Essential Food Service Workers Protect Diners During Pandemic

#Essential Food Service Workers There for Us During COVID-19

As the COVID-19 epidemic started to flourish, states across the country began issuing restrictions on food service dining. In many cases, dining in was prohibited while drive-through, customer pick-up, and home delivery remained. These options proved invaluable for the millions of people who suddenly had their entire families at home to feed due to work and school closures. 
Essential food service employees made it work and continued to feed the people in their communities—including other essential workers, such as healthcare workers and delivery drivers, who found themselves busier than ever. Some restaurants even stepped up their service by offering customers select retail food items and paper products that were in high demand. Of course, food service workers at hospitals, senior living facilities, and prison systems continued to do their part every day to feed their communities.

New Procedures to Keep Consumers Safe as Restaurants Reopen

The reopening of restaurants in time for summer has been a relief for both food service operators and their customers, who are beginning to resume their normal activities after months of being homebound. Those who are back to work now can look forward to stopping by a restaurant on their lunch break, while others may be excited to eat out with their families or socialize with friends over a meal.

These customers are likely to remain cautious but will become more at ease as they learn about the many steps being taken to protect them as they eat out. Food service workers have been tasked with minimizing the risk of COVID-19 transmission in their establishments by adhering to a variety of new procedures, which vary from state to state.

To customers, new occupancy limits and social distancing requirements may be among the most noticeable changes. Outdoor dining areas are being installed on lawns and under tents to minimize congestion inside restaurants. In some cases, customers may have to call ahead for reservations to ensure access to limited indoor seating. In addition, tables are being rearranged to ensure sufficient space between parties, and tables themselves may have occupancy limits.

Food service workers are now navigating the challenges of serving customers indoors and outdoors, maintaining social distancing while they work, and conducting frequent cleaning and sanitizing of high-touch areas, such as door handles, countertops, and cash registers. Logging the date, time, and areas cleaned and sanitized may also be required. Another task is to ensure that sanitizer is kept stocked and readily accessible to both staff and customers.

In the kitchen, many essential food service workers are preparing their customers’ meals in newly reconfigured work stations that are spaced at safe distances apart from one another or separated by partitions from their coworkers. Prepping beverages and condiments for customers may also be a new task due to the removal of self-service options, such as customer-facing fountain drink dispensers and table condiments. Food service workers in both the front and back of the house will typically be wearing face coverings for their full shifts.

Celebrating All Our #Essential Food Workers

For all the work our essential food service workers are doing to nourish and care for our communities, we owe our deepest thanks. Glanbia appreciates these oft-overlooked heroes, as well as the #essential workers throughout the food industry, including our own team members who come to work each day, committed to serving our customers.
Contact Glanbia Nutritionals to learn about using our nutritious ingredients to make the best products for your consumers.