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Sheffield Hallam University: MSc: Hospitality Assignments
Assignment 1: Crisis Management
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The worst case scenario in my experience was before the Barcelona 1992 Olympic Games opening in July / August 1992.
I was working in a Hotel Chain, HUSA Hoteles, which had a very large Catering division. My position in the company was Director of Quality Control. The President, the Managing Director and the Board of Directors of HUSA were very keen that the Company was chosen by the Barcelona 1992 Olympic Games Committee as Official Caterer.
Before opening the public competition to chose the Olympic Games Official Caterer, the Barcelona Olympic Committee wanted to know how each of the companies interested in bidding could supply the service. They also wished to carry out regular surprise inspections of all the establishments in the bidding process.
During the trial period, we obviously tried to do our best providing the daily lunches to a section of the Olympics volunteers. All went well without any problems until the last Saturday of June 1992.
The Central Kitchen Manager called me to say that one of the volunteers was intoxicated through our food. Our worst fears had materialised. Not only were we concerned about the volunteer but we were also worried about our catering business in general and in particular, the bid for the prestigious role of official Caterer for the Barcelona Olympics. My company, HUSA, was in the beginning of a major crises which I had to solve. Quality Control, being what it is, is only noticed when there are problems; Quality is seldom noticed when things go well.
After informing my boss, the Managing Director, about what had happened, I immediately telephoned the Food Analysis Laboratory that we worked with, to analyse the samples of the whole menu. The menu was : Rice with mushrooms, beef with carrots and vanilla ice cream.
Meanwhile the Laboratory also analysed the cook's fingernails for staphylococcus aureus. Only a few hours after the crises broke upon me, we heard from the Laboratory. Everything was in order. The results from the Laboratory proved that neither HUSA nor any of its staff was at fault.
Finally, the Barcelona Olympic Committee, after checking and reassuring themselves that it was only a isolated case, chose HUSA as one of the Barcelona 1992 Olympic Games Official Caterer. We all breathed a collective sigh of relief that we had overcome the crises.
In my opinion, the symptoms which can provide an early indication of the scenario, can be:
1.1).- Unsuitable kitchen Installations. For example, small kitchens without suitable divisions between the various foods - meat, fish, vegetables, pastry and bread.
1.2).- Dirty kitchens : This applies not only to the kitchen installation itself but also to the Kitchen utensils. Furthermore the use of cloth kitchen towels is strictly forbidden in a quality controlled kitchen.
1.3).- Incomplete staff kitchen uniforms. For example no street trousers should be worn by the cooks and a hat must always be worn by then.
1.4).- Dirty kitchen staff uniforms
1.5).- No observance of the all the hygiene rules. It is important that a hygiene check-list is prominently displayed for all the staff to read periodically.
1.6).- No periodic bacteriological analysis: food and kitchen staff's bodies must be examined especially their noses and fingers.
1.7)- No periodic training sessions for all the kitchen staff (cookers, scullions, cleaners, etc..)
I mentioned seven symptoms that I will consider, each one separately, as a good indicator that something wrong could happen at any moment during the process of food preparation. This could happen after the food is cooked right upto the time of serving it to the customer. We cannot forget that if our kitchen provokes some food intoxication, the first sufferer always will be the customer. However, immediately after him or her, the Company will suffer several different and very prejudicial effects. e.g.: Ministry of Health Investigation, Penalties, Lost of prestige, Loss of customers, Closing down of the kitchen by the authorities. etc..
Is not necessary to mention that in the quality of food and service the final judge is the customer. Even if the Catering Company is cleared of a charge of a violation by the authorities, the firm is still at risk to its reputation. Customers perceive that there is no smoke without fire.
To offer quality, each person who forms part of the team providing the service must give his or her best every day and all times without fail. This means, from the person who checks to see if the glasses are perfectly dry after removing them from the dishwasher, to the person who says "Good Night" to the customer before he or she leaves the Restaurant. Just one failure to keep up with standards could lead to serious consequences for the firm.
