While hygiene has always been of paramount importance in foodservice, the outbreak of COVID-19 has brought it to the fore. It’s never been more essential to have robust measures to protect staff and customers.

A standard site-specific food safety management system will include well-trained staff with good personal hygiene, the correct use of chemicals for cleaning and sanitising along with COSHH and recording practices. Now we need to extend this with specific ways to combat COVID-19.

As with any contagion, it is necessary to focus on proper hand hygiene and disinfection of high-touchpoint areas including railings, doorknobs, handles and restroom surfaces. Consider that the average person touches 300 surfaces in 30 minutes!

Preparation for reopening should, therefore, introduce documented procedures and a checklist to do everything possible to protect employees and customers. This should include:

Handwashing 

• Hand washing is imperative after toileting, but also necessary after touching the face, smoking, handling chemicals, cleaning, sweeping, emptying refuse containers, handling raw or cooked food, and between changing gloves.
• Use approved antibacterial soap and warm water (at least 38C) and wash vigorously for at least twenty seconds.
• Wash hands at least every 20 minutes.

Deep Clean

• Arrange for a full deep clean to take place covering all areas and ideally include environmental cleaning of fabrics and soft furnishing by fogging.
• Deep cleaning should be carried out by an external contractor to ensure it’s done correctly and with the right chemicals. You will receive a certification as proof of completion.
• Pre-clean kitchen and bar equipment including glasses, optics and any equipment used for ice.

Water Safety

• If the water system has not been flushed regularly during closedown, you must seek specialist advice from a water safety contractor as the system may need a survey with the water sampling before you can reopen.
• If the water system has been flushed, you can run all water outlets slowly for 15 minutes before regular use (don’t forget the outside taps!).
• Use a thermometer to check the cold water temperature reaches below 20C and hot water is at least 38C at the furthest outlet from the boiler after one minute of running. Correct water temperature is essential for proper handwashing.

Review Cleaning Procedures

Enhanced touch-point virucidal cleaning for all areas used by customers and staff will be required. Produce a comprehensive cleaning schedule or support your existing cleaning schedule with an Enhanced Touch Point Cleaning Schedule.

The Importance of Disinfection

To effectively combat coronavirus, make sure you only use registered disinfection products. Coronavirus is a small – enveloped virus which is the least resistant to disinfection, so a quality product will kill it.

Enhanced cleaning methods and schedules will be in place for a long time. It will be the new norm! Staff and customers will have to work together to maintain hygiene levels that will keep us all safe.

If you’re considering reopening after lockdown with a takeaway service or quick turnaround food, you may be concerned about what to offer, potential stock shortages and how you’ll manage with limited staff.

Done right, it’ll be a great option to ramp up your business, and if you’re successful, you’ll be able to continue and become part of Britain’s ballooning £5bn-a-year sector.

Our high streets have always had a fair amount of takeaway options that continue to grow, regardless of what happens in other areas of the catering world.

Getting started might be daunting, especially with all the competition around, so you’ll need to find your niche and one that factors in today’s challenges.

The Menu

Creating an agile food offer will be crucial to your success; a menu people want that fits with multiple demographics and returns a good gross profit.

To overcome the current limitations, you’ll want to offer easy to prepare options that can be readied in advance and with shared ingredients to reduce stock holding and maximise your efficiency.

Here are some ideas to consider:

Chicken Tenders (Goujons)

• A novel chicken burger – in a brioche bun garnished with crisp lettuce, sliced beef tomato, red onion topped with burger sauce
• As a wrap – for a snack with one less tender, still using the fresh lettuce and cheese and topped with buffalo sauce
• As a side – with a buffalo sauce dip

Notice this is one product, three menu items and three different price points. There’s minimal stockholding and prepping, an excellent profit potential!

Burgers

The beef burger, another great way to create a selection of food offers using items in multiple ways:

• The burger – toasted brioche, grilled beef burger, sliced beef tomato, chopped lettuce, burger sauce and American Mustard, the standard offer. Option to convert to a cheeseburger by adding a double sliced burger cheese
• The Indian – add an onion bhaji with mint sauce
• The Mexican – Add spicy tomato salsa
• The Tower- add two chicken tenders to the burger

Tortillas

• Nachos – cut tortillas into triangles and lightly fry. Smother a generous stack of tortilla chips with cheese, refried beans, guacamole, sour cream and salsa.
• Huevos Rancheros – a popular breakfast dish of egg in a tortilla cup, complemented by smashed avocado and spicy beans.
• Banana Burritos – featuring banana and Nutella, wrapped in a tortilla wrap, crisp fried and with a good dollop of vanilla ice cream on top.

