The "one-size-fits-all approach" being taken to regulating the hospitality sector is being overhauled following a review of the sector.

Led by Regulation Minister David Seymour, the review found red tape and associated compliance costs were a big issue for many businesses, especially those operating on a smaller scale being required to meet obligations they said were beyond them.

"One business told the review that it was becoming a full-time job to complete the paperwork associated with food safety compliance," Seymour said.

"We need to stop treating small hospitality businesses as though they are fine dining restaurants with large scale commercial kitchens."

The government has accepted seven recommendations:

  • Moving some lower-risk hospitality businesses into lower-risk food safety categories
  • Creating a simpler, hospitality-specific Food Control Plan, including reducing record-keeping requirements
  • Reviewing and updating the full suite of operational policies and guidance to regulators to be simpler and more user-friendly
  • Removing recurring registration renewals
  • extending verification (compliance monitoring) periods for high-performing businesses
  • Allowing food truck compliance checks to be recognised across different council boundaries
  • Improving fee-setting arrangements through setting more specific and comprehensive principles for setting fees

Seymour said those changes would "make food safety rules within the hospitality sector proportionate to the actual risk of an issue arising".

One recommendation was not accepted by the government -to scale the food business levy by annual revenue with centralised collection.

Minister for Food Safety Andrew Hoggard said the changes would be in force as soon as practicable.

"We will put hospitality businesses into food safety categories which are proportionate to the level of risk they operate with.

"Low-risk small cafes might fall into the low-risk category, whereas a large-scale catering company might fall into the higher-risk category.”