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.
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.
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.
In Los Angeles, the introduction
of a ‘grade card’ scheme, where
restaurants had to display their
food rating was followed by a
13.1% decrease
A previous food poisoning
outbreak at Taco Bell led to a
decline in sales
for over a year.
in hospital admissions related to foodborne
illness. 1
In the UK a pub chef
and manager were
jailed
for falsifying food
safety records.
After a series of food poisoning
issues, Chipotle reported: 2
quarterly
profits down by
share price
fell by
44%
44%
Company value
reduced by
$11bn
1. Journal of Environmental Health: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15794461
2. T
he New York Times: February 2, 2016 “Chipotle Food-Safety Issues Drag Down Profits”
The New Yorker: December 10, 2015 “Can Chipotle Recover From Food Poisoning”
3 | The Financial Impact of Poor Food Safety Management
UK pub chain
fined
£1.5m
after a woman died from food
poisoning after eating Christmas
dinner at its hotel 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:
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
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.
4 | The Financial Impact of Poor Food Safety Management
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
KEY FINDINGS
1
Food Hygiene Ratings matter –
whatever the type of restaurant
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.
69%
Fine dining
restaurant
57
%
Neighbourhood
restaurant that
is not part of a
chain
64% 55% 63% 60% 62% 61%
Takeaway
(such as
Indian,
Chinese,
Kebab)
Café/coffee
shop
Chain
restaurant
Pub serving
food
Sandwich
shop
Average
Would a poor Food Hygiene Rating affect your choice
of restaurant/café/sandwich shop?
6 | The Financial Impact of Poor Food Safety Management
KEY FINDINGS
2
Cleanliness more important
than customer service
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.
66% 57%
Unclean/
dirty
premises
32% 29%
Low
food
hygiene
rating
Rude or
unhelpful
staff
Staff that
don’t know
what they are
doing
16%
Slow or
poor
service
Which of these factors most puts you off going back when
eating out/visiting a takeaway/visiting a coffee shop?
7 | The Financial Impact of Poor Food Safety Management
KEY FINDINGS
3
Food hygiene incidents destroy
businesses
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.
42%
No, never
32%
No, not unless,
it had changed
hands
22%
Yes, if its food
hygiene rating
had improved
dramatically
3%
Yes, if
recommended
by someone I
trusted
Would you visit a restaurant that had been
implicated in a food hygiene incident?
8 | The Financial Impact of Poor Food Safety Management
CONCLUSIONS
The Food Hygiene Rating Scheme is highly valued by the public
61%
555
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.
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.
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.
9 | The Financial Impact of Poor Food Safety Management
CONCLUSIONS
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.
50%
ould r
w
s
r
o
e
e din after po
mor
k
c
s
e ba
mise
e
r
com
p
f
ice i
serv lean
c
were
41%
would put up with poor
service if delivered
in a restaurant with an
average or good
food hygiene
rating.
Food hygiene incidents close restaurants – for good
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.
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.
10 | The Financial Impact of Poor Food Safety Management
How to guard against food safety incidents
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:
1
2
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.
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.
3
4
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.
Research source: Toluna 1,011 UK consumers, Q1 2016 | Copyright Checkit 2016
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