I think that depends on your case. What happens if you leave them in the case over night? Does the cooler maintain a temperature of 28 to 32 degrees, while the case will go on defrost up to 50 degrees?
I worked in only one store with a full service case. What we did there was before closing we pulled everything out and put it on a rack then covered them with a layer of film and pushed the rack into the cooler.
However when I worked at Giant the seafood dept had a full service case and at night they just covered everything with film but left it in the case.
Whether you move it to the cooler or not I think you should cover it with film.
I have worked three different kinds of service counters. Right now, I work the most difficult of the three. I haven't measured it, but I'm told it's 120 feet long. All the product is placed on crushed ice. Each night, everything must be removed so that the following morning, we can put new ice, level it, and return the product to the counter. I think it takes about 14 man hours each morning to refill the counter. No problem, we're provided with plenty of help.
Each evening, about 2 hours before closing time, we begin the closing process. We put paper on top of every pan, flip it upside down, and return it to the counter. The paper that was on the bottom, is now on top and gets thrown away. It remains displayed upside down for the remainder of the night until we close. Then we put new paper on top of every item and put all the pans on racks. The racks go into the cooler until 4 am the following morning when 3 people some in to refill the counter. Some items get wrapped in plastic. Pans of link sausage get wrapped. All ground meats, including bulk sausages are wrapped in plastic. Some poultry items get buried in luggars of crushed ice. Most poultry is wrapped.
The first service counter that I worked at (1978-1981) was not a crushed ice counter. Much much easier to close and open the meat dept. Each night, paper was put of top of the meat, but we didn't have to flip it upside down first. Just paper it as it is. Then we put wet "shrouds" over the paper. The shrouds were huge lengths of cloth the same width of the counter. We wet the shrouds, ring them out just right. Not too much, not too little. Then we place the damp shrouds over the paper covered meat.
The third is the kind you see at Safeway and other huge chain stores. I work those on days off now and then. Not a serious professional set up. Just something that looks decent, but a PITA to deal with because there's too little help. Those just quickly get pulled every night. Put on pans and bagged. Some items may get papered or wrapped.
When I first started in the business we would cover our trays in moistened shrouds. Now we pull them and put it in the back cooler. I feel pulling it is better since the trays are at an angle when in the case and may purge and possibly drip down into the case. We use aluminum rolling racks and cover with plastic rack covers.
My overall opinion of working a display case is positive. I really like how you can get away with less processing-just-to-have-a-filled-the-case. You can get creative with all sorts of things. I would fill the spots with salads, sausages, marinated items, dry aged loins, et cetra.
-- Edited by JimmyMac on Saturday 17th of January 2015 03:38:23 PM
