CATCH 22: Food safety and competition

What comes first? Providing safe food or surviving the competition? A question I didn’t even think mattered until I took a trip home to snowy Leicester last month to visit friends and family and of course, to satisfy the greasy-chicken-in-a box cravings an expat often finds he/she has.

Luckily for me, my best friend’s husband owns one of Leicester’s most popular fried chicken takeout restaurants and has a significant number of them dotted around the town.

A midnight call and 10 minutes later I’m happily tucking into my box of chicken. But while waiting in the departure gate I was scrolling through the web via my iPhone and catching up on the city’s local news, unaware that in a few moments I’d be kissing my greasy chicken-in-a-box craving goodbye forever.

Just down the road, another local chick-in-a-box joint had found itself under intense scrutiny after health inspectors sprung a surprise inspection on it and subsequently shut it down after finding a cockroach infestation in its kitchen.

They were everywhere, on surfaces, under surfaces, in boxes, in food packaging... while poor front of house diners were none the wiser.
I dropped my friend a text message.

A few seconds later my phone buzzed: “YES!” the message read in giant letters.“That means all his customers are going to be coming my way,” it continued. I could almost picture him jumping up and down with $$ signs in his eyes.

It pained me at this point when I thought about how I’d tell him I didn’t really fancy my crispy fried wings delivery the second I walked through the door anymore...

Two days later, when we all met up to debrief – as you do – I wasn't surprised when he told me how quiet business had been, well, quieter than he’d expected following the report and takedown of a competitor brand which was situated less than two streets away.

It proved something quite simple: food safety is paramount, not just for the success of an individual outlet but for the industry overall.

It’s a difficult situation, but a bad experience in one outlet can lead to competitors and even similar eateries all being tarred with the same brush as it spoils a person’s perception of ‘eating out’.

Now more than ever as the region works to win global recognition for its f&b industry should it focus on working together and implementing the highest standards when it comes to food safety. Flick to p40 for Caterer’s in depth report on this crucial issue.