How Should a Multi-Site Operator Run Food Safety and Licensing Training?
How multi-site hospitality operators run food safety and licensing training: role requirements set once, modules assigned across sites, per-person certificates, per-site expiry alerts, and what licensing officers ask for.
Set the requirement per role once (Level 2 for food handlers, Level 3 for managers, allergen awareness for everyone, a personal licence and DPS at each licensed site), assign the training modules to every site, record completions and certificates against the person, and let expiry alerts per site drive refreshers. Head office watches the training matrix for the estate; each site shows its own to the inspector or the licensing officer.
Key Facts
In Detail
Training in a group is two problems wearing one hat. Food safety training is about every food handler at every site holding a current Level 2, supervisors holding Level 3, and everyone who touches an order knowing the 14 allergens; the local authority checks it at inspection and it feeds the confidence in management score. Licensing training is about the Licensing Act 2003: a personal licence holder authorising every alcohol sale, a designated premises supervisor named on each premises licence, staff trained on Challenge 25 and refusals, and the records to prove it when the licensing officer or the police do a test purchase. Both have to be right at every site on any given day, and both depend on people who leave. The operators who manage this well stop treating training as a site problem. The requirement is set once for the business by role, so a new starter at any site inherits the same list. The modules are assigned across the estate, so a change to the allergen training reaches every site. The record is attached to the person, with the certificate stored, so a supervisor who moves sites carries their Level 3 with them. And expiry is watched per site, because that is where the inspector and the licensing officer turn up. In Paddl, training modules including in-app food hygiene training are assigned to sites or to the whole estate; completions and uploaded certificates sit against the person; role requirements decide who is compliant; the weekly digest lists expiries per site; and licences are tracked per premises with the DPS and the personal licence holders recorded, so head office can see which sites are exposed. Paddl records and tracks training; accredited external courses are still delivered by the provider.
The food safety requirement by role
Food handlers: Level 2 Food Hygiene, refreshed every three years in practice, plus allergen awareness and the site induction covering the SFBB safe methods. Supervisors and head chefs: Level 3. Anyone using chemicals: COSHH awareness. Anyone on the floor: allergen awareness and how to use the matrix. Set these once as role requirements and every site's matrix fills itself in.
The licensing requirement by site
Every licensed premises needs a named designated premises supervisor who holds a personal licence, and every alcohol sale must be made or authorised by a personal licence holder. Staff need Challenge 25 training with a refusals log kept at the site, and many licences carry conditions about training records. A group with twelve licensed sites is tracking twelve DPS appointments, the personal licence holders who cover each one, and refusals logs at every bar.
What the officer asks for
The EHO asks who is on shift and whether they are trained for what they are doing, and wants to see the matrix. The licensing officer asks who the DPS is, who authorised sales last Saturday, and to see the refusals log and Challenge 25 training records. Being able to show both on the tablet at the site, on the day, is the difference between a comment and a review.
Running training across sites
| Per site, on paper | Training platform only (Flow, iHasco) | Compliance platform with training (Paddl) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Requirement per role | Each manager decides | Set centrally | Set centrally |
| Delivery | External courses | E-learning | In-app modules plus external certificates stored |
| Record attached to | The site folder | The learner | The person, visible at every site they work |
| Expiry per site | Nobody | Learner reminders | Site manager and head office, in the digest |
| Licensing (DPS, personal licences) | Separate folder | Not covered | Tracked per premises alongside training |
| Shown to the inspector | Find the folder | Log in to the LMS | Site matrix on the tablet or exported |
Frequently Asked Questions
Does every member of staff need a personal licence?
No. Every alcohol sale must be made or authorised by a personal licence holder, and each premises needs a DPS who holds one. In practice groups license every manager and supervisor so that someone authorised is always on shift.
Can one training record cover a chef who works at three sites?
Yes. In Paddl training is attached to the person, and the person can be assigned to several sites, so their certificates show at each one and expire once.
Does Paddl provide the accredited Level 2 course?
Paddl includes in-app food hygiene training modules and records completions; accredited certificates from external providers are uploaded and stored against the person. Choose the provider your local authorities recognise.
Run every site to the same standard
Start a trial with your site count already set, or book a 30-minute group demo and see it with your numbers.