There are several restaurant industry standard safeguards that have been set in place to prevent customers or employees from being injured by hot coffee or tea. The problem is most places don’t bother to follow these safeguards anymore.
It’s a fact that more people nowadays are placing their orders for hot coffee and/or tea in restaurant drive-thru lanes – and that demographic continues to rise – but unfortunately, there is also less training in restaurant industry standards than in previous years. That has the potential to create a horrific combination of pain, suffering and staggering medical bills for many people who just needed their daily caffeinated pick-me-up on their way from here to there.
It doesn’t have to be this way, and it shouldn’t continue to be this way. Restaurants need to take the safeguards that are already in place much more seriously to prevent scald injuries from occurring to customers as well as employees. In order to do that, the restaurant industry must train its employees much more effectively on the safeguards that have been put in place when serving hot beverages and they must see to it that each employee actually adheres to those safeguards without error.
These are some of the industry standards to help mitigate hot coffee and tea spills that every employee should be trained to consistently do properly – not only to avoid injuries made to restaurant patrons and other employees, but also to avoid lawsuits being filed against the restaurant.
Some of these standards are:
- Proper Storage of Cups and Lids: Cups and lids are the heroes we didn’t know we needed when it comes to protecting against hot coffee spills. But they can’t do their job if they are not used or stored properly. If cups are stacked upside down, or lids are stacked in a pile, the lip of the cup or lid can bend or become chipped – resulting in the disruption of the suction responsible for keeping the lid securely on the cup. Cups should be stored in cup channels that have a limit to the number of cups that may be stored to prevent damage. There is also a metal storage container specifically designed for lids that protects them from damage. Employees should always check a hot beverage cup and lid for damage prior to pouring hot liquid into the cup and sealing the lid.
- Make Sure the Cup Rim is Clean and Dry with No Defects: Contaminants on your cup will also compromise the integrity of the cup and lid. If the rim of the cup gets wet, the lid cannot fasten securely and there will be an air gap. Employees should use a dry cloth or their finger to check the rim to make sure extra liquid is not present.
- Keep Your Eyes on the Fill Line: There is a clearly defined line on the inside of every hot beverage cup that signifies the cup’s fill line. The fill line is of vital importance for the proper sealing of the cup. Hot beverage cups are designed so that if the cup and lid are on properly, and secured correctly, you could place the drink on its side and the only liquid that would escape would be through the sip hole. These cups are designed so that a vacuum seal is created between the liquid and the properly affixed lid – but this only works correctly when the liquid is at the fill line and when the lid is sealed on the cup properly. If the contents are filled even a quarter inch higher than that fill line, the cup then becomes too full, preventing its contents from moving around freely, and ultimately leading to the lid being knocked, or ‘popped’ off. If the contents are filled a quarter inch below the fill line, the suction becomes compromised, and the lid cannot securely stay in place.
- Understand What Sloshing Is: What the fill line essentially creates is the perfect space to account for the drink sloshing. Much like the ocean moving back and forth, the liquid within the cup is going to do the same when moving from point A to point B based on the motion of its carrier. Filling it too full will inevitably cause a problem of spillage, but so will filling it too low, which will allow for more sloshing and less suction on the lid. But even more important is that the employee passing the cup understands that just because the lid is on does not mean he/she does not need to keep the cup level and steady to prevent excessive sloshing.
- Go the extra mile – Adding Cream and Sugar for Customers: While some people drink their coffee black, the majority of coffee drinkers that are drinking regular coffee – not variations such as mocha lattes or caramel macchiatos – drink it with sugar, creamer or a combination of both. So, when the drive-thru employee hands you your steaming hot coffee with a secure lid – and you want to add sugar and creamer – what do you have to do in order to do that? You have to take the lid off. In doing so, the chances of there being a spill and possible injury get exponentially higher. While some restaurants now ask what customers would like in their coffee and then add it before ever sealing the lid, it is not common practice. But it should be. Inevitably, some customers will insist on doing it themselves – in which case, the liability falls back on them.
- Placement of the Cup Seam with the Sip Hole: Most places don’t use Styrofoam cups for hot drinks anymore, they use paper. Most newer cups have a seam on the cup. This matters. You must never put the sip hole of the lid directly over the seam on the cup or the lid will not seal properly.
- Take the Time to Secure the Lid: There are other safety measures employees should adhere to before the cup ever leaves the window. They should use two hands to put the lid on the cup, sealing the rim of the lid with their thumb. They need to listen for the click and feel the click between the two to know that the seal and lid are properly connected, and they should always double-check to make sure the lid is secure. The lid works a lot like a zip lock bag or a railroad track. The rim of the cup is like the wheels of the train car and the groove of the lid is like the groove of the track. Both need to lock together firmly and it doesn’t take all that much to interrupt that seal and derail that piping hot beverage. Just by ensuring the security of the lid the customer will be much safer.
- Don’t Hand Off Hot Coffee from the Bottom: There is a proper way for employees to hand customers hot drinks through the drive-thru window that will lower the chances of spills, but most of the time it just doesn’t happen. The industry standard is for employees to hold the cup with one hand, gripping it near the top, and use the other hand to cover the lid, thereby forcing the customer to safely grab the cup at the bottom. But often, the employee – being pressed for time – will hold the cup at the bottom, or even hold it with one hand by the lid, compromising the seal of the lid. This may make it easier and faster for the employee, but it forces the customer to grab the cup near the lid, or right below the compromised lid rather than safely from the bottom. Instead, employees are to hold the cup with two hands – one on the top of the lid to keep the cup steady and the other holding the weight of the cup in the middle so the customer can safely grab the bottom for maximum control. This protocol alone – if performed correctly – could cause far fewer spills, in turn resulting in fewer injuries and lawsuits.
- Verbal Warning When Handing Coffee to a Customer: Employees should take the time when passing the coffee to verbally warn the customer that the hot coffee is in fact hot and for them to be careful, holding the coffee correctly and making sure the customer still has a place to grab the cup where it is not too hot to hold. If using a drink carrier, this is particularly important as the customer needs to understand the importance of keeping the carrier balanced. Employees should also make sure that the customer is in control of the beverage before letting go themselves.
- Extra Steps to Consider that Apply to Hot Tea: Hot tea has the same industry standard as hot coffee except that it has a few extra details:
- Place the teabag in the cup before the hot water. When making a cup of hot tea, an employee should always put the tea bag in the cup first and then add hot water. If they add the tea bag after water is already in the cup, the tea bag will float, and this can make the lid pop off.
- Thread the string of the tea bag through the sip hole so that the lid remains secure. Tea needs to be steeped. If an employee puts the string of the tea bag between the lip of the cup and the lid, there will be an air gap, causing the lid not to fit securely. This would be equivalent to a contaminant being on the lip between the cup and the lid, just like an obtrusion being on the railroad track that can de-rail the train.
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