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Food trucks tend to have a bad rep when it comes to food safety. Any business that works in food service needs to be vigilant and follow proper protocols. When you own a mobile restaurant business, the safety and health of your employees and your customers should be a top priority.

Keep reading to learn the best safety practices for your food truck. 

1. Properly Train Your Employees 

Your employees should be trained in proper food handling and how to operate the equipment in a food truck. In some states, food service employees must pass a food handler’s course and acquire a permit. These courses teach workers about proper sanitation, food handling and storage, and preventing the spread of food-borne disease. 

The FDA provides a handbook for retail food protection. It helps food service workers to learn essential employee health and hygiene matters. Your employees probably won’t seek out this information on their own, so it’s your job as their employer to stay on top of things.

2. Tell Sick Employees to Stay Home 

If an employee shows up to work sick, you should send them home. The same goes for if they get sick at work. Sick workers can infect food or contaminate the equipment they are working with.  

Additionally, sick workers cannot focus completely, making them prone to accidents or other hazards. This is a big red flag for health inspectors. If the health department finds out sick employees were handling and distributing food, you can face major fines and/or a shutdown.

3. Prepare for Emergencies

Any number of accidents can happen on a food truck. During a lunch-hour rush, it’s easy for someone to misplace a knife or stick a hand where they shouldn’t.

Burns are a typical injury for food truck workers. Have the proper tools to handle hot cookware and never leave hot equipment unattended. Make sure there you have both first aid kit and fire extinguisher in reach.

Physical harm isn’t the only potential emergency to plan for. You should have emergency safety protocols printed in a binder and kept in a secure place in the truck. Make sure all of the employees know the procedure for things like power outages, robberies, car accidents, and more.

4. Perform Regular Inspections 

Schedule times to inspect your truck, and regularly review a health and safety checklist that is specific for food truck owners. Take note of any hazards or potential dangers during your walkthrough. Here are some signs to look for:

• Ensure containers are separated, and there is no cross-contamination between foods (potential allergens, raw, and cooked foods) 
• Check refrigerator and freezer temperatures to make sure food is kept at a safe temperature
• Food containers and storage bins are labeled properly 
• Cleaning supplies are stored away from food products 
• Employees are aware of proper hand washing, cleaning, food preparation, and serving techniques
• The ventilation system is clean and up-to-date 

Having a regular walkthrough gives you the chance to identify problems before they become serious, as well as ensure your employees are aware of your expectations. Consider doing surprise inspections, so you can observe employee behavior when they haven’t had time to do anything differently.

Tips for Keeping Your Food Truck Safe

Food truck safety means having employees that are properly trained and certified in food handling. They should know what to do in the event of an emergency and how to find help. You can encourage safe practices by performing regular inspections and making sure no one is sick on the job.

For more tips on how to run a safe food truck, take a look at the rest of our blog.

Want more food truck advice? Check out more blog posts here!

Thinking about starting a food truck? Request a free custom quote and one of our food truck specialists will help you design the truck of your dreams.

Stay up to date on everything Custom Concessions has to offer! Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

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You finally have accomplished your dream of owning your own business, a food truck. You researched ways to start a food truck business, did a ton of work to get it going, and now you’re the happy owner of your own mobile business. 

But food trucks are not immune to problems. A myriad of things can go wrong in the blink of an eye. Knowing what can go wrong will help you know how to handle a food truck emergency.

What Could Go Wrong on a Food Truck?

The same things that happen to a traditional restaurant could happen to a food truck. So to avoid emergencies, you need to imagine them first. Research restaurant emergencies, and then picture them on your truck. Check out these potential food truck emergencies, and then take a look at the solutions provided below.

Power Emergency

A power outage spells trouble for a traditional restaurant. Food will spoil without adequate refrigeration. 

The same goes for a food truck. If this happens, you will find yourself with compromised products. According to the FDA, you have four hours before refrigerated food spoils if you do not open the refrigerator.

Inadequate Change

Not having the appropriate change for a customer qualifies as an emergency that will negatively affect your business. When a customer gives you a twenty-dollar bill, you need to have adequate change or you will immediately gain a reputation of inefficiency and inexperience. 

Inconsistent Taste

You are a great cook, and you can make amazing food. But then your customers begin to complain: the food doesn’t have the same zing it did before. It’s bland or too salty. 

