The exposure of restaurants by employee-made videos and pics is the latest way to make your job more interesting. The Golden Corral, for instance, was the subject of a video an employee made; the video depicts the situation which is said to have been ongoing: when the health inspectors come to inspect the food, some of it is stored (hidden) outside surrounded by flies next to a dumpster.
The employee Brandon Huber made this video at Port Orange, Fla.’s Golden Corral, and it features raw hamburger patties with flies dancing over them, raw baby back ribs and bacon slices, a smorgasbord of raw uncooked foods exposed to the open air for insects to inspect and nibble.
“I’m an employee here, been working here for a long time, and I don’t feel that this is right,” narrates Huber. “I meant, look at it, what do you think?”
Leaving raw meat at room temperature accelerates spoiling, and the food was clearly improperly handled. What does the Golden Corral have to say for itself?
Eric Holm, the owner of the restaurant, posted a statement online in response:
“A video was recently posted showing an incident of improper food handling at our Port Orange, Fla., location. None of these items were served to a single customer. All were destroyed within the hour at the direction of management. Brandon Huber, the employee who made the video, participated in the disposal of the food.
The following day, the father of the employee, allegedly posted an offer to sell the video for $5,000, which was not accepted.
The manager involved in the improper storage was terminated for failing to follow approved food handling procedures.”
The statement is peculiar in that it implies that though the food was improperly stored, that it was a one time thing that once detected cost the manager in charge his job, and also that the food was destroyed.
“Apparently what my company likes to do to get ready for inspections, is put their food by the dumpsters,” Huber had said, suggesting it was a regular practice.
Holm suggested the employee knew the food had been properly destroyed, but had tried to sell the video anyway. So what was it, an ongoing process that Huber finally reported, or was it a one time thing that was nipped in the bud?
Whatever the case, the employee who filmed the video was not canned, but the manager who ordered the food to be moved was.