Cleanliness, sanitation, and food safety have always been some of the top priorities for caterers around the world. However, with more than a million COVID-19 cases worldwide, catering companies are taking extra precautions to ensure their workplaces are clean and hygienic. In this sanitation guide, we provide you with details on how caterers should clean their workstations, use disposable gloves, and deliver food to keep their clients and team members safe.
Properly Sanitize Your Business
To reduce the spread of COVID-19, it’s recommended for catering companies to regularly and thoroughly clean their facilities with EPA-registered sanitizer and disinfectant products. These products provide businesses with a safe and effective way to remove harmful bacteria from frequently-touched surface areas. Simply follow the manufacturer’s instructions for each cleaning product to ensure that high-touch areas are correctly sanitized.
Additionally, create a coronavirus cleaning checklist for your facility and share it with all of your staff members. It will allow staff to know what needs to be consistently cleaned to guarantee orders are safely prepared for clients. To ensure that your business is properly sanitized, we’ve created a list of all the areas and equipment that should be regularly disinfected:
- Kitchen equipment
- Workstations
- Tabletops
- Chairs
- Doorknobs
- Touch screens
- Computers
- Phones
- Light switches
- Sinks
- Toilets
Promote Frequent Hand Washing
Washing your hands with soap and water or hand sanitizer is one of the most effective ways to prevent the
spread of the coronavirus. To encourage your catering company’s employees to consistently wash their
hands, make soap and hand sanitizer easily accessible. Ensure that soap dispensers or soap bottles are
filled at every sink and there is a designated area in your facility for handwashing supplies. You can
also place hand sanitizers in all communal areas and workstations so caterers can quickly clean their
hands before and after completing any task.
When Should I Wash My Hands?
Washing your hands after using the restroom isn’t enough to reduce the risk of becoming infected with the virus. Throughout the day, caterers use equipment that other workers and clients come into contact with which makes it essential for them to consistently wash their hands. To promote frequent hand washing in your facility, inform caterers to wash their hands:
- When entering and leaving the workplace
- Before handling food
- Before putting gloves on
- After handling money or credit cards
- After prepping food
- After using the restroom
- After touching their eyes, ears, mouth, or nose
- After removing gloves
Closely Monitor Employees
Monitor team members on a regular basis to see how they are feeling. If you notice some staff members are continuously coughing or sneezing during their shift, have a conversation with them. Encourage them to go home and not come to work until they no longer have signs of a fever or other COVID-19 symptoms for at least 24 hours. It will allow them to get the proper rest they need to get healthy and prevent others from getting ill.
You can also monitor team members’ health by checking their temperature before, during, and after shifts. While it may seem excessive, it lets you know that all of your catering company's employees are healthy and minimizes the chances of COVID-19 infecting other workers.
Require Employees To Wear Masks
Most caterers don’t typically wear face masks when working at events or in the kitchen. However, wearing masks to cover your nose and mouth can help to protect against the spread of the coronavirus. The virus is known to transfer primarily through respiratory droplets and most face masks are effective at reducing the number of droplets that can make contact with others. Using masks in the kitchen also eliminates the chances of those droplets landing on food that caterers are preparing.
The supply of face masks is currently limited nationwide, so consider the use of alternative face coverings also. Permit the use of scarves and bandanas or homemade masks using cotton t-shirts, pillowcases, or dish towels.
Properly Use Disposable Gloves
Caterers should use food-safe gloves when handling ingredients or packaging ready-to-eat meals to
minimize the spread of bacteria. Gloves provide a barrier between dangerous pathogens and the food you
are preparing. However, disposable gloves can easily get contaminated which makes it vital to understand
how often you should replace your gloves.
When To Change Your Gloves
When it comes to changing your gloves, caterers can never be too careful. The more often you change them, the better. To ensure you’re properly using gloves, it’s important to understand when to replace them:
- When they are dirty
- When they tear or break
- Before beginning a new task
- Before handling ready-to-eat food
- After using electronics
- After handling raw meat, seafood, or poultry
- After 2 hours of continuous use
Before putting on a new pair of gloves, make sure to wash your hands. Gloves can easily become contaminated by making contact with unwashed hands.
Safely Deliver Meals To Customers
Finding a way safely to deliver meals to customers with minimal contact may be challenging for some caterers. They are accustomed to going inside venues to talk to clients and prepare food for events. In order to keep caterers and clients safe during the pandemic, it’s crucial for catering companies to pivot and find a new way to deliver orders.
To prevent the spread of the virus, many companies have implemented contactless delivery. This eliminates the need for customers to have face-to-face interaction with drivers to receive their orders. When clients place an order, they will specify where they’d like it to be dropped off. Caterers will drop off the order wherever they were instructed to and call, text, or ring the doorbell of the client’s home or business to let them know that their order has been delivered.
Keep Your Business Sanitary
With the rapid spread of COVID-19 nationwide, it’s important for caterers to follow the coronavirus sanitation guide. It ensures that they are properly preparing food, washing their hands, and delivering orders to clients. By following this COVID-19 sanitation guide, caterers can protect themselves from the illness while keeping team members and clients safe.