Sweet Potato Fries

Then there are the humble fries, always a favourite and still sells well as a side, but that same product with a few toppings, salsas, cheese or even your chopped-up tenders then becomes ‘Dirty Fries’, it’s the latest kid on the block and is sold at a premium price. Using sweet potato fries also attracts a premium price, consider:

• Loaded Nachos Fries – guacamole, salsa, soured cream, black beans and sweetcorn.
• Brie and Bacon – crispy sweet potato fries topped with crispy bacon and brie.
• Asian Sweet Potato Fries – with pickled carrot and chilli garlic sauce.
• Chorizo Sweet Potato Fries – topped with crispy chorizo and manchego cheese
• Vietnamese Fries – A dash of hoisin sauce, spicy sriracha, garlic mayo, and a topping of peanuts.

Be creative with what you have, use as many shared and ready-made ingredients as possible, all of which should be readily available from your local supplier.

Staffing

Another factor determining the success of a takeaway service is the staff, who are also the principal cost! Create your menu wisely with limited options and using shared ingredients requiring minimal preparation. You’ll be able to contain staff costs and have a robust business model.

Don’t Stand Still

This sector of catering changes quickly with new trends and new outlets opening regularly. Stay in touch with your suppliers for great deals, changing trends and new products coming down the line.

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Every few weeks, we have a new directive around social distancing and what we can do. Many business are starting to re-open, and many takeaways are already trading in some form.

Restaurants are planning when they will open and what their offer will be. Perhaps ‘take away only’, a meal kit to make at home or, they may have the space to sit diners two meters apart with the implementation of staggered dining. There’s a lot to consider, a lot of systems to put in place to protect staff, customers and the business. But let’s start with stock, the thing we need to run the business.

Nearly all catering businesses cancelled their bookings and went into lockdown as instructed by the government. The stock they had was either frozen, disposed of or stored. Now, with opening preparations underway, how can this stock be used and what are the likely stock issues?

Firstly, review your stock checking the “use by” and “best before” dates, remember the difference between the two and how they must be handled.

Use by: A use by date on food is about safety. It is the most important date to remember. Food can be eaten until the use by date but not after. You will see use by dates on food that goes off quickly, such as meat products or ready-to-eat salads.

Best before: The best before date, sometimes shown as BBE (best before end), is about quality and not safety. The food will be safe to eat after this date but may not be at its best. Its flavour and texture might not be as good.

Best before dates appear on a wide range of foods including frozen foods, dried foods and tinned foods. The best before date will only be accurate if stored according to the instructions on the packaging.

Once you have established which stock is usable, plan your menu with what you have. Use up the frozen items and your dry store items. Start small and offer the favourites your customers know you for and have missed. Then expand on-demand as business starts to pick up again. Doing this will cut down on waste and, as these items are already paid for, increasing profit. By ramping up the business, you will be able to offer service even with reduced staff.

Contact your suppliers and re-establish your arrangements for both food and chemicals. Make that call and tell them what the offer will be and when you’ll be opening. Let’s remember some of the food items you used to use may not be in stock now, and suppliers also need to plan, so knowing lead times and potential shortages helps.

Think about placing bulk orders for dry and frozen items, just in case these items are in short supply. You don’t want to start with your menu then have to change it a couple of days in, lots of food outlets will order at the same time, remember ‘toilet roll gate’!

When you have your reduced menu in place, and you are happy, make sure your allergen matrix is updated and correct. You may be using different items or brands so things will not be the same; you may have to review this more often than usual until things settle. In all of this, food safety should not be overlooked.

Check that your fridges and freezers are working and if they need servicing. Check dried items for pests, and if your business has been closed, there is also a risk of contamination.

With the proper planning, you can move forward quickly once you have the green light to open. Things will be different, but customers will still get great food safely.