ServSafe / Trends Overview

Richard was away teaching wine to another management class, so we had Steve head the class, who is the head of the department. We did the introductions, every student giving their shpiels, and Steve introduced himself, with a very lengthy resume that included running a pizza shop named 'Rosey Tomato' in Greenwich, CT. We recapped the fish market visit -- it's a bit of an anachronism. Back in the day, more than 90% of all fish came through the market, but now with so many alternate means of getting into restaurants, it's now closer to 20%.

We barrelled through some ServSafe noise, summed up thusly: FIFO, first in first out -- use the old stuff first. When it comes to proteins, the stuff that is cooked to the lowest temp is on top, highest temp on bottom. In a fridge, fish goes on top, then whole meat, then ground meat, then poultry on the bottom. Fish juice on chicken will get cooked beyond it's danger zone, but chicken juice on fish may still be sickly at a fish-cooking temp.

We watched a cringe-worthy video about the effects of salmonella poisoning on the human body, from replicating in the gut, to vomiting and pooping, and all the tricks the body does to attack it and excrete it. Pretty poopy stuff. Oddly enough, it kinda skipped over why chicken is so dangerous -- salmonella lives in it's intestinal tract and poop, and we don't eat those things. So why is chicken so ridden with salmonella. Oh yeah. BECAUSE MODERN POULTRY FARMS ARE F@CKING FILTHY AND YOU SHOULD NOT EAT CHICKEN AS A RULE. Eat pork, fine readers, if you really care about your health, preferably organic and humanly raised.

The class ended with Steve presenting a PowerPoint slide show on trends in the restaurant business. It was really interesting, but undercut by the really poor design and unnecessary animated clip art and clashing colors. Some early basic points: You can never know too much about your clients. You must be better than your competition in some way to grab market share, a.k.a. penetration. And heed the dayparts, for people come in for lunch for different reasons than dinner.

Current major market dynamics: cheap is chic, driving is frowned upon, kids bully families, wives bully husbands, more senior citizens than ever, people are hurried, people are more sophisticated and aware of green issues. There was a lot of information presented in regards to trends (Eatertainment! Asian fusion! Neighborhoodiness!), but in the end, it made me think -- should a person go into this business to follow the trend and maximize the ability to rake in cash, or should you first find out what you want to dedicate your passion to then hope it lines up over the trends?