I am going to develop each one of the seven symptoms that I mentioned in the previous question as a way to avoid a food intoxication.
1).- Unsuitable kitchen installations
Is extremely important to get a suitable kitchen enough large enough so that different foods can be prepared in physically separate divisions of the kitchen area. There must be different areas to prepare and manipulate the raw materials that arrive into the kitchen. Also there must be different refrigerators for the different kind of materials (meat, fish, vegetables). It is particularly important that Lacteous products and their derivatives like desserts should be in a separate refrigerator. Frozen products must be in separate fridge. It is very important to maintain constant the organoleptis conditions of the products :
a).- There must be tight control of the fridge temperature settings. These will be different depending of the product that the fridge contains
b).- All the products, especially the cooked products, must be covered with plastic foil.
c).- Its important to keep all the products in perfect order in the refrigerators.
If for any reason it is not possible to have different refrigerators for the different products, the kitchen staff must work carefully to avoid "cross contamination".
2).- Dirty kitchen.
Every kitchen should be have a "CLEANING PLAN" dictated by the Chef or the Kitchen Manager which must includes the frequency for cleaning and disinfecting each section of the kitchen, including the refrigerators, the daily utensils and the uniforms. The most convenient approach would be to specify which product must be used for each duty and the person in charge. The plan, obviously, will be rotating, and must be known by all the kitchen staff. A copy of it, must be placed in the staff canteen.
The Kitchen Manager or The Chef will check to see that it is adhered to faithfully..
For its importance it is necessary to mention that the use by the kitchen staff (including the Chef) of cloth kitchen towels should be strictly forbidden. Instead, they must use kitchen paper rolls. The reason for this prohibition is because the cooks use the cloth kitchen towels, which so often hangs conveniently from their jacket pocket, for everything - including wiping their hands and heaven forbid - wiping their noses! There is a danger that the very same cloth kitchen towel they can clean the raw chicken knife and immediately after pass the cloth kitchen towel over a cooking surface where in any moment another cook can lay another product. Such a practice can lead to the rapid spreading of salmonella. The cloth kitchen towel is a perfect contamination vehicle and disposable paper towels must always be used.
3).- Incomplete staff kitchen uniforms.
Staff must always wear the regulation complete staff kitchen uniform. This includes shoes. It is not necessary to say that everybody that works or visits the kitchen must wear the correct and complete uniform and that their head should be properly covered with the prescribed hat. Wearing in the kitchen of the same clothes as worn in the street can lead to contamination from the outside. It is safest to avoid such dangers.
4).- Dirty kitchen staff uniforms.
The kitchen staff must try to maintain their uniforms as clean as possible. Although nobody forgets that they work in a kitchen and it is expected that clothes can became very dirty quite quickly, some staff’s kitchen uniforms are, in my experience, absolutely filthy. The kitchen can appear better that it really is, if its staff are always wearing clean uniforms. One never knows when there will be an inspection and appearances do count.
5).- No observance of all the hygiene rules
Every Food and Catering Company should make available to its staff a summary of the most important rules of food hygiene along with those of personal hygiene. The best way to maintain in the kitchen a permanent remainder of this, is to compose a an attractive and humorous poster of the details and place some copies of it, framed properly, in strategic places of the kitchen. Non-observance of these rules can be very dangerous for everybody: The customers, the Company and the kitchen staff.
6).- No periodical bacteriological analysis: food and kitchen staff's bodies especially their noses and finger nails.
One manner to cheek if the daily staff kitchen are working in a hygienically, is by carrying out a fortnightly bacteriological analysis about one first course, one main course and one dessert. It is strongly recommended that the Laboratory staff choose dishes with gravy and cream desserts. It is in these sauces that the greatest dangers of contamination lie. It is also very advisable as well to check at the same time, the finger nails and the noses of two or three of the kitchen staff each time in order to know if they suffer some infection without external symptoms as staphylococcus aureus.
