The Financial Impact of

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The Financial impacT oF

Poor Food SaFety ManageMent

Across the food industry, there is an

increasing focus

on ensuring that the

food we eat is safe. The public is now much more

aware of food safety

issues,

helped by the rise of review sites and social media which provide a

fast channel to share good or bad dining experiences.

(2)

regular inSPectionS

oF Food

SaFety ManageMent SySteMS

are Proven to helP

SaFeguard

the Public.

in the uK, the Food Standard agency’s Food hygiene rating Scheme (FhrS) is increasingly visible and trusted by consumers. While isolated incidents can affect restaurants with even the highest ratings, putting in place a rigorous food safety management system is proven to protect the public – and the financial health of the restaurant itself.

(3)

uK pub chain

in the UK a pub chef

and manager were

jailed

for falsifying food

safety records.

13.1%

decrease

in hospital admissions related to foodborne

illness.

1

after a series of food poisoning

issues, chipotle reported:

2

a previous food poisoning

outbreak at Taco Bell led to a

decline in sales

for over a year.

quarterly

profits down by

44%

share price

fell by

44%

company value

reduced by

$11bn

in los angeles, the introduction of a ‘grade card’ scheme, where restaurants had to display their food rating was followed by a

the financial impact of getting food safety management wrong is immense. high profile cases such as chipotle and taco bell in the uS demonstrate the reputational and financial damage that food safety incidents have on a business, its share price and its revenues.

3 | The Financial impact of Poor Food Safety Management

after a woman died from food

poisoning after eating christmas

dinner at its hotel restaurant.

fined

£1.5m

1. Journal of environmental health: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15794461 2. The new York Times: February 2, 2016 “chipotle Food-Safety issues Drag Down profits”

(4)

75%

would either never visit a food outlet

implicated in a food poisoning/hygiene

incident or only if it had changed hands

61%

almost two thirds won’t visit a restaurant

of any sort that had a Food hygiene

Rating of 2 or less

cleanliness and Food hygiene ratings

have more influence than customer

service when it comes to deciding

whether or not to return to a restaurant

to find out the public’s view of food hygiene, checkit carried out extensive research with uK consumers on their attitudes to food safety, hygiene ratings and customer service. the findings are stark - uK consumers are united in not tolerating poor food safety:

this management report outlines the key findings from the research as well as providing help and recommendations to help the industry guard against food safety incidents.

(5)

Key FindingS

the checkit research covered:

• the impact of low food hygiene ratings on where consumers chose to eat

• What factors put customers off returning to restaurants

• the impact of previous food hygiene incidents on choosing somewhere to eat

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consumers were asked whether a Food hygiene rating of 2 or below (classed as improvement necessary, Major improvement necessary or urgent improvement necessary), would impact their choice of various types of restaurant.

the answer was an overwhelming yes:

61% refuse to visit any type of restaurant with a

low food hygiene rating. just 9% said they’d ignore

the food hygiene rating

But they also said they’d be extra careful in what they ordered, and suspicious of how it was served. This implies they would limit their spend in these establishments and that it would hardly be the most relaxing dining experience for guests or staff.

Food Hygiene Ratings matter –

whatever the type of restaurant

Fine dining restaurant neighbourhood restaurant that is not part of a chain Takeaway (such as indian, chinese, Kebab) café/coffee shop chain restaurant pub serving food Sandwich shop average

69 %

57 %

64 %

₅₅

_%

63 %

60 %

62 %

61 %

1

Would a poor Food Hygiene Rating affect your choice

of restaurant/café/sandwich shop?

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consumers were asked to rank the factors that would put them off most from returning to a restaurant/takeaway/coffee shop in the future.

essentially consumers would rather put up with poor service from rude and unhelpful staff than eat at dirty restaurants.

66% of respondents rated unclean or dirty

premises as the first or second reason for not

returning to a restaurant, while 57% said a low

food hygiene rating. just 16% cited slow or

poor service as stopping them coming back to a

restaurant.

Cleanliness more important

than customer service

2

Which of these factors most puts you off going back when

eating out/visiting a takeaway/visiting a coffee shop?

