Industrial catering is one of the world’s most fascinating and competitive industries. This sector comprises businesses dedicated to providing a range of culinary delights, beverages, and additional services tailored to the unique requirements of customers, often centred around special occasions & events.

One can observe a consistent expansion and innovation, involving a variety of businesses, clients, and offerings. Because of this reason, many challenges come with being in this business. What determines whether they succeed or fail is how they handle them. So, make sure you’re prepared for the hurdles before pursuing a career in this industry.

THE KEY CHALLENGES:

• Food Safety & Hygiene
• Regulatory Compliance
• Proper Food Transport
• Employee Training and Attrition
• Customer Satisfaction & Complaints

Food Safety & Hygiene:

The industrial catering industry grapples with formidable challenges in ensuring food safety and hygiene, given the large-scale operations and diverse client base it serves. Managing food safety involves meticulous control over various critical points, from sourcing ingredients to final delivery, necessitating stringent compliance with food safety regulations. The vast quantities of food prepared and the complexity of operations heighten the risk of contamination and foodborne illnesses, demanding robust systems for monitoring temperature control, sanitation, and cross-contamination prevention. Additionally, industrial caterers must navigate the difficulties of training a large workforce, often characterized by high turnover, to consistently adhere to hygiene standards. The dynamic nature of industrial catering, including remote site operations and the need for mass production, further complicates these efforts, requiring continuous vigilance and innovation in safety practices to protect public health.

Cross-Contamination: Cross-contamination can occur when raw foods that may carry foodborne pathogens come into contact with ready-to-eat foods or surfaces used for food preparation. This can happen during storage, transportation, or when handling different ingredients simultaneously.

Allergen Management: This involves accurately labelling food items with potential allergens and ensuring that cross-contact with allergenic ingredients does not occur. Failure to properly manage allergens can have serious consequences for individuals with food allergies.

Food Storage: Caterers must ensure that perishable foods are stored at the correct temperatures and that storage areas are clean and free from pests to maintain their quality & safety. Inadequate storage practices can lead to food spoilage and contamination.

Food safety incidents in India have been a matter of concern, reflecting challenges in food processing, handling, and regulation. Ensuring food safety across the vast country remains a complex task. Some of the recent such incidents are mentioned below:

1. A sandwich that a passenger on IndiGo was served contained a worm.
2. Banning the use of artificial colours in Gobi Manchurian & Cotton candy.
3. A 24-year-old Kerala man died of food poisoning after eating shawarma from a hotel.

These examples highlight the diverse range of food safety challenges faced by India. Addressing these challenges requires concerted efforts from government authorities, industry stakeholders, and consumers to strengthen food safety regulations, improve enforcement mechanisms, and promote awareness about safe food handling practices.

1. Regulatory Compliance:

Regulatory compliance in the catering industry in India is governed by FSSAI. These regulations are designed to ensure food safety, hygiene, and quality standards are met, protecting public health and consumer interests. Caterers must stay informed about these regulations and ensure compliance to avoid fines, legal issues, and damage to their reputations. By adhering to food safety standards and regulations, caterers can protect public health, minimize risks, and ensure the long-term success of their businesses.  

2. Proper Food Transport:

Proper transport of food by the catering industry is crucial for maintaining food safety, quality, and hygiene standards. Here are a few key points to consider:

1. Temperature Control: Controlling the temperature during transit is crucial to stop the growth of harmful bacteria that can lead to foodborne illnesses, which can be achieved by using refrigerated vehicles or insulated containers. The temperature for foods to be maintained at:

• 65°C and above for hot foods
• 5°C or below for cold foods
• -18°C or below for frozen foods

b. Hygiene Practices: To avoid cross-contamination and food spoilage, food delivery vehicles and containers need to be maintained clean and sanitized. Transport vehicles should have regular cleaning programs in place to preserve cleanliness and stop the accumulation of contaminants.

c. Safe Packaging: Food products should be packed and sealed tightly to avoid spills and contamination while being transported. For traceability and customer safety, packaging must be properly labelled with information about the product name and any allergens.

3. Employee Training and Attrition:

Over 200 diseases are known to be transmitted via food. Food poisoning is still a big concern for the public and the government. Improper food handling processes may be the cause of 97% of foodborne illnesses connected to food service establishments. With careful food preparation, most food-borne infections can be prevented.                                                    

It is important to teach employees about food safety and hygiene. The whole workplace culture of food safety in a labour-intensive industry like catering depends heavily on providing staff with basic training on food safety and hygiene. A way to maintain the same level of food safety is to develop a thorough training program.

4. Customer Satisfaction & Complaints:

Food safety problems harm a company’s reputation. Additionally, when consumer concerns stem from food safety risk issues, there is a public health concern; this is a societal as well as a personal matter. It can be challenging to know how to handle every situation involving an unhappy customer. Nonetheless, a positive client experience is in your future if you remain realistic and keep refining your procedures. Consider every circumstance as a chance to grow. In addition to raising the risk of losing a customer, their negative reviews could harm the company’s reputation among other customers. If their complaint is properly considered and resolved, a customer’s loyalty increases compared to that of a client who has never complained. To help businesses make the necessary adjustments to stop errors from occurring repeatedly, Root Cause Analysis is a crucial first step. It is a method or process that aids in identifying and comprehending the initial reasons for an issue. Rather than only treating the symptoms of an issue, root cause analysis aims to identify the true cause of the problem and provide a suitable solution.

Conclusion:

It’s evident that managing a catering company presents certain logistical obstacles, which must be avoided. It is, after all, inevitable that feeding a large crowd will involve some preparation and strategy. In this industry, food is only one of the factors and it is the whole experience that you provide the customers that makes you unique. Even though the catering industry is one of the toughest to be in, it will be a very exciting one to work in if you are able to handle all of these key challenges.

We, at Food Safety Works, can help the caterers find the issues related to food safety and also fix them.

Author: Sarika Agarwal is the Managing Director and Principal Consultant at Food Safety Works. She is an expert at international standards like FSSC22000, BRC, and FSMA. Over her career spanning 15+ years, she has helped clients with effective food safety management systems.