That’s the difference between ancillary and trifling. ©
There is a bevy of ways to navigate through life. You can take the easy path that those before you have cleared free of nuisance obstacles. That is the easiest way to go, and not many people will challenge you along the way. It’s the popular path, primarily because it’s easiest. You could also chose the path less traveled. The path that’s a little bit harder and a bit more arduous. Because it takes a lot more work and a lot more effort. It’s the less popular path, because it’s harder. Some of the same principals apply to running a business, like restaurants, for example. There are many shortcuts you could take, and that would make you “ordinary”; your relegated to just another joint to grab a bite. On the other hand, you could take unordinary measures to be special; to do things spectacularly rather than ordinary. That makes you “extraordinary”. And that’s the only way to be, in our estimation. That brings us to the difference between “ancillary” and “trifling”.
Ancillary. Adj. : Auxiliary. Subordinate to one’s primary directive.
Trifling. Adj. : Irrelevant. Not capable of helping one meet critical objectives.
To the F & B professional, sweeping your floors is ancillary—it is important, but it’s not your number one objective. Florida Statute 509.039 requiring the CPFM/ServSafe certification is trifling—it’s just one of those things you have to do because some state law says you do. You would really prefer not to have to mess with the hassle, but you have to. Now we’re not saying that safe food handling practices isn’t important; it certainly is. However, the training & exam requirement is more of an administrative burden to you, to be honest.
So why do you not design, manufacture and install your own dishwasher, formulate your own detergent and fabricate your own metal prep tables? You could buy 250 acres of land and raise your own chickens before sending them to slaughter so you can replenish your supply of chicken tenders for the busy upcoming weekend. But you don’t. Why? That’s the difference between “ancillary” and “trifling”. At Serve It Up Safe!, we don’t build our computers from scratch; we leave that to Dell. We don’t design and construct new buildings to hold our classes; we leave to Marriott, Hyatt and Hilton. We don’t manufacture our own writing instruments; we leave that to the professionals like Ticonderoga (the world’s finest pencil, so they say). And we don’t cook our own chicken wings (for example) at home; we, like many American’s, eat out a lot.
Why? Because you’re a better preparer and presenter of food and entertainment that we are. The same can be said for your training requirements. Sure, you could do it yourself, but if you do, you simultaneously concede that providing outstanding customer service, serving exceptionally great fresh food, offering unique drink combinations and controlling food & labor costs is suddenly less important. But it’s not! Those are the most important things in your world (besides your children!). You’re in effect saying that standing in front of your staff for 6-hours to conduct a state required training program is very, very important, and more so than world class customer service for example. But the reality of it is that standing up in front of a classroom is trifling for you. It’s not your core competency and it’s taking time away from what really matters, like building sales and your customers, for example.
That’s why we do what we do. To us, training food safety principals and proctoring the required exam is important to us; it’s one of our primary objectives. It’s what we do best. It’s not trifling to us; its mission critical to us. When you focus on what matters most, is the end result always better? Of course it is! That’s why you do what you do, and that’s why we do what we do! You go ahead and focus on what really matters most, and leave the trifling to us!