Legal
How we provide consultancy and procurement, in plain English. Your proposal sets out the scope, fee and timings for your work.
These terms apply to all consultancy, training, audits and procurement provided by Chef Hospitality Partners Ltd (company number [to add]). The contract is formed when you accept our written proposal, by signing it, confirming by email or paying the first invoice. If the proposal and these terms conflict, the proposal takes priority.
If you are an individual planning a food business, rather than a company, you may have legal rights as a consumer, including the right to cancel within 14 days of agreeing the work. If you ask us to start within those 14 days, you will pay for the work done up to the point you cancel. Once the work is complete, the right to cancel ends. Nothing in these terms affects your statutory rights.
We carry out the work in your proposal with reasonable care and skill, using suitably qualified and experienced people.
We give honest recommendations, including when we think an idea or plan needs to change.
We tell you if we have any interest that could affect our advice, for example where we recommend buying through our own procurement service.
We hold professional indemnity insurance [and public and products liability insurance].
Give us accurate, complete information, and access to your site, people and records as agreed.
Tell us about anything that could affect the work, including inspections, notices, complaints or incidents.
Make your own decisions. We recommend; you decide. As the food business operator, you remain legally responsible for the food you produce and sell, for your food safety management system and for complying with the law.
Put recommendations into practice and keep them in place. Systems only work when they are followed.
Mock inspections and audits reflect what we see on the day. Food hygiene ratings and enforcement decisions are made only by local authority officers. We do not promise or guarantee any rating, inspection result or outcome of an appeal or re-visit. Councils may charge for a re-visit; that fee is yours to pay.
Every piece of work has a fixed fee or agreed rate, set out in your proposal before work starts.
Payment terms depend on the size of the project and are set out in your proposal. Smaller pieces of work are usually invoiced on completion. Larger projects are split into stages, with an upfront payment and the rest invoiced as each stage is delivered. Ongoing support is invoiced monthly in advance.
Invoices are payable within 14 days.
Travel and other expenses are charged only if agreed in your proposal.
Fees are shown excluding VAT, which is added at the current rate where it applies.
If an invoice is paid late, we may charge interest and compensation under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998, and pause work until the account is up to date.
If the work looks like going beyond the agreed scope, we stop and ask before spending extra time. Changes are agreed in writing.
If you cancel or move a site visit or training session with less than 24 hours’ notice, the full fee for that visit is payable, plus any travel costs we cannot recover.
If we need to move a visit, we give as much notice as we can and rearrange at no cost to you.
Ongoing support runs month to month. Either of us can end it with 30 days’ written notice, effective at the end of a month.
Once you have paid in full, you own the documents we create specifically for you, such as your HACCP plan, allergen matrix, recipe cards, specifications and reports, and may use them in your business. We keep ownership of our own templates, methods, checklists and know-how, and give you a licence to use them in your business. You may not resell them or share them outside your business.
Documents reflect your operation at the time. If your menu, suppliers, equipment or processes change, they will need reviewing.
We keep your recipes, figures, supplier terms and other business information confidential and use them only for your work. We are happy to sign a non-disclosure agreement. We may use anonymised, combined data, for example average price movements, in our market note, but never in a way that identifies you. We handle personal data as set out in our privacy policy. Where we process personal data on your behalf, we agree data processing terms with you.
Nothing in these terms limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud, or for anything else that cannot be limited by law.
Otherwise, our total liability for each project is limited to the fees you paid for that project, or for ongoing support the fees paid in the 12 months before the claim. We are not liable for loss of profit, revenue, business or goodwill, or for indirect or consequential loss. We are not liable for loss caused by information you gave us being inaccurate, or by recommendations not being followed.
Either of us may end the contract straight away by written notice if the other seriously breaks it and does not put it right within 14 days of being asked, or becomes insolvent. You pay for work done up to the date it ends.
Complaints: see our complaints page.
Events outside our control: neither of us is liable for delay caused by events outside our reasonable control.
Non-solicitation: [optional, for solicitor to consider].
Law: the law of England and Wales applies and its courts have exclusive jurisdiction.
Credit accounts are available to companies and LLPs, subject to a credit check, a credit limit and a personal guarantee from a director. Sole traders and partnerships pay before delivery. Full terms are in the Customer Supply Agreement you sign when opening an account.
We buy products from approved suppliers and sell them to you. Suppliers deliver direct to your site. You receive one invoice from us. We choose and approve suppliers on food safety, quality, reliability and value, and hold their certificates, insurance and product specifications on file.
We set the price of each product. Our prices include our costs and margin. The price confirmed when you place an order is the price you pay for that order. Prices for future orders can change with the market; we tell you about significant changes on your main lines as early as we can.
We pass on the product specification and allergen information we receive from suppliers.
We will not substitute a product without telling you first and giving you its allergen information. You may refuse a substitute.
You are responsible for checking deliveries, for the allergen information you give your customers and for how products are stored, prepared and sold.
For hazardous non-food products such as cleaning chemicals, we pass on the supplier’s safety data sheet.
Risk in the products passes to you on delivery. Ownership passes to you once we have been paid in full for them. Delivery days and times are agreed with each supplier.
Check deliveries on arrival. Tell us about short, damaged, out-of-temperature or incorrect products within 48 hours of delivery for chilled, frozen and perishable goods and within 7 days for ambient goods. Keep the products and any packaging where possible. We arrange a credit, replacement or collection with the supplier.
We keep records of which supplier supplied each product and where it was delivered, so products can be traced. If a supplier or authority withdraws or recalls a product, we tell you as soon as we know, with instructions, and you follow them. Tell us straight away if you have any reason to think a product is unsafe.
Procurement invoices are payable within 14 days. If payment is late, we may charge interest and compensation under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 and hold further orders until the account is up to date.
Our liability for any product is limited to replacing it or refunding its price, except where the law does not allow this to be limited, including for death or personal injury and under the Consumer Protection Act 1987.
Either of us can close a procurement account with 30 days’ written notice. Orders placed before the account closes are delivered and invoiced as normal, and all outstanding invoices become due.
