Why press the easy button? Challenge the status quo!

Today, a call to “challenge the status quo” seems played out – and honestly, what does it even look like? In a highly competitive market and the sustainably minded world, does challenging the status quo mean you need to be a rebellious company leader, constantly pointing out flaws in your organization, or be a manager who zigs when everyone else zags? Maybe. But what if challenging the status quo was more positive than negative and more exciting than daunting, all while being achievable?

To begin, let’s review three key perspectives you can have as a leader if you make challenging the status quo a staple in your business.

An Outside-In Look

Most executives spend their time looking at the world from where they sit—an inside-out look. While this vantage point is certainly valuable, it’s equally as important to look at things from the outside-in to achieve sustained growth in the marketplace. This means starting at the ending and working backward to understand the difference between what you make and what your customers need.

Typically, an outside-in perspective can lead to substantial questions, such as:

• Where are the growth markets available for my business?
• How can I tap into available opportunities?
• What are the modern trends, and how can I meet them?
• Why does my company only recycle [X] when we could also recycle [Y] and [Z]?

Perhaps there are good reasons you’re unaware of, or maybe it’s because “that’s the way it’s always been done.” The answers may lead to further questions, problems, or solutions that you maybe haven’t considered. That’s why staying inside your own internal box is not a formula for success.

An Openness to Innovation

According to Harvard Business Review, about 72% of leaders say they “never” or “rarely” challenge the status quo or their employees to think outside the box. However, true growth requires change. It takes innovative thinking and keen insight to keep up with current market trends, foresee where it’s going and have tabs on what’s coming in and going out for businesses. 

Why do I need to change? A new analysis by the International Energy Agency showed that the world economy rebounded strongly from the pandemic. As a result, global energy-related carbon dioxide emissions rose to 40 billion tons in 2021 – their highest level in history. Additionally, the Environmental Protection Agency estimates that 75% of our national waste stream is recyclable, but we only recycle about 30% of it. Business leaders need to act now to meet the demands of science, government, investors, and society at large – and the pressure to act will continue to grow exponentially.

Does it need to be a big change? No. That’s a common misconception when it comes to challenging the status quo. Sustainable solutions call for new ways of thinking about existing systems. Everything doesn’t need to burn down to start fresh. Sometimes, it’s the small, incremental steps that can put your business on an efficient path.

How do I sustain growth? You need a culture that embraces innovation across all levels. It requires a structural mechanism to enable ideas to flow to decision makers from anywhere within the organization. And if you make a change, and it pays off, you’re not all set. To remain relevant, you must consistently welcome unconventional thinking. These elements are more crucial today than ever as businesses redefine how they respond to constantly evolving requirements and consumer needs.

Knowing the True Risk: Doing Nothing

Our Achilles heel is that we see something new as inherently risky while something familiar as safe. But waiting to implement ideas such as continuous data analysis and recycling solutions could come at a much greater cost, putting your business at a disadvantage that may ultimately leave you reeling.

What are the benefits of doing something?

• Maintain economic neutrality
• Add brand value and attract new customers
• Better focus on your operations (rather than stretching your responsibilities)
• Boost workforce morale and attract valuable talent
• Societal impact and sustainability success stories

Change is inevitable for any company striving to create a competitive advantage, and staying stagnant is far riskier than implementing new techniques or technologies to improve old processes. For this reason, getting comfortable with being uncomfortable can drive your organization’s operations toward a more efficient and controlled environment with a strong sustainability position.

Customer Needs for Circular/Sustainable Solutions Intensify – Is Your Business Providing Them?

A headline that hasn’t changed over the past two years has been “Customer Needs Are Evolving.” We know because we wrote about it in 2020 and 2021. The pandemic has had a massive impact on the climate consciousness of the world.

Consumers expect brands and businesses to demonstrate their efforts in shifting toward greener initiatives. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, there has been a 71% increase in online searches for “sustainable” practices and goods within the past five years.

Is your business making greater strides toward circular and sustainable solutions? If not, your company’s waste streams may be the key to finding them.

