Understanding Bankruptcy

Bankruptcy is a legal process through which a person or business who is unable to repay debts to the creditors may seek relief from their debts. The process of bankruptcy begins with a petition which is commonly filed by the debtor or less commonly by the creditors. During the bankruptcy process, assets of the debtor are measured and evaluated which are then used to repay a portion of the outstanding debt. With the help of New York Bankruptcy Lawyers, you can clear your debts, set up payment plans and protect your business from creditors.

Uses of Bankruptcy

Bankruptcy offers a person or a company an opportunity to start fresh by forgiving debts that simply cannot be paid while providing creditors an opportunity to acquire some repayment based on the business's or the individuals' assets available for liquidation. Bankruptcy can theoretically benefit an overall economy by offering people and companies a second chance to obtain access to consumer credit and measures to repay their debts to the creditors. Once the bankruptcy procedures are successfully completed, the debtor is relieved of the debt commitments incurred prior to filing for bankruptcy.

Basics of Bankruptcy

All bankruptcy cases are handled by federal courts in the United States. Bankruptcy judges make decisions against federal bankruptcy cases including whether a debtor should be discharged of his debts or whether he is eligible to file a bankruptcy. Most often, an officer of the Department of Justice is appointed by the United States Trustee to represent the debtor's estate in the proceeding. Usually there is very little interaction between the debtor and the judge unless a creditor makes any objection in the case.

Types of Bankruptcy

Chapter 11

This sort of bankruptcy is the most complicated and time-consuming, and is most frequently submitted by companies. If a company has declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy, it will continue to operate, maintain possession of all property, and attempt to develop a strategy to pay off its creditors. It is essential to remember that Chapter 11 does not dismiss debt commitments, but rather renegotiates, often leading in longer repayment windows, smaller payments or reduced interest rates.

Chapter 7

Small companies and Sole proprietorships that have no feasible future or lack substantial assets file Chapter 7. In this case, all the properties of the business are sold to meet debts, and any debts that cannot be covered by the purchase of assets are released. This is why Chapter 7 is also frequently referred to as "liquidation." Chapter 7 also works on the assumption that the person /or the company do not have enough revenue to repay their debts. It is not possible to carry out further business operations once a company has filed a Chapter 7, so the company is basically dissolved.

Chapter 13

A chapter 13 bankruptcy is typically reserved for consumers although it can also be used for sole proprietorships. People submit a repayment scheme to the bankruptcy court describing how they will repay the debts. The sum that is required to repay relies on how much the person earns, how much they owe and how much property they own.

Food Safety Compliance: Rules and Regulations

There is no official definition of food safety, mainly because the laws and guidelines should be followed depending on where and what sort of food service you provide. However, each restaurant should follow certain basic rules for food safety. HACCP has also been created to serve its customers and help companies in food facilities. HACCP is a globally recognized system of food management that addresses food safety and regulates potential biological, physical and chemical hazards. It can be simply defined as a system which was set up to recognize potential food safety issues and methods to control them and also to reduce diseases and contamination among the customers. If you go through the official website of HACCP, you will find out that it contains a long list of how to recognize risks and methods to regulate them. The HACCP website is informative and worth reading thoroughly if you have time, but it can be condensed to a much simpler format.

Some of the food safety rules and regulations one should follow before setting up a business are as follows:

Food and General Supply Storage:

Food, Spices and other edibles should always be kept away from the cleaning supplies. This implies that the cleaning machine should not be positioned closer to the kitchen area or the food preparation and storage region. Everybody should follow cross-contamination prevention practices before or while moving between the two areas.

Cleaning Processes Should Always Be Clear:

Cleaning processes and sanitizing rules for all food services include proper hand washing procedures, cleaning and sanitizing techniques for the kitchen, dining and food storage areas. Also, don’t forget about the region of waste disposal. An important element of operating a secure and tidy restaurant is proper disposal of waste and recycling. Dirty dumpsters attract pests, and many pests are hard and expensive to get rid of once they have gone in.

Raw Meats, Poultry, Seafood and Eggs Pose Potential Risk:

Items like raw meats, seafood, eggs and poultry should always be stored away from all other food items. All of these should have a separate preparation area with separate cuttings boards and washing stations and all should be color coded for easy and quick identification. This will help prevent cross contamination which is one of the major problems, every restaurant faces today.

Proper Dry Storage and Refrigeration:

Appropriate refrigeration and dry storage is crucial and everyone should follow the process rules. For proper storage and processing, product labels should always be verified.

Maintain Accurate Records:

Food safety compliance implies that you need to maintain accurate records of all you do. This includes food temperature logs, ordering histories, task checklists and corrective action logs when things don't go as scheduled. If your restaurant is ever audited or inspected, these things should help you in proving that you have taken care of every little detail.