Guide
Opening a food business: registration and the fit-out checklist
Updated
The registration itself is the easy part. Getting the unit into a state where it passes an inspection on the day you want to open is the work.
Registering the business
- Government guidance says that if you "sell, cook, store, handle, prepare or distribute food, you may be considered a food business" (gov.uk).
- "You are required to register at least 28 days before trading."
- Registration with your local authority is free. It is a notification rather than a licence, so confirm the process and any local requirements with your own local authority.
- It applies to more than restaurants: trading from home, from a mobile unit or temporary premises, and online or through distance selling are all covered, as is food distribution or brokerage run from an office.
- Some businesses handling products of animal origin need approval rather than simple registration. Check with your local authority if that could apply to you.
Registering is not the same as being ready. Registration triggers the local authority's interest in your premises, and an environmental health officer will want to see a kitchen that is finished, cleanable and equipped with the right facilities. Register on time, but design the kitchen to pass first.
What the fit-out has to deliver
- Cleanable surfaces
- Food hygiene law sets requirements for the design, layout and finish of food premises. In practice that means sound, cleanable and where necessary disinfectable surfaces: slip-resistant flooring with coved skirtings, hygienic wall cladding behind wet and cooking areas, and washable ceilings.
- Ventilation
- Adequate extraction over the cooking line, a compliant discharge, and enough make-up air. See the extraction guide.
- Hand washing and sinks
- Dedicated hand wash basins with hot and cold water, separate from food preparation and washing-up sinks, positioned where staff will actually use them.
- Drainage and grease
- Adequate drainage and a grease management solution sized for your menu. See the grease and drainage guide.
- Temperature control and storage
- Refrigeration and freezer capacity with monitoring, plus separation of raw and ready-to-eat storage designed into the layout rather than managed by hope.
- Staff facilities
- Changing provision and toilets that do not open directly onto food areas, plus waste storage that can be kept clean and secure.
Consents and lead times to line up early
- Planning: change of use where the unit was not previously a food premises, plus any conditions on cooking odour, hours and the flue.
- Landlord's licence to alter, particularly for the extract route, roof penetrations and any plant location.
- Gas and electrical supply: meter or supply upgrades run to the network operator's timetable, not yours.
- Building regulations where the works are notifiable: check with your local authority building control or a registered building control approver (gov.uk).
- Food business registration, at least 28 days before you intend to trade.
- Licensing, if you will sell alcohol or provide late night refreshment, which has its own application and consultation period.
The mistake that costs the most
Signing a lease before establishing that the unit can take the kitchen. Rent starts, the programme starts, and then the extract route turns out to need a consent the landlord will not give, or the supply needs an upgrade with a long lead time. Survey the building before you commit, and get the fit-out priced on that unit specifically.