Safety first!
We are cleaning and sanitizing like
your Grandma’s life depended on it…
because it might.
If you’ve ever worked in food service before, you may have been surprised by all the recent infographics and articles circulating about how, specifically, to wash your hands in order to prevent the spread of disease. Like, people don’t know how to wash their hands?! Personally, I have been singing the ABCs while scrubbing under my always-very-short fingernails since long before anybody had heard anything about COVID-19. It’s pretty much second nature to anybody working in a restaurant (or a bar, or a coffee shop, or a hospital or doctor’s office, for that matter). After very nearly two decades working in this industry, I’ve been through countless health department inspections, my training has included ServSafe certification, Food Handler’s certification, and I’ve gone through the rigorous training programs of many different food markets, restaurants and coffee shops. So, in short, we definitely got this!
In addition to being well-versed in proper safety and sanitation practices, I also happen to have an auto-immune disorder which places me in the ominous category of “high-risk.” So, it is very personal to me to ensure that our business is a clean, safe and healthy environment for our team and our guests. Frankly, it always has been, because despite this new viral threat there are the ever-present threats of food-borne illnesses to combat, which is why hand washing technique and other safety and sanitation practices are taught and practiced at every restaurant in America. Interestingly, Shigellosis (an acute infection of the intestine) alone causes about 600,000 deaths annually worldwide, 60,000 of which are attributed to food borne transmission. People’s lives have always been at stake and we have always known and respected that fact. Knowing that, I feel perfectly confident, even as an immunocompromised individual, in ordering take-out from any restaurant right now.
It is also worth mentioning that experts believe transmission of the coronavirus through food is unlikely. The risk is with person to person contact more than anything else. Even the Wall Street Journal has stated in a recent article, “Doctors say ordering food is generally safer than going to a grocery store or a restaurant, because you come into contact with fewer people. “Ordering at home may be the best way to get food,” says Andrew Janowski, a pediatric infectious disease physician at Washington University School of Medicine and St. Louis Children’s Hospital. “Simply because there [are fewer] people.””
So, I wanted to make sure that anybody who was worried, scared, or at the very least curious could find some reassuring information here. WE ARE TAKING EVERY MEASURE POSSIBLE TO ENSURE YOUR (AND OUR!) SAFETY. Here’s how:
- Only completely asymptomatic team members are allowed to work.
- We now only staff two people MAX in the kitchen at once
- We also only staff two people MAX in the front of house at once
- All high-traffic surfaces such as countertops, door handles, and POS tablets are being disinfected at least every 30 minutes
- Every hand washing station also has hand sanitizer to ensure optimized cleanliness
- Every single one of our team members has their Food Handler’s certification, and our last team-wide training mandate was this past February, so the information is fresh in all our minds.
- All food and package handling is done with washed AND gloved hands (even in areas where gloves are not typically mandated such as mixing drinks)
- As long as the weather is warm enough, we will offer walk-up window service (from the patio bar window) so that those ordering carry-out can do so without actually coming on premise.
- We consulted with a physician on all our sanitation practices to ensure we were taking every measure possible to create an environment that is inhospitable for any virus, Corona or otherwise.
We are all in this together and it is a trying time for us all. The restaurant industry has been hit incredibly hard by the mandated closures, despite still being able to offer delivery and carry-out services, and many of us feel scared of what the future may hold. It’s a bit eery working in a big restaurant full of tables and chairs and not being able to welcome anybody to sit and stay awhile. It goes against our very nature as hospitality workers to not be able to serve our guests. However, we find that creating some order amidst all this chaos helps us all cope and makes us feel safe in these troubling times. Hopefully, if you visit us for carry-out or call us for delivery you can feel confident knowing that our team is working tirelessly to not only keep the people of Denver well-fed, but safe, too. Because our lives, and our livelihoods, depend on it!
Whitney Ariss, Co-Owner, The Preservery