Just how clean are post-lockdown restaurants?

Tales from the Front: Restaurants and Pandemic Hygiene

I’ve seen some things…

I recently outed myself as a gig worker, delivering restaurant food as a side hustle to make up for my employer’s suspension of retirement fund contributions. The job has taken me into about 80 restaurants in the last few months — from fast food to pricey, exclusive eateries.

And, lordy…I’ve seen some things.

I’ve seen a lot of masks on restaurant employees. Some not on correctly, but at least on. And I’ve seen a lot not wearing masks. At a nice place in my hometown (where we celebrated my birthday last year, in fact), NO employees wore masks. Not the cooks, not the cashier, not the managers. It bothered me so much that I contacted the owner the next day. Mostly because I want this restaurant to succeed, and a bad report to the state could result in them losing their license. The owner got back to me right away and apologized. The rationale for no masks? “It was such a nice day, we just got lax.” Nice day? Oh, that’s right…we only have to be careful on cloudy days [sense snark].

When I started delivery work, I quickly developed my own neurotic ways to avoid contamination. Like our ancient ancestors, I’ve designated my left hand as the “unclean hand,” and use it only to open doors and touch surfaces. The right hand is reserved for food and phone handling. (Followed by liberal use of hand sanitizer on both hands as soon as I return to my car — the door to which I open with my right hand, in case you were wondering.)

Others, I note, do not have such techniques. One of my favorite pandemic restaurant memories took place at a high-end pizza restaurant during the take-out-only phase of lockdown. Overall, the staff has great procedures, and the place appears to be sanitary. But one day, as I waited for an order, I observed a manager and employee sitting at a table talking. The manager was enjoying a pizza as they talked, picking it up with his hands and munching. I paid little attention until something caught my eye. The manager was wearing gloves. To eat. With his hands.

I don’t even know where to begin with that one. (I couldn’t bear to watch and see if he licked the gloved fingers, or to see what all he touched after he finished eating.)

Other real things I’ve seen:

— Restaurant workers handling the phone (arguably, the most contaminated item in the building, given that people are aspirating all over it) and then handling food. Multiple people using the phone to take orders without sanitizing it between use. A very common practice.

— Cashiers handling money and credit cards and then handling food. At a local breakfast place, I observed a worker open a clamshell container and lift up the pancakes with her bare fingers, right after cashing out a customer.

— Food handler sliding her hands into her pants and then returning to food prep. Adjusting her underwear maybe? Swear to god. I was stunned. (Again, I contacted the owner that evening to report the incident. In that case, the owner responded to me with anger and accusations.)

— Placemats at a sushi restaurant air drying on the legs of upturned chairs. Not the support bars…the ends of the legs that sit on the floor. Eww.

But it’s not all bad news. I’ve been informally cataloging the good practices and the suspect practices, and here’s my unscientific, completely anecdotal analysis:

In general, I find that the restaurants with the best procedures and most sanitary practices are fast food chains. The restaurants with the worst procedures and least sanitary practices are non-franchise, individually owned restaurants (irrespective of price point).

Yes. Fast-food restaurants win my informal competition for cleanliness and adherence to procedures. I’ve seen lots of hand-washing and appropriate mask and glove wearing at Burger King, McDonald’s, Wendy’s, etc. My guess is that these restaurants benefit from a strong training infrastructure and large corporate budgets to standardize procedures and supplies. And their young workforce seems to adapt quickly to changes.

Conversely, I’ve seen the worst behavior at independent restaurants, where training is haphazard and compliance seems to be dependent on whether the owner is onsite…or cares. And it doesn’t seem to matter whether the restaurant is high end or a diner, because hygiene atrocities occur at some of the nicest places I’ve delivered from. I hope they’ll all consider rigorous training because they deserve to survive this crisis, and we deserve safe food.

These are not scientifically validated conclusions; I’m simply sharing observations from the inside while employees were unguarded. Take them or leave them.

And now, if you’ll excuse me, I think I hear a can of soup calling my name.

© Tina L. Smith, 2020