How Skills Developed Using Your Food Handler Card Can Help Throughout Life
Published April 6, 2012

How Skills Developed Using Your Food Handler Card Can Help Throughout Life

The reason you strive to earn a food handler card is so you can work in the restaurant or food preparation industry. Whether this is a job to get you through college or a lasting career decision, you are sure to learn skills that apply to other areas of life. A food handler certification trains you to safely handle a customer’s meal, but there’s much more to working with your food handlers card than meets the eye.

Here’s a look at skills you’ll develop after earning your food handler

Food Handler Card Skills

card and to work in the food service industry:

  •  Organization: It’s impossible to serve multiple tables or run an entire restaurant without incredible organizational skills.
  • Time Management: Food industry professionals with food handler cards must juggle greeting new customers, taking orders, delivering meals, and checking on patrons, all without pestering one table too often or neglecting another.
  • People Skills: By developing this skill when working in a restaurant, you could generate more tips and enjoy your work infinitely more. Outside your job, people skills help you make more friends, recognize when a comrade could use a hand, and resolve troublesome relationships.
  • Teamwork: There’s no tighter team than the servers at a sit-down restaurant. When one team member is having a bad day or the dinner rush is more stressful than usual, another worker can help pick up the slack. This valuable skill, paired with the knowledge acquired through your food handler certification, sets you up to be a great support to your restaurant team.
  • Sales and Promotion: As all food handlers understand, the more you sell, the more you make. Many food industry workers learn how to promote more expensive menu items and get their customers to make more purchases, thus increasing the tips they earn.
  • Basic Accounting: Restaurant servers learn all about how to handle money, budget their own funds, and calculate tips. Experienced food industry workers can estimate quite accurately how much they’ve sold and consequently how much they’ve earned at any point during their shift.
  • Perseverance: Getting your food handler card was the first step, but it is well-known that both physical and mental endurance are required of restaurant owners and servers to succeed. The food service industry is fast paced and demanding, and not every day as a server is going to be perfect. However, you will soon find that working hard and constantly challenging yourself can be very rewarding.

At Premier Food Safety, we have more than 35 years of training experience, five exam languages to choose from, the lowest prices and a satisfaction guarantee. For all the training and knowledge you need to get your food handler card, register with Premier Food Safety today. Learn more about the qualifications to work in the restaurant business by finding us on Facebook and Twitter.

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Published April 5, 2012

Excelling in the Food Service Industry: Become the Best Server in the World with Your Food Handler Card

It takes more than obtaining your food handler card to be a great server. Some servers take their tips for granted, but you should always strive to earn the tip you receive when your customers finish their meal. If you want to excel in the industry and become the best server possible, consider these suggestions after you have your food handler certification.

 

  • Food Handler Card

    Greet guests in a timely manner. No one wants to be left waiting, so be attentive and greet new guests within 3 to 5 minutes of being seated.

  • Make sure the table is set. If you need to pull up an extra chair or grab more utensils, do so quickly so the party can be seated.
  • Remember that you represent the restaurant. You may not be the owner or chef, but you are the face the customer sees. After all, you hold a valid food handler card that accredits you as a knowledgeable member of the staff , so use positive phrases like “I can,” “I will,” and “I have,” instead of “Hang on,” “Let me check,” or “I don’t know.”
  •  Be familiar with the menu. An important part of having a food handler card is to know the menu and have a favorite entrée or two to recommend. When you simply say, “Everything is great,” you convey that you haven’t tried the dishes, that you’re too lazy to remember the names, or that you fear the customer won’t like what you recommend. Remember, your opinion matters!
  • Check on your guests often. Never let a customer see the bottom of an empty glass. Ask if there is anything else you can bring out. Clear away empty plates, always double checking with the customer to verify they have finished. These are the most important tasks of a server with a food handlers card.
  • Stay positive! They may not teach you this when you get a food handler card, but customers count on a happy server to bring out their meals.  Not every day will be perfect, but if you’re having a bad day, you may find that smiling actually makes you feel better!
  • At the close of the meal, treat your customers like house guests. As you hand over the check, give a positive send-off such as: “Thank you; we hope to see you again soon!”

At Premier Food Safety, we have more than 35 years of training experience, five exam languages to choose from, the lowest prices in the industry and a satisfaction guarantee. For all the training and knowledge you need to get your food handler card, register with Premier Food Safety today. Learn more about the qualifications to work in the restaurant business by finding us on Facebook and Twitter.

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