Every staff member should know exactly what to do in the event of a food safety complaint. Keep a copy your complaint procedure where servers, host staff and managers have access to it at all times. Business should also create a complaint form that allows to gather all relevant information from the client.
- While empathizing without apologizing, gather information about the customer. Get their name, contact details and information about their meal (and a receipt, if possible). Ask the customer to recall what he/she had to eat in the past 24 hours. Be sincere and genuinely concerned about their well-being when asking these questions.
- Make note of all details and give a timeline for getting back to them and tell them to go to the doctor for a diagnosis. Immediately inform supervisor.
- Notify the local public health authority
- Launch a thorough internal investigation using the information gathered, work backwards and trace it to the root problem. Was it the serving, plating, cooking, preparation or storage or any other factors?
- If you don't find anything that could have caused your guest to be sick, report back to them with full details and be prepared to answer questions about safe food handling procedures from the guest.
- If you find something, bring in the public health authority for a review of your food handling procedures if they aren't already involved.
- Review systems to ensure similar occurrences are not repeated.
It is essential to maintain records for all actions such as:
- Details of the customer, date and time of service/sale, foods consumed/served, number of people etc.
- Records of internal investigation including feedback from staff.
- Report of the investigation
- Corrective action if any issues identified.
- Information regarding dealing with Public Health Authority
- Informing customer about findings of the investigation and any further options if any.