A customer calls your restaurant and says the meal they ate last night made them sick. It is an uncomfortable moment. You may feel defensive, worried about your reputation or tempted to promise a refund and move on.
Pause. A suspected food poisoning complaint is not proof that your kitchen caused the illness, but it is a food safety signal that deserves a calm and structured response. What you record and do in the first hour can protect the customer, other diners and your business.
Start with the customer, not a conclusion
Thank the customer for telling you and acknowledge that they are unwell. Do not argue, blame another meal or state that your food definitely caused the illness. The source usually cannot be established from one phone call because symptoms may begin hours or days after exposure and several illnesses can look similar.
A useful response is: “I am sorry you are unwell. I would like to record the details carefully so we can check what happened and take any action needed.” This communicates concern without making a conclusion before the facts are known.
Know when medical care is the priority
Do not try to diagnose the customer. Encourage them to seek medical advice if symptoms are severe, persistent or concerning. Urgent medical help may be needed for signs such as difficulty breathing, confusion, severe dehydration, blood in vomit or stool, or rapidly worsening illness. Babies, older people, pregnant people and anyone with reduced immunity may be more vulnerable.
MPI asks people who suspect foodborne illness to contact their local Public Health Unit. Give the customer the link to report suspected foodborne illness so health officials can collect the clinical and food history needed to assess the complaint.
Record the complaint while the details are fresh
Use a complaint form or incident record rather than relying on memory. Note the customer’s name and contact details, with their permission, plus the date and time the complaint was received and the name of the staff member who handled it.
Ask what they ate and drank, when they visited, when symptoms began and what symptoms they experienced. Record whether anyone else shared the meal, whether those people became unwell and whether the customer has sought medical care or reported the illness. Ask whether any food remains and advise them not to consume it. Do not ask them to send food to your kitchen unless an investigating authority gives that instruction.
Write down the customer’s words accurately. Avoid changing “I felt sick” into a diagnosis such as norovirus or Salmonella. Store personal and health information securely and share it only with people who need it for the response or official investigation.
Protect food before you begin investigating
If the reported dish, ingredient or batch may still be on site, identify it and stop it being sold until the risk has been assessed. Label it clearly, separate it from usable stock and keep it under the correct storage conditions. Do not quietly throw it away. The product, packaging, batch details or a retained sample may become useful evidence.
Check whether the same ingredient was used in other dishes or sent to another site. If you cannot confidently identify the affected batch, the safe hold may need to cover more stock. Record what was isolated, the quantity, its location and who made the decision.
If there is an immediate risk to customers, act first. Stop the process, remove the food from sale and contact your registration authority, verifier or New Zealand Food Safety for direction. A refund does not replace food safety action.
Build a timeline from evidence
Work backwards from the customer’s order. Confirm the order time, menu item, modifiers, allergen requests, staff on duty and the batch or preparation period involved. Then follow each ingredient through delivery, storage, preparation, cooking, cooling, reheating and service.
Review the records that could test your assumptions. These may include fridge and freezer readings, cooking and cooling results, hot holding checks, delivery records, cleaning tasks, probe checks, pest reports, staff rosters and staff illness records. Look for missing checks, unusual values, equipment faults and corrective actions.
Speak to staff separately and ask open questions. What happened during preparation? Was the kitchen unusually busy? Did a fridge alarm, delivery problem, power interruption or allergen concern occur? Record what staff remember without coaching them toward a preferred answer.
Check whether the complaint is isolated
Search bookings, online orders, messages, reviews and previous complaint records for similar reports. One complaint may be unrelated to your food. Several people with similar symptoms after eating the same item or batch is a much stronger warning and should be escalated promptly.
Decide who needs to be told
The right contact depends on what you discover and the food safety system your business operates under. Follow your Food Control Plan or National Programme and the instructions of your registration authority.
Contact your local council, registration authority, verifier or New Zealand Food Safety promptly if the complaint suggests a serious or continuing risk, more than one person is affected, a high risk customer is involved, staff illness may have contaminated food, or suspect food has been supplied beyond your premises. Be ready to provide your timeline, traceability information, affected products and actions already taken.
If food you supplied to customers or another business may be unsafe, do not try to manage a recall alone. MPI’s food recall guidance for businesses explains how New Zealand Food Safety coordinates recalls and whether action is needed at trade or consumer level.
Fix the immediate risk and the underlying cause
If your review finds a control failure, deal with the affected food first. Then correct the reason it happened. Moving stock from a warm fridge protects food for the moment. Repairing the unit, checking the probe, reviewing the monitoring frequency and confirming stable temperatures address the wider problem.
Possible actions include disposing of unsafe food with authorisation, repairing equipment, deep cleaning and sanitising affected areas, excluding an unwell food handler, changing a cooling method, retraining staff, updating allergen communication or improving traceability. Record each decision, who completed it and how you confirmed it worked.
Do not alter an old record to make the result look better. A genuine record showing a problem and a sensible response is stronger evidence than a perfect sheet that cannot be trusted.
Follow up with the customer professionally
Tell the customer that you have reviewed the concern and explain any practical action you can appropriately share. Avoid naming staff, disclosing another customer’s information or making a medical conclusion. If an authority is investigating, say so and follow its communication advice.
Handle refunds or goodwill gestures separately from the safety investigation. A commercial gesture can show care, but it should not be used to discourage reporting or to obtain silence. Keep a record of follow up contact and any agreed action.
A practical response plan for the first 24 hours
During the call: listen, record the meal and symptom details, encourage appropriate medical care and explain how suspected foodborne illness can be reported.
Within the first hour: alert the manager, identify the order, isolate relevant food and packaging, preserve records and check for other complaints.
During the same shift: trace the ingredients and process, review temperature and cleaning evidence, ask staff what happened and assess staff illness.
As soon as a serious pattern appears: stop affected sales and contact the appropriate council, verifier, registration authority or New Zealand Food Safety.
Before closing the incident: document the finding, complete corrective actions, confirm that controls are working and follow up with the customer.
Prepare before the phone rings
The best complaint response starts before a complaint arrives. Give staff a short script for receiving concerns, a clear escalation contact and one place to record facts. Make sure managers can retrieve orders, supplier details, temperature records, rosters and corrective actions without searching through several folders.
Run a simple scenario during staff training. Choose a recent menu item and ask the team to identify its supplier, preparation time, cook or cooling record and staff on duty. If the trail breaks, improve it now rather than during an investigation.
For official information, use MPI’s pages for food complaints, suspected foodborne illness and business recall guidance. Always follow the food safety plan and registration conditions applying to your business.
A complaint handled well is not just reputation management. It is a real test of whether your kitchen can trace food, find reliable evidence and respond when a control may have failed.
If your current records make that investigation difficult, see how the Jiko food safety app for NZ kitchens helps hospitality teams complete checks, record corrective actions and find information when it matters.