Keeping it clean

Taste,variety,presentation,ambience and service: these are not the only factors that city restaurants are concerned with while catering to it's customers.

Taste,variety,presentation,ambience and service: these are not the only factors that city restaurants are concerned with while catering to it’s customers. The most important part is the maintenance and management of hygiene and cleanliness in the kitchen which begins from the purchase of raw materials and continues to the food served to the customer.

Kunal Jagwani,owner of Café Arabia,Kalyani Nagar,says,Hygiene actually starts from the supplier. No matter how clean you yourself keep your kitchen,if the quality of the food has been compromised upon,then you are fighting a losing battle. Thus we buy vegetables only from select,trusted vendors and our meat from corporate suppliers,where the quality is guaranteed.

The Ibis Pune Hotel on Nagar Road pays much heed to keep germs at bay. We use colour coded chopping boards,the white ones are for sandwiches and cooked food,green ones for vegetables,blue ones for fish and red ones for meat. We avoid using towels and dusters as they collect bacteria,so we use paper towels instead, reveals Shiv Negi,Sous Executive Chef,Ibis Pune Hotel.

The preservation of cooked or semi cooked food is another concern for the chefs. Since we serve only Chinese food,we cannot preserve cooked food at all. We prepare the dish as it is ordered so the customer is served fresh and hygienic food every time, says Badri Nath Rath,Manager at Yo! China,Kalyani Nagar.

Garbage management is a serious affair with the restaurants in Pune. We strictly adhere to the PMC rules for garbage management. Wet and dry garbage is collected separately and stored in green biodegradable packets which the PMV vehicle collects from the restaurant every morning, says Arul Sharma,Managaer at Sher-E-Punjab,Connaught Road.

The Marriott Hotels follow guidelines of Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) and records information of critical points in the formats specified by their Global Food Safety Plan. We have dedicated resources like global food safety plan,Brand Standard Audits and Training plans which emphasizes our commitment towards hygienic food preparations at all time, describes Chandra Shekhar Pandey,Executive Chef at the Courtyard by Marriott,Hinjewadi.

Training of the staff is also very important,say people in the industry. We train and conduct regular audits with our outlets across the country to maintain standards. The kitchen is kept clean at all times. We are so confident with our hygiene factor that we have a sign board placed in outlet which reads Rasoi Mein Swagat Hai informs Hemaram Chaudhury,Corporate Maharaj,Rajdhani Thali Restaurant,J. M Road. Rajiv Gonsalves,manager of Mezza 9,Hinjewadi,adds,Training the staff is essential. We might have some ideas of how to run the establishment,but unless the staff complies,then it is of little avail.

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But isn’t the whole procedure very expensive? Not really, says Jagwani. In the short run,yes it may add to costs,but in the long run,its beneficial to us because the customer learns to trust us.

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