Safety First—AND Second

At SSP America, we like to say ‘safety first—AND second.’ That’s why we celebrate team members as they go through training like the Preventive Controls Qualified Individual Training for Human Food.

The Current Good Manufacturing Practice, Hazard Analysis, and Risk-Based Preventive Controls for Human Food regulation is intended to ensure safe manufacturing, processing, packing, and holding of food products for human consumption. This course developed by FSPCA is the standardized curriculum recognized by FDA; successfully completing this course is one way to meet the requirements for ‘Preventive Controls Qualified Individual’ (PCQI).

As of December 2023, the total number of PCQI SSP American team members has reached 61 throughout SEA, JFK, BOS, LGA, MCO, TPA, PIE, PHX, YYZ, YOW, YTZ, YEG, YUL, YVR, YLW, YWG, SAN, SFO, SVC, SJC, OAK, STS, SFO, and our Culinary Department!

We’re continuously creating new airport restaurant jobs and work opportunities and being a PCQI is one way to stand out as an employee!

Our dedication to safety goes even further than PCQI training. Because SSP America operates a growing number of restaurants in a growing number of airports in an ever-evolving air travel industry, fulfilling our commitment to and ensuring the safety of our team members and our guests is an exhaustive ongoing initiative. We are committed to creating a culture where safety is integrated into every aspect of our day-to-day behavior. Our Safety Thought Leaders are analyzing empirical and theoretical behaviors to eradicate hazards and proactively minimize risk so that safety is ensured to the Nth degree.  

Identifying the appropriate behaviors, turning them into best practices, and implementing them requires collaboration between our safety team and all members of our operations teams—who commonly share the belief that safety contributes to a higher level of operational excellence. When our chefs are designing new menus, when our mixologists are considering fitting cocktails for a season, and whenever a dish leaves the kitchen or a drink leaves the bar, everyone involved must understand the root causes that endanger the safety of our guests. And our team members must know why they continue to adhere to best practices in the continuous upkeep of our restaurants: to protect our greatest asset—our people. 

Additionally, SSP America is dedicated to ensuring our ingredients are of the highest quality. We adhere to a strengthened Supplier Code of Conduct, covering human rights, product quality, food safety, environmental sustainability, farm animal welfare, and business integrity. By the end of 2023, 100% of our contracted suppliers for North America had signed on to the Code. 

All this is how we keep safety first (and second) in mind!