A Wirral food hygienist is keen to save hospitality businesses. Owner of 5 Star Food Safety Katy Elliott has a unique concept that consistently helps businesses receive a 5 Star food hygiene rating, saving them from closure and guaranteeing the safety of their customers.
Expert in the food business for more than 25 years, Katy Elliott provides businesses with a customised, user-friendly food safety system that ensures a 5-star rating every time. Offering staff training, allergen and nutrition labelling, audits, and random inspections, Katy has assisted countless hospitality businesses, turning some from 0 to 5 stars.
With a wealth of knowledge and experience, Katy is Environmental Health Department-compliant and gives businesses all the tools and training required to make sure they’re safe. Katy’s 5 Star Food Safety has become a must-have amongst North West hospitality business owners, from restaurants to hotels to food manufacturers.
Businesses who receive a 5-star food hygiene rating frequently use it as a powerful marketing tool to attract customers; a bad rating, on the other hand, can be catastrophic. A hospitality business’s reputation can be ruined over night by bad practices and poor hygiene, not to mention the fact that they can poison or even kill its customers!
Katy said:
“It all began for me back in 2000 when I supplied healthy meals to children’s day nurseries. My business grew and resulted in me having to become a food manufacturer and working even more closely with Wirral EHO. I caused Wirral EHO many problems due to the fact it was discovered, with the help of Shaun Whitlock, that I was following the Irish Food Safety Chilling System.”
“Eventually, a full HACCP system was produced around the Irish Food Chilling. Luckily, Wirral EHO never gave up on me and helped tremendously. Thankfully they still help today and I don’t cause them the headaches I used to give them!”
Katy continued:
“I’ve worked in the food industry ever since and founded 5 Star Food Safety in 2020 — seeing many businesses fail and realising I can help. The food hygiene guideline is very complex but my systems are so much easier to follow. Environmental Health visits are one of the biggest worries of every hospitality business owner so I put measures in place to guarantee they get 5 stars if they follow them.”
Meanwhile, her client Bon Bakery said:
“Thank you for the food hygiene system you designed for Bon Bakery. It’s been a pleasure to have you on site and your professionalism and positivity have been so appreciated! The system has given us more confidence and it’s great to have everything in one place and so easy to access and use. It’s great value for money and the team feels confident we’re doing everything we can to achieve 5 stars.”
A key area where Katy bridges the gap is with hospitality business owners who don’t speak English as their first language. Not fully understanding the complex guidelines can often lead to errors that put the business at risk, therefore Katy puts in simple systems and even translates them if necessary.
Katy explained:
“I’ve worked with some great businesses who are working safely but being marketed down on technicalities because they can’t understand the very complex guideline with complicated words. I genuinely love what I do — protecting businesses and their customers. Also, I’d like to give a big shout out to First Class Uniforms for my amazing new uniform!”
A passionate foodie, Katy also has a weekly ‘Foodie Friday’ radio show on Liverpool Live Radio and runs free networking events that connect hospitality businesses with other businesses that can help them. At a time where hospitality businesses are under more pressure than ever, having someone like Katy on their side can be the difference between success and failure.
Katy summarised:
“It’s tough out there for businesses with rising costs and it’s more competitive now than ever. The newspapers are quick to publish 0 hygiene ratings and in today’s world this often results in reputation damage and closure. That’s not to say it can’t be turned around though — I have taken a few businesses from 0 to 5 and today they are thriving.”
For a FREE consultation with Katy please call 07940 314 549 or email katy@5starfs.uk or for more information visit her website.
