Hygiene is a common and imperative buzzword in the business affairs of quick chain restaurants and hotel industries. Although sales, marketing and profit & loss are of prime importance for sustaining business, cleaning and hygiene is the unsung hero for successful and sustainable restaurant operations to gain market share and to increase consumer confidence and safety. In today’s world, consumer convenience is critical for the service industry including food delivery, salon, repair and house help amongst others. The services of convenience go on and so forth with an endless abundance of opportunities.
The food delivery and dining landscape continues to emerge as one of the biggest industries in recent times. In fact the food service sector in India currently contributes to 1.9% of the country’s GDP. This sector is expected to grow at a CAGR of 8.1% between 2024 and 2028. Companies that provide these services are at the helm of transforming how consumers’ access and experience culinary delights. For these platforms, forging successful partnerships with hotels and restaurants is crucial to expanding their service offerings and enhancing customer satisfaction. Clean India Journal interacts with Baskaran Gangadharan, GM – Quality Assurance & Food Safety, Swiggy Limited to gain insights on the critical factors that food delivery companies consider in the areas of cleaning and sanitation.
Why are the terms Cleaning and Hygiene often used together?
While Cleaning in general refers to removing visible physical soil/ dirt from the surface area, Hygiene refers to ensuring a surface is free from microbial load/ contamination.
Commonly, Cleaning and Sanitization are often used together instead of Cleaning and Hygiene in industry today. They bear similar meaning to each other.
How does sanitization differ from disinfections?
While both terms are often used as synonyms, they differ in meaning and end-state requirements. In food processing/ preparation area (QSR/hotel) sanitizer/ sanitization process is often adopted to reduce the microbial load on the surface of equipment to an acceptable safety level. This has often been validated and approved by varying concentration of chemicals and surface contact time to ensure safety.
Disinfection is widely used to kill or eradicate microbial activity on the surface. This method is widely used in the healthcare segment such as Operation Theatre Disinfection.
Therefore, one shall choose right chemical/application for the purpose of sanitization/disinfection to get desired end state of consumer satisfaction or safety.
How does the industry generally approach different types of soil cleaning and sanitization procedures?
Cleaning and sanitization do not mean pouring a chemical on an equipment or a surface scratch and wiping it around.
Cleaning and sanitization are purely science-based approaches. The nature of the nuisance has to be understood before implementing a suitable approach:
• Soil (organic/ inorganic)
• Surface (stainless steel/ plastics/ bottles and others)
A number of additional factors to be considered are:
• Right chemical
• Right concentration
• Right temperature
• Right contact time
• Right tools that must be colour- coded
• Appropriate mechanical action
• Area- chiller/ freezer/ butchery section/ drain/ food contact surface/ non-food contact surfaces and others
What is the usual mantra/ principle the industry generally uses for their core cleaning and sanitization process?
‘Clean As You Go’ (CLAYGO) is one mantra that is commonly used in the industry. Following this mantra is imperative to avoid build-up of soil/ microbes which will eventually become difficult to clean/sanitize.
How does industry handle cleaning/hygiene of produce?
Traditionally, we clean and sanitize all kinds of vegetables, pulses and grains before using them for cooking or direct consumption. Likewise in QSR and hotels, utmost care is taken to clean and sanitize fruits, vegetables, eggs and others. The right dosage and contact time of the chemical being used is important to ensure the safety of consumers. Some of the Indian/ internal cleaning chemical producers that are validated and approved by the concerned regulator on their safety level is supplied and used for the same.
How do you ensure implementation of the cleaning process in QSR and hotels?
Consistency and effective cleaning is unlikely to happen without following appropriate methods for cleaning/sanitization, schedules, training and monitoring/recording. Therefore, it is important to set the detailing/validation/training on a continuous basis to help ensure adherence to principles.
Food service delivery companies take into account various factors from aligning marketing strategies and managing menu integration to addressing logistics and ensuring data security, each element plays a vital role in the success of partnerships with hotels and restaurants. These key aspects can optimize collaborations, drive growth, and deliver satisfactory dining experiences with hospitality establishments. Whether you are a platform seeking to enhance your collaborations or a restaurant looking to leverage digital delivery services, understanding these critical factors is essential for achieving operational excellence and fostering long-term success in the competitive food service industry.
