Dress, Deportment & Hygiene Code

Dress, Deportment & Hygiene Code

Appearance Guidelines:

  • In order to convey the attitude of professionalism required by the foodservice industry, a person’s overall appearance must be neat and clean. The following are some good general guidelines for hot dog carts in the United States:
  • Clothing must be free of stains and in good condition. Every day should be dressed in new clothes.
  • It is inappropriate to wear clothing that is frayed or worn out.
  • Shorts are permitted, but cut-offs, short shorts, and bikini bottoms are not permitted.
  • Short-sleeved shirts are permitted, but bikini tops, halter tops, and muscle shirts are not permitted.
  • If the vendor does not have his or her own company shirts or hats, the shirts or hats that are worn must not have offensive logos or messages on them. Clothing with no such logos or messages is preferred over clothing with them.
  • Males must have their beards freshly shaved.
  • Hair must be free of tangles and neatly styled.
  • The cashier’s apron must be clean and well-kept.
  • Health Code Recommendations:
  • (Healthy Hygiene with a Food Focus)
  • In the United States, poor personnel hygiene, specifically a lack of or improper hand washing, is the leading cause of food-borne disease outbreaks, accounting for more than half of all outbreaks. Moreover, it is highly preventable. When it comes to this situation, the old adage “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” holds true. A single incident of this nature could completely devastate your company.
  • For hot dog carts in the United States, the following are typical health code guidelines, which need to be followed and strictly adhered to:
  • Fingernails must be neatly clipped and thoroughly cleaned. Long hair must be tied back, pinned back, or otherwise contained in order to prevent food from becoming contaminated.
  • Don’t get your bare hands on the food or it will go bad. All food should be handled with gloves, tongs, forks, spoons, or other utensils to prevent cross contamination.
  • Following toilet use, coughing, sneezing, blowing your nose, using the phone, handling money, garbage, or handling any other unsanitary or toxic item, your hands must be thoroughly cleaned with soap and warm water.
  • Hands must be washed upon re-entering the work area (the hotdog cart), even if you have just washed them in another location, such as the bathroom, according to company policy.
  • Additionally, you must wash your hands after eating, drinking, smoking, washing dirty dishes or other equipment, handling raw meat or other food, or even before putting on gloves to handle food to avoid cross-contamination.
  • Using hot water and soap, lather your hands for 15-20 seconds, then dry them with a single-use towel (such as paper towels), a clean towel on a roller dispenser, or by blowing them dry with a hairdryer. Use a single-use hand towel rather than a multi-purpose hand towel like you would use at home.
  • The use of gloves should not be construed as a way to circumvent the need for proper hand sanitation. Gloves are also capable of picking up and spreading germs. The use of gloves when handling raw meat and then serving prepared foods is discouraged, as doing so could cause bacteria to be transferred from raw meat to prepared foods.
  • There will be no smoking or chewing of tobacco. There will be no chewing gum allowed (because it is unsanitary around food, violates health code guidelines, and conveys a casual unprofessional attitude). While serving food, refrain from eating or drinking anything. (This also violates health code guidelines and conveys a casual, unprofessional attitude.) In order to perform any of these activities, you must leave the food preparation and serving area. Remove yourself from your cart by a short distance. When you return, you must wash your hands thoroughly.
  • While in the food service area, you are permitted to drink from a closed beverage container (such as one with a lid). It must be equipped with a handle to prevent your hand from coming into contact with the area where your mouth will be, or it must include a drinking straw. It should be washed or thrown away between uses.
  • When you are sick, sneezing, have a runny nose, sore throat, diarrhoea, vomiting, dark urine, yellowing of the skin (jaundice), or have a fever, you should avoid working with or around food. If you have an infected cut or burn, pus, or boil, you should avoid handling food. Gloves should be worn over any cuts, abrasions, or burns.
  • It is necessary to wear clean clothing that does not allow cross-contamination between raw and cooked foods.

