David Chang’s Momofuku Group has released a comprehensive guide to health and safety procedures at their restaurants during the novel coronavirus pandemic.
“We’ve been working on the @momofuku COVID-19 protocol for 4 months,” Chang said in a tweet pinned to his Twitter account. “It’s by no means perfect … [but] I think it’s important we all start to work off the same page, to start a dialogue to help each other out.”
The SOP Library covers standard operating procedures for activities including handwashing, social distancing for employees and customers, eating and drinking, receiving deliveries, tasting during food prep, developing new menu items and a dozen other topics.
It’s a detailed guide. There are 15 situations when handwashing is required. The section on “starting your shift” includes best practices for commuting and requires a single point of entry into the workplace with the type of disinfecting foot-wash mat normally used at food processing factories.
Guests are required to wear masks and must agree to have their temperature checked with a contactless thermometer. They’ll be asked to leave if their temperature is above 100.4° Fahrenheit. Contactless payment is encouraged, including pre-ordering, pre-paying and using Apple Pay and Google Pay. Cash is to be avoided.
Designated areas are to be set aside for tasting both mise en place and finished dishes using single-use spoons.
Procedures for developing new menu items include working in designated spaces during off hours and making sure that those items can be prepared safely, and to avoid daily specials.
“Any special should be a dish that has been previously developed and can be executed by one staff member without new training,” according to the procedures.
All of the procedures were developed with the intention of sharing them across the foodservice industry.
“Our goal is to not only implement these procedures into our restaurants to keep our teams and guests safe, but also to make them available and accessible to anyone who might find them useful for their own businesses,” the introduction to the guide says. “While these standard operating procedures will always need to be adapted to each individual restaurant, we hope that they will serve as a good jumping off point for anyone looking to create a handbook of their own.”
The full SOP library can be found here.
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