The hospitality industry is, for good reason, fairly heavily regulated. The regulations, what’s more, are always evolving, in order to keep up with changes in technology and consumer behaviour.
Staying on the right side of the regulations can help a business in this industry avoid considerable legal and reputational risk. Thus, it’s something that’s always worth doing.
Understanding Key Hospitality Regulations
So, exactly what sort of regulations are we talking about? There are a few that are specific to the hospitality industry, while others apply more generally to businesses of every kind. Like every other kind of business, a hotel kitchen should respect the right of workers to a safe environment. But there may be hygiene and labelling concerns to think about, too.
Businesses that serve food for consumption on the premises will need to register with a local council and apply for an appropriate license. If you’re serving alcohol then you’ll need to secure an alcohol license, too. These licenses should be displayed prominently on the premises.
Monitoring Changes via Reliable Sources
As the manager of a hotel, or the owner of a restaurant, you might not have the legal expertise necessary to look out for new changes in the law and determine how they might affect your business. As such, it’s worth using a variety of sources to keep an eye on the state of the industry and get advice on what changes might be necessary. A simple email subscription, or a subscription to the right publication, might be very useful.
Specialised legal expertise might also be proactively recruited. Lawyers for restaurants might be able to help – even if you’re not facing any immediate legal challenges. This way, you’ll be able to react quickly when those challenges arise.
Compliance and Risk Management
Complying with a set of ever-changing regulations can be difficult. To give yourself the best chance of success, you might want to compose a checklist for compliance, which can be followed by every member of your team. To make good use of this, and other tools, your staff will need to be provided with the right training. Regular audits can also be helpful in uncovering problem areas.
Preparing for Future Changes
What might the future hold? It’s never easy to know in advance – but in most cases, regulators will provide some notice in the form of industry consultations and bulletins. Even if you keep yourself informed, however, there’s still the possibility that you might be occasionally blindsided. As such, it’s worth developing an agile, adaptable business model. If your existing way of doing things becomes suddenly unviable, you should be able to quickly pivot to a new one.
