Any irregularities in approved brand items that detract from the quality of the product are to be reported to the Support Office.

• Follow the process listed on the PFG Credit Process page to report product quality issues to the Fazoli’s Quality Assurance Department.

• Any situation involving “foreign materials” (i.e., glass, wire, metal) should immediately be phoned in to the Quality Assurance department at Fazoli’s Support Office. A QA representative will request that you send the foreign material to them and will inform the restaurant of product disposition.

Company restaurants are required to email a scanned copy of all Health Department reports to Teresa Broaddus, Sr. Director of QA (teresa.broaddus@fazolis.com), copying their  Area Supervisor and Regional Director of Operations.

Instructions for scanning and attachments to an email can be found here. 

Clicking here will open an email box to submit your report. 

Each Fazoli’s restaurant should expect inspections from the health department at any time. If restaurants are using Fazoli’s systems, they will always be prepared.

Follow the Guidelines for a Health Department Inspection to promote a good relationship between the restaurant and the health inspector. The guidelines also provide instructions for reporting issues to the restaurant supervisor.

The Health Department Protocol is available for Area Supervisors, Franchise Business Consultants, and Key Operators. This document provides details for working with the health department to promote a safe, clean environment at Fazoli’s. It focuses on building good relationships between the management team and the inspector.

Guidelines for a Health Department Inspection

• Ask for identification. What is the purpose of the visit? It could be a routine inspection, a Guest complaint or a follow-up visit.

• Cooperate. Accompany the inspector throughout the visit and answer questions that he or she may have. Take notes of any issues that are pointed out and immediately correct any deficiencies that may be corrected on the spot. Use the experience to learn about the inspection process.

• Keep the relationship professional. A member of the management team must accompany the inspector regardless of the time of day the inspector is in the restaurant. Do not offer the inspector drink or food items  before, during, or after the inspection. This could be viewed as bribery.

• Discuss violations and time frames for corrective actions with the inspector. Make sure you understand why a violation is a public hazard and how it can lead to making someone sick. Is a follow-up visit necessary? If so, when is it scheduled?

• Do not be confrontational and do not make excuses. Learn from your mistakes. If you have a question, now is the perfect time to ask.

• Communicate inspection results to all members of the management team.

• Post a copy of the inspection in the back of the restaurant.

• Discuss with your managers the importance of maintaining good relationships with their local inspectors. This discussion should include all managers to ensure that each one knows the proper way to handle inspections. The GM is often not the person on duty when an inspector arrives. Review the Health Department Best Practices with the management team. Reinforce to your management team that it is important to have a non-confrontational attitude when dealing with the health department. Fazoli’s, along with the health inspectors, wants to ensure the safety of our products for all of our Guests. It is a joint effort.

• Update new managers on the history of the restaurant. They should review the previous health inspection reports to avoid any repeat violations. This is one of the first things that new management should check.  You and your managers should determine the current status of the restaurant and if there are issues. Immediately take action to improve the relationship and correct the issues with the health department.

• Supervisors should review the health inspections for the past 12–18 months at each of your restaurants. If you notice trends in repeat violations, go back further to determine how long the issues have existed. Immediately work with the management team at the location to develop and execute a corrective action plan. Notify the QA department for assistance.

  • Note:  Health inspection reports are available at the local health department. Anyone can go to the office and request these. Many counties are posting the inspection reports on the Internet for easy review.

• Discuss all violations with the management team and watch for trends in your area. Use violations for discussion topics during area management meetings. This may help prevent recurrences and reinforce our procedures.

• Post the inspection reports on the bulletin board in the restaurant. Area Supervisors should review this copy while at the restaurant to ensure that they are not repeating any violations. Critical violations must be fixed on the spot. However, non-critical violations should not be overlooked and should be corrected soon after the critical ones.

Pasta is classified as a Potentially Hazardous Food. Therefore, the following steps must be taken to prevent time and temperature abuse, which could cause a foodborne-illness. Effective immediately, all pasta must be held on ice on the steam line for no longer than a total of 4 hours. This 4-hour hold time is critical to maintaining food safety. Please make sure that all Associates adhere to the following steps:

1.  Clean, food-safe, plastic gloves must be worn when handling cooked pasta. Hands must be washed when changing gloves.

2.  All pasta must be cooked for the recommended times and chilled to 41°F or below before placing in the walk-in cooler. Chilling should take no more than 5 minutes.

3.  Remove only the amount of pasta from the walk-in cooler that can be used within 4 hours. Transfer to a smaller clean, sanitized container, if necessary.

4.  Place the pasta on ice on the steam line.

5.  Using a day dot, mark each pasta container with a 4-hour expiration time.  

Note: Each container of pasta must have a hold time that is clearly visible and indicates the time the product must be discarded. The expiration times must be present and visible on each container of pasta to avoid Health Department violations.

6.  Do not add pasta to a container in use. Instead, replace with a clean, sanitized container and fresh pasta from walk-in cooler.

7.  Discard any product remaining at the end of 4 hours.

8.  When reheating pasta in the Pasta Magic ensure it is reheated to 165°F.