Introduction
The aim of the following assignment is to research into the crisis situation, which called forth the need of creating the report on the functioning of Aqua, a fine-dining boutique restaurant in Malibu, California, and form the body of the report, which is going to be submitted to the agent at Exit Reality. The purpose of the report is to get to know whether performance of the restaurant complies with the LA County restaurant grading ordinance, which provides for the ways food should be handled, stored and prepared. Despite the fact that Thomas is highly interested in Report’s stating that the restaurant’s kitchen functioning complies to all necessary rules, managerial professional ethics rules cannot allow him to base the Report on false evidence.
The introduction t the report will contain information concerning the author of the report, the aim of its preparation, sources of evidence etc. The body of the report under study is going to be based on comparative analysis of the performance of restaurant’s kitchen and the rules. In the follow-up it can be appropriate to mention the changes, which should be introduced in order to ensure kitchen’s performance compliance to the rules, which can be found at LA County restaurant grading ordinance. Furthermore, after the report is completed, it is worth approaching staff and inform about the results of inspection and the ways, which should be employed to ensure adherence to LA County restaurant grading ordinance. For the purposes of clarity, it is highly advisable to use checklists to inform top management about the results of the inspection in both concise and comprehensive way. At this point let us proceed with the body of the report.
Body of the report
The following report was developed as a result of the inspection of food storage and preparation areas. Seating area was not subjected to inspection. The inspection was conducted, when lunch specials of the day were being prepared between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m.
Cleanliness
Results of the observation show that all the work surfaces, shelves and floor are kept clean and tidy. The walls and ceilings are clean and kept in good condition. All the surfaces are easy to wash down. All the sinks and drains are working properly. No sinks or drains seem to be blocked. Unpleasant smells are absent. Kitchen workers report that deep cleaning is carried out on regular basis. The goods delivery area is kept clean and free from waste.
The temperature in the food preparation area is higher than standard.
Despite the fact that kitchen equipment should be sanitized immediately after usage, our observations showed that kitchen staff tends not to sanitize equipment between uses for beef and poultry. Such a conduct breaks one of LA County restaurant grading ordinance rules, dedicated to ensuring non-cross contamination. The rule states that equipment, which is used to prepare food, should be sanitized between uses, particularly if it was used to handle with harmful food, such as raw poultry, beef or fish.
Food hygiene
According to the table of staff food hygiene trainings, staff receives regular food hygiene training. Despite the fact that the LA County restaurant grading ordinance states that the food should be prepared from frozen state and its defrosting is only allowed under running water, kitchen workers leave food to defrost in a dish on a counter. The refrigerators and containers, where food is kept, are clean and tidy. Some of the containers are sealed, while some lack seals. Furthermore, it is impossible to identify what is in containers as none of them are dated or labeled. Lack of labels and sates at containers represents the breach of the rule, provided for in LA County restaurant grading ordinance, which states that all the sealed containers with food should be appropriately identified with the label. The label should include the information about the contents and the date, when the food was received. As opposed to the way food is stored in containers in refrigerator area, food containers in dry area are properly sealed and have labels.
Hygiene of food preparation
The staff looks clean. All the staff members wear uniform and gloves. It was observed that staff do not use hair nets. Non-usage of hair nets contradicts the LA County restaurant grading ordinance rule on food preparation hygiene.
Pest control
Kitchen, servery and storage areas are regularly checked for pest. Fly screens are in place. Electric fly units are kept in order.
Summary of non-compliant practices
The inspection of the food storage and preparation areas helped to reveal the range of practices, non-compliant with LA County restaurant grading ordinance. The temperature rates in the kitchen areas do not comply with the standards (are higher than required temperature). The staff does not clean and sanitize equipment between uses, when dealing with such harmful food, as raw poultry, fish and beef. Such a conduct creates the threat of food cross-contamination and spreading of infections. It was observed that the staff breaks the rule, according to which food should be prepared from the frozen state. Allowing food to defrost in working area also contributes to the risk of infections. Some of containers, kept in refrigerator area lack seals. All the containes in refrigerator areas lack labels, so contents and receive date cannot be identified. The staff members do not use hair nets. All the harmful practices, mentioned above, lower inspection rates for cleanliness, food hygiene and hygiene of food preparation.
Conclusion
Overall performance of the facility can be rated unsatisfied due to seriousness of breaches of LA County restaurant grading ordinance, which were observed during the inspection. Recommendations are being provided in the final section of the report.
Appendix: Toilets and washing facilities inspection checklist (completed 22 October 2013); ventilation inspection checklist (completed 18 October 2013), lightning checklist (completed 17 April 2013), lips, trips and handling checklist (completed 15 September 2013), fire precautions checklist (completed 20 September 2013), machinery and equipment state checklist (completed 18 October 2013), electrical safety checklist (completed 19 January 2013), gas safety and chemicals checklist (completed 19 January 2013) and first aid checklist (completed 14 October 2013).
Conclusion
The Report under study addressed performance of the kitchen facility in Aqua, a fine-dining boutique restaurant in Malibu, California in the light of compliance with LA County restaurant grading ordinance in such aspects as cleanliness, food hygiene, hygiene of food preparation and pest control. The areas of performance’s incompliance with LA County restaurant grading ordinance were further specifically addressed. Recommendations were developed to improve the performance of kitchen facilities with regard to as cleanliness, food hygiene, hygiene of food preparation and pest control. The issues concerning toilets and washing facilities, ventilation, lightning, lips, trips and handling, fire precautions, machinery and equipment work etc. were presented in the form of checklists of previous inspections. The report is ready to be presented to the agent at Exit Realty.
