With surveys showing that 61% of people said that they would not visit a restaurant or café with a Food Standards Agency Food Hygiene Rating of 2 or below, it goes without saying that demonstrating effective food safety is fundamental to operating a successful Food business, and if you’re not, you are preventing your business from growing to its full potential.
Developing and maintaining a solid reputation for food safety is the keystone of building a strong brand in the food industry.
There are only benefits in achieving and displaying the 5-star rating sticker in your window. Food safety can have a positive impact on business, an impact that goes beyond just food safety.
Being able to demonstrate a high food hygiene rating sign on your front door is an immediate promise to potential customers that the food they’re about to eat is being handled in a clean and hygienic environment.
Demonstrating that your business can deliver on not only food quality, but also on food safety, will without a doubt help to increase footfall and drive on sales.
Did you know? When EHOs visit your premises, they will look at things such as: how you handle food, how food is prepared, your food safety management system and your documentation like your food safety diary.
Building a positive food safety culture in your business can increase employee morale and productivity. Establishing a high food hygiene rating allows employees to be safe in the knowledge that their place of work is a place that people want to drink and dine in, regular customers often means regular tips, which can ultimately boost their wages.
To maintain the high standards, employers can provide incentives to encourage employees to want to maintain high food safety standards. Incentives help to transfer a dry subject into something quite fun, in turn boosting employee morale. The work you put into regular compliance can help to streamline training, avoid costly incidents and reduce confusion among employees.
Maintaining compliance can often be overlooked by companies if the expense seems too much. However, for a business to grow, compliance expenses need to be viewed as opportunities, rather than an unwanted cost. As a business owner, it is important to understand what resources you are putting into your business in order to maintain a healthy food safety culture. Can you afford the reputation damage and subsequent loss of business that can come with a lack of investment in robust food safety management?
Have a think about the following questions…
- Are mistakes caused by out-of-date or incorrect information costing your business money?
- Are you spending valuable time working overtime preparing for an audit?
- Are you losing sleep over your current food safety management system?
- Is your FSMS ready to grow as fast as your business is?
Each company will face unique challenges, however, all of these concerns can be eliminated by implementing and maintaining a healthy food safety culture among your employees. If you want your business to grow, be sure to train your staff correctly from the beginning, and continue to provide high-quality training throughout their employment. These employees are often the face of the business, by training them you are helping your brand to continue to grow.
If you are in need of assistance with your food safety auditing process, please submit an enquiry below or contact us on 08450 267 745 for a free telephone consultation.