Waitrose food hygiene ratings
There are 347 Waitrose sites in the United Kingdom with a published food hygiene rating. Each is inspected by its own local council, the chain does not rate itself, and a rating earned in one town says nothing about the branch in the next. 7 sites are in Scotland, which uses a pass-or-improve scheme rather than a score out of five, and so are not counted in the figures below.
How Waitrose scores
97% of rated Waitrose branches hold the top score of 5, and 100% hold a 4 or better. The chain averages 4.97 out of 5, a strikingly consistent record, well above the roughly 70% of all UK food businesses that manage a 5.
| 5 out of 5 | 325 | 97% | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 out of 5 | 9 | 3% | |
| 3 out of 5 | 0 | 0% | |
| 2 out of 5 | 0 | 0% | |
| 1 out of 5 | 0 | 0% | |
| 0 out of 5 | 0 | 0% |
A further 13 branches are awaiting inspection, exempt, or in Scotland, none of which sit on the 0–5 scale.
Lowest-rated branches
Not one Waitrose branch in the country currently sits at 2 or below.
Questions about Waitrose
What is Waitrose's food hygiene rating?
Waitrose does not have a single rating. Every one of its 347 UK sites is inspected and rated separately by its own local council. 97% of them hold the top score of 5, and the chain averages 4.97 out of 5.
Is Waitrose clean?
By the only measure a regulator publishes, 97% of Waitrose branches were found to have very good hygiene standards at their last inspection. But a rating describes a branch, not a brand, though in this case not one branch sits at 2 or below.
Which Waitrose has the worst hygiene rating?
None. No Waitrose branch in the UK currently holds a rating of 2 or below.
Who inspects Waitrose?
Not Waitrose. Environmental health officers at each site's local council carry out the inspection, unannounced, and set the rating. The Food Standards Agency publishes the result. A chain cannot rate itself, and cannot change a rating.
Where the branches are
The councils inspecting the most Waitrose branches.
Westminster, Wandsworth, Barnet, Wiltshire, Buckinghamshire, Dorset, Richmond-Upon-Thames, Islington
Other chains
Data from the Food Standards Agency and Food Standards Scotland under the Open Government Licence. Branches are identified from the business names councils publish; one trading under an unusual name may not be counted here. This site is not affiliated with Waitrose.