great opportunity to use sanitized labels! Sanitized labels show customers that thorough sanitizing occurred and include space to note an employee name, date and time. Customers will want to see that an item is ready for use or their table is safe to eat at. When the time comes to re-sanitize, a removable adhesive leaves no residue behind.

Ensuring Proper Distancing.

Keeping at least six feet between customers is necessary to slow the spread. How will your foodservice operation adapt to this? Are you able to move your tables six feet apart? Will you need to install any protective barriers for cashiers, or between tables? You may also have a counter where employees either pay or can purchase grab-and-go items. Consider using floor graphics that show customers where to stand as they wait. Some businesses require customers to wear masks. If this is the case, a bright-colored window cling makes masks requirements known and is easy to both apply and remove.

Food Labeling.

Is your food labeling ready for re-openings? While proper nutritional information and ingredients are necessary for front-of-the-house labeling (for items like grab-and-go), back-of-the-house food safety labeling makes it easy to properly mark ingredients and to track when they’re at their best. If you find that your operation is constantly trying to keep up with handwritten labels, consider using an automated labeling machine to streamline labeling and save employee time so they can focus on keeping customers safe.

Preventing Tampering.

Many restaurants now offer delivery, takeout or curbside pickup options for customers, if they hadn’t already before. How do you prevent delivery drivers from tampering and contaminating orders? Unfortunately, tampering happens more than we’d like to think. Tamper-evident labels are easy to use, take seconds to implement and will make tampering known if it does occur.

We know that keeping customers safe and addressing their concerns is top priority, which is why we continually strive to develop the solutions you need. Do you have a product idea for safe re-openings that isn’t mentioned here? Share it with us! We continually seek feedback on new products or improvement to current ones.