Use cases by sector
A food shop that also makes its own
Selling what you buy and selling what you make are not the same activity, even under one roof.
A butcher making burgers, a greengrocer pressing juices, a corner shop with takeaway dishes, a bakery that also resells. It is the most widespread model and the one that causes most confusion, because two activities that look nothing alike on paper share the same premises.
What changes depending on what you do with the product
| What you do | What you answer for | What documentation it carries |
|---|---|---|
| Selling what you buy, as is | Storing and selling it properly | Your suppliers' papers, plus goods-in checks |
| Cutting, packing or mixing | What comes out of your hands | Plus what you do and with what |
| Making a new product | The whole product | Ingredients, process, allergens and what you declare |
| Serving for eating in | What is served at that moment | And informing whoever asks what it contains |
Important
The step from the first row to the rest is crossed without noticing: **the day you open a pack and do something with what is inside, you stop being the reseller and become the maker**. That tray of marinated meat or that fresh juice no longer carries your supplier's label: it carries yours, and you answer for what it says. It is not a new formality, it is a change of role that happens within a single working day.
The minimum you must be able to show
- 1
For what you buy: who sold it and when it arrived
Delivery note and batch. That is what lets you look backwards if there is a problem.
- 2
For what you make: what each item contains
With allergens identified, which is the first thing you will be asked.
- 3
What you do to keep it right
Cleaning, temperatures, goods-in checks: your own records.
- 4
And the training of whoever handles food
Always requested, and almost always out of date.
Watch out
What causes most trouble in a shop is not the preparation: it is **the label on what you pack for sale**. When you prepare trays and put them on the counter with a price, that pack has to say what is in it. It is where a small shop doing things properly picks up a warning — not for how it prepares food, but for what is missing from the label it printed itself.
If you also sell to other businesses
Worth knowing
Which records are compulsory, what must appear on each label and what is required to prepare food on the same premises where it is sold depend on food regulations and on your region. **Your adviser or the relevant health officer confirms that**; here we explain where the line between reselling and making sits, because it orders everything else.
›Does preparing only a little count the same?
Quantity does not change the role: if it comes from your hands, it is yours.
›Is the supplier's spec enough for what I prepare?
For the ingredient yes; for your product no: you define that one.
›What if I only cut it up?
Cutting is already handling, and it carries its own records.
A real case
The situation
A butcher starts selling prepared trays under its own label.
What you do
- Defines what each preparation contains, allergens included, before it hits the counter
What you get
The label they print says what it has to say, and the warning does not come from there.
The situation
A shop that also prepares food gets an inspection and cannot tell what it buys from what it makes.
What you do
- Separates the supplier file from the preparation file
- Records what goes into each preparation
- Keeps both accessible from the counter
What you get
You answer for what is sold, bought or prepared, without leaving the shop.
The situation
Preparation uses a raw material whose sheet has expired.
What you do
- Records expiries per reference
What you get
The warning arrives before preparing with it.
The situation
A customer asks about allergens in a prepared product.
What you do
- Derives it from the recorded ingredients
What you get
The answer arrives at the counter.
The situation
An ingredient changes and the label stays the same.
What you do
- Reviews which preparations contain it
What you get
The label keeps telling the truth.
The situation
An ingredient problem must be contained.
What you do
- Checks which preparations used it
What you get
Scope narrows to what is affected.
The situation
Small suppliers do not send their sheets.
What you do
- Asks for little, with an easy place to upload
What you get
The sheet arrives without chasing.
The situation
The documentation sits in a folder in the back room.
What you do
- Captures it and stores it in the file
What you get
It is shown from the counter.
This article answers
- shop that sells and prepares food documentation
- I make takeaway dishes in my shop
- what paperwork if I prepare and sell
- kitchen inside a shop