My complaint was filed with the Santa Clara County Public Health Department and recommends avoiding DoorDash orders fulfilled through this location.
"When, as here, on January 4, 2023 at about 23h 15m, a Wingstop manager has directed and allowed DoorDash delivery drivers to prepare drinks for online orders, Wingstop has likely engaged in a violation of section 113947.1 of the California Health & Safety Code because it failed to meet the responsibilities of a certified owner or employee at a food facility to ensure the safety of food preparation.
A DoorDash delivery driver was seen following the directions of Wingstop's manager to prepare a customer's drink. The Wingstop manager told another driver to prepare a customer's drink because "it's your job." The first driver had previously touched the door handle of Wingstop's front door. He had then placed his hands in his pockets while waiting for the other components of the order to be readied. He had then proceeded to hold a cup in a way that brought his index finger into contact with the interior surface of the cup, pinching it between his index and thumb. The driver proceeded to prepare the beverage for a customer. These preceding events almost certainly resulted in a transfer of bacteria from the skin of the driver's fingers to the inside surface of the cup. That bacteria then came into contact with the fluid subsequently poured into the cup by the driver, which was likely ingested by the customer for whom it was so prepared.
I. Wingstop Is Required to Have a Certified Owner or Employee Regarding Food Safety.
Section 113947.1(a) of the California Health & Safety Code provides that: (a) Food facilities that prepare, handle, or serve nonprepackaged potentially hazardous food, except temporary food facilities, shall have an owner or employee who has successfully passed an approved and accredited food safety certification examination as specified in Sections 113947.2 and 113947.3. There shall be at least one food safety certified owner or employee at each food facility . . . Cal. Health & Safety Code § 113947.1(a). Here, Wingstop prepares, handles, or serves nonprepackaged potentially hazardous food because it prepares, handles, or serves chicken. Further, it does so on a nontemporary basis because Wingstop has a permanent location at the above-mentioned address. Thus, Wingstop is required to have a certified owner or employee regarding food safety.
II. Certified Owner or Employee at Wingstop Failed to Ensure Safety of Food Preparation
Section 113947.1(f) of the California Health & Safety Code provides that: (f) The responsibilities of a certified owner or employee at a food facility . . . shall include the safety of food preparation and service, including ensuring that all employees who handle, or have responsibility for handling, nonprepackaged foods of any kind, have sufficient knowledge to ensure the safe preparation or service of the food, or both . . . Cal. Health & Safety Code § 113947.1(f)
Here, the responsibilities of a certified owner or employee at Wingstop of ensuring the safety of food preparation were not met when a DoorDash delivery driver prepared drinks for customers because DoorDash drivers are not employees of Wingstop. The above-mentioned section of the California Health Code implies that a certified owner or employee at Wingstop charged with responsibility to ensure the safety of food preparation and service may exercise that responsibility towards employees. However, that owner or employee cannot ensure the safety of food preparation by DoorDash drivers because DoorDash drivers are not employees of Wingstop. Instead, DoorDash drivers are non-employees because they are independent contractors.
Further, Wingstop would not want to treat DoorDash delivery drivers as employees unless it wanted to expose itself to significant risk. If DoorDash delivery drivers were treated as employees of Wingstop and a lawsuit arose from a customer's illness, then Wingstop would be exposed to liability for these drivers' conduct in the scope of that employment under respondeat superior. Also, failing to distinguish a DoorDash delivery driver from an employee whose scope of employment includes food preparation is like failing to distinguish between the UPS delivery driver and a McDonald's employee. If the UPS delivery driver delivered food parcels, that delivery driver would plainly not be in a suitable position to participate in any aspect of food preparation. The Health & Safety Code's purposes of protecting the public from foodborne illness would also not be furthered if the scope of couriers' tasks were confused with that of food-preparers.
Consequently, that certified owner or employee at Wingstop could not ensure the safety of food preparation regarding the drinks prepared by DoorDash drivers, resulting in a violation of section 113947.1 of the California Health & Safety Code." read more