The cooks must keep in a suitable refrigerator for three days after serving the food in the restaurant, small samples of all the food that they have cooked, including desserts. These samples must be placed in very small plastic containers with the date clearly marked on them. Therefore in the fridge there will always be three days food samples. This maintenance of the samples will be very useful in case of alleged food intoxication by a client. An examination of the saved and well-stored food could either identify the cause of the problem or absolve the caterer of blame.
It is also very important to have periodic bromatologic analysis of outside suppliers of “risky products”, e.g. suppliers of mince, chicken, eggs. This should be carried out by the Food Analysis Laboratory that the Company works with. If after several analyses no problem is identified with the supplier’s products or installation, the supplier will be granted authorised status by the Catering Company. This means that all of the outlets of the Catering Company can buy the supplier’s products. This authorisation, known as “homologation” must be maintained throughout periodical installation visits and bacteriological raw material analysis.
7).- No periodic training sessions for all the kitchen staff (cooks, staff, scullions, cleaners, etc..)
A Company without a rigorous training program for its staff, is without a sound future. In my point of view, staff need training for several reasons. These are to improve themselves professionally, to learn new techniques, and in my opinion, most important, to motivate them and proving to them that they are the most valuable asset of the Company. They must feel an important part of the Company. For the Company there is no point in keeping unmotivated but low-cost workers. They will not work properly as they don't have any interest in the Company's operations. There is a world of difference between low-cost and cheap. A low-cost and unmotivated worker may be the weak link in the company that brings it down.
I am going to imagine that the Restaurant " O SOLE MIO" owned by my Company has a case of food poisoning through light salmonella. Seven people including a five years old child, have been affected as a result of eating Lasagne. The Quality Control Department team are, myself, as Director of the department, and a Doctor with specialised in Bromotology and Food Hygiene. The importance of the are to the company is such that this department is directly under the control of the Company’s Managing Director.
My first action would be to inform my boss about the incident. Senior management do not like surprises. There is no room for a local “sweep everything under the carpet” cover-up solution. Management must be informed and updated with a regular progress report.
To get complete information about the health conditions of the persons intoxicated through the department’s Doctor.
Immediately visit the kitchen restaurant with the doctor. Urgently meet with the Chef to know all the details of the food process.
a).- Name of the meat (mince) supplier. Prepare a dossier with photocopies of all the certificates of authorisation of the chef and his or her installation to exercise the activity. Include as well photocopies of several bacteriological analysis reports of the restaurant’s products.
b).- Photocopy of all the kitchen staff’s authority to manipulate food.
c).- Description in detail of the method the lasagne was prepared and was cooked and the temperatures reached in the cooking process.
The possibility that you may face a crisis is in no way related to the size or record of your operation whether large or small or how successful you have been.
In cases such as this, when there are people ill as a result of the Company's actions it is imperative to follow the Company’s "Intoxication Control Manual” . In the absence of such a written manual, calm must be maintained and common sense must prevail in order to keep the situation in control. Common sense indicates that the Company should offer the injured people two kinds of compensation: Moral and Economic. I consider the moral compensation first. In my opinion, after a crisis situation, it is always important that the personal and physical presence or intervention of one of the senior people of the top Company's staff. Very often the client would be satisfied with a grovelling letter of apology and a free meal with a bottle of wine. The role of this senior person will be, in addition to find out about the health of the clients, to offer them an monetary Economic compensation if necessary.
This Economic Compensation must be covered by a liability insurance. Insurance companies often find that their exposure to claims is aggravated by angry customers of hospitality businesses that ignore or delay a response during the crisis situation.
In short, all the procedures that the Company should carry out should be designed to limit damage and to try to mitigate the harmful effects that it will inevitably suffer after the crisis. It is inevitable that a crises will occur even with the strictest of controls. It is imperative that panic does not set in and the crises is dealt with calmly and professionally and through well-prepared procedures.
Zurita Hospitality Consulting
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Sheffield Hallam University: MSc: Hospitality Assignments