Everyone has heard of comfort food, being well, comforting. When one is upset or stressed for whatever reason, we like to eat a dish, that we can shut off our brain for a bit and just chew. While there are sometimes some very odd toppings, for example Pimento cheese on hotdogs, in this example in 2015. This year hotdogs have been very “normal” meaning Americans are stressed out, and sticking to the typical Mustard dog, comfort food.

Key Takeaways:

• That makes sense, since summer is the height of hot dog season: Some seven billion of them are eaten in the United States between Memorial Day weekend and Labor Day, according to the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council.
• Burgers and fried chicken were pushed, too. As the recession continued, that’s when we saw the emergence of meatballs, hot dogs and other sausages, red velvet cake and all those grilled cheese sandwich concepts that came and went.
• Dog Haus has done Thai curry dogs and foie gras dogs, but as you might expect, spicy Italian sausage and bratwurst are their most popular dogs. In third place is the not-at-all-surprising bacon-wrapped dog.

“As I wrote in that encyclopedia, comfort food “can be anything that takes its eaters to a safe emotional place, that allows them simply to turn off their brain and chew.””

http://nrn.com/blog/how-hot-dog-toppings-can-predict-economic-downturn

There are so many aspects of a great business that it can be easy to forget some parts of it. It is important to make sure that the employees are taught hospitality and that they know how to properly treat customers in order to keep the customes coming back.

Key Takeaways:

• Communicate your hospitality standards so they trickle down to your managers and staff, says Urban. This requires trusting that a trainer understands big-picture goals and genuinely enjoys helping others succeed.
• Leszko’s team recently watched a YouTube series about how Disney’s hospitality teams create experiences for their guests. “We are really looking outside our industry, like at restaurants or hotels,” she says. “We ask our team to think about a time they went on a trip and what they grabbed from that experience.”
• Managers at the district’s 10 training locations teach new hires everything from washing dishes to receiving food to monitoring hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP), says Joe Urban, the district’s director of food and nutrition services.

““That’s how I tell if they have it or they don’t.””

http://www.foodservicedirector.com/managing-your-business/managing-staff/articles/how-teach-hospitality-employees#page=0

Food contamination is no joke, and one of the major important factors of containing a food contamination outbreak is effective communication. When Waterbury public schools received a phone call about a Listeria outbreak they worked quickly to contact everyone necessary and recalled the food immediately. This is only possible due to their effective communication.

Key Takeaways:

• Foodborne illness probably is near the top of operators’ lists of worst nightmares.
• Sandwiches were recalled from schools so the students wouldn’t get sick
• It is important to maintain good communication with food suppliers.

“Instead of informing students directly about the recall, Franzese says, the superintendent’s office sends a notice out to parents, who then can choose to have a discussion with their children about the recall.”

http://www.foodservicedirector.com/managing-your-business/ensuring-food-safety/articles/importance-communication-in-food-recalls