9 Strict Rules Golden Corral Employees Follow

When you eat in a place like Golden Corral where food is coming out of the kitchen in huge quantities, you especially want to know that employees are following strict rules to keep your food safe. However, not all of its rules pertain to food safety. Some rules relate to employee safety and others relate to the company's privacy, appearance, and reputation.

Golden Corral has been around since 1973 and has hundreds of locations across the U.S., meaning that it's had to unify its rules to work in a variety of locations and has had plenty of time to make rules to prevent potential problems it has encountered over the years. The FDA Food Code provides guidelines and good practices for restaurants to follow, which seems to inform a lot of the food safety rules. Plus, it has rules to ensure that restaurants are able to pass local inspections from various health authorities around the country.

Most of the rules here are ones that show up in Golden Corral's handbooks that we've been able to find online. However, other rules we've mentioned are based on what employees have talked about online as being what they've encountered in the location where they worked. As such, we can't really confirm nor deny their experience. This list of 9 strict rules Golden Corral employees have to follow provides a view into the structure of the restaurant as a whole as well as the image it wants to present to the public.

You may have never considered what sort of rules restaurants have for fingernails, but sometimes, the state of food workers' fingernails can be a health code red flag. Not only are Golden Corral's rules about nails related to cleanliness, but they relate to aesthetics as well.

Golden Corral requires employees to keep their nails clean and trimmed, in accordance with the model outlined in the FDA Food Code. Keeping nails trimmed is about preventing jagged or rough edges from harboring pathogens and preventing broken nails from ending up in food. The FDA suggests that employees who work with food in any way shouldn't even wear nail polish or fake nails unless they're wearing gloves to avoid paint chips or fake nails ending up in the food. Based on the information employees have provided in questionnaires on job search sites, many locations go as far as to not allow nail polish or fake nails at all when working directly with the food rather than just requiring gloves. However, it does seem that some locations do allow the servers to paint their nails but don't allow them to wear anything on them that could fall into the food, like jewels or fake nails.

Beyond food safety issues related to nails, locations seem to have additional nail rules for public-facing employees, like servers or cashiers. Specifically, they're not allowed to wear brightly-colored nail polish, which is often considered unprofessional in the restaurant business.

What Golden Corral wants you to smell when you walk in the door is the delicious aroma of homestyle food. As such, you should be smelling the roast beef and fried chicken, not your server's body odor or perfume. Luckily for all of us, the company has some personal hygiene rules related to how employees should and shouldn't smell.

First of all, there are general personal hygiene rules that take into account how closely employees work with each other in the kitchen and how closely they interact with guests. The company asks employees to pay attention to washing their bodies and brushing their teeth daily in order to not have offensive body smells emanate around them. There is also a requirement to use deodorant. So, the cashiers and servers you interact with when you eat at Golden Corral shouldn't be offending you with unwashed skin or hair, dirty underarm, or bad breath smells.

While Golden Corral doesn't forbid its employees from wearing fragrances altogether, it does prohibit them from wearing large amounts that can come off as being too strong for guests. If a server is leaving a scent trail all over the restaurant, it can interfere with customers' enjoyment of their food. Plus, some people have sensitivities to fragrances that can leave them with headaches, nausea, or sinus issues, which isn't pleasant any time, but certainly not when paying to enjoy a meal.

You also may notice that Golden Corral employees aren't wearing lots of visible jewelry. Some of the reasons relate to conservatism and professionalism, but others are related to safety.

The FDA suggests that employees handling food shouldn't wear anything but a plain wedding band on their hand. The only exception might be medically-necessary devices that remain clean. It even suggests wearing alternative medical-alert jewelry besides bracelets. The reason is that jewelry (and even watches) can easily carry pathogens and can also fall into food during preparation, posing health risks.

While Golden Corral isn't quite as strict as it could be, it's still very specific about the jewelry types employees can wear and how they can wear them. For example, if someone is wearing a bracelet or a necklace, the company requires these pieces of jewelry to stay tucked inside of clothing instead of being outside. The reasoning makes sense, in that nobody wants bracelets and necklaces that someone has been wearing on their body to accidentally touch their food for sanitary purposes. Dangling earrings are also a no-no for those handling food. Hopefully, nobody is getting so close to food with their ears that their dangling earrings could touch the food, but dangling pieces could detach and fall into food. Thus, the restaurant has a post-earrings only rule. On the conservative side, employees answering questions on job search sites say that facial jewelry isn't allowed either. Additionally, even cashiers aren't allowed to wear excessive jewelry.

As evidenced by all the rules Golden Corral has related to food safety, it's not surprising that it requires all its employees to undergo food safety training. Not every state requires food handler certifications. So, this is an extra measure the company takes to ensure its employees engage in safe food practices.

Once hired, Golden Corral employees are required to take an online food safety course called Safe Tracks. This is an accredited food handler safety program that provides certification after completion. It seems to be specific to Golden Corral and focus on a wide range of topics. Some of the personal hygiene concerns we've already mentioned are, no doubt, a part of the training. The company doesn't allow employees to divulge information about this training on social media, making it difficult to know what it all entails. However, we do know that handwashing gets a lot of attention. There's information about food temperature and preventing cross-contamination, which is especially essential for a buffet. There's allergen training included. Plus, the training discusses employee health as well. After receiving this certification, employees are then allowed to start training related to their specific job.

One of the things you should know about Golden Corral is that food safety training doesn't end during onboarding. Some local health departments may require recertification to ensure that the information stays fresh in employees' minds. Additionally, there are often company-wide refreshers on specific areas of food safety.

