CookUnity Policies 

Code of Operations - Overview 

The purpose of this document is to consolidate all of our conduct and behavior policies into a single location and provide as much detailed information as possible. CookUnity’s Code of Operations covers three (3) general and twenty (20) specific topic areas, including food safety, workplace conduct and ingredients and production. We ask that you and your local operational point of contact provide a signature of receipt. We strongly encourage, however, that all of your employees read and understand these policies. 

Please note, CookUnity will not accept ignorance of these policies in the event that an escalation step or further action is necessary, without exception. If at any point there you or your employees need further guidance on these policies, please reach out to your account lead. 

How the Escalation Framework works:

This system is intended to set clear expectations for you and your employees working in a CookUnity facility regarding operational and conduct policies. With this framework, we aim to remove uncertainty surrounding what may happen if a violation occurs, communicate that violation clearly, and keep official records of each violation in the event there are multiple incidents or we need to reference any information.

We’ve categorized certain policy infractions into general misconduct and gross misconduct. The misconduct infractions will follow the four (4) escalation levels. Please keep in mind that these levels apply to both individuals and the entire team in a given location. For example, one of your employees may have 2 recorded escalations, but the team may have zero.

Gross misconduct violations may not be held to the same escalation steps, depending on the severity of the violation, and may result in immediate action. If there is no clear or overwhelming evidence of a gross misconduct violation, an investigation will be conducted. We want to make clear, however, that CookUnity is not held to following these escalation steps depending on nature of the violation, and can at any time prohibit any individual from entering our premises.

If your team or your employee is found to be in violation of the Code of Operations, CookUnity will communicate that an escalation step has been taken, provide what this means and share a summary of the incident.

If at anytime you need to know the status of one of your employees, or any information about the overall status for you team regarding the escalation framework, please reach out to your Chef Success lead.

What to expect from an investigation:

If a CookUnity employee is involved in an incident, CookUnity’s People (Human Resources) team will be responsible for making the final decision on any necessary action. Otherwise, the investigation will be conducted by Chef Success. Generally speaking, an investigation will only be necessary when there is an allegation of Gross Misconduct.

Please note, if we communicate that an investigation has been initiated, we will require that the individual involved not be present in CookUnity facilities for the duration of the investigation.

CookUnity will communicate the outcome of the investigation, along with any further action that must be taken.

Role of CookUnity employees:

In most cases of Code of Operations violations, reports will be submitted by CookUnity local operations departments. These team members have an understanding of the policies and the protocols that need to be followed in the event that there is a violation. In most cases, they will report general misconduct violations and we will follow up with corrective actions that have or may need to be taken.

In extreme circumstances, however, it is up to the discretion of CookUnity supervisor level and higher to remove an individual from our facility in the event of an urgent or immediate threat, gross violation or other emergency situation. This is due to their direct responsibility for the health and safety of the facility. To be clear, CookUnity employees at the supervisor level and higher have the authority to mandate immediate removal of any individual from our facility for any reason. In these cases, a refusal or continued violation of the Code of Operations may constitute further action, up to and including the involvement of local law enforcement agencies and possible criminal charges.