EatSafe Brisbane
Maz April 3rd, 2010
Restaurateurs eat out too! 
At Baguette we welcome the Brisbane City Council’s initiative to introduce the Eat Safe system, which will rate restaurants, cafes, takeaways and bakeries’ food hygiene.
Council inspectors already regularly check businesses where food is prepared, but this new system will be more transparent because restaurants etc will be encouraged to display their rating to the public. I do, however, have some concerns about how the 5 star rating system will be understood by the general public.I would have thought that we are either ‘compliant’ with the health standards … or not. And therefore it is either safe to eat food produced by an outlet … or it is not.
If a rating of 3 stars (out of a possible 5 stars) is ‘compliant’ then what do we have to do to be awarded an exulted 5 stars? This information is not available yet. I am guessing that in the case of Baguette, which is in a 34 year old building, a crack in the ceiling or a chipped tile would preclude us from getting the top 5 star rating. But how will the public view us if we are awarded 3 or 4 stars? Will they judge that food produced by us may be a bit suspect because we did not get 5 stars?
Shonky businesses need to be forced to upgrade their premises and health practices, or go out of business. Nobody would argue with that premise. The devil will be in the detail.
Its purpose is hide the bad health and safety standards of crap food outlets how ingenious !
The Brisbane EatSafe star system seems to have sunk without a trace. Baguette was visited last year and awarded 4 stars (out of 5), which we have dutifully afixed to our front door. But I have heard nothing in the press about it, nor has any customer commented upon it.