FDA Best Practices for Food Handling, in the age of COVID-19

  • Employees’ Personal Hygiene is important.
  • Instill the importance of effective hand hygiene, which includes washing hands for at least 20 seconds after using the bathroom, before eating, and after blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing, among other things.
  • Hands should always be washed with soap and water. To avoid working with unwrapped or exposed foods if soap and water are not readily available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains at least 60 percent alcohol.
  • Keep your hands away from your eyes, nose, and mouth.
  • Avoid direct contact with ready-to-eat foods with your bare hands by wearing gloves.
  • Always wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water for at least 20 seconds before preparing or eating food to ensure general food safety.
  • Toss your coughing or sneezing tissue in the trash after covering your mouth with it, and wash your hands afterward.
  • Managing the day-to-day operations of a food service establishment or a grocery store
  • Following established food safety protocols and best practices for retail food establishments as well as important COVID-19 recommendations, such as the following, should be maintained.
  • Follow these four important steps to ensure food safety: Clean, separate, cook and chill.
  • After using food contact surfaces such as dishware, utensils, food preparation surfaces, and beverage equipment, thoroughly wash, rinse, and sanitize them.
  • Frequently disinfect surfaces that are touched by employees or customers on a regular basis, such as doorknobs, equipment handles, check-out counters, and grocery cart handles, among others.
  • Cleaning and disinfecting floors, counters, and other facility access areas on a regular basis with EPA-registered disinfectants is recommended.
  • Prepare and use sanitizers according to the directions on the label.
  • When making changes to your normal food preparation procedures, service, delivery functions, or staffing arrangements, follow procedures that ensure: Cooked foods reach the proper internal temperatures prior to serving or cooling; cooked foods reach the proper internal temperatures prior to serving or cooling
  • Hot foods are rapidly cooled for later use – check the temperatures of foods being cooled in refrigerators or by rapid cooling techniques such as ice baths and cooling wands before using them later.
  • Aim to reduce the number of times food items are exposed to the danger zone (between 41°F and 135°F) while being stored, displayed, or delivered.
  • Proper training for food employees who have taken on new or altered responsibilities, as well as ensuring that they apply the training in accordance with established procedures
  • By: Discontinuing operations such as salad bars, buffets, and beverage service stations that require customers to use common utensils or dispensers, you can help them maintain good infection control and social distancing.
  • Finding ways to encourage customers to leave enough space between them while waiting in line for service or at the checkout counter in accordance with applicable State or local regulations.
  • Customers are discouraged from bringing pets into stores or waiting areas, with the exception of service animals.
  • Continue to use sanitizers and disinfectants for the purposes for which they were intended.
  • Inspect the operation of your ware-washing machines to ensure that they are operating at the proper wash and rinse temperatures and using the proper detergents and sanitizers.
  • It’s important to remember that hot water can be used to sanitize equipment and utensils in manual ware-washing machines in place of chemicals to save money.
  • If you plan to donate food to a food recovery center or a charitable organization, make sure you follow all state and local regulations. In addition, you can find additional information at the Conference for Food Protection. Disclaimer regarding external links.
  • Organizing the pick-up and delivery of food
  • Follow established food safety procedures for time and temperature control, preventing cross-contamination, cleaning hands, ensuring that no sick workers are present, and storing food, among other things.
  • Encourage employees to wash their hands frequently with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, especially after going to the bathroom, before eating, after blowing their noses, coughing or sneezing, or after touching high-touch surfaces, such as doorknobs and doorbells, to avoid spreading germs.
  • Alternatively, if soap and water are not readily available, an alcohol-based hand sanitizer containing at least 60% alcohol should be used. If your hands are visibly dirty, you should always wash them with soap and water. See the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s How to Protect Yourself and Others.
  • In order to increase the frequency of cleaning and disinfecting high-touch surfaces such as countertops and touchpads as well as surfaces inside the vehicle, wiping down surfaces with a regular household cleaning spray or wipe should be done more frequently.
  • It is important to read the label and adhere to the manufacturer’s instructions for proper use.
  • To assist in maintaining social distancing, designated pick-up zones should be established for customers.
  • When delivering food, maintain social distance by, for example, offering “no-touch” deliveries and sending text alerts or making phone calls when deliveries have been completed.
  • Implement operational changes in order to maintain social distancing if you are offering a take-out/carry-out option, such as keeping a 6-foot distance between you and other customers when it is feasible.
  • Hot foods should be kept hot and cold foods kept cold by storing them in appropriate transport containers.
  • Keep cold foods cold by ensuring that there is an adequate supply of coolant materials, such as gel packs.
  • Maintain the temperature of hot foods by ensuring that insulated containers are properly functioning.
  • To prevent cross-contamination, keep foods separated, for example, keeping raw foods separate from cooked and ready-to-eat foods.
  • Take care to ensure that any wrapping and packaging used for food transportation is done in a way that prevents contamination of the food.
  • Coolers and insulated bags used to transport food should be cleaned and sanitized on a regular basis.

WHY CHOOSE US

Experience

We bring decades of real-life hot dog hot dog slingin’ experience! We design carts that we have loved and used for years and are confident you will feel the same way.  

Quality

Each cart is assembled by our team of skilled craftspeople and thoroughly inspected before it leaves our manufacturing facility. 

 

Support

We are available 24/7 to support you in your new business venture. Our warranty / extended warranty are the best in the business and will give you the extra security you may need when making this exciting investment.