Unclean/ dirty premises low food hygiene rating Rude or unhelpful staff Staff that don’t know what they are

doing Slow or poor service

66 %

57 %

29 %

16 %

32 %

Key FindingS

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consumers were asked about their attitudes to visiting restaurants that had suffered a food hygiene incident. Would they dine there and what would affect their decision?

the key finding is that the public is extremely unforgiving of

establishments that have been implicated in a food hygiene incident.

75% of consumers said they would either never

return, or would only dine there if the restaurant

had changed hands.

This demonstrates that poor food hygiene practices risk a restaurant’s survival, financial health and add considerably to costs over the long term until customer trust is rebuilt.

Food hygiene incidents destroy

businesses

no, never no, not unless, it had changed

hands

Yes, if its food hygiene rating had improved dramatically Yes, if recommended by someone i trusted

42 %

22 %

3 %

32 %

3

Would you visit a restaurant that had been

implicated in a food hygiene incident?

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61%

of consumers won’t go to premises

that score 2 or below on the Food

hygiene rating Scheme.

This shows they recognise and understand the scheme, and use it as part

of choosing where to eat. What they are probably less aware of is that poor

ratings can be a consequence of not having recorded and provided the correct

paperwork to demonstrate compliance, rather than poor hygiene practices.

Restaurants therefore need to pay as much attention to record keeping as to

ensuring their processes are adhered to.

only

9%

of consumers will ignore the

food hygiene rating when making

their choice – and even these said

they’ll be extra careful about what

they order.

So, whatever size or type of business

you are, you must take food hygiene

ratings seriously.

the Food hygiene rating Scheme is highly valued by the public

the public expect the same standards across all restaurants

Whether it is fine dining or a sandwich shop, the position is broadly

consistent – poor food hygiene ratings will drive away customers.

5 5 5

concluSionS

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50%

more diners would

come back a

fter poor

service if premises

were clean

41%

would put up with poor

service if delivered

in a restaurant with an

average or good

food hygiene

rating.

75%

of consumers won’t

visit somewhere that

has suffered a food

hygiene incident. a

food hygiene incident

is so serious that only 3% would

return on the recommendation of

someone they trusted.

22%

would only visit if the

Food hygiene rating

had dramatically

improved, meaning

that owners would

need to invest heavily over a long

period of time to meet standards,

rebuild trust and attract back

these customers.

cleanliness and hygiene rank way above staff attitude when it

comes to repeat business

customer service is less important than hygiene and cleanliness to consumers.

Could your restaurant survive losing 75% of its customers? At a time when

information on issues can be easily shared on social media, reported to

environmental health officers or through review sites, this demonstrates

the real risk of poor hygiene to business survival.

Food hygiene incidents close restaurants – for good

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enforcing best practice.

Digital

checklists guide staff through

the tasks they are undertaking,

ensuring they complete them

on time, in the correct way and

help them achieve consistency.

if issues are found, digital work

management systems can advise

staff on the best cause of action,

while flagging any problems to

management.

cloud based systems

replace paper records with interactive digital checklists, meaning that record keeping is simpler, faster and gives a timestamped record of who carried out a check. This also reduces the management time needed to prepare records for inspection as everything is stored digitally and can be accessed at the touch of a button.

using the internet of things

and wireless sensors to enable automated, continuous monitoring, avoids the need for staff to take manual readings. This gives a more comprehensive, up to date picture of key environmental conditions such as temperature or humidity.

gain control with real-time

reporting.

By automatically time stamping, uploading and storing food safety management information in the cloud, managers have a real-time view of what is happening on the ground. They can be notified of issues immediately and can spot trends over time, or within groups of restaurants, enabling them to improve operating processes and safeguard food safety.

checkit.net

Broers Building JJ Thomson Avenue Cambridge CB3 0FA

www.checkit.net

Sales and Service enquiries

T +44 (0)1223 941450 general enquiries e [email protected]

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effective food safety management systems are crucial to preventing food safety incidents that could shut a restaurant down. they provide a full audit trail to present to environmental health inspectors, and demonstrate that operating processes and food preparation procedures meet the highest standards. however, existing paper-based systems handicap restaurants by making it difficult, time consuming and therefore costly to manage and document information. they don’t provide a verifiable record and don’t remind staff when vital checks need to be completed. now there’s an affordable and simpler alternative:

how to guard against food safety incidents

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The Financial Impact of