Which of these factors would deter you?

• Low food hygiene rating?
• Slow service levels?
• Lack of organisation?
• Unclean premises?
• Rude staff?

Which one would you imagine is the most serious according to recent consumer research?

If you said poor food hygiene levels you’re almost right, but this ranked as 2 nd on the list of “deal breakers.” Unclean premises took 1 st place.

Consumers responded as follows:

Unclean premises – 66%

Low food hygiene rating – 57%

Rude staff – 32%

Lack of organisation – 29%

Slow service levels – 16%

This means that when visiting a food outlet customers are over twice as willing to forgive rude staff than they are unclean premises.

Cleanliness matters so please don’t spend all your time perfecting dishes and neglecting the cobwebs, crumbs and slip hazards on your premises.

People don’t have to eat at your establishment, they have free will, so if they see dirty work surfaces and food splattered on the floor their first instinct will be to walk on by.

Your business can’t afford for them to do that.

You must strive for optimum levels of cleanliness. This has also proven invaluable for food hygiene level improvements because if the premises aren’t dirty you’re immediately diminishing risks.

Cleaning is not solely the responsibility of the cleaner or a task to be undertaken once a week. It is constant maintenance that sends Food Hygiene Ratings Scheme scores higher and should, in turn, increase business levels and reputation.

Would you eat at premises that left crumbs on the table, a stack of dirty plates in the service area and had staff that tapped away merrily on their mobile phones throughout food preparation?

Crumbs – Inspire images of lack of attention to detail, uncleanliness, questionable professionalism.

Dirty plates – What are you advertising? That you’re too busy to move them or that you don’t care enough to move them?

Mobile phones – You may believe that this is harmless but in truth this poses a personal hygiene risk. If hands aren’t clean or the mobile phone dropped to the floor, then how can you guarantee cleanliness?

Consumers are more aware than you may think of the risks that they may encounter in a food related business premises and they comprehend what the Food Hygiene Ratings Scheme’s scores mean for them.

Some people know how the implementation of an effective food safety management system can positively affect their experience.

75% of people wouldn’t return to premises that had been implicated in a food hygiene issue unless the management had altered, 42% refused to return at all.

Food hygiene and food safety management scheme training courses are the perfect solution to learn about and implement the best practices on site.

They cost far less than a legal battle and they only take a few hours or days. They’re a sound investment if you wish to stay in business.

Companies like Food Alert deliver training in person or online so there’s no reason for ignorance and bad practices.

Don’t lose your business through wholly preventable circumstances.