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OBSERVATIONS ON CATERING ESTABLISHMENTS
The caterers in the City are an industrious community — in fact they have to be in order tp
survive — and many of the small proprietors consistently work a twelve-hour day. In spite of
any criticism that may be made it should be realised that they are providing an essential service
to the City workers, often for a very small reward.
At the present time the City caterer is overwhelmed by three apparently insuperable problems:
namely, staff shortages, continually rising costs, particularly of maintenance, and the
resistance of City workers to increasing their expenditure on midday refreshments.
Not only is there a continuing staff shortage but the quality of the staff available has deteriorated
both in skill and reliability. It is not uncommon for a catering worker to fail to report
for duty for no apparent reason, but the caterer would be out of business very quickly if he failed
to get the food to his customers on time. The ultimate sanction of dismissal is of little avail
because to-day a worker can always find another job speedily, probably the same day without
any difficulty.
It is fair to say that there are few City caterers who do not struggle, maybe at times ineffectively,
to conduct their business in a proper manner and to maintain their premises in a
clean and hygienic condition, and there are fewer still who resist the criticisms that are made
in the course of routine inspection of their establishments. It is invariably found that the individual
City caterer is receptive to constructive suggestions and criticisms, and there is certainly
no resentment of the regular demands that are made on them to maintain and improve their
premi ses.
However, whilst one is fully aware of the difficulties which have to be overcome every day
to continue to run an essential service to the community, it is disappointing in some cases to
find that a caterer does not seem to be concious of shortcomings and deficiences until they are
actually pointed out to him.
There are within the City approximately one thousand catering units of every conceivable
type and size, varying from the small snack bar with accommodation for about twenty-five customers
to the large restaurant and staff canteen serving, perhaps, over one thousand meals each
day, and whilst there is the equivalent of four public health inspectors involved almost full
time on this work, it is never possible to visit each premises as often as one would wish, notwithstanding
the fact that 873 routine general inspections were carried out during the course of
the year under review and a further 2,795 re-inspections and miscellaneous inspections were
made.
The policy of the Department has always been to educate and persuade, even if this often
becomes a time-absorbing operation. As the result of the pursuance of this policy legal proceedings
were instituted in two cases only. Both prosecutions were successful and fines and
costs totalling £408 were imposed. During the year, in addition to innumerable verbal representations,
301 written intimations were sent to City caterers, drawing their attention to a multiplicity
of contraventions of the Food Hygiene Regulations. Doubtless this sustained activity has contributed
to the substantial improvements which have continued to be made in kitchens and other
working areas, both structurally and in the day to day cleaning and maintenance. However, in
spite of all the efforts of the caterers and the Public Health Inspectors engaged in this work it
would be unrealistic to pretend that there is any general satisfaction on the standard of hygiene
in catering premises at the present time and it would seem that it is impossible to improve
standards further until the problem of staff shortages has been overcome.
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