Tag Archives: Pizza

Domino’s Employees of the Month arrested: mug shot below

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Unfunnyman Dane Cook and untalented Jessica Simpson have a better chance of finding future employment in pizza preparation – actually, a ridiculously certain chance — than the two below.

Police in Conover, North Carolina say two Domino’s Pizza workers and home video enthusiasts, 31-year-old Kristy Lynn Hammonds of Taylorsville and 32-year-old Michael Anthony Setzer of Conover (right, not exactly as shown) have each charged with distributing prohibited foods.

The pair (below, exactly as shown when booked) produced some employee training videos for Domino’s Pizza that are available at GoodAsYou, including one of Michael wiping his ass with a sponge and then using it to clean a pan, and another in which Kristy says, "Did you all see that? He just blew a booger on those sandwiches.”

Does Domino’s Pizza get new media?

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Domino’s Pizza posted a youtube response last night and has moved quickly to douse the Internet-fanned yuckiness of poop in its pizza.

But when Domino’s spokesman Tim McIntyre told USA Today today the company is considering banning video cameras in stores, I wonder if they actually understand this social networking stuff – and that anyone can have a video camera on their cell phone.

The USA Today piece explains that two Domino’s employees in Conover, N.C. — fired and facing charges — posted a video on YouTube on Monday that shows one of them doing gross things to a Domino’s sub sandwich he is making, such as sticking cheese pieces up his nose and passing gas on the salami.

Although Domino’s is getting fairly high marks from social-networking and crisis-management types about its response, McIntyre told the N.Y. Times today that company executives initially decided not to respond aggressively, hoping the controversy would quiet down.

Scott Hoffman, the chief marketing officer of the social-media marketing firm Lotame, said in social media, “if you think it’s not going to spread, that’s when it gets bigger.”

That’s actually traditional media 101, but sure, dress it up with terms like new and social media.
 
By Wednesday afternoon, Domino’s had created a Twitter account, @dpzinfo, to address the comments, and it had presented its chief executive in a video on YouTube by evening (see below).

Yet more than one commentator has said the video may make things worse.

Domino’s CEO Patrick Doyle fails to look into the camera. Instead his eyes peer at 45 degrees, presumably in the direction of a script. The effect is not reassuring. What is even more unfortunate for Domino’s is that the posting of the video apology has caused even more YouTube commentary about the company, some of it extremely unflattering.

However, marketers are getting an instant lesson in the dangers of an online world where just about anyone with a video camera and a grudge can bring a company to its knees with lightning speed.

Here are key things experts say marketers can do to quickly catch and respond effectively to similar social-networking attacks:

• monitor social media;

• respond quickly;

• respond at the flashpoint (Domino’s first responded on consumer affairs blog The Consumerist, whose readers helped track down the store and employees who made the video);

• educate workers about social media;

• foster a positive culture; and,

• set clear guidelines.

We covered many of the same points in our Food Technology paper about food safety blogging that appeared earlier this year.

Domino’s YouTube pizza ‘prank:’ arrest warrants issued

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Arrest warrants have been issued for Kristy and Michael, the two former Domino’s employees who had their 15-minutes of Internet fame yesterday.

The videos are available at GoodAsYou, including one of Michael wiping his ass with a sponge and then using it to clean a pan, and another in which Kristy says, "Did you all see that? He just blew a booger on those sandwiches.”

The Charlotte Observer reports that Catawba County health inspection records show the Domino’s in Conover, on 10th Street N.W., has a very good sanitation rating — 96.5. In fact, its last four inspections have produced scores ranging from 95.5 to 97.5.

Domino’s officials and Catawba County health department inspectors took nothing to chance late Tuesday, sanitizing all equipment in the restaurant and throwing away all opened food items.

NewsChannel 36, the Observer’s news partner, said Kristy sent an email to Domino’s officials, saying it was a prank and that she and Michael never would prepare food that way — in contrast to what they said on the video.

Domino’s officials responded to the video Tuesday, sending out a news release that said, “We are appalled by the actions of these individuals and they do not represent the 125,000 hard-working men and women of Domino’s Pizza across the country and in 60 countries around the world.”
 

Domino’s food prep disaster

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Kristy and Michael used to work at Domino’s Pizza in North Carolina. Then they decided to upload their, uh, creative approach to food preparation to youtube.

The videos were later taken off of youtube, but GoodAsYou managed to snag all of them including one of Michael wiping his ass with a sponge and then using it to clean a pan.All the videos are there. Essential tools for future food service training.

Tim McIntyre, vp communications, Domino’s Pizza, LLC, wrote to GoodAsYou to say,

“Thank you for bringing these to our attention. I don’t have the words to say how repulsed I am by this – other than to say that these two individuals do not represent that 125,000 people in 60 countries who work hard every day to make good food and provide great customer service. I’ve turned this over to our security department. We will find them. There are far too many clues that will allow us to determine their location quite easily.”
 

Sydney Pizza Hut fails third cockroach inspection by the Australian name-and-shame squad

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Think a few small bugs won’t hurt you?  Think again. Cockroaches are one of the most commonly noted pest insects.  They can cause chaos in the food safety standards of a restaurant because they transport harmful microbes on their body surfaces and through their droppings.  Cockroaches are also found to be a common allergen for humans.

