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Beyond the balance sheet

Is your hospitality business ready for Christmas?

Matthew Wyatt 12/12/2013 3 minute read

Matthew Wyatt FCA asks how prepared is your restaurant for the festive trade?

Christmas is traditionally known as the holiday period but for many small businesses it can mean added stress. The festive season usually signals an uplift in sales and for many it's the most profitable time of year - so you can never be too prepared.

Unless care is taken, food poisoning can be an unwelcome Christmas present and with the increased volume of food preparation in the kitchen at this time of year, it has never been more important to ensure your procedures are robust enough to avoid any complications.

So what should your hospitality business be thinking about to ensure you have the necessary controls to cope with the increased activity over the coming weeks.

Hygiene

Food safety officers regularly inspect premises and The Food Standards Agency (FSA) passes 91% of food outlets. Anything less than a score of three out of five constitutes a fail and it must be ensured that during these busy periods, standards don’t slip. Normally, food premises can expect a routine visit every six months or so but a complaint can bring an inspector at any time. If an inspector deems it necessary, they can ask to:

  • Inspect food hygiene records
  • Take samples and photographs of foods
  • Seize suspect foods

Click here to view more information in the FSA information pack. 

Food safety

Health & Safety

Health and safety law applies to all businesses, no matter how small. As an employer you are responsible for health and safety in your establishment. The nature and extent of the risks in each establishment will vary, as will the work required to manage them. Sensible and practical risk management is needed, as well as the implementation of precautionary measures.

Individual workplaces exhibit their own patterns of risk, but the main causes of accidents and ill health in the hospitality industry tend to be one or a combination of the following:

  • Slips, trips and falls
  • Lifting and manual handling
  • Contact with hot surfaces and harmful substances

Beyond the obvious human costs, accidents also cost money and time – employees off work, material costs and damage to buildings, equipment or products.

Is it just common sense?

It was recently reported that an employee suffered a burn when taking a tray out of the oven without an oven glove. Surely common sense dictates that a glove should be worn in these instances?

How far must health and safety training go and where does your duty of care as employer stop and common sense begin?

Common sense

As an employer you have a general duty to ensure the health and safety of your employees and others affected by your business. In particular, you should:

  • Provide and maintain safe working plant and equipment
  • Ensure a safe and healthy working environment
  • Provide suitable information, instruction and training for your employees
  • Ensure staff are appropriately supervised
  • Record your risk assessment - it is best practice to do so!

Staffing

In one of our recent blog posts we assessed the potential pitfalls of employing students and casual labour. As we enter the festive season, this couldn’t be more relevant.

The most important thing to bear in mind with the increased activity of this time of year, is that mistakes made within your business could be more costly than you might imagine.

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The content of this post is up to date and relevant as at 12/12/2013.

Please be aware that information provided by this blog is subject to regular legal and regulatory change. We recommend that you do not take any information held within our website or guides (eBooks) as a definitive guide to the law on the relevant matter being discussed. We suggest your course of action should be to seek legal or professional advice where necessary rather than relying on the content supplied by the author(s) of this blog.

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