ServSafe

What ServSafe is

ServSafe is the National Restaurant Association's training and certification program for food service. The site's title calls it "Food Handler, Manager and Responsible Alcohol Training," and every page carries the copyright of the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation. The Food Handler page puts it plainly: "ServSafe is administered by the National Restaurant Association. We understand the importance of our program in teaching responsible food service measures."

It serves three readers at once. A learner takes a ServSafe course and exam to earn a certificate. An employer or training lead assigns courses to staff and sees their results. And an instructor or proctor, often an experienced industry trainer, registers with ServSafe to teach its material and run its exams. The account menu reflects this: you can "Earn My Certificate," "View / Print Certificates," "Validate a Certificate," "Check My Scores" and go to a personal dashboard.

The programs

The product menu lists five programs and a catch-all for the rest:

• ServSafe Manager
• ServSafe Food Handler
• ServSafe Alcohol
• ServSafe Allergens
• ServSafe Workplace, which the site describes in terms of sexual harassment prevention and safe restaurant work and employment
• Other Products

The Food Handler program is the one the pages describe in detail. On eligibility the FAQ says: "The ServSafe Food Handler Course and Assessment do not have an official prerequisite. It may be completed by any individual seeking knowledge of basic safe food handling procedures." On regulation, ServSafe says it stays "on top of the various and changing regulatory requirements for every state" and ensures the program "will meet any food handler training need." The site's quick links include a Regulatory Requirements section for checking what a given jurisdiction asks of food handlers.

ServSafe Workplace also runs a free live webinar. Its page describes "a free 60-minute, live hosted webinar on sexual harassment prevention for both restaurant and hospitality employees," with a registration page for each session (the June session has its own).

Online or in a classroom

Each program can be taken in more than one way, and the exam rules differ by format. For Food Handler, the FAQ explains: "The ServSafe Food Handler online assessment does not require a proctor, so you can take that exam by yourself. For the classroom/print version food handler assessment an instructor must administer the assessment." A "Find a Class" locator on the site lists instructors and proctors for learners who want a class or a paper exam. The video tutorials cover both routes: how to schedule an online exam, how to schedule a print exam, how to take an online course, and how to track online exam access codes.

Certificates are earned, viewed and printed through the learner's own account, and anyone can check a certificate through the site's validation tool. ServSafe has moved some programs to electronic certificates; the instructor FAQ points to "a handy guide that shows which programs offer eCertificates and which still issue printed certificates."

Assigning courses to staff

Employers and trainers buy online courses and hand them out. The instructor FAQ says: "You must first purchase the online course in order to assign it." Assignment works three ways: by email address, by ServSafe user ID, or by "creating and giving a student a course key." The steps run through Course Activities in Course Management, where you pick the course and open the Assign Courses tab under Management Options. The site's quick links also include an Administrators area and a "Manage My Restaurant" section for operators.

Certificates belong to the learner. Asked whether an instructor who assigned a course can print the student's certificate, the FAQ answers: "No, certificates are only available for printing by the person who took the examination. You will need to ask the examinee to provide you a copy of the certificate." Proctors who ran an exam session are the exception: they "now have the ability to print an individual certificate or all of the certificates from an exam session," through View Student Scores and the exam session number. ServSafe no longer mails certificates to instructors and proctors.

Instructors and proctors

A large part of the site is for the people who deliver ServSafe. The Instructors/Proctors page says "Our instructors and proctors are experienced professionals from all segments of the foodservice industry." It names four roles you can register for or renew: Certified ServSafe Instructor, Registered ServSafe Proctor, Approved ServSafe Alcohol Instructor, and Registered ServSafe Alcohol Online Proctor.

What they get:

• Course Activities: "Teach ServSafe training materials and administer print and online exams as a Certified ServSafe Instructor and Proctor."
• Exam Activities: "Schedule exam sessions, view student exam scores, check exam session statuses and more!"
• Market Services: tools that ServSafe food and alcohol instructors and proctors use to promote their services to the public.
• Resources and support materials: the National Restaurant Association "offers these supplemental materials to help you teach and administer your ServSafe Food Safety and ServSafe Alcohol courses and examinations," with "support from the National Restaurant Association and food and alcohol safety professionals."

Food Handler instructors register separately, even if they already teach the Manager program. The FAQ says the process "is entirely online," that "There is no Proctor status requirement for this program," and that it ends with agreeing to the FH Instructor Performance Agreement, after which "you will immediately be a Registered ServSafe Food Handler Instructor and ready to print and administer exams."

Support and complaints

Self-help comes through video tutorials on resetting a password, buying ServSafe products, scheduling online and print exams, taking an online course, viewing results as an examinee, and viewing results and printing certificates as a proctor. The footer links to Contact Customer Care and Contact Sales, a Getting Started Guide and a Technical Requirements page. Complaints about Food Handler Certificate Program policies go in writing to Examsecurity@restaurant.com under the title "Program Complaint"; ServSafe says it will confirm receipt, review the complaint and send "a final decision letter."

Who it suits

ServSafe suits food service workers who need a food handler, manager, alcohol or allergen certificate and want the version run by the National Restaurant Association. The online Food Handler exam needs no proctor, so a learner can finish on their own schedule. Restaurant operators can buy courses in bulk, assign them by email, user ID or course key, and follow scores, while trainers can build a business teaching and proctoring ServSafe exams with the association's materials and promotional tools. Hospitality teams can use the free Workplace webinar for sexual harassment prevention training.

The pages publish no prices. Check the Regulatory Requirements section for which certificate your state or employer accepts before buying.