How to Register a Food Business with Your Local Authority

You must register before you trade

If you're starting a food business in the UK, registration with your local authority is a legal requirement. You must register at least 28 days before you start trading. There's no fee, it can't be refused, and it applies to every type of food business - from a large-scale manufacturer to a home baker selling at a farmers' market.

Failure to register is a criminal offence. It's also completely avoidable, because the process is straightforward and free.

Who needs to register?

Any business or individual that handles, prepares, stores, distributes, or sells food needs to register. This includes:

• Bakeries, dairies, and food manufacturers
• Restaurants, cafes, and takeaways
• Food trucks and mobile caterers
• Market stall holders
• Home-based food businesses (even if you're just selling cakes to friends)
• Online food sellers
• Meal prep and delivery services
• Farm shops that handle or process food
• Bed and breakfasts and guest houses that serve food
• Childminders who provide meals
• Food businesses operating from shared or rented commercial kitchens

The only exemptions are primary producers (farmers, fishermen) who are covered by separate registration requirements, and occasional private events where food is provided on a genuinely non-commercial basis.

If you're in doubt, register. There's no penalty for registering when you didn't strictly need to, but there are penalties for not registering when you should have.

How to register: step by step

1. Find your local authority. This is the council where your food business premises are located - not where you live (if different). You can find your local authority on the Food Standards Agency website at food.gov.uk.

2. Access the registration form. Most councils offer online registration through their website. Search for "food business registration" on your council's site. Some councils use the national food.gov.uk portal, which routes your registration to the correct local authority automatically.

3. Complete the form. You'll need to provide:

   • Your full name and contact details
   • Your business name (if different from your personal name)
   • The address of the premises where food will be handled
   • The nature of your food business (what type of food you'll produce or sell)
   • Your planned start date (or the date you took over an existing business)

4. Submit the form. Online submissions are processed immediately. If you submit by post or email, allow a few days for processing.

5. Receive confirmation. Your local authority will acknowledge your registration. This isn't a licence or approval - it simply confirms that your business is registered and on the council's records.

That's it. The entire process takes about 10 minutes online.

What registration does and doesn't mean

Registration does:

• Put your business on the local authority's register of food businesses
• Alert the Environmental Health team that you exist (and may need an inspection)
• Fulfil your legal obligation under EU Regulation 852/2004

Registration does not:

• Approve your premises or operations
• Confirm that your food is safe
• Grant you a food hygiene rating (that comes after inspection)
• Replace the need for any other licences or permits you might need (planning permission, alcohol licence, street trading licence, etc.)

Registration is not a quality mark. It's a legal notification. The real assessment comes when the Environmental Health Officer visits.

What happens after you register

Once you're registered, three things will happen:

1. Your local authority records your business. You'll appear on the register of food businesses for your area.

2. An EHO inspection will be scheduled. This could happen within days of your start date, or it could take several weeks - it depends on how busy your local authority is and how they prioritise new registrations. The inspection may be unannounced.

3. You'll receive a food hygiene rating. After the inspection, you'll be given a rating from 0 to 5 under the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme (FHRS). In Wales and Northern Ireland, you're legally required to display this rating. In England, display is voluntary but strongly recommended.

Preparing for your first EHO visit

Don't wait for the EHO to arrive before getting your food safety systems in place. From your first day of trading, you should have:

• Food safety procedures based on HACCP principles - for simple operations, the FSA's Safer Food, Better Business (SFBB) pack may be sufficient. For manufacturers, a formal HACCP plan is expected.
• Temperature monitoring - evidence that you're checking and recording fridge, freezer, and cooking temperatures regularly.
• Cleaning schedules - documented evidence that your premises are being cleaned to a defined schedule.
• Allergen information - accurate allergen data for everything you produce or sell.
• Staff training evidence - food hygiene certificates for anyone handling food.
• A clean, well-maintained premises - the EHO will physically inspect your facility.

The EHO assesses three areas:

1. Hygienic food handling - how food is prepared, cooked, cooled, stored, reheated, and served. Are you following safe practices? Are you managing cross-contamination risks? Are you controlling temperatures?
2. Physical condition of premises - is the building suitable for food production? Are surfaces clean and in good repair? Is there adequate ventilation, lighting, and handwashing?
3. Food safety management - do you have documented procedures? Are you following them? Can you demonstrate compliance?

Each area is scored, and the scores combine to produce your overall food hygiene rating.

How to get a 5-star rating

A 5-star rating means "very good." It tells your customers and buyers that you take food safety seriously. Here's what it takes:

1. Have documented procedures and follow them. The EHO wants to see a system that's in use, not a folder of documents that was created the night before.
2. Keep consistent records. Temperature logs, cleaning records, training records - completed regularly and accurately.
3. Maintain a clean premises. Not just clean on the surface - behind equipment, underneath shelving, inside fridges, extraction filters.
4. Demonstrate knowledge. If the EHO asks you about your procedures, you should be able to explain them confidently. If they ask your staff, your staff should know the basics.
5. Show continuous improvement. Evidence that you review and update your procedures, train staff regularly, and act on issues when they arise.

One of our users, Anthony at That Green Life, received just two hours' notice before an EHO inspection. He pulled up his records on FoodSafe, generated his audit pack, and walked the inspector through a fully digital compliance system. The result? A 5-star rating.

That's not a story about heroic last-minute preparation. It's a story about having the right systems running every day, so that when the inspector arrives - whether with two hours' notice or two minutes' notice - you're ready.

Special situations

Taking over an existing food business. You still need to register, even if the previous owner was registered. The old registration doesn't transfer. Register within 28 days of taking over.

Changing your food business. If you significantly change the nature of your operations (for example, moving from a cafe to a food manufacturer), you should update your registration.

Moving premises. If you move your food business to a new address, you need to register with the local authority for the new location.

Multiple premises. If you operate from more than one location, you need to register each premises separately with its respective local authority.

Home-based businesses. You can register a home-based food business. The EHO will inspect the areas of your home used for food production. Be aware that some mortgage agreements and tenancy contracts restrict commercial activity - check before you start.

After registration: what's next?

Registration is step one. It gets you legal. But it doesn't get you compliant. After registering, your next priorities should be:

1. Build your food safety management system - SFBB pack for simple operations, or a formal HACCP plan for manufacturers
2. Set up daily record keeping - temperature monitoring, cleaning records, delivery checks
3. Train your team - Level 2 Food Hygiene as a minimum for anyone handling food
4. Set up allergen management - ingredient records, allergen matrices, labelling
5. Prepare for your first EHO inspection - get your systems running before the inspector arrives, not after

FoodSafe is built for exactly this stage. When you're a new food business trying to get all your compliance systems in place at once, having pre-built document templates, digital record-keeping, and an AI that can build your HACCP plan through a conversation takes the complexity out of the process.

Food safety compliance, handled.