BEST PRACTICES OF A RESCUE MISSION KITCHEN©
Food Services revised 3-8-2011
By Russell MacKenzie, Director of Food Services & Food Services Training School, Union Gospel Mission, 1224 East Trent Avenue, Spokane, WA 99220 509-532-3816 russell.mackenzie@ugmspokane.org
Cooking with Donated Food
• Cook by the food triangle of protein, starch and vegetable.
• Cook by the food matching charts. We recommend Culinary Artistry by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page (New York, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1996), 426 pages, ISBN 0-471-28785-7. It contains many food matching charts.
• Cook by the seasons.
• Use leftovers to make soup and casseroles.
• Use the freshest greens now so they don’t spoil while you’re serving older ones today.
• Sort, sort, sort. “Pan for mold,” to locate useable pieces.
Making Healthy Meals
• Healthy meals consist of whole grains, lean meats, fruits and vegetables, and include dairy.
• Include a protein, starch and vegetable.
• Include a salad bar and soup if possible.
• Recovery populations need sugar, especially recovering alcoholics, because their body craves the sugar it used to get from alcohol.
Food Safety
• Learn and practice professional sanitation.
• Cleanliness, barriers, temperatures, danger zone, cross contamination, bleach bucket, changing cutting boards and knives.
• Three compartment sink: wash/rinse/sanitize.
• Require kitchen workers to take the Spokane Regional Health District Food Handler card class and test online and print the certificate. www.srhd.org/links/food/asp
Storage Practices
• Enforce safe storage practices.
• FIFO, first in first out.
• Store everything off the floor, use milk crates if necessary.
• Never store raw meat above other foods.
• Keep the coolers, freezers and pantry locked when you are not using them.
• Get a metal locking cabinet for spices and expensive pieces of equipment such as your knives and the electric knife sharpener.
• Buy a pair of freezer gloves and designate a coat dedicated to freezer use.
• Use Metro style adjustable wire rack shelving.
Kitchen & Cooking Practices
• Establish a professional standard to settle all questions about cooking and kitchen practices. We recommend the college textbook Professional Cooking, 6th edition, by Wayne Gisslen (Hoboken, NJ, John Wiley & Sons, 2007) 1056 pages, ISBN 139780471633744.
• Post tomorrow’s menu in the kitchen with corresponding prep sheets. Prep tomorrow’s food today.
• Use proper thawing, cooling and hot holding techniques.
• Wash raw produce in several changes of cold water until thoroughly clean before serving.
• Make a few late plates or sack lunches for emergencies.
• Teach professional knife skills.
• Use the standard calculations for hotel pan serving capacities.
• Require all cooks to carry a thermometer and pen or sharpie.
• Give food away freely. The more you give the more you will receive.
• Store knives pointed up on a magnetic knife bar on the wall.
• Invest in a good electric knife sharpener. We recommend the Waring Professional Knife Sharpener, model WKS800.
• Use laundry bags on a metal frame to contain kitchen towels, aprons and uniforms, and launder in house.
• Provide uniforms, aprons and nametags as budget allows.
• Buy used bar towels from Alsco American Linen.
• Provide latex, nitrile or plastic food service gloves.
• Use a professional knife bag like a real chef.
• Use informational videos to educate cooks.
Dining Room & Serving Practices
• Open and close the serving window on time.
• Record the number of meals served.
• Post the meal period schedule in the dining room.
• Post the menu in the dining room.
• Note allergens on the menu board. The main allergens are fish, shellfish, peanuts, tree nuts, soy, wheat, eggs and dairy.
• Hold hot food on the serving line at 140 degrees using a steam table or chafing dishes.
• Hold cold food on the serving line at 40 degrees or below by surrounding the container with ice up to the level of the food. Use wells in a steam table, a chafing dish filled with ice or nestle the food bowl into an ice bowl.
• Use a sneeze guard to cover the food if it’s available.
• Servers spooning out food should wash their hands first, then wear food service gloves.
• Include soup and salad bar if possible.
• Do not give out “to go” meals.
• Clear the dining room after each meal period. Do not allow loitering.
• Do not feel obligated to provide perfect five star service like a hotel. Things can be less than perfect at a rescue mission.
• Use plastic cafeteria trays instead of porcelain dishes.
• Some addicts steal spoons for drug use so be vigilant.
Business Practices
• Ask for a written budget and track monthly expenses on an Excel spreadsheet.
