What are the best practices for monitoring food quality during service?

1 Define quality standards

Before you can monitor food quality, you need to define what quality means for your menu items and your operation. Quality standards are the criteria that you use to measure and evaluate the quality of your food, such as appearance, texture, flavor, temperature, portion size, and presentation. Quality standards should be aligned with your concept, customer expectations, and cost objectives. You should also document your quality standards in recipes, specifications, checklists, and training materials, so that everyone in your team knows what to aim for and how to achieve it.

2 Train your staff

Once you have defined your quality standards, you need to train your staff on how to follow them consistently and accurately. Training should cover both the preparation and the service aspects of food quality, such as how to handle, store, cook, hold, and plate food according to your standards. You should also train your staff on how to use and calibrate any equipment or tools that are essential for monitoring food quality, such as thermometers, scales, timers, and probes. Training should be ongoing, regular, and practical, with frequent feedback and reinforcement.

3 Implement quality checks

Another best practice for monitoring food quality during service is to implement quality checks at different stages of the food production and delivery process. Quality checks are the methods that you use to verify and control the quality of your food, such as tasting, inspecting, testing, and auditing. Quality checks should be performed by different staff members, such as chefs, managers, servers, and expeditors, depending on their roles and responsibilities. Quality checks should also be recorded and reported, so that you can identify and correct any issues or deviations from your standards.

4 Communicate effectively

Effective communication is crucial for monitoring food quality during service, as it ensures that everyone in your team is on the same page and working towards the same goal. Communication should be clear, concise, and respectful, using verbal and non-verbal cues, such as eye contact, gestures, and signals. Communication should also be timely, relevant, and constructive, using feedback, praise, and suggestions. Communication should also be collaborative, involving input and participation from all staff members, as well as customers, suppliers, and regulators.

5 Review and improve

The final best practice for monitoring food quality during service is to review and improve your performance and results on a regular basis. Reviewing and improving means analyzing and evaluating your food quality data and feedback, such as customer comments, staff observations, quality check records, and waste reports. Reviewing and improving also means identifying and implementing any changes or improvements that are needed to enhance your food quality, such as adjusting recipes, updating standards, modifying procedures, or retraining staff. Reviewing and improving should be done systematically, using tools such as quality circles, action plans, and PDCA cycles.