Sprinkles Gelato in Salisbury has had a complete turnaround in the past six months - and its efforts have not gone unnoticed.
In July 2021, food hygiene inspectors from Wiltshire Council found multiple hygiene issues and the premises on New Canal was issued a rating of 0.
This year, despite all the challenges posed by the pandemic, Sprinkles achieved a rating of 5 - the highest.
READ MORE: January food hygiene ratings - including Sprinkles Gelato and Amesbury KFC
Area Manager Habil Ali who stepped in as store manager in Salisbury last year said: “There was a struggle in the first couple of months when we put all the measures in place.
“It didn’t help because of the lack of staff, but we slowly overcame that and we are still in the process of making it even better.
“My goal is to bring back trust from the public to the company so that they’re aware that we made changes necessary for them to feel safe, happy and return to Sprinkles and enjoy themselves.”
Habil described how the team has taken multiple steps to avoid risks, including giving better allergen advice, taking a more structured approach in the store, separating and covering food items, and focusing on staff training.
Sprinkles Gelato’s legal Counsel Rebecca Elliot explained the head office’s role in making improvements, after they took over from the previous owners who were franchisees.
She said: “We’re different to those owners and we have a different structure in place and a different management in place to make everything stay and retain at five star.
“We do periodic checks from the head office now on all stores to make sure it continues that way.”
Mrs Elliot admitted that beforehand "it wasn’t great, obviously" which is why they brought Habil in to "take the bull by the horns".
“As a family business we’re quite hands on,” she added, “whilst we’ve grown over the years, we are a big company but we are a family.”
“We’ve really tried hard, and we’ve had bad press, and some of it obviously for the predecessors, we just really want to make everyone aware that we have put a lot of effort into getting everything up to scratch and maintaining it for a substantial time.”
The new rating was awarded after an unannounced inspection on January 7, and from Monday, January 17, Sprinkles Gelato have said they're back on delivery platforms.
Wiltshire Council Cabinet Member for Public Health & Public Protection Cllr Ian Blair-Pilling said: “We have been working with the new management team, conducting further visits and the non-compliances that were first found in the July visit are now being complied with.
“Under the FHRS, rules do not permit a change to the food hygiene rating as a result of an officer revisiting a food business.
"However, the business operator is at liberty to apply for a further unannounced re-rating inspection, an option which was taken up by this particular food business."
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