You'll be happy to learn that clean hands are a priority at Golden Corral. In fact, one of the company-wide refreshers that Golden Corral occasionally provides is a refresher on hand-washing rules. The FDA suggests that food workers keep their hands clean to avoid spreading pathogens to food, advising vigorous washing with soap and warm water for at least 20 seconds. Golden Corral's training ensures employees are washing their hands well after touching anything that might contaminate them.

There are several specific situations after which Golden Corral employees are supposed to be washing their hands with soap and warm water. The first thing anyone should do when they start their work shift is to lather up with soap and water. Using the restroom, touching food, and eating are all reasons employees should be washing their hands. Washing up after touching poultry is especially important considering the potential for spreading bacteria like Salmonella or Campylobacter. Golden Corral also requires employees to wash their hands any time they've touched money.

We appreciate that, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Golden Corral had especially strict rules for how often employees were required to wash their hands. Rather than just after touching certain things, employees were also supposed to wash up every 20 minutes. With so many people avoiding buffets during the pandemic, it provided more peace of mind concerning the potential spread of pathogens, which is likely among the reasons so many locations survived while other buffet restaurants failed.

There's more to sanitation than clean hands, and Golden Corral managers are the ones who see that everything stays within proper parameters throughout the day. While they may make multiple pass-throughs, managers are required to walk through and inspect a whole checklist of sanitation safety items around the restaurant at least twice a day.

The managers are required to look at a variety of items related to cleanliness. One point of concern involves making sure that sanitizing dispensers are calibrated to dispense the right concentration of solution. Not being calibrated properly can result in sanitizers not being strong enough to eliminate contaminants. Managers must also ensure that sanitizer buckets for cleaning cloths stay clean and maintain the correct sanitizer strength. When the restaurant is super busy, the solution may need replacing every few hours. Checkups for general cleanliness everywhere in the restaurant is also important, not just in case of surprise health department visits but to keep food as safe as possible.

Another form of sanitation checkup necessary is related to temperatures. While employees are supposed to be checking temperatures during cooking and ensuring that all the delicious buffet items are at the right temperature, the manager has to ensure the cooler and freezer are at the right temperature so that the food starts out at a safe temperature before any cooking ever even happens.

While the siren song of so many delicious foods might have had you ignoring what Golden Corral employees wear, they do have a specific dress code. While it might not necessarily relate to your food's safety, employees still have a unified image to uphold for the company through their personal appearance.

Golden Corral actually provides part of employees' uniforms for free. Golden Corral employees answering questions on job hiring sites indicate that most locations only provide a single complimentary shirt and apron. However, employees are completely responsible for providing their own pants. Golden Corral rules specify that they have to wear black slacks. However, jeans (even black ones) and corduroy pants are specifically forbidden. Some employees have indicated that sweatpants and yoga pants don't pass muster for the dress code either.

Shoes are something else that employees have to provide on their own, with rules against certain types. Shoes must be non-skid, which is a good tip for anyone to follow when working in any restaurant. One type employees can't wear is the type with crepe rubber soles on the bottom, which can be slippery on wet surfaces. The fact that tennis shoes are also on the forbidden list might be a little surprising, but they're not the best slip-resistant choice either. Open-toed shoes are also forbidden to avoid foot injuries from dropped food or other items like heavy pans, sharp knives, or boiling water.

Facial hair is also a point of focus for the rules at Golden Corral. Specifically, employees can have a neatly-trimmed mustache, but they can't have a beard. Granted, there are exceptions to the beard rule, like if the beard is medically necessary (such as with Pseudofolliculitis Barbae).

The FDA suggests beard covers for employees working with food. Plus, certain local health authorities have rules requiring them as well. Golden Coral generally has a rule against wearing beards. However, based on what employees say when answering questions on job search sites, different locations approach this rule in different ways. Some don't allow beards at all, while others only allow very short, well-groomed beards. Still other locations only allow employees in certain departments to wear one, like employees working as cashiers versus ones handling food.

Golden Corral has quite a few social media standards for its employees to follow. The company is serious about not breaking these standards, with some infractions resulting in employees losing their job or even being prosecuted as a criminal. Golden Corral has one of the best all-you can-eat buffets in the business, and it wants employees to take its reputation and privacy into consideration any time they post online.

Company privacy is of great concern. Golden Corral specifically asks employees not to post or even text photos or videos of the restaurant without permission from the District Manager. Additionally, employees are also not supposed to post or divulge information concerning training, products, or internal policies on social media.

If employees do talk about Golden Corral on social media, they're supposed to make sure they don't leave viewers or readers thinking they're a company representative. Instead, employees should make it clear that what they're saying is their own opinion. Additionally, the company wants employees to air their complaints to managers or higher-ups rather than post them online for the world to see and hear. The company is especially concerned about employees not violating work policies, vandalizing property, being discriminatory, or harassing people on social media. Doing so can have negative employment consequences. Anyone who tampers with food or does something that imperials food safety can even have criminal charges brought against them, with posting it online being particularly incriminating.

Finally, Golden Corral has rules against employees chewing gum or tobacco when serving guests. Not chewing them in front of customers is a matter of manners as well as food safety.

As a restaurant-goer, you can probably easily understand why having a server chewing gum or tobacco while waiting on you isn't very professional. However, it's also a safety issue, as nobody wants a wad of gum or tobacco to fall into their food when a server opens their mouth to talk (or chew). The excess saliva that they produce from chewing can also be an issue if it drips from their mouth. Because of safety issues, chewing gum while serving food can also be a health code violation, and it has actually caused write ups for Golden Corral servers during health department inspections.

However, the FDA suggests that any gum chewing or tobacco chewing on the premises of a restaurant be in an area where it's not possible to contaminate any food with it. Thus, for those needing to take a break for chewing gum or tobacco, Golden Corral allows it in designated areas while on breaks.