Johnny Garneau died at the age of 90 five years ago. You might be wondering who Johnny Garneau was, and you would be forgiven for not immediately recognising his name. He was behind an innovation which set in motion much of today’s food hygiene. His patent for the ‘Food Service Table’, later known as the ‘Sneeze Guard’, was filed in March 1959.
The Sneeze Guard, You Say?
Garneau’s invention was to satisfy his own impeccable desire for hygiene; he was a germaphobe. At the time, the sneeze guard was not a legal requirement. Garneau owned a chain of smorgasbord-style restaurants in Pennsylvania and Ohio. The Saladette Counter was a feature of this type of dining, with all-you-can-eat buffets popular with the American diner. Garneau had horrific visions of flies crawling over food and uncouth diners coughing and sneezing without covering their mouths. The guard is a simple design …