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Food safety administrators host free sessions for takeaways operating during Covid-19 crisis

Navitas Safety to offer expert advice on how to operate safely as a takeaway due to an increase in uptake among businesses seeking a means to survive the UK’s second lockdown.

Takeaway services are nothing new. In fact, there are over 25,000 independent outlets across the UK, and we can only expect that number to have grown in recent months due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Daniel Reid, Head of Marketing at Navitas Safety, administrators of food safety management, compliance and training, explains how this recent boom is amongst businesses who have been frantically searching for alternative revenue streams during the pandemic.

“During both lockdowns, takeaway services have been the backbone for the hospitality sector. And despite a slight easing of restrictions over the summer and a government scheme to help businesses, a takeout option has proven the safest bet for restaurants looking to maintain a steady income, claw back some lost revenue and survive the pandemic.

“Takeaways are here to stay. The model makes sense not only from a business perspective, but a customer-facing one, too, as we can expect consumer sentiments to remain heightened for the foreseeable future, regardless of any re-easing of measures.

“Eating at home has proven to be the safest bet, but only if takeout providers are aware of and adhere to their responsibilities to keep their customers protected. And that’s where we want to help.”

Navitas Safety are to deliver two webinars in the coming weeks, the first on Thursday 12th November 2020, 10am and the second on Thursday 19th November 2020, 10am.

The contents of the sessions titled “How to operate safely as a takeaway”, have been designed and developed by environmental health and safety officers at the organisation. Each webinar will last 40 minutes, provide advice and tools for setting up and delivering a safe takeaway service, and end with an interactive Q&A session.

Virtual attendees will also receive an operating guidance checklist following the webinar. Attendance is free of charge for takeaway personnel, whether they are new to the field or have an established service.

Daniel explains why the sessions will be beneficial for both: “For businesses who are new to a takeaway offering and have hurriedly put the infrastructure in place during the pandemic, it could be that they have overlooked some important measures and regulations.

“Takeaways are bound by different rules and requirements than restaurants so while they might be compliant on-site, when food leaves the facility and is delivered to a customer, they may become liable to a food safety accident. The session will explain the differences, and offer advice on things such as delivery radius, allergen information provision and labelling and disinfectant measures.

“For established takeouts however, the pandemic has created additional requirements on top of those they have already been adhering to. For these businesses, we’ll discuss what these are and how they can be navigated without becoming a burden to the business, while also ensuring customers remain protected.”