A lot of people look at grocery prices and think restaurant margins are massive. But the reality of commercial food costs is a delicate balancing act. To stay profitable, a restaurant needs to hit a target food cost percentage between 28% and 33%. That revenue doesn’t just buy the ingredients—it keeps the lights on, pays…
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The “Safe Food and Water” Checklist: Are These 3 Hidden FDA Food Code Violations Tanking Your Health Inspection Score? When restaurant owners think about health inspections, their minds immediately jump to horror stories of pest infestations or broken walk-in coolers. But some of the fastest ways to lose points on an FDA Food Code Inspection Form happen…
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When independent restaurant owners and kitchen managers review their local food safety inspection forms, their eyes naturally gravitate toward the obvious culprits: refrigerator temperatures, handwashing sinks, and cross-contamination. However, a quiet storm is brewing around Item #29 — Compliance with Variance, Specialized Process, and HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point) Plans. As culinary trends shift toward…
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Effective June 1, 2026, HRBUniversal no longer represents the TiPS (Training for Intervention ProcedureS) Responsible Alcohol Seller/Service program. This decision comes as a direct result of the current policies and actions of 360training® | Regulatory Compliance Training Online. Moving forward, I strongly advise hotels, bars, and restaurants to look closely at the ServSafe Alcohol® program,…
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Published on Friday, June 12, 2026 Ask any veteran kitchen manager what keeps them up at night, and they won’t say a bad Yelp review or a broken dishwasher. They will say “TCS”—Time/Temperature Control for Safety. When a public health inspector walks through the backdoor with a clipboard, the core of their inspection revolves around…
Continue readingWhen a food inspector walks through the back door of a restaurant, they aren’t just looking for dusty shelves or workers wearing hairnets. They are on a mission to intercept the most dangerous threats to public health before they ever reach a customer’s plate. At the absolute top of their checklist is the “Approved Source”…
Continue readingWhen restaurant managers prep for a health inspection, they usually focus on the “big hitters”—refrigerator temperatures, sanitizer concentrations, and hot-holding stations. But health inspectors warn that two of the quickest ways to fail an inspection are buried in the Good Hygienic Practices section: Item #6 (Proper eating, tasting, drinking, or tobacco use) and Item #7…
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When a health inspector walks through the back doors of a restaurant, they aren’t just looking for dusty shelves or checking chicken temperatures. Some of the most heavily weighted items on an FDA Food Code inspection form center around a single, unpredictable vector: the human element. Foodborne illnesses like Norovirus, Hepatitis A, and Salmonella are…
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Walking into a bustling kitchen during peak dinner rush, the immediate signs of success are obvious: the sizzle of the grill, the rhythmic chopping of knives, and full dining room tables. But to a public health official carrying an FDA Food Code Inspection Form, the most critical element of the kitchen isn’t the food on…
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ServSafe® Food Protection Manager Certification Program is a remote exam administered by ProctorU and an Instructor-Led Remote Food Manager Certification Course presented by HRBUniversal. This remote course is based on the 2022 FDA Food Code and taught in the format of the inspection report to allow participants to understand what the local regulator is reviewing…
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