The three areas that determine your rating
Your rating is based on three independent scores. Each area is scored from 0 (best) to 25 or 30 (worst). The total maps to your 0-5 rating — but one bad area can cap your entire rating regardless of the total.
1. Hygienic food handling
How food is prepared, cooked, reheated, cooled, and stored. Inspectors watch your team at work. They check whether cross-contamination is being prevented, whether temperatures are correct, and whether allergens are managed properly.
2. Cleanliness and condition of the building
The physical state of the premises. Surfaces, equipment, walls, floors, ceilings, hand wash basins, ventilation, lighting, and pest control. A kitchen might handle food well but lose marks if the building is poorly maintained.
3. Confidence in management
Whether you have a documented food safety system (SFBB/HACCP) and whether it is actually being used. This is consistently where businesses lose the most marks — because it requires ongoing documentation, not a one-time setup.
One bad area ruins everything. To get a 5, no single category can score above 5/25. A restaurant with perfect food handling and a spotless kitchen can still get a 3 or lower if they have no documented HACCP records.
Quick wins you can do today
These fixes take hours, not weeks, and directly affect your score.
Hygiene
- Check all fridge temperatures are below 5°C and record them
- Label all food with preparation date and use-by date
- Separate raw and ready-to-eat food in fridges (raw meat on bottom)
- Discard anything out of date
- Cover all food in sealed containers
Structure
- Stock handwash basins: hot water, liquid soap, paper towels
- Deep clean the entire kitchen including behind equipment
- Replace any cracked chopping boards
- Check probe thermometer is available and working
- Make sure bins have lids
Management
- Complete your SFBB pack — both safe methods AND the diary
- Start recording fridge temperatures twice daily
- Record cooking core temperatures for each batch
- Create and display a cleaning schedule
- File all staff training certificates on-site
- Print your allergen matrix and keep it accessible
Blueroll does all of this digitally. SFBB checklists, temperature logging, cleaning sign-offs, and allergen matrix — completed on your team's phones, stored automatically, exported as PDF for inspections. Start free trial
Temperature requirements
Temperature control is a legal requirement and one of the first things an EHO checks.
| Requirement | Temperature | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Fridge | Below 5°C | Legal max 8°C. Best practice 1-5°C |
| Freezer | -18°C or below | No signs of thawing |
| Cooking (core) | 75°C for 2 seconds | Or 70°C for 2 minutes. Centre of thickest part |
| Hot holding | 63°C or above | Must be cooked first, then held |
| Reheating | 75°C core | 82°C in Scotland. Reheat only once |
| Cooling | Below 8°C within 90 min | Then refrigerate immediately |
| Danger zone | 8°C to 63°C | Bacteria multiply rapidly |
| Delivery acceptance | Chilled below 8°C | Frozen below -18°C. Reject if outside range |
The 2-hour/4-hour rule. Food in the danger zone for under 2 hours: refrigerate. Between 2-4 hours: use immediately. Over 4 hours: discard. Record everything.
SFBB documentation
Under EC Regulation 852/2004, all food businesses must have a documented food safety management system based on HACCP principles. For most restaurants, the FSA's Safer Food, Better Business (SFBB) pack fulfils this requirement. It is free to download from food.gov.uk.
What your SFBB pack must contain
Safe Methods — completed before you start operating. Covers cross-contamination prevention, cleaning procedures, chilling, cooking, and management controls. Must be customised to your business, not left blank.
Diary — ongoing records. Daily fridge/freezer temperatures, cooking temperatures, cleaning sign-offs, delivery checks, staff training, problems and corrective actions, opening and closing checks.
Reviews — safe methods must be reviewed regularly and updated when anything changes (new menu, new equipment, new suppliers).
Records to keep on-site
- Temperature records — fridge, freezer, cooking, hot holding (daily)
- Cleaning schedule with sign-offs
- Supplier invoices and delivery records (traceability)
- Staff training records and certificates
- Pest control contract and visit reports
- Corrective actions — what went wrong, what you did about it
- Allergen information — matrix for all menu items
Keep completed diary pages for at least 12 months.
Cross-contamination prevention
Colour-coded chopping boards
Not legally required but industry standard and expected by EHOs. Using the wrong board for raw meat is one of the fastest ways to lose marks.
