USE WEB TO SPREAD DATA, GEAR MAKERS URGED AT CONVENTION

ROBERT VOSBURGH

DALLAS -- With computers making their presence felt in all areas of the workplace, food-service operators urged equipment manufacturers to create Web sites that would give the operators instant access to basic information, directly from their kitchens, on such topics as training, troubleshooting, safety and operation.

Greg Waldron, executive chef of the giant Caesar's Palace casino resort in Las Vegas, said that computer terminals have been installed throughout the complex's food-preparation and staging areas.

"All of our computers are Internet-accessible," he said during a seminar at the biennial convention here of the North American Association of Food Equipment Manufacturers, Chicago. "All of our chefs and all of our support personnel who have access to it can tap into the Internet and and get this information."

The resort, which employs 480 food-service workers, serves up to 30 thousand meals on busy days. The banquet kitchen alone measures 8,300 square feet and has the capacity to turn out 4,000 complete meals. Waldron said that the constant, hectic pace makes it easy for this large, labor-intensive environment to become bogged down if questions arise as to how a particular piece of equipment should be set, or cleaned. Access to such information on a manufacturer's Web site could streamline kitchen operations, he said.

Another speaker pointed out that today's continuing labor crunch has made traditional methods of training new workers costly and ineffective. More than ever before, these back-of-the-house employees take another job somewhere else even before the training program is completed. Specific pages on a manufacturer's Web site devoted to topics like basic operation and food safety would be a great asset to management.

"[We're looking for] that one-page training sheet -- how to clean the coffee makers, how to help us do a better job," said Alita E. Rethmeyer, president of CNS/Foodsafe, Calabasas, Calif. "Now, we can go to your Web site, go to maintenance, and get the answer."

Since the majority of back-of-the-house workers are non-English speaking, multilanguage text pertaining to critical areas of proper operation, safety and troubleshooting would be especially beneficial, the pair said.

"If it's a non-English speaking person, that person is going to be your customer for life, if it's in their language, and they can read it and learn from it," Rethmeyer told fixture manufacturers in the audience.

There is plenty of information already available off the Internet from government agencies, including the complete Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point program text, she added. It includes five chapters, and a checklist for compliance.

"This is a great way for all of us to tap into this information and use it to our benefit. I think that manufacturers out there need to do a better job to get their products, and information about their products," to trade customers in a user-friendly format, said Waldron.

Rethmeyer agreed, saying that "food people have been the last people to get their information out there."