One international sub chain takes proactive steps in safe food handling by implementing Web-based training programs. What are you doing?

Grilled? Toasted? Italian cold cut? Turkey and cheese? Vegetable? When it comes to building the perfect submarine sandwich, the choices are endless. The world of the sub shop has exploded into tens of thousands of locations with countless choices to entice consumers away from one brand name and to another.Among the consumer’s choices, however, we rarely consider the most important: Is my sandwich being prepared using uncontaminated ingredients and is my health being taken into consideration as my meal is being prepared and handled?

This is really a question consumers should want to know everywhere they purchase food, but for the sake of this month’s column, I’m highlighting sub shops and one franchise in particular: Blimpie International, the operator of Blimpie Subs and Sandwiches. Blimpie is a global sub chain that has decided to eliminate food safety concerns from the minds of the customers it serves.

Blimpie, the third-largest submarine sandwich chain in the United States with more than 1,600 franchised operations, is taking a proactive step in furthering customer safety by training all of its food-handling employees in food safety with a Web-based training program linked to online record management of training information.

“As we conducted regular reviews of some of our systems, we found that there was a gap between what we taught the franchisees in their two weeks in Blimpie University and what they passed on to their front-line employees in-restaurant,” says Dan Hopkins, director of training for Blimpie International.

User-Friendly Program
With the seemingly endless string of food-borne illness outbreaks that regularly grab headlines, Blimpie has taken a stand by ensuring the food it serves is safe by training its hourly employees in proper food-handling and preparation procedures.

The company has put into place a corporate initiative that shows it takes seriously the quality and safety of the food it serves and the patrons who purchase it.

In the coming months, Blimpie says it will implement a Web-based food safety-training program into its locations to teach employees the proper ways to prepare and handle food.

“We hope to provide a solution that is user-friendly to management and front-line employees and to also ensure that Blimpie standards will be executed correctly by all,” Hopkins says.

Although most states mandate that restaurant managers complete an eight-to-12-hour state-approved food safety-training course, it is usually the non-managers or hourly employees who handle the food on a regular basis.

Therefore, it stands to reason that those are the employees most in need of food safety training for the protection of the consumer.

By implementing a learning culture focused on food safety, Blimpie has taken a major step in reducing the risk of food-borne illness in its restaurants, as well as reducing its liability in the unlikely event that one does occur, while at the same time protecting its brand and producing positive PR.

“Blimpie has taken a gigantic step in quality assurance and risk management with this initiative,” says Leslie Bucher, director of business development for Safe Food Solutions.

Training Benefits
In the world of food safety, it is better to be proactive vs. reactive. It is far easier -and less costly -to implement a training program for a location or the entire company than deal with the negative and expensive repercussions of a food-borne illness incident after it occurs.

The benefits speak for themselves:
· Your operation becomes more efficient and, because time is money in any business, a more efficient operation is more profitable.
· Food safety training is a 100 percent tax-deductible expense -it pays for itself.
· Many insurers will give a food safety-trained establishment a break on its overall insurance premiums, sometimes up to 3 percent.
· The hourly foodservice workers need guidance. Just as you train them to do their specific job functions, train them to do it safely.
· Fight the flight of employees. The hourly population is highly transient and, typically, quite young. Investing in their training leads to higher morale, reduced turnover and long-term loyalty.
· An environment focused on food safety will lead to better health department inspections. If everyone is alert to the company’s mission of safety, efficiency and effectiveness, this should translate into higher awareness and better execution.
· Implementing food safety training on the core level reduces the company’s payout for gross negligence damages in the event of a food-borne illness outbreak.
If you have trained everyone on how to do it correctly and an incident still occurs, you have not been negligent.

Putting a training program in place
Training, especially with food safety, is an ongoing process and with a technology-based approach, the execution and monitoring can be relatively effortless.

As with any initiative, successful implementation of a food safety-training program is based on the company’s commitment to it.

Say, for example, employees complete a Web-based food safety-training program. Food safety training administration is monitored and analyzed from the top down and everyone is keyed in to its importance to the company and consumer.

Food safety practices and principles are reinforced, subtly and directly, at every level. Results are shared and positive performances are rewarded. Employees feel confident in their job functions and consumers are confident in the product they purchase.

This scenario is not difficult or expensive to achieve. It requires only the commitment to food safety, as demonstrated by Blimpie, and a loyalty to the consumers who are served.  FAD

For more information, visit: www.foodsafety.gov/~fsg/ september.html