Fridge storage order (top to bottom)
- Top shelf: Ready-to-eat food (cooked meals, prepared salads, packaged food)
- Middle: Dairy (cheese, butter, yoghurt, eggs)
- Bottom: Raw meat, poultry, fish in sealed containers
Raw meat always on the bottom. This prevents juices dripping onto ready-to-eat food.
Hand washing
A missing soap dispenser or a blocked handwash basin can drop your rating immediately. EHOs check hand washing first.
Requirements
- Dedicated basin — only for hand washing, never for food or equipment
- Hot and cold running water
- Liquid soap — not bar soap
- Paper towels — not shared cloth towels
When staff must wash hands
Before handling food. After handling raw meat, poultry, fish, eggs. After touching bins. After cleaning. After using the toilet. After blowing their nose. After handling money. After smoking. After touching their face or hair.
No hot water = enforcement action. A business operating without hot water at handwash basins can face an immediate Hygiene Improvement Notice. Empty soap dispensers and missing paper towels are among the most common failures EHOs find.
Cleaning schedule
A cleaning schedule is effectively mandatory as part of your SFBB system. EHOs will mark down businesses that do not have one.
What it must show
- What — every item, surface, and area requiring cleaning
- How often — after each use, daily, weekly, monthly
- How — method, chemicals, dilution rates
- Who — named person or role responsible
- Sign-off — initials, date, time when completed
The FSA provides a free cleaning schedule template at food.gov.uk. The principle is: pre-clean, wash with detergent, rinse, disinfect, air dry.
Staff training
| Level | Who needs it | When |
|---|---|---|
| Induction | All new starters | Within first 4 weeks |
| Level 2 | All staff handling open food | Within 3 months of starting |
| Level 3 | At least one supervisor/manager | Before taking supervisory role |
| Refresher | All trained staff | Every 3 years |
Level 2 courses cost £10-25 per person and take 1-3 hours online (City & Guilds, RSPH, Highfield). EHOs may ask any staff member basic food safety questions — if they cannot answer, your Confidence in Management score drops.
Allergen management
Under Natasha's Law (October 2021), all prepacked for direct sale (PPDS) food must display a full ingredients list with all 14 allergens emphasised. For non-PPDS (loose) food, allergen information must be available to customers — best practice is a written allergen matrix.
The 14 declarable allergens
Celery, cereals containing gluten, crustaceans, eggs, fish, lupin, milk, molluscs, mustard, tree nuts, peanuts, sesame, soybeans, sulphur dioxide and sulphites.
What EHOs check
- Allergen matrix or chart for menu items
- Staff awareness when asked about allergens
- Separation procedures for allergen-free preparation
- PPDS labelling compliance
- Documented procedures for handling allergen requests
Common mistakes that drop ratings
- SFBB pack exists but nobody uses it — documentation must match reality
- Temperature records show the same number every day — suggests fabrication
- New staff not trained — no induction, no Level 2, cannot answer EHO questions
- Ignoring previous inspection recommendations — heavily penalised
- Pest control contract lapsed — or not acting on visit report recommendations
- Structural wear not addressed — cracked tiles, worn sealant, broken equipment
- Only one person understands food safety — if the manager is off, nobody can explain procedures
- Complacency after getting a 5 — letting standards slip between inspections
Requesting a re-inspection
If you did not receive a 5 and have made improvements, you can request a re-rating inspection.
How it works
- Submit a written request to your local authority
- You must have addressed all issues from the previous inspection
- A fee is charged — typically £110-265 depending on your council
- Re-inspection happens within 3 months and is unannounced
- Your rating could go up, stay the same, or go down
- No limit on the number of requests you can make
Before you request
Make sure improvements are genuine and embedded, not cosmetic. The inspector assesses standards generally — not just the areas you told them you fixed. If records show two weeks of perfect temperatures followed by three months of gaps, the rating will not improve.
Write an improvement plan. Document what you changed, who is responsible, and when it was completed. Even if the re-inspection has not happened yet, this documented plan positively influences your Confidence in Management score.
Useful resources
- SFBB pack — free download from FSA
- Allergen guidance — FSA guidance for businesses
- Ratings explained — what each rating means
- Check your rating — free lookup tool
- Free hygiene rating badge — display your rating on your website