Going Nature-Positive: Brand + Consumer = Compatibility

Investing in green and sustainability initiatives is not a choice for organizations anymore but rather a matter of survival. Customers, employees, partners, and shareholders benefit from a commitment to such practices, which seek to protect the planet, respect employees, and engage with communities positively. Because of this shift, businesses are often at a crossroads to respond to these demands and prioritize action.

According to a McKinsey & Co. survey, 66% of respondents said that sustainability is a major factor when making purchases. More and more today, consumers align themselves with brands that are compatible with their values. As a result, organizations across industries have started to lead with purpose, embracing the circular economy as a significant factor to drive growth.

Additionally, sustainable business practices bring…

• Reputation value – Companies are perceived as more responsible, ethical, and reliable; therefore, they are perceived to have higher quality products and services.
• Competitive value – Being sustainable allows you to stand out when competing for business.
• Workforce value – Many employees seek out socially and environmentally responsible businesses. Healthy policies and work environments drive healthy employees.

Waste-Minded: Strategy Drives Life-Cycle-Building Benefits

So, how do you get there?

You need a strategy – a strong and effective one that requires a framework to manage initiatives, set goals, track progress, and measure results. You know the adage, “what gets measured gets managed?” It also applies to sustainability. When it’s done right, that strategy can impact your total operational efficiency and deliver a positive return on investment.

Understanding the types of waste and recyclables your business creates is a good launching point toward taking action. With hands-on consistent data and knowing that every act, no matter how small, you can maximize landfill diversion and improve your bottom line.

Having visibility on your data can also…

• show your company’s inputs and outputs to know where and how you can improve
• help third-party management groups deliver custom-built programs to help you reach your sustainability goals
• uncover missing revenue streams
• reduce risks
• keep you compliant (with local, state, and federal regulations)
• spur investments in new infrastructure and innovation in the sector

Many companies may think they know what’s going on with their waste but are usually surprised by the truth: There’s so much potential to unlock social and economic value that’s currently being tossed away.

Don’t feel hesitant when faced with sustainable objectives. Valuable benchmarking data shows you exactly where your waste comes from, what it’s made of, and where it goes. With the right resources and commitment toward knowledge and data, your waste streams can take your business toward a sustainable (and profitable) future that keeps your customers’ needs in mind.

It’s been over a year since the pandemic upended the U.S. restaurant industry and shifted the business landscape entirely. Trends that weren’t supposed to take hold for years suddenly hit the fast-forward button, rendering many old-school business methods obsolete. With all the changes that restaurants have undergone due to adaptations and changing customer behaviors, it’s necessary to ask what the journey will look like as we advance and whether restaurants’ environmental strategies align with customers’ evolving needs.

Let’s review where we’ve been, what new and successful delivery models have emerged, and what restaurants should prepare for, from an environmental perspective, as on-and-off site services gather speed in this era of change.

Operating within thin margins

When the pandemic hit, many businesses closed their doors, put their brick-and-mortars up for sale, or opted out of their leases. People lost their jobs and business operators lost their livelihoods. According to the National Restaurant Association (1), it’s estimated that more than 110,000 restaurants went out of business over the past year—a staggering number that has left many wondering how the restaurant crisis will ever dissipate.

Although the country has started to reopen its dining room doors, nearly two million restaurant workers remain out of work today (2). Business managers and operators are having to step into other company roles because of the industry-wide labor shortage. Restaurants have been forced to evaluate current operations and look for solutions that address limited staffing and ever-shrinking margins.

Shifting the dynamics

Ghost kitchens (a.k.a. delivery-only kitchens) make up a sector that has seen pandemic-era ubiquity. It allows business owners and chefs to sell their goods without the exact costs of operating a full restaurant, like designing and building out a dining space or employing a sizable front-of-house staff. Hundreds of ghost kitchens have cropped up, either through existing brands or standalone entities. Euromonitor International even projects that this restaurant model could potentially top $1 trillion in revenue by 2030 (3).

