Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Brady on June 21, 2008 at 10:43am

Yes, yes, plus butter, peanut butter, and pimento cheese. Only 2 kinds of cc - regular and lowfat. Not much demand for lowfat though, and may stop since they aren't available in the pc pouch.

Yes we toast. We will also put it on for them if they insist, and are allowed to, but try hard not to. We are fully inspected, though, so YMMV. Honestly, considering that this is probably a side-item for you (unless you are a bagel shop?), you may be best off with the "spread it yourself" policy... nothing like being in the middle of a rush and having to stop making coffee to make an order of 3 bagels with cc.

Here in Union County NC our local health inspector was also really open to discussing what we should and shouldn't do. We've sought her feedback on lots of food menu, equipment, and prep questions. I think she appreciated us being proactive instead of waiting to get caught. You might ask a restaurant owner in your county that seems to be on good terms with the local inspector what yours is like and see if this is advisable.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Tisi on June 21, 2008 at 10:50am

Thanks. No, not a bagel shop... I'm working on a cafe concept similar to one I visited on vacation once and I was considering a few items that would need to be heated/toasted and can't find information on the gov websites on what is allowed. All of the food items would be fully cooked but some would require toasting. I thought if bagels are allowed to be toasted then the rest of the items would be fine also.

Thanks for the info. I'm thinking regular cc, lox, butter and some type of sweet spread (maybe honey walnut cc?), all in ppkg or those little solo cups that I'd have to pack myself (lox).

Thanks again! :-)

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Brady on June 21, 2008 at 11:03am

Woah... packing stuff yourself is a much bigger potential violation than just spreading the cc for the customer. At least here, unless you are fully inspected, a shop is only allowed to serve pre-packaged stuff and disposable bev. containers.

A neat concept, but look into this.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Tisi on June 21, 2008 at 11:09am

Oh ok. I'm sorry, what do you mean by disposable bev. containers? Like you can't serve drinks in "for here" mugs? I know we can here but unsure of what needs to be done for all of these things to happen. I have an associate that has a company that files all the permits and licenses for you as a service (for a fee of course) that I am waiting to hear from but in the meanwhile I am getting antsy, lol.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Denise Smith on June 21, 2008 at 8:58pm

You need to check with your city health inspector's office. they can tell you who to call, if there are any classes offered, where to go for state info. If you use mugs, plates... expect to have to have a triple sink set up plus separate food sink and separate hand sink. The sink requirement have been a pain for our planning. We also have an under counter (or under sink drain) warewash unit (aka dishwasher). Our consultant tried to design the kitchen without the food prep. We had to tell him that wouldn't work here. Then the plans come in and the was no dishwasher... see my other posting about Mr. D.L. of CP.
It is important to make sure that you have all the equipment required and it has the space required and the the plumbing and electrical needs have all been planned for.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Tisi on June 22, 2008 at 3:10am

Thank you all so much!

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Brady on June 22, 2008 at 5:07pm

They resent having to spread their own cream cheese? Wow. Agreed with the statement about needing to have bagels.

Yeah, not sure how GA is, but here in NC a coffee shop that serves in paper doesn't need full restaurant-style health inspection, just an annual walkthrough. Using ceramic mugs or making sandwiches are two of the things that put you in the "full inspection" category.

Even if this is the case in your area, I'd honestly not do an upfit where you didn't design in the equipment needed to get full certification. Even if you don't want it now it might come in handy in the future (and helps re-sale value).

We aren't required to have a dishwasher here, a 3-comp sink is fine. Considering how little time it takes to wash the mugs (and considering that you have to wash blenders, pitchers, etc anyway) I couldn't justify the several thousand dollars for an under-counter sanitizing warewasher.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Tisi on June 22, 2008 at 5:43pm

Yes, when I was a barista before customers would pitch hissy fits about us not toasting bagels and not spreading the cream cheese. I was told it was because we weren't allowed to by whatever licensure we had.

Thanks for the help.

P.S. - It will be in Cobb County

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Virgil Hovar on June 22, 2008 at 7:52pm

We have offered bagels since opening. We typically keep five flavors of bagels with regular and light cream cheese. The cc are individual serving and we have a toaster that the customer can use. According to our health dept if we were to toast for our customers then the toaster would have to be nsf certified which means $$$. The bagels sell pretty pretty good and people appreciate the cc option. We have never had any complaints about us not toasting or applying the cc for them. The bagels we use are more traditional and a bit dense. We have had some that comment on that and would prefer a lighter bagel.

• ▶ Reply

▶ Reply to Discussion