*Order Up: What Makes a Restaurant Kosher*

What does it take to keep a busy restaurant kitchen kosher from opening to close? Our host, Rabbi Ezra Sarna, is joined by Rabbi Dov Schreier, Rabbinic Coordinator and Director of Food Service, who takes us behind the kitchen doors to explore the people, practices, and careful oversight behind the OU symbol in a restaurant window.

– *Factories vs. Restaurants:* Why certifying a restaurant is a completely different challenge than a factory, with new deliveries and brands arriving every single day.
– *A Day in the Life of a Mashgiach:* From locked refrigerators and lighting the fires to checking vegetables, separating meat and fish, and the hidden challenge of the convection oven.
– *Listener Questions:* Why you should never be afraid to ask if something doesn’t look right and why only the mashgiach holds the keys to the fridge.

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*Learn more at https://keepingitkosher.org/*

00:00 – 1:00 Intro
1:00 – 4:00 Factories vs. restaurants
4:00 – 6:18 The mashgiach’s daily routine
6:18 – 7:18 Training mashgichim
7:18 – 12:30 Managing mashgichim
12:30 – 14:50 Coming to the OU
14:50 – 21:50 Maintaining relationships and building trust
21:50 – 23:43 Kitchen complexities
23:43 – 26:00 Reporting issues
26:00 – 29:00 Catered programs
29:00 – 31:38 Pulling the hashgacha
31:38 – 35:00 Who and what to ask
35:00 – 36:45 Ambience
36:45 – 38:27 Outside food
38:27 – 39:45 Meetings at non-kosher restaurants
39:45 – 41:10 Fridge/Freezer keys