There’s also been a shift in services offered by existing operations rather than the emergence of a new business model. The industry has seen an increase in delivery, takeout, and curbside services. As a result, online-ordering platforms have watched demand for their services increase tenfold since the start of the pandemic. As of early this year, roughly 90 percent of U.S. restaurants offered takeout, and 82 percent had delivery as an option—a third of which used three or more delivery apps (such as Uber Eats, DoorDash, and Grubhub) (4).

More food is more plastics and packaging

With restaurants opening back up for in-person dining, food delivery – and the waste associated with those orders – has accelerated since the start of the pandemic. Despite kitchens getting the chance to use glassware again, single-use plastics will still be prevalent and pose an enormous threat to the environment as we regress to a world full of disposables.

Packaging in general, including food and beverages, accounts for nearly 30 percent of all municipal waste. In 2018, that meant 82.2 million tons of trash came just from packaging, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (5). Together, food and packaging containers accounted for nearly 45 percent of landfill materials in the U.S (6). Imagine where that number could be today.

Not only is there an increase in plastics and to-go materials, but the volume of food delivery has also risen, which means more food trimmings and food waste. Businesses are dealing with new waste mixes that challenge operations, demand new health protocols, and may decrease productivity altogether. New reuse and recycling opportunities may now be feasible, and waste service levels may need to be adjusted to efficiently and economically support the new waste volumes.

It’s evolution, not extinction!

The fluid market dynamics are causing specific operational pain points that require specialized knowledge and expert resources—some of which are not commonly found within a restaurant’s internal organization. To alleviate the pressure from the new waste and recycling paradigms, restaurants should turn to comprehensive service providers that can provide expert, turnkey solutions across your entire footprint.

Look for a single source to provide total waste management, grease trap and vent hood cleaning, and other services to keep vendor management to a minimum. A flexible and agile partner will build and execute custom programs that meet the needs of your unique, shifting landscape. The door is open for success by evolving your waste and recycling operations to ensure you optimize recycling, provide environmental protection and heighten cost management.

Every place of business has a different appetite for what they want to see for their establishment and services. As dining establishments heat back up, better aligning your restaurant services with your customers’ needs will take you to success.

2020 was a year of challenges that hit every industry differently and from every angle imaginable. From the COVID-19 pandemic to political upheaval, businesses have had to constantly dodge curveballs as fast as they’ve come at them. Just keeping the doors open became a real goal in 2020. At Quest, we understand these challenges better than most, for the simple reason that our service programs are built with agility in mind.

Agility = Success

Agility is defined as “the ability to move or act quickly and easily”. In the world of waste services and recycling, agility is defined by the ability to deal with changes in the market and the needs of our customers without the constraints of being tied to equipment or facilities. We don’t have a fleet of trucks and other assets that cost us money when they aren’t being utilized. We don’t have a vested interest in making sure that our landfills are being filled or specific recycling technologies are being deployed. Everything we do is for the benefit of your business.

What we DO have is a network of over 3,500 vetted and qualified vendors that we can bring to bear on any problem that a year like 2021 can throw at you. As your needs change, so does our approach. A word we like to use is “nimble.” Our solutions are designed from the ground up to ensure that your business always gets the service it needs. On time, every time, at a price point that makes sense.

The Quest Methodology: Built for Change from Day One

There are no cookie-cutter solutions here – everything we do is tailored to your operation from start to finish. It starts with our initial assessment of your waste and recycling needs and continues as we constantly look for ways to right-size and improve your services. That mindset to keep searching for ways to improve your services is what makes us so good at dealing with shifts in the market.

By regularly finding ways of combining service providers or adjusting scheduled pick-ups, Quest always has your operational efficiency at the forefront of everything we do. On our end, we focus on data collection, analysis, and the application of years of experience to make sure that efficiency is always the priority. As a rule, the more efficient your operations are – the less you waste. The less you waste – the less you spend. On your end, you see the benefit of not having to constantly adjust your waste services to fit your current needs – we’re already doing it for you. Better yet, we’re doing it 24/7/365.

