Restaurant news

The California Senate passed a bill earlier this month that would require all restaurant employees to be trained and certified in safe food-handling practices. If signed into law, the bill could eventually affect the restaurant industry nationwide.

Senate Bill 602 comes from Senator Alex Padilla (D-Pacoima), who also crafted a 2008 law requiring California restaurant chains with 20 or more locations to post calorie information on their menus and indoor menuboards. The most recent bill awaits Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s signature to become law, something the California Restaurant Association says might not happen.

The bill passed the senate on a bipartisan vote of 30-1. It “seeks to reduce the incidence of food-borne illnesses and hospitalizations in California by educating restaurant employees about proper food handling,” according to a press release issued by Sen. Padilla.

The bill would require employees to get a certified food-handler card within 30 days of being hired. The card would be valid across the state and expire after three years. To ease the process, the bill requires at least one accredited food-safety-certification exam to be offered online.

The bill is modeled after similar programs in San Diego, Riverside, and San Bernadino counties, which, the Padilla press release says, have reported a 79 percent reduction in food-borne-illness outbreaks since implementation.

San Diego County’s program started in the 1980s in response to a major Hepatitis A outbreak in a food facility, says Liz Pozzebon, assistant director of the county’s Department of Environmental Health. While she can’t verify the 79 percent reduction cited by Sen. Padilla, she says the program is a “very positive component in reducing major food-safety violations.”

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On August 2, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner wrote an op-ed in the New York Times with the title, “Welcome to the Recovery.” Despite the brash headline, Geithner was cautiously optimistic about the direction of the economy.

“Recoveries that follow financial crises are typically a hard climb,” he wrote. “That is reality. The process of repair means economic growth will come slower than we would like. But despite these challenges, there is good news to report.”

The good news, the secretary said, includes “booming” exports, private job growth (“not as fast as we would like”), a stabilized banking system, and a business sector that has “repaired its balance sheets” and is in “a strong financial position to reinvest and grow.”

Geithner conceded that such positive indicators were “cold comfort to those Americans still looking for work and to those industries, like construction, hit hardest by the crisis.” But he defended the Obama administration’s actions to combat the recession: the $787 billion stimulus package; the Trouble Asset Relief Program, or “bank bailout,” which was set in motion by the Bush administration; and the so-called “auto bailout” of Chrysler, General Motors, and Ford.

Though there is still a tough row to hoe, Geithner said, “we are coming back.”

Some restaurant industry players, however, are far less optimistic than the Treasury Secretary.Read more

With the release of an Institute of Medicine (IOM) report recommending the government regulate the amount of sodium in the nation’s food supply, the restaurant industry says it wants to take action—on its own.

“The industry supports a voluntary, incremental approach to reducing sodium levels in menu items, and would have concerns about any potential government mandate that creates a one-size-fits-all rule to ingredient standards,” the National Restaurant Association said in an April 20 statement, released the same day as the IOM report.

Across the industry, operators have bridled at possible sodium regulation, especially since it would force them to lower the amount of salt on their menus. Salt is the primary source of sodium and, many contend, flavor in foods.

“There is no need to have a government mandate,” says Paul Mangiamele, CEO of Salsarita’s Fresh Cantina. “What’s next, the government mandates what a customer can eat?”Read more

Here's a feature I wrote for QSR Magazine's May 2010 issue about the state of the restaurant industry in Detroit, perhaps the city hit hardest by the 2008 recession. Interestingly, despite many dire indicators -- an unofficial employment rate of nearly 50 percent and a bad outmigration problem -- many restaurant operators and businesspeople in general see Detroit as a worthwhile investment. Enjoy.