If you work in the food and drink industry, you’ll know first-hand the importance and benefits of good food hygiene. 

While we all know that the most important reason to stay compliant is the health risks associated with poor food hygiene, it can also create ripple effects through other areas of your business, costing you money and reputational damage.

It’s just not worth it - and staying compliant is more important now than ever.

At Thrive, doing compliance well - and even making it fun - is our (hygienically prepared) bread and butter. We understand that compliance training is not traditionally the most thrilling activity, which is why we’ve created a whole service with the express intention of making it engaging and effective. But more on that later.

How can bad food hygiene adversely affect a food business? Let’s delve into the many reasons why poor food hygiene is not worth it - and what the ‘it’ in question is. 
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Fines and legal penalties

If you’ve been anywhere near the news on this topic, you’ll recall with a shudder the stories of restaurants who were fined eye-watering sums of money for not maintaining safe and hygienic food preparation. 

Don’t know what we’re talking about? You mean you haven’t heard the story of the Lancaster restaurant that got fined an entire employee’s yearly salary for poor hygiene? What about the McDonald’s that had to shell out £475,000 after environmental health officers discovered a rat infestation at their Leystone branch? (Jump-scare warning for the picture on that last article, by the way. Some things can never be unseen…)

A core principle of effective compliance training as outlined by our own Corrie Smith in this article is linking negligence directly back to its consequences, the same way we used to learn lessons from fables and fairytales. So forgive us for the horror stories - but a half a million pound fine is arguably a more effective lesson than the tortoise and the hare. 

Put simply: Poor food hygiene practices cost you (a LOT of) money in the long run. Make sure that everyone is well-versed in hygiene compliance and that your business is squeaky clean - or you could be staring down the barrel of a very expensive lesson. 
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Loss of revenue 

This is both a reputational and a financial risk - but if potential customers hear that your business is practising poor hygiene, that message will spread like wildfire throughout the community and ensure that people stay far, far away.

Damaging your reputation = damaging your profits.

And if the hygiene issues are really severe, you may even need to temporarily close up shop - meaning that you’re still paying overheads for something that is not turning any profit while its doors are shut. 
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Legal ramifications 

Do you remember the famous US news story of the opportunistic woman who sued McDonald’s for not writing the words “warning: hot coffee” large enough on her cup of hot coffee? Even if you weren’t alive at the time (or if you were a year old, like me) you’ve probably heard all about the self-righteous customer, her overblown lawsuit and subsequent successful payout. 

Well, what you might not remember about the case is that that’s … not quite what happened.

Stella Liebeck (who was 79 years old at the time) purchased a cup of coffee from a McDonald's branch, and suffered third degree burns on her legs when she accidentally spilled the drink in her lap. Stella wasn't an opportunist trying to make a quick buck out of a multi-million dollar corporation (aw, poor McDonald's!); she was an elderly woman trying to claim compensation for her unexpected medical bills when a restaurant served her coffee at a temperature of 88°C. (For context, the usual temperature for takeaway coffee is between 49°C and 60°C.) One knock-on effect of the case happened to be that McDonald’s increased the size of the “hot coffee” warning on their to-go cups. 

In a decades-long game of telephone - and in keeping with the “frivolous lawsuit” narrative that was popular at the time - the story was twisted and taken out of context, and has arguably led to the pervasive attitude that legal claims are almost always superficial. But now we know that’s not correct. 

The customer is not always right, but the customer does have a right to safe and hygienic food and drink. 

When it comes to hygiene, failing to comply with safe practices can result in your customers getting seriously ill. If that happened to you, wouldn’t you feel owed compensation?  

If a customer follows up their bad experience with a legal claim, that’s another financial burden that the business has to shoulder which all could have been avoided by maintaining good food hygiene. 
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Insurance costs

One of the factors that insurance companies consider when setting premiums for liability insurance is - you guessed it - the level of risk associated with food safety and hygiene. 

If they find based on a history of bad food hygiene practices that you're more likely to cause food-borne illnesses, your premiums could be higher. But if you demonstrate a consistent dedication to upholding good food hygiene standards and training, you'll be viewed more favourably. 

Again: Damaged reputation = damaged profits. 
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Media coverage

It took me two minutes to find a whole slew of negative press about businesses who’ve been fined for bad food hygiene practices (and it’ll take at least ten years to scrub the imagery from my memory…) 

I’m not saying that every health inspection will be published in the local paper, but severe health violations or multiple low hygiene ratings will most likely attract media attention. 

Media attention leads to social media posts, which lead to more social media posts…. Once the internet has hold of a story, it’s completely out of your hands. It’s 2023; I probably don’t need to explain the concept of “going viral" to you.

Competitive disadvantage

If you’re a restaurant owner reading this, I’m sorry to remind you of a fact you’re already acutely aware of: the food and drink business is widely considered to be one of the riskiest to get into. Because of that, you really need to be offering something new and unique - while upholding the highest standards possible across all areas of your business: product, service, ambiance, and … yes, you guessed it again … good hygiene. 

It’s an extremely competitive and over saturated market - and your competitors gain an edge if you let your standards slip. 

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How to ensure your business always has good food hygiene

Compliance, compliance compliance… How many times can I say compliance in this article? Compliance. There’s one more for you.

Food safety training should not simply be a box you tick in order to get a good food hygiene rating. Let's take a few tips from the Hospitality Sector Suite of Thrive Content, which emphasises not just ensuring you have good food hygiene, but actually creating a wider culture of food safety throughout your business so that it underpins everything you do.

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‍A few key takeaways from this sneak-peek into Thrive Content’s food safety culture resource:

• A food safety culture is a shared set of values that encourages everyone in the business to do the right thing, even when no one else is looking.
• Your team should be dedicated to food safety - no matter how busy the kitchen gets.
• Great communication, training and leadership are essential to creating a high standard of food safety.
• Low standards result in customer complaints, illness, legal repercussions, financial and reputational damage.

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Ensure food safety is a mandatory part of your onboarding process, and that your staff are always up-to-date on the procedures - understanding both the negative repercussions of poor food hygiene, and the positive outcomes of good food hygiene. 

If you’re looking to delve deeper into compliance training, check out our blogs on the topic: Compliance Training: Safeguarding your company in today's world and How to create and measure compliance courses that work.

And for an easy, off the shelf solution that makes compliance training fun, check out Thrive Content here. 

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