Dunedin's restaurants and cafes have another reason to keep their cleanliness standards high, with a Dunedin City Council website that grades food premises proving popular with diners.
Since its launch last November 24, the site has had 18,056 searches from 3942 visitors.
After an initial flood of visitors - 4239 searches on launch day - visits have settled down to a steady 250 a day, although that increased to about 500 in the two weeks before Christmas.
"This means the trend is for people to do multiple searches or to check back on various places they intend to dine at," council environmental health team leader Ros MacGill said yesterday.
The website, which allows people to check on the rating before they go out to eat, is part of the council's strategy to clean up Dunedin's food premises.
A 2004 review identified 30 to 40 as an ongoing risk to diners.
The strategy introduced a grading system of A to D grade, with gradings displayed in the outlet.
Premises given a D grade can be closed.
While there were still "problem premises", only eight had been closed in the past six months, a significant improvement from before the strategy was introduced, Ms MacGill said.
The council was working closely with those premises, and they were getting better.
Ms MacGill said the response to the site had surpassed expectations, with a big increase in the number of people informed about the grades.
Before, only a limited number of telephone inquiries were received, she said.
