How Restaurateurs Can Prepare For A Health Inspection

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Health Inspection

Preparing
for a health inspection should never be an overly difficult process. After all, if the restaurant furniture booths
get dirty during the year, it shouldn’t be an inspection that motivates the
owner to clean them. Even eateries that
consistently focus on cleanliness, though, should do a few things to improve
their health grade. Because in the end,
a passing grade of 99 percent is much better than a passing grade of 95.

Perform a Mock Inspection
One
of the best ways to prepare for an upcoming health inspection is to perform a
mock inspection. While walking around
the restaurant to ensure cleanliness can be helpful, it’s a much smarter move
to reach out to the local health department and see if they make their
inspection forms freely available.

Having
access to these forms will tell a restaurateur exactly what the inspector is
looking for. Whether it’s keeping cafe
chairs a certain distance away from trash cans or ensuring that refrigeration
units stay at a specific temperature, knowing these things in advance can help
even the tidiest restaurant make a higher health score.

Overcompensate When Necessary
There
are aspects of most restaurants that go against the grain when it comes to
health inspections. Fancy eateries, for
instance, never have their servers wear hats or other head coverings. Doing so would snag them a few extra points,
but it would also take away from the overall aesthetic they’re trying to
create.

Because
there are areas where an eatery won’t secure the maximum amount of points, it’s
essential that they overcompensate in other areas. If the building is old and keeping the aesthetic
entails not replacing the concrete floors, which can be more difficult to fully
clean, having servers wear hats or making up in other inspection areas can go a
long way.

Consistently Train
Employees

A
restaurateur cannot pass a health inspection on their own. In fact, everything the inspector gives a
good grade on will have been prepared, cleaned or maintained by an
employee. This is why proper training is
so important.

Training
isn’t just about learning to use the POS system and memorizing the ingredients
in certain dishes. It’s also about
understanding OSHA requirements and basic hygiene rules. Hold periodic mandatory employee meetings to
reinforce habits of cleanliness and keeping up to code.

With
those comfortable restaurant furniture booths and great food readily available,
these meetings shouldn’t be too taxing on the workers.

Accompany The Health
Inspector
Some
restaurateurs may think they’re "all in" once the inspector arrives,
but this isn’t the case at all. Accompanying the inspector during their walk-through can accomplish a
variety of things. First, the potential
to notice small problems and nudge workers to handle them is present.

Most
importantly, though, is the fact that restaurateurs can see the restaurant as
the inspector does. This means minor
details that were overlooked become obvious, and this provides better
preparation for future inspections. Additionally, restaurateurs can dispute or explain anything they think
the inspector got wrong along the way.

From
reupholstering restaurant furniture booths to replacing commercial restaurant
equipment, there are a variety of things culinary entrepreneurs can do to
increase their inspection scores. Of
course, these drastic measures are rarely necessary. By following the simple rules outlined above,
restaurateurs can ace their next health inspections.