As we move forward into 2021, we can all expect to see more changes and challenges. The COVID-19 climate is constantly changing. A new Administration in public office means new regulations and compliances to be met. There are a lot of mitigation factors that are all up in the air right now, but at Quest – we are ready for anything that 2021 can throw our way. Contact us today to get your business 2021-ready.

With employee safety and stability of operations at the forefront of all of your daily procedures, these are the two key elements of effective COVID-19 prevention that food manufacturing companies need to adhere to:

Leveraging Enhanced Cleaning Procedures

All food manufacturing plants must follow the current good manufacturing practices and FSMA. The FDA has published a complete set of guidelines, and food manufacturers should update their internal Infection Control and Occupational Safety and Health plans to reflect enhanced cleaning protocols.

• Ensure employees wash hands repeatedly using antimicrobial hand soaps and sanitizers.
• Provide multiple breaks to allow employees to wash hands throughout their shift.
• Install touchless 60% alcohol sanitizer dispensers in multiple locations.
• Clean all food contact surfaces per FSMA.

Food facilities are required to use U.S. EPA-registered sanitizer products in their cleaning and sanitizing practices. FDA Food Code defines sanitizer as “a substance, or mixture of substances, that reduces the bacterial contamination of inert objects or articles, or equipment and utensils, and other cleaned food-contact surfaces by at least 5 log units, which is equal to a 99.999% reduction. Sanitizers for food-contact surfaces or sanitizing rinses are formulated in a way to be used without rinsing; the chemical residues on the food-contact surface are below the level that would represent a hazard for the consumer if these residues were to be transferred to food.”

• Use CDC-recommended, EPA- and FDA-approved disinfectant (which kills bacteria, fungi and viruses) for all other high-touch areas.
• Clean touched surfaces in workspaces and breakrooms (e.g., microwave or refrigerator handles and vending machine touchpads) at least once per shift.
• Wipe down tools or other equipment at least as often as workers change workstations.
• Regularly clean interior and door handles of your shuttle or transportation service offered to employees.

Call in the Professionals for a Suspected or Confirmed COVID-19 Case

Even with your best efforts, chances are you will encounter confirmed or suspected cases. This is not the time to cut corners. You have one shot to kill the virus and restore a sanitary working environment. In these situations, you need to call a professional decontamination service experienced in sanitizing food supply chain facilities. These companies are licensed and experienced with disinfecting all surfaces that suspected cases have come into contact with, including food contact areas.

Using professional decontamination companies has definitive advantages over just tasking your traditional cleaning crew with the enhanced cleaning required. Ideally, you want to research the companies best suited for your operation, and have set, contracted rates ahead of time. That way you don’t have to waste time in the event of exposure.

Using licensed, professional decontamination companies, rather than janitorial companies for example, have the following benefits:

• Experience with decontamination and disinfection.
• Employees follow rigorous cleaning and sanitizing SOP, wearing full PPE.
• Fast deployment, usually in less than 24 hours.
• Available to complete the disinfection at night, between shifts, and are used to working around your schedule to minimize business interaction.
• Extremely effective disinfection protocol allows employees to go back to work within an hour of the completion.
• Use specialized equipment to reach all contact surfaces, all high-touch surfaces, and saturate the cleaning products over large surfaces faster.
• Have a supply of N-list disinfectant specifically designed for food supply chain operations.
• Hazardous waste is handled in safe and environmentally sound manner:
  • Not thrown in the trash
  • Always contained and stored in seal container
  • Transported per DOT regulations to be fully destroyed
  • Recycled as a source of energy instead of landfilled to help you maintain a lower environmental footprint while completely eliminating the virus, preventing any chance of further contamination.

The impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak aren’t going away. Until a vaccine or treatment plan is developed, companies will have to continue to operate under these new, tighter restrictions. Planning and training, which are already staples of the industry, are critical. Putting a plan together now is the only real way to prevent infection and handle any potential or suspected exposures in the future. Make sure that your plans involve the prevention methods listed above.

this article was originally featured on FoodEngineeringMag.com

Right now, the industry is being forced to adapt as circumstances are changing by the hour, but that doesn’t mean the strides that have been made to achieve more sustainable operations have to suffer. One principle of sustainability will always ring true—wasting less means spending less. As times get leaner, you should be looking harder than ever for ways to recycle more and waste less because any amount of waste now is going to have a much larger impact on your bottom line than it would have five months ago.

Here are four tactics that can help manage the supply chains sustainability during the COVID-19 outbreak:

1. Leverage Technology

There are new technologies emerging every year that help reduce and even eliminate food waste. Products like “spoiler alert” can help ensure that none of your freight goes to waste. Utilizing this type of freight tracking software lets you know where trouble spots or the potential for spoilage exist well before any products or produce can go bad. That said, the implementation of sweeping changes in the way an operation runs or the technologies you utilize takes money and time. However, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be paying attention to your weaknesses right now and exploring options to help your business become more efficient, sustainable, and profitable.

2. Continue Looking for Ways to Reduce Waste

Fleets inherently produce large amounts of waste. From used oil and fluids to tires, fleets have unique opportunities to leverage recycling for just about any type of waste produced. If you’re currently taking advantage of one type of program, now is the time to talk to a waste vendor about expanding those programs. Think of the other waste you end up with. Pallets are a perfect example of a recyclable commodity that often gets thrown away, and fleet operations end up with tons of them every year. Packing waste is another opportunity to recycle materials that you would typically just throw in a dumpster. A waste audit is a great way to identify weaknesses in your waste management and recycling programs.

3. Manage Essential Waste as Efficiently as Possible

Inevitably, you are going to generate some sort of waste. Ensuring that waste is handled as efficiently as possible is the first step to a truly sustainable operation. In times of higher operating costs and reduced revenues, every bit of savings helps your business to remain profitable. Take advantage of all available options, as savings in the waste and recycling category alone can add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars each year. Your waste management vendor is the key here. Make sure you are working with a company that is focused on reaching your sustainability and financial goals, not just theirs.

4. True Sustainability = People

The conversation around sustainable business practices typically revolves around environmental impacts. Keep in mind that people, specifically employees, are a major part of that equation as well. With the heightened concerns around viral contamination, your business needs to take steps to develop a decontamination program that ensures your employees stay safe.

● Professional Decontamination for your Locations.

Bringing in a professional decontamination and disinfection service is quickly becoming a standard part of any operation. These companies come in and use professional strength, CDC-approved disinfectants that kill viruses on contact, along with specialized equipment to decontaminate large spaces like terminals or warehouses very quickly. Make sure you’re working with a decontamination service that uses the right materials, will show up quickly, work around your schedule, and handle the waste per the local state regulations. Just like with any other vendor, not all decontamination services are equal.

● Decontamination Services for Trucks.

At the heart of logistics is the drivers keeping the country running. In a situation where you have different drivers in different vehicles, there are mobile systems and even systems you can have installed in terminals that can ensure trucks are completely decontaminated between shifts. They are simple to use and set up, but still, ensure professional-level decontamination for your vehicles.

Managing supply chains sustainability during the COVID-19 outbreak and operating sustainably doesn’t just mean doing what’s best for the environment; it means operating in a way that is efficient, profitable, and conscious of the environmental impacts your business has. A truly sustainable operation will be able to weather market shifts and unprecedented situations like COVID-19 because operating sustainably is synonymous with operating efficiently.

This article originally appeared on Food Logistics

Here are 5 ways to reduce restaurant costs when re-opening during the COVID-19 outbreak that are easy to implement and will have a long-lasting beneficial financial impact.

1. A Simpler Menu: Use POS Data To Laser Focus Your Menu

• Look at Point of Sale Historical data:
• Focus on items that offer the highest margins and are the most popular.
• Identify items that your guests preferred and feature them on the new menu -eliminating the less popular items from the menu altogether
• Consider also removing items that are more expensive than others, as consumers may shy away from spending too much until the economy rebounds.
• Consider reducing menu variations, 2 options for sides instead of 6, for example.