Inconsistent taste can detract from customer experience and give you a reputation that you’ll not recover from quickly.  

Physical Harm

The same kitchen accidents that happen in a traditional kitchen can easily happen in a food truck. In fact, the small quarters make accidents even more likely.

A knife slips, grease splatters, a kitchen fire breaks out, or an employee slips on a slick floor. All of these could shut a truck down indefinitely. 

Robbery and Theft

Whenever you run a business, you’re at risk for robbery.

Food trucks make an easy target, especially if you’re servicing customers late at night. Many food trucks run late-night hours for bar patrons looking for a bite to eat on their way home or concertgoers who need a late-night snack. In some cases, you’re a sitting duck in a darkened area, waiting for someone to hold you up. 

Dwindling Business

You may have had a booming success at the start when curious individuals patronized you. But now you’re noticing no return customers, and business as a whole is dwindling.

This truly is a food truck emergency because you need revenue to run your truck. And you cannot pay yourself, your bills, or your employees if you do not have customers, no matter how well you manage your money.

How to Respond to a Food Truck Emergency

Knowing your potential emergencies is the first step to the solution. Planning for such emergencies is the next step. 

Have Backup Power

Most food trucks have the option to use a generator or hook up to electrical shore power, when available. Invest early on in a reliable generator that will run your entire truck. Make sure to have both your shore power cable and back up generator fuel available.

You’ll also want to test your generator regularly so you can fire it right up when you really do need it. 

Keep Cash on Hand and Go Digital

Make the plan to never run out of change by having an adequate amount of cash on hand. Go to the bank daily, and keep a fixed amount of cash in your drawer every day. 

However, don’t keep too much cash in your vehicle in case of a robbery. Make a bank deposit daily. This way, if a robber does target your business, you will lose only a small amount of your overall profits. 

Also, invest in a credit card reader. Even a simple set up like a Square will help make your business less like a neighborhood lemonade stand and more like a corner diner. 

Scout Out a Location

The right location will deter would-be thieves and potentially boost your client numbers as well. Look for a well-lit area with a roaming police force nearby. You can help feed the boys in blue and keep your business safe at the same time.

Stay Consistent to Stay Tasty

Once you develop your secret recipes, write them down. Then make sure you’re using the same brand of ingredients whenever you cook. Keeping the same brand and following the recipe’s precise details will ensure a consistent product every day. This will boost your reputation as a great food truck with consistently tasty food.

Plan on tasting your food every day to make sure the quality stays the same. If you are the cook, it’s important to make sure you haven’t missed something. And if someone else is cooking, you need to make sure that your cooks are not fudging the recipe.  

Post and Practice Emergency Procedures

Have a plan for physical emergencies, and practice a dry run of that plan. Keep your safety protocols posted in the truck for all employees, like making sure burners or gas lines are turned off. 

Plan staff emergency training, even if your business consists of just you and your family. Make sure everyone knows what to do if there is a fire in the truck or if another physical emergency occurs. 

Keep a fire extinguisher handy and current. Write a note on your calendar or set a reminder in your phone for close to the expiration date to make sure you never have an old extinguisher. 

It is also essential to keep a well-stocked first aid kit, with the essentials to address kitchen related accidents, like burns or cuts.

To avoid kitchen emergencies, consider the flow of your kitchen. A small space can lead to more accidents, so having a set work pattern and a smooth flow will help you avoid problems and also increase your efficiency. 

Know Your Market

To fight dwindling business, research your potential customer. Understand who you serve at your location, and make sure you have food your potential customers will be interested in eating.

Know your community and park in an area where you’ll have a good customer base.

There are lots of strategies you can implement to grow your food truck business. 

Stay Fresh

To keep your customers coming and avoid declining clientele, make your food, your packaging, your service, or your delivery unique. Ask yourself: “What will make my business stand apart from the others?” 

Prepare for the Worst

By understanding possible food truck emergency you may face, you can plan solutions that will help you avoid a disaster.

Want more food truck advice? Check out more blog posts here!

Thinking about starting a food truck? Request a free custom quote and one of our food truck specialists will help you design the truck of your dreams.

Stay up to date on everything Custom Concessions has to offer! Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

The post How to Respond When You Face a Food Truck Emergency appeared first on Custom Concessions.