Wednesday, October 20, 2004
Food Manager Training
From time to time, the state health department requires food services to attend training on various aspects of the business. Like this postcard that just came, informing us of a Food Handler's Sanitation Workshop being held twice in the next 2 months, and in bold letters that this is a required class for Food Managers.
Certification will be awarded upon completing the class, and a health inspector will be along to verify that we have said certification.
Nowhere on the card does it tell us price, nor is there a webpage where we can find this out.
It's another cost of doing business, a cost we will pay even though we aren't yet open.
Why would we do this if we don't really have to?
Other than staying all legal and proper, if Manager does decide to start very small as a personal chef with her QFM, such a certification eases people's minds. It provides another layer of legitimacy, of seriousness, of professionalism.
Oh, yes, much of doing business is all about appearances. We just want a little substance to that appearance.
Seguing awkwardly along, we've been invited to a zoo benefit. We've been asked to prepare samples of the things we'll serve, the zoo will provide us with a tent at this benefit, and all the wealthy of town will be there to sample the foods and support the zoo. And, incidentally, choose new favorite restaurants and food caterers and personal chefs, and perhaps act as beneficiaries (read angel investors) to new food businesses. These people are paying $500.00 each minimum to be there. The drawback is that they want enough food samples for 5,000 people, and we haven't yet found a commercial kitchen to rent for this. My kitchen at home is large for a private home kitchen, but it is inadequate to this task.
The date for the event has not yet been set, so we have time to plan and see what we can contrive.
Finding a commercial kitchen to rent will be very useful for such events as this zoo fundraiser, for having a booth at the OK Festival of hte Arts, and at the OU Medieval Faire, assuming we haven't come into the funds to open the Cracked Cauldron shop by then.