Last week, after two previous warnings about cockroaches in the kitchen, food safety inspectors returned to a Sydney, Australia Pizza Hut only to discover a cockroach in the food preparation area of the kitchen.

The store was issued with a $650 fine for not taking steps to eradicate the pests, and a second fine for not having warm running water in the kitchen for staff to wash their hands…The Pizza Hut was one of 22 premises the Food Authority fined in its blitz in recent days, in which it issued a total of 27 fines.
They will join more than 175 outlets on the authority’s website, launched last year to "name and shame" businesses that do not comply with NSW hygiene laws.

The best way to deal with cockroaches is to prevent them before they become present.   Keep kitchen surfaces clean and store food off the ground.  However, if a restaurant already suffers from cockroaches, the problem should be eliminated and the reason behind the infestation should also be addressed.  There are various chemicals and traps available for cockroaches, some more traditional than others.

For more information about cockroach infestations, visit: http://www.cdc.gov/nasd/docs/d001201-d001300/d001251/d001251.html
You can also view an FSN infosheet about cockroaches at http://bp3.blogger.com/_Pzk3AzZPULs/R1cP6_KHaiI/AAAAAAAAAFA/MwcjU8l0_y0/s1600-h/iFSN-infosheet-12-5-07.jpg

Hepatitis A concerns at Detroit Papa Romano’s

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Did you eat any uncooked items at the Farmington Hills Papa Romano’s between May 17 and May 23, 2008? If so, you may want to contact your doctor after a restaurant employee was diagnosed with hepatitis A.

Hopefully the employee practiced excellent handwashing so the hepatitis A virus, found in the employee’s poop, didn’t make its way to a salad or roll.

Dude wash your damn hands. And don’t eat poop.

New York pizza worker has typhoid fever

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The Nassau County Department of Health and Mama Sbarro’s pizzeria, 265 Broadway in Hicksville, N.Y., said Saturday that a kitchen worker at the restaurant had contracted typhoid fever, putting more than 100 customers who ate at the restaurant on March 14-16 at "low" risk (photo by Newsday).

The department emphasized that Mama Sbarro’s had passed two inspections since Friday evening, when the county was informed of the kitchen worker’s condition. The restaurant, which did not know the employee had typhoid fever until Saturday, had no major health violations in the last two years and would remain open, authorities said, because it was safe to eat there.

Authorities noted the disease may have been passed to the kitchen worker from relatives visiting from overseas, though they would not say from what country or when the relatives visited.

Typhoid fever is an acute illness associated with fever caused by Salmonella typhi. Medicinenet.com reports that less than 500 cases are reported annually in the United States, mostly in people who recently have traveled to endemic areas.

Like hepatitis A, typhoid fever passes through the bowel and can remain on hands after inadequate handwashing, potentially contaminating foods like salads, or pizza.

Don’t eat poop.

Cooking the poop out of pepperoni pizza

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Bakery and Snacks reported this morning that in November, General Mills recalled over 400,000 products, after fearing that the E. coli O157:H7 strain found its way into pepperoni meat used on Totino and Jeno pizzas.

General Mills said nine of 21 people in 10 states reported having eaten Totino’s or Jeno’s pizza with pepperoni topping at some point before becoming ill, although all recovered from the illness later on.
The recall hit the Pillsbury USA ranges particularly hard, as net sales for the division fell two per cent.

The International Food Safety Network has started to load videos on  YouTube, as a prelude to the on-line cooking show planned for next year, Live … From the Safe Food Café.

The first, entitled E. coli O157:H7 and Pizza, covers the recent E. coli O157:H7 outbreak and subsequent recall of Totinos and Jeno’s frozen pizzas. More videos will be uploaded soon, so keep an eye out, or subscribe to our YourTube profile “SafeFoodCafe.”

Maybe it was the customers’ fault

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Calgary, which has a long history of blaming consumers for foodborne illness, decided to flex some muscle and actually penalize a couple of shady restaurateurs.

A Pizza Hut restaurant that remained open after being told to close to correct deficiencies under the Public Health Act has been fined $11,500.

Provincial court Assistant Chief Judge Bob Wilkins said in sentencing Alberta Restaurants Inc., which operated the Pizza Hut location in the northeast community of Coventry Hills, the numerous violations over a one-year period were overshadowed by failing to obey the inspector’s order.

"The most aggravating is the blatant disregard for the closure order. Although corrected quickly, the reality is they thumbed their noses and went ahead in face of the closure order."

Additionally, the husband and wife owners of a southeast meat market were fined $20,700 for breaching numerous orders under the Public Health Act relating to unsafe food and filthy conditions.

Judge Wilkins was quoted as saying,

"There was repeated contravention of the act, with 34 inspections in which opportunity was given to rectify the problems. They virtually ignored them. What was done here was strictly for economic gain."

Offences included meat scraps being left uncovered, meat and chicken waste left in a back of the property, open product lying on the floor in a walk-in freezer, mice droppings lying around and magpies carrying away meat left outside.