• Network with other agencies who feed the poor to exchange food and ideas.
• Post a written work schedule so everyone knows their shifts in advance, and you confirm that all shifts are covered.
• Draft an overall purpose statement and post it in the department.
• Draft a set of core values and post it in the department.
• Post the list of ten basic job skills required by all employers.
• Install a bulletin board where food handler cards and forklift certifications are posted.
• Install a bulletin board where all job positions are posted with names, so the lines of leadership are clearly defined.
• Buy bulk spices at Winco Foods, including ground pepper.
• Buy salt & pepper shakers at the Dollar Store.
• Buy used bar towels at the linen supply company and launder them in house.
• Provide an office supply station for your kitchen crew that supplies paper, pencils, tape, scissors and a stapler.
• Buy a tool bag and keep a set of basic hand tools in the office. Allow everyone free access, but require them to be returned. Include a hammer, rubber mallet, pliers, screw drivers, wrenches, tape measure, utility knife, duct tape, masking tape and a utility knife.
• Buy a box cutter to help flatten cardboard.
• Make a set of three ring binders to contain memos, policies, recipes, invoices, etc.
• Use clipboards. Install hooks on the wall to hang them.
• Use annual performance reviews, just like a real business.
• Schedule some uninterrupted office time for yourself. Let everyone know that you require this to complete the paperwork necessary to run the operation in a businesslike manner.
• Provide a first aid kit and keep it stocked. Lock it in your office so supplies do not get pilfered.
• Maintain a key inventory page where you record who has custody of every key that was issued.
• Maintain a staff list with correct home and cell phone numbers, addresses and emails.
• Learn Microsoft Outlook on your computer to help manage your schedule.
• Photograph your work and start a scrapbook.
Christian Practices
• Be generous and thankful.
• Treat everyone with respect, including homeless guests. Remember that every person deserves to fair, friendly treatment. Show them at least as much hospitality and good manners as you would any stranger not homeless and not at a mission, say at a grocery store for instance.
• Remember that people staying at a rescue mission may have had a harder life than you, so give them a little slack and show some understanding.
• Expect the unexpected. Homeless populations can be chaotic at times. Stay calm and re-establish control in the kitchen. Send personnel on a time out if necessary.
Prohibited Food – Do Not Serve
• The general rule is that if you wouldn’t eat it yourself, discard it.
• Meat, such as donated deer or game, not processed by a USDA approved butcher.
• Home processed food, including canning and freezing.
• Home cooked food. Donations cooked at a commercial church kitchen are ok, but not home cooked pot luck dishes brought to church. If you don’t know the source, don’t use it.
• Food from opened or broken packages.
• Food that’s not labeled.
• Food from badly dented or rusty cans.
• Sprouts.
• Raw dairy.
• Melon with broken rind.
• Food with pest infestation, such as wormy apples.
• Food with visible discolored spots that can’t be cut out.
• To avoid offending donors, thank them for thinking of us, then sort the food later, discarding unfit items.
• Tell donors who call before bringing their items that we can generally use them. Spoiled food can be composted and traded as pig feed to get value from farmers.
Managing Volunteers
• Volunteers should be screened. Be aware of who has access to your residents. Do background checks.
• Volunteers should be scheduled. No drop-ins.
• Provide training.
• Include emergency training procedures such as fire extinguisher, fire exits, hazardous materials, personal protective equipment, and location of the first aid kit.
• Practice accountability. If the volunteer is not helpful, assign them useful menial tasks or send them to another department. For example, wash all the legs of the dining room chairs, sanitize all the shelves in the cooler or break down cardboard. If they refuse menial tasks, politely ask them to leave.
• Encourage youth groups to participate, but require chaperones to stay with minors during the entire work period. Provide a brief training talk to help them understand proper behavior and safe food handling practices. Kids go home and tell about the good work you do.
• Do not tolerate rudeness or sarcasm towards mission residents.
• Work to instill a culture of team work.
• Make use of training videos.
Number of Meals Served
• Record the number of meals served.
• Do not forget to include sack lunches and all other ancillary meals provided, such as food provided for special events offsite.
• Note any trends up or down, and keep the Board of Directors informed.
• Budgets should be commensurate with meals served. If meals served are up 15% over last year, it’s reasonable to ask for a budget increase.
• Union Gospel Mission had an increase of about 1% from 2009 to 2010.
© Copyright 2011, Union Gospel Mission, Spokane, WA 99220
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