Permits and notification

1Register the food business

Many people look for a food permit. It does not exist. What you do is a registration, and the municipality cannot say no to it. What they can do is come and visit and demand that you fix faults.

The notification is made on the municipality website and has to be in at least two weeks before you start handling food. If you open earlier it counts as an unregistered business and can give you a penalty fee.

• Details about the company, the space and who is responsible
• What you will cook and sell. Raw fish, meat and baking affect the riskklass.
• Roughly how many portions or guests per day
• A drawing of the kitchen is usually asked for, a simple sketch is normally enough
• If the business has changed owner it has to be registered again. The old registration does not follow along.

2What the inspector looks at the first time

The first visit comes shortly after opening and is rarely as bad as people think. The inspector wants to see that you are on top of things, not that you know the rules by heart.

Have the binder out and show temperatures for the last few days. That makes a good impression right away.

• An egenkontroll, your own food safety plan, written for your kitchen, not a template you downloaded and never read
• Temperatures in fridges and freezers, measured and written down
• A hand wash basin with soap and paper, separate from the dish sink
• A routine for keeping raw meat and finished food apart
• Allergens: you have to be able to answer what is in every dish

3Fire safety and escape routes

As the owner you are responsible for fire safety in the space. For a restaurant it is mostly about the fryer, the imkanal and the guests being able to get out.

The fire service carries out inspections and can arrive unannounced. A binder with routines, one responsible person and two serviced extinguishers goes a long way in a small place.

• Hand extinguishers and a fire blanket in the kitchen, checked every year
• A clear escape route that is not used for storage. That is the most common remark.
• The imkanal has to be cleaned regularly by a company that gives you a report
• Grease in the duct is the most common cause of fires in restaurant kitchens
• Write down who does what if a fire starts and go through it with the staff

4Signs, music and waste

A few smaller things that are easy to miss and that cost money when they arrive as a surprise.

• A sign or an awning facing the street usually needs bygglov, a building permit. Apply before the print shop gets going.
• If you play music in the space you need a licence from Stim and Sami
• Waste and food waste have to be sorted according to municipal rules. Order bins in good time.
• The fettavskiljare has to be emptied on schedule, and you have to be able to show that it was done
• If you have staff you need systematic work environment management. For a small kitchen a couple of pages is often enough.