2. Continue To Prioritize Food Delivery: Reach A New Customer Base Through A Delivery Service

• Provide family-style or small gathering ready-to-eat/ easy-to-reheat menu options.
• Make sure you have travel safe containers that are easy to use & carry, that keep hot meals hot and cold meals cold.
• Actively promote your restaurant on food delivery apps

3. Adjust your Waste & Recycling Services: Rightsizing is Critical

You are likely charged a flat fee per week that includes a set number of services. If your waste and recycling company did not already offer ways to reduce your fees with the COVID-19 outbreak – change companies today. It’s easy, just call us and we will take care of it.

The logic is pretty simple: if you are serving ½ as many customers and generating at least 50% less waste, why do you need to continue paying 100%. You don’t. Waste Management companies don’t want you to adjust your service, and sometimes when they do, they end up increasing their per-service rates or adding a few additional fees.

This is why working with Quest to handle all your waste & recycling needs is the easiest and fastest way to cut expenses. We work for you, negotiate the best prices, manage every service to make sure your programs run like clockwork, and re-scrutinize every invoice, so you are never over-charged.  We have saved our restaurant customers over $500,000 in the past few months alone.

4. Adjust Labor to Reduced Seating: Staff Smart, Work Smart

Between removing tables in the dining rooms to allow for recommended social distancing, expanding the time between reservations to allow for additional cleaning, and staying under the 25%-50% max capacity ( based on your city requirements) – you will have inevitably have to reduce the number of staff during the week and weekends.  To reduce your restaurant costs consider creating a regular and an on-call shift with additional labor you could call on 1 hour before the beginning of the shift based on the number of reservations received to further reduce restaurant’s costs.

5. Work With Other Restaurants: Many Hands Make Light Work

Yes, the restaurants next door are your competition, but this is a time when working together offers real benefits. For example, you could consider:

• Sharing kitchen space
• Sharing staff to help as many people stay employed
• Pool orders to get better discounts
• Work in joint promotional efforts to bring people for Memorial Day Weekend, graduation, Father’s Day…

Cities across the country are all implementing their plans to re-open businesses as the COVID-19 outbreak is becoming more manageable. Restaurants who have been hit the hardest in the quarantine are going to get their chance to shine again and make a full recovery as long as they are providing a safe environment for consumers, employees and suppliers alike, and are following best practices to reduce unnecessary expenses.

Make sure your operation is ahead of the curve, and Contact Quest Today.

Just like with any other services, not all decontamination services are created equally. Shopping around and checking the credentials of any available decontamination vendors is going to be critical for making sure that you get the right company, the right services, and at the right price.

Here are 5 Things to look for to evaluate commercial-grade disinfection and Covid-19 decontamination services  that will save you time, and money:

1. Effective Cleaning by Certified Professionals

You could trust a carpet cleaner to remove lethal pathogens, or you could rely on trusted, experienced, certified, environmental companies with qualified decontamination crew and top-notch service. Make sure the team you select offers:

• CDC approved and EPA registered disinfectants that kill a variety of bacteria & viruses, including SARS COV-2, H1N1, Staphylococcus aureus, or Escherichia Coli on contact.
• Food Supply Chain approved disinfectants
• HAZHOPER, OSHA approved cleaning procedures & Personal Protective Equipment
• Rapid mobilization response time within 24 hours, coast to coast
• Coronavirus decontamination and disinfection starts within minutes of arrival
• Business can re-open within hours of completion of service

2. Flexible Cleaning that Fits your Needs

The ideal company offers multiple service options to fit your unique needs. Disinfection service options could include for example:

• Vaporizing dry mist that covers every inch of exposed area and permeates the entire area quickly
• Hand wiping all high touch, high traffic areas
• Cleaning and sanitizing or sanitizing only – based on your needs.
• Decontamination Service should be available at night or weekend to prevent business interruptions
• Disinfection service should also be scheduled regularly to complement current commercial cleaning procedure

3. Commercial Grade Disinfection and Waste Disposal

All waste (rags, PPE, empty containers…) should be handled per the specific state hazardous waste requirements in which you operate. It does your operation no good to go through the process of decontamination if the waste that is generated isn’t handled properly.

