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This is Chris Redgrave for Zions Bank Speaking on Business.
You don't have to be told that the restaurant business in the United States is a huge industry — the numbers speak for themselves. With around 970,000 locations, restaurants are serving 13 million Americans per day ..... about 5 percent of the United States population .... They also employ close to 13 million people, or 10 percent of the national workforce — and this all works to add some $632 billion to the national economy... according to the National Restaurant Industry....
With such a large economic engine, of course food safety is also a top concern. That's why State Food Safety dot com was launched in 2007 in Utah ...
What State Food Safety dot com does is provide online food safety training to the restaurant industry nationwide.... They partner with environmental health departments to get their training approved and customized for that particular market so participants can receive their food handler's licensing and permits..... Being awarded competitive bid contracts for large health departments has strengthened their position nationwide. In Utah they've been providing online food handler training since 2007 and are now approved statewide under new legislation.
State Food Safety dot com offers training for food handlers, food managers and alcohol servers... In five states, there are statewide requirements, while other states have county, city or regional requirements... That's why Bryan Chapman, vice president of operations at State Food Safety dot com, says they make sure the training is regulatory approved for the specific market it's in, a challenging task in a very fragmented industry.
Their model makes sense because online learning is convenient and works for people with a wide range of learning styles and abilities. Not to mention, it's growing across the nation with around 6.7 million students taking at least one online course.
State Food Safety dot com has been serving a quarter of a million people every year nationwide; yet, when they started, they were happy to do 10 to 12 people a day .... A lot has changed in just six short years.
For Zions Bank, I'm Chris Redgrave, speaking on business.
StateFoodSafety.com
