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The Pros and Cons of Self-Service

There’s a lot to love about self-service bulk bins and bakery cases. Customers can get fresh and wholesome food without having to wait for a store employee to help them. Prices are typically low, and customers may also feel good about the lack of packaging waste. For grocery store operators, offering bakery cases and bulk bins can be a cost-effective way to attract customers looking for a bargain.

But if you stand back and watch these bins and cases for a while, you may see a less appetizing side.

• A child sticks a hand inside a bin. A parent pulls the child away but does not notify the store of what happened.
• Flies buzz around the pastries in a case, sometimes they land on a doughnut or bagel before flying off..
• While grabbing a doughnut from the case, a customer sneezes on all of the pastries. The customer appears to have a cold.
• A customer drops the scoop provided to get food from the bulk bins, then puts it back without alerting anyone.

Are Grocery Store Bulk Bins and Bakery Cases Safe?

If you’ve ever seen someone sneeze on, grab or otherwise contaminate the items in a self-serve bin or case, you may wonder if these grocery store features are safe.

In addition to obvious risks, including sticky-fingered children and careless adults, other threats may go unseen. For example, the food at the bottom of a bin might start to go bad if it’s not rotated properly, and mold and bacteria could flourish.

Allergies are another serious threat. The items stocked in bakery cases often lack the detailed labels of other food items. Someone might grab a pastry without realizing it contains nuts or another allergen. Cross contamination is also a possibility. What happens if sesame seeds fall off an everything bagel and land on a chocolate doughnut? Someone with a sesame allergy likely wouldn’t worry about a doughnut, and they may not notice a small seed on their pastry. With bulk bins, it’s also possible for cross-contamination to occur with the scoops provided are mixed up.

For people with allergies, even seemingly innocuous mix-ups can have lethal consequences. According to Allergic Living, a boy in Alabama died of fatal anaphylaxis after eating an unlabeled cookie from a grocery store bakery. The store settled the lawsuit for an undisclosed amount.

Should Grocery Stores Give Up on Bulk Bins and Bakery Cases?

The easier way to avoid the risks associated with bulk bins and bakery cases may be to get rid of them entirely, but that would mean giving up on the benefits of these self-serve options, too. According to Eater, an increasing number of grocery stores are turning to bulk bins to help shoppers reduce their waste. Many customers are eager for environmentally friendly food options, and bulk bins are a logical solution. Stores that avoid bulk bins miss out on this business. Likewise, getting rid of bakery cases could also cost stores business, especially in the form of impulse buys from hungry shoppers.

At the same time, risk management is crucial. Grocery store operators should be aware of the risks and take steps to mitigate them.

Download our bulk bin and bakery case safety tip sheet for more information on managing your risks and share it with your team.

Do you have an insurance partner who understands your unique risks? Contact RiskPoint’s grocery team.