4. Experience with your Operations

Yes, you want the team you choose to be experienced with the decontamination, but you also want a team who understands your operation:

• When are your regular hours of operations?
• What grade of disinfectant should be used ( should it be food supply chain safe? Should it be hospital grade)
• What paperwork is needed?

5. All-Inclusive, Clear Pricing

Make sure all the prices quoted are inclusive of labor, equipment, disinfecting cleaner, time on site, waste disposal services, and any associated paperwork. Don’t settle for nickel and diming and watch for hidden fees. In addition, Make sure that when selecting an ongoing service, you are not charged emergency response pricing for scheduled visits.

Working with a qualified, professional decontamination service is critical to ensuring the safety of your employees and customers and bringing the peace of mind you deserve.

Quest has done the research, vetted the companies, and offers decontamination services that meet ALL of the requirements in this list.

Quest Coronavirus decontamination services with the same 24/7/365 support from our account management team Our customer services team will handle everything: schedule, coordinate, verify, invoice, and prepare all required documentation.

Don’t wait until you face a confirmed COVID-19 case to look for decontamination services. We have the best service, the best prices and are ready to disinfect your operation right now. Keeping you safe and keeping your business open.

That is why as states start to plan a re-opening schedule, businesses need to be more vigilant than ever. The risk for your employees or customers to be exposed to the virus and for you to deal with a COVID-19 Test positive remains very high. In the event that one of your restaurant locations has a confirmed case of COVID-19 exposure, here are the steps you need to take to ensure the safety of your customers and employees:

What To Do If An Employee is COVID-19 Test Positive 

1. Notify workers’ compensation carrier

• Place the employee on workers’ compensation leave (with pay);
• Record the infection in the employer’s OSHA 300 log and complete 301A or comparable form.
• Notify other employees (make sure to keep the name of infected person anonymous, use title and shift information).

2. Track & Trace

• Carefully and quickly investigate to identify who may have come in close contact with the confirmed patient.
• Employees should monitor for temperature change, any COVID-19 symptoms, and report back to their manager if any occur. These include (but are not definitive and some employees will be asymptomatic) fever, chills, cough, shortness of breath, or sore throat. All information obtained must be maintained as a confidential medical record.
• If an employee is symptomatic, they need to remain at home.

3. Implement Emergency Cleaning/Sanitization Procedures

• Immediately implement enhanced cleaning and sanitization protocols, cleaning all restaurant surfaces where the employee performed work or touched. Close the business.
• Hire a professional cleaning team to decontaminate the facility. Conduct a thorough cleaning, either overnight or forcing a shut-down of pick-up/delivery services if necessary. Here is information on how to choose a professional cleaning service.
• Communicate with your employees how the cleaning service works to ensure they feel safe about coming back to work. Knowing that you’ve hired a professional cleaning crew actually puts employees at ease.
• Continue to implement enhanced cleaning/ sanitization procedures.
• As a reminder, Employees should always continue to wear masks, gloves, and keep social distancing of 6ft (when possible, crowded kitchen environment is not super conducive to social distancing).

What To Do If a Customer or A Supplier Tests Positive 

• If the customer or a health official notifies you of potential exposure, try to capture the date/time they were in your location to pinpoint when the exposure happened.
• Track who was in contact and potentially exposed.
• Implement immediate cleaning procedures listed above.
• Contact other customers (if info is available). This seems counter-intuitive, but it is better they hear it from you than from an outside source. In that same communication, tell them about enhanced cleaning and professional decontamination services so that they know you are committed to their safety.

Just as you are dedicated to your employee’s and customer’s safety – Quest is dedicated to making sure that your business stays open.

We offer professional decontamination services to not only help prevent COVID-19 outbreak from spreading but also helps your employees and customers stay safe, and help your business stay open.  Don’t wait for confirmed or suspected COVID-19 cases to cripple your operation.

