Fast Food Restaurant Customer Injured in Slip and Fall

Case Overview

This case takes place in Florida and involves injury at a self-service dining venue in a fast food restaurant. On the date of the incident, a customer (the plaintiff was eating in the the restaurant’s dining area. She was at the beverage station getting a drink when she went back towards the dining area and slipped and fell, breaking her leg. The beverage station did have a carpeted surface, but that surface transitioned abruptly into a tiled surface. The plaintiff seeks an expert who has a managed a self-service dining venue and can speak to the safety protocols in place to prevent this type of accident.

Questions to the Restaurant expert and their responses

Please discuss your background in setting safety standards in self-service dining venues as described in the case summary.

This case is right in my area of expertise and I am glad to assist. I have 25+ experience in the food industry and have run a number of restaurants with self service beverage stations. I can speak to best practices to prevent injuries like this from occurring.

What protocols could have been in place to avoid the accident?

The cruise line should think through what type of flooring has sufficient coefficient of friction to prevent slip and fall. This is especially important for a beverage area where liquids are going to fall. Operationally, there should have been either a person monitoring or doing sufficient checks to make sure that area is clean and safe.

Have you ever reviewed a similar case? Please explain.

I have reviewed many cases regarding restaurant safety before as an expert witness.

About the expert

This highly qualified expert has over 25 years of experience in the food service industry, including chain restaurant franchises and quick service restaurants. She holds a B.A. in Chemistry from Eastern Nazarene College and a M.S. in Food Science from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. She also performed post-graduate research in the Department of Food Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A member of the Institute of Food Technologists, she previously worked in different management positions at various foodservice companies including Dunkin' Donuts and Burger King. She currently works as President for a foodservice consulting firm.