Training. Testing. More training.
If you spend time with Stewart’s Shops food service and quality assurance teams, you will hear those words repeatedly as they explain their mission and commitment to food safety.
“Sanitation has to be No. 1 in any restaurant and any business where you are handling food,” said Stewart’s corporate chef Mike Kiernan.
Friday, June 7th is World Food Safety Day. Stewart’s Shops is recognizing the day by giving a behind-the-scenes look at our company’s food service and quality assurance programs that ensure we provide fresh, safe and quality milk, ice cream, sandwiches and snacks throughout our chain of more than 355 convenience stores.
Kiernan, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, spent many years setting up and operating restaurants before heading up Stewart’s food service and food safety programs. It is a critical function for Stewart’s Shops, which operates its own dairy and ice cream plant in addition to running a large commercial kitchen in Saratoga County.
“Our focus is not just about food safety. We also focus heavily on presentation, preparation and quality,” Kiernan said. “Ninety percent of our attention is spent teaching.”
The Stewart’s food service team not only trains employees, who we call partners, they also help set up new shops and oversee a program that involves strict standards to ensure our sandwiches, soup and other crock items are fresh and consistent.
“We have a really good partnership with the state and many of our standards are more rigorous than the state requires,” Kiernan said. “We teach the partners to do temperature checks on the coolers and backroom freezers. And we regularly meet with the district managers to talk about food safety.”
Stewart’s food service team also works closely with the company’s quality assurance lab, which tests every batch of milk and ice cream that is produced.
“We test the coffee every week to make sure the taste is consistent,” said Jacqueline Kusnierz, who oversees the Stewart’s lab.
The lab partners also cook and test everything from sandwiches and soup to pizza and meatballs. They check Stewart’s S-Cups to make sure the weight is accurate. They even check the ice cream to make sure the swirls look right!
Stewart’s is committed to serving safe, consistent and quality food.
It is a 7-day-a-week operation.
“The food safety programs are a big reason for our success,” Kiernan said.
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