States all over the country are working on reopening the economy and are preparing the rules for restaurants to reopen, and as anxious as they are to do so – it needs to be done RIGHT. The most important thing restaurants have to do right now is to earn back the TRUST of their customers. Any additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 that are attributed to a restaurant are going to set the industry back even further. Operating a restaurant under normal circumstances is difficult enough as it is, and the first businesses to open back up after the quarantine is going to have to set a whole new standard for customer and employee safety. Any business that opens back up is going to be under a microscope as consumers are still worried about the potential for a second wave of COVID-19 outbreak.

Just like there is no “one-size-fits-all” solution for running a restaurant, there is no single solution for how you should go about re-opening. For the businesses that have been open through the quarantine to this point, cleaning standards have already been heightened. That was step 1 in a lot of cases, but your customers need to know that those standards aren’t going to be diminished as the volume of business increases.

1. Create New Cleaning Procedures

The first step in preparing to re-open is making sure that you have your enhanced cleaning and sanitizing procedures nailed down and are second nature to your employees.

• Train your Employees

Make sure your employees know and understand the new procedures. Not only HOW to do them, but WHY.

• Explain the new Procedures to your Suppliers and Vendors

Work with your suppliers and vendors to let them know any cleaning procedures that may affect your daily operations. For instance, different operating hours or limitations in access. Everyone that enters your restaurant locations is someone you have to keep safe.

• Supplement Daily Cleaning with Thorough, Professional Sanitizing

Including a weekly professional decontamination service to your cleaning routine is the best way to truly keep your restaurants clean and safe. Quest offers complete, professional, and effective decontamination services coast-to-coast that use the  Center for Disease Control recommended and EPA-approved disinfectants to kill the virus on contact.

• Implement Touchless Ordering

If your restaurant has an app-based ordering system, offer discounts for its use. Also, upgrading your point-of-sale equipment to offer apple pay or other similar payment options can reduce the high-touch payment equipment currently in use.

• Implement Physical Distancing

The CDC recommends social distancing of at least 6 feet, and that same practice can be implemented in your dining areas. Most states that are re-opening businesses are still requiring limited occupancy, so take advantage of that empty space by moving tables further apart. Again, this makes customers FEEL more comfortable.  In situations where your restaurant has a waiting line, make use of text messages or an app to let people know that their table is ready so that they can wait without being bunched up. Keeping the bar area closed in your restaurant is another way to keep patrons from gathering too closely. All of these changes are simple enough and don’t require any additional investment. Taking these suggestions one step further would be to invest in plexiglass dividers to go between booths, depending on how your restaurant locations are set up.

 2. Make Your New Procedures Immediately Visible

Having new procedures in place is only half of the battle. To really show your customers that safety is your top priority, they need to SEE the changes.

• Employee PPE

Make sure your employees are always wearing masks and gloves. This is the easiest way to show your customers that you’re operating with their safety in mind.

• Offer Hand Sanitizer Stations

Having hand sanitizer stations throughout your restaurant is not only a great way to help reduce the chances of spreading COVID-19 but also puts consumers at ease. From touch-less, wall-mounted sanitizer stations near doors and in bathrooms, to having a hand-pump bottle on each table – providing something that simple can go a long way toward re-establishing trust with customers.

• Advertise your Procedures

The final step to reopening your restaurant after COVID-19 the right way all these new procedures is to share them with your customers. Make your cleaning procedures and decontamination schedule plainly visible. Trust is the one thing that restaurants really need to focus on right now. Nothing builds that trust like showing people what you’re ACTUALLY doing to keep them safe.

The national Restaurant association set out a general set of guidelines that are a good start.  You can also download this Restaurant Sanitizing Procedures Checklist to help you design your restaurant’s cleaning protocols.  Finally, you may want to check out these playbooks by restaurant operators in Asia that highlight detailed cleaning and operating protocols that kept their restaurants virus-free, open, safe for workers and consumers.