Building customer trust through good food safety
Food safety is something most food service businesses focus on getting right. Nobody wants to risk making customers sick and harming their reputation. But what do customers think? How often do they think about it?
New Zealand Food Safety invited a group of people to lunch, served them some delicious free food, and got them to take the Trust Test.
This video can be used to support food businesses to train staff on the importance of keeping food safe and building customer trust.
Video – The Trust Test (1:50)
Transcript – show/hide
We see a white table with a single burger placed on it.
The table is set up in a photo studio with lights and a camera visible to film the action we are about to see.
A title comes onto screen which says - ‘Does trust make food taste better?
We cut to a close up of the delicious looking burger. And a second title comes onto screen, which says ‘We asked a few people to test it.
We then see a take-away box on the table surface, with a title above it, which says TASTE TEST.
As the music starts to play, we see the word TASTE swap to TRUST so that the title now reads TRUST TEST.
We hear an interviewer's voice off camera say, ‘Welcome, have a seat’ as a young man sits down to act as one of a number of Taste Testers, and he replies to the interviewer ‘Thanks’.
We see a series of other people who are participating in the test sit down and be greeted by the interviewer.
The Taste Testers are shown as individuals or in pairs, and their responses are inter-cut together in the following sequence.
The interviewer asks them ‘Are you guys hungry?’
Two female testers reply ‘Yes, very.’
The interviewer encourages them to tuck into their burgers, as he says, ‘Have a bite.’
We see each person start to eat their burgers.
The interviewer asks them if they are, ‘Enjoying it?’
Each person responds positively, ‘It’s a good burger’ one of the male testers responds.
The interviewer prompts to see how much they are enjoying their burgers, asking for ‘Points out of 10?’
A middle-aged man confidently responds, ‘Eight out of ten.’
A female tester replies positively with, ‘Seven or eight.’
The interviewer probes them further ‘Do you notice anything unusual or odd about it?’
One male Tester replies, ‘No, it tastes, tastes like a burger.’
As our testers sit at the table and listen, we hear our interviewer explain a little background and context for them.
‘Businesses go through food safety checks to ensure you’re getting the best and safest food possible. What if I were to tell you that this food is from a business that has failed their food safety check?’
We see various concerned and slightly worried reactions from each of our Taste Testers.
One girl replies, ‘So, what have you given us?’
We hear nervous laughter from another pair.
The interviewer continues ‘There are lots of reasons a business might fail their check, like serving up a burger with an undercooked pattie, or someone using their phone in the toilet and then returning to a kitchen area.’
One lady asks, ‘Can I spit my food out?’
The interviewer continues - ‘Maybe they chopped the tomato on the same board as the raw chicken.’
The interviewer prompts, ‘Do you want to have another bite?’
One by one the testers shake their heads and say, ‘No.’
The interviewer reassures them, ‘Well, don’t worry, it’s actually quite ok. It’s just a test. If they had really failed their food safety check we couldn’t, you know, serve you the food.’
The interviewer tells them, ‘You can keep eating if you want to...?’
One by one each tester declines.
One male Tester replies, ‘I think I’m pretty full.’
We cut to an orange screen and a Graphic title appears.
We hear a female voice reading aloud the text we see appear on screen:
TRUST MAKES EVERYTHING TASTE BETTER.
GOOD FOOD SAFETY IS GOOD FOR BUSINESS.
We see a picture of a booklet called The Food Safety Buddy.
The graphics then flick through like pages from the booklet, to show the different sorts of information contained within.
The voice says, ‘Download or order your free Food Safety Buddy booklet to give you and your staff a refresher of best food safety practices, so you can be sure your business is keeping up with the standards required, and your customers can trust your food is as good as it looks.’
We end on an orange screen with the title:
TRUST MAKES EVERYTHING TASTE BETTER
The word TRUST is highlighted.
And text underneath the main title, reading: Download your Food Safety Buddy today
Visit www.mpi.govt.nz/buddy to find out more
With a New Zealand Food Safety logo placed bottom right.
[end transcript]
