Clean in the Kitchen

Maintaining sanitation grade requires effort every day for area restaurants

By Rachael Goodwin
LiveWire

Maintaining cleanliness in restaurants to achieve a high sanitation score is an everyday task for owners and employees of Boone restaurants.  It is a constant concern of the employees of any restaurant, whether it is local or chain, to keep their business up to the standards of the quarterly visit of their local health inspector. 

The vast majority of the restaurants in the Boone area have scores that are an “A” rating.  Chain restaurants, those such as Ruby Tuesday’s, Jersey Mikes and Cook Out, maintain very high “A’s”. 

According to the manager of Ruby Tuesdays, Telina Taylor, the cause of this can be accounted for because the corporation that runs such franchises sends in their own people to inspect, which is not usually done in local restaurants. 

The tendency leans towards chain and franchise restaurants having the higher scores.

One reason that restaurants may have exceptionally high scores, some even reaching to be over 100, is that an employee is ServSafe certified.  ServSafe is a program developed by the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation.  The course teaches food safety education and training to those who attend it.  At the end, an exam is given and if passed, the person is awarded a certificate for completion of the course.

The incentive of being ServSafe certified is that your restaurant will then be awarded 2 extra points on the health inspection score. 

Taylor also said any chain restaurants require that a staff member pass this course to get these extra points. 

According to the ServSafe website www.servsafe.com, the certification lasts 5 years, however, local guidelines can vary.  ServSafe also offers a ServSafe Alcohol course as well.  The maximum amount of extra points on health inspection scores is 2, no matter how many employees are certified or which certification they have. 

James Kellam, a current cook at The Manor House in Blowing Rock, said “ServSafe points are a big incentive for someone to be certified.  The course does not take long and can even be done online.  Those 2 points can make your score go over 100 which makes your restaurant very appealing to the public.”

Another factor that plays into health inspection scores is the time of day that an inspector comes.  Restaurants do not know a specific time that they will be inspected and that can weigh heavily on the score they receive.  If an inspector does their walk-through in the middle of a busy lunch or dinner, they are more likely to find errors due to the chaos at that certain time. 

Josh Palmer, former owner of Baxter’s Smokehouse, said “When an inspector comes and the kitchen is busy getting orders out, that is when you get counted off for the small things.  There is more room for error the busier a place gets and that is when you need to pay the most attention.”

The kitchen is a prime source that inspectors look at when they come in.  According to health inspector Monica Randolph, inspectors look at proper food handling and employee hygiene the most.  Utensils that are used on food need to be kept in water that is at least 140 degrees to kill any bacteria that it may come in contact.  All food in refrigerators must be kept covered and stored on shelving.  All equipment such as can openers, grills and soda machines need to be cleaned.  Food grade paint needs to be used on areas such as shelves.  All areas of floors need to be cleaned including behind and underneath equipment.  Dishware must be fully dry before being stacked.  It is all the small things that add up to deductions from a score. Inspectors follow the North Carolina state rules which can be found at www.deh.enr.state.nc.us/ehs when going into restaurants.   

Sagebrush server Jeremy Champion said, “It’s not hard to forget all the small stuff to do that causes an inspector to take off points.  We constantly remind each other of things we see that are wrong in an effort to correct it.  With everyone watching everyone else’s back we become more aware of the right way to do things.  This is not only better for us but better for our customers as well.”

Austin Amoroso, manager of Port Christopher’s spoke of how restaurants’ constant anticipation of being inspected leads them to keep their establishment as clean as possible.  They reap the benefits of such cleanliness in the reward of a high inspection score.  Inspection scores must be displayed in a visible location to the public allowing them to see exactly what their score is. 

Katie Karlowitsch, a senior at Appalachian State University said, “I definitely check out health scores when I walk in a restaurant.  The higher the score, the more comfortable I am eating there.  I’m also more likely to go back if there is a restaurant with a high score.  I know that I don’t need to worry about what’s going on in the kitchen and can just enjoy dining out.”