System Implementation At Red and Hot Chinese Restaurant - Assignment Example

 System Implementation At Red and Hot Chinese Restaurant Introduction This report describes the condition of food safety in Red and Hot Chinese restaurant, particularly in regard to its adherence to the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point or the HACCP system. Currently, the restaurant does not have formal system or a proactive strategy that purposely anticipates hazards and identifies the stages or points wherein it can be managed in the whole restaurant operations. In my opinion, HACCP system should be adopted not just for the benefit of the restaurant’s health and safety but also for professionalizing the establishment and achieving for it the several business benefits associated with adhering to the HACCP principles in its kitchen and dining operations. HACCP: Backgrounder HACCP is in line with the ISO 9000 standards in terms of ensuring safe restaurant kitchen operations. It is based on the seven principles recommended by the US National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods (NACMCF). It is defined as a system of controls and documentation designed to minimize the potential for food-borne illness due to pathogens or physical or chemical combination. (Baraban and Durocher, p. 134) It addresses all biological, chemical and physical hazards and how to identify and control/prevent them. Food safety has become an important public policy issue because of concerns about food-borne illnesses and how consumers have increasingly seeking ways to lead healthful lifestyles. (Engle and Quagrainie 2006, p. 151) As a result authorities are increasingly requiring for food establishments and food handlers to have control on sanitation procedures. Some countries are even formulating laws that are related to food safety and the HACCP system. The entire HACCP processes look and appear very technical and complicated, but the truth is that it is an extremely systematic way of ensuring that food being produced in a kitchen is safe. Based on initial research, the HACCP system is a recognized as a world wide standard in food safety, adopted by various food and hospitality establishments such as hotels, restaurant, ships, and so forth. Evaluation and Main Findings While there is no formal HACCP system in place at Red and Hot Chinese Restaurant, this does not mean that there is no food safety strategy in place. I found this out, among other important facts about the restaurant, after I conducted a series of interviews with the Kitchen manager, several cooks, stewards and food servers. I have asked a set of questions which determined the staff’s knowledge and actual experience with the HACCP model and how it works. In addition, the interview also included questions intended to ferret out information in regard to current restaurant practices and policies in regard to food safety since it has been previously determined that there is currently no HACCP system in place. For these interviews I have perused the standard HACCP system manual as a reference for my questions and analysis. Several important findings are outlined below: Out of the 12 personnel in the kitchen and 5 food servers – those that are directly responsible in handling food, only 3 knows about the HACCP system: the chef, the restaurant manager and one of the stewards. The lack of knowledge is primarily attributed to the lack in training and the culture that permeates in the Red and Hot Kitchen Restaurant as a Chinese food establishment. Ensuring food safety is informal and usually depends on personal initiatives, personal habits and personal knowledge on general safety and hygiene. For example, food handlers use plastic gloves when handling cooked food, there is the three sink-system mandated by HACCP guidelines and garbage segregation. These variables in the kitchen are part of the HACCP system but were naturally adopted not with HACCP in mind but with the rough understanding of hygiene. Although the restaurant management is aware of the HACCP system and its importance, they expressed reservations whether they could implement the rigorous process of evaluation, practice and documentations. In my further research, I found that the above findings echo the sentiments of significant number of companies. As a matter of fact, the Food Research Institute (1995) reported that nearly 50 percent of food establishments who participated in their study thought that traditional inspection programs are adequate. (p. 520) Conclusion and Recommendations However, the case is, I still firmly recommend that the HACCP system must be adopted at Red and Hot Chinese Restaurant. Although the concerns in regard to the initial complicated method and the cost of using the system in the context of facilities, time and manpower training are legitimate, these are far outweighed by the benefits in adopting the system. In the long run, HACCP system would achieve for the company decreased cost, increased sales, confidence in the safety of the product, good reputation, the creation of customer value, among other variables that contribute to the restaurant’s competitive advantage. Specifically, the prevention of food borne illnesses could save a lot of money from possible suits and damaging publicity that could result from an endangered customer. According to Mayes and Mortimore (2001), the benefits of HACCP may not always be easy to measure, but that they are considerably many: staying in business, meeting government regulations, meeting customers’ requirements, reduced work, reduced food safety incidents, and increase shelf-life of food and ingredients. (p. 77) The less obvious benefits include increased production volumes, increased yields, lower production costs, and, as previously mentioned, increased competitive advantage. In this regard, I am recommending the training of the workers in Red and Hot Chinese Restaurant on the HACCP system and the formulation of a tailor-made policies and regulations tailor-made to the requirements and needs of the restaurant and its employees. In addition, a specific personnel should be given the task to monitor this food safety program. Integrating HACCP to the overall kitchen operations and, eventually, to the restaurant work culture could increase profitability and even morale among the employees because of the structured and professional workplace they belong to. An overall increased understanding of the system will not only ensure food safety but also ensure efficient food production. References Baraban, R and Durocher, J 2010, Successful Restaurant Design. John Wiley and Sons. Engle, C and Quagrainie, K 2006, Aquaculture marketing handbook. Wiley-Blackwell. Food Research Institute, 1995, Food Safety 1995. Marcel Dekker. Mayes, T and Mortimore, S 2001, Making the most of HACCP: learning from other's experience. Woodhead Publishing. Read More