A tidy shop window, immaculately dressed staff and excellent service are as much a part of your customer relations as the quality of the products leaving your bakehouse. In the shop, hygiene and presentation are closely linked: from handling products to cleaning your counter, here are a few practices to adopt and things to avoid.
Making a good impression
Ensuring a quality service in your shop means first of all taking care of appearances:
- Wear a uniform when working in the shop (preferably an apron, changed daily).
- Avoid wearing bulky jewelry.
What about wearing a mask? Apart from specific health recommendations (coronavirus), wearing a mask is advisable as soon as symptoms as mild as a simple cold appear.
Hand hygiene: wash your hands as often as possible
In contact with your bakery products and means of payment, hands are the main sources of food contamination. Remember to wash them:
- As often as necessary, for 30 seconds (ideally with anti-bacterial soap).
- After any change of activity (arriving at work, preparing sandwiches, cleaning, restocking, etc.).
Don’t forget to keep your nails short and well-groomed and protect any cuts with a waterproof bandage (and if possible, a glove or finger cot).
Things to avoid
In spite of impeccable hand hygiene and immaculately clean clothes, certain actions (often carried out unconsciously!) can be a source of contamination. These include:
- Touching your face or mouth.
- Wiping your hands on your apron.
- Wetting your fingertip to pick up a sheet of paper or packing case.
- Blowing into a bag to open it.
Providing top-quality service
From taking orders to taking payment, here are a few hygiene tips:
- When serving pastries, use tongs or a cake slice (wash as often as necessary). In this way, you will avoid any direct contact with the products.
- Wipe counters with a clean cloth as soon as crumbs, sugar grains and other food residues start to accumulate.
- At the till, always use the same hand to handle money, the other to handle the products.
