Whether you’re constantly on Facebook or find yourself scrolling through Instagram regularly, you’ve likely come across at least a couple of social media-exclusive food businesses. From luxury chocolate to cake that’s posted through your door, social media food is a bigger business than ever before. With many people using their baking and cooking skills over lockdown to start a business of their own, the industry is booming.

But whether you’re already months deep into a brand-new venture or you’re just considering setting up for yourself, food handling and safety isn’t something you want to leave to one side. For your business to be safe and successful, the proper training and knowledge are essential from day one. Here’s why all social media businesses should have an accredited food handling certificate before they even think about selling:

You want to provide your customers with the best experience

As a new or growing business, providing your customers with an excellent experience is your number one priority. While quality customer service and an overall great experience is an excellent place to start, training in food handling can give you the extra insight and expertise to ensure your product is the best it can be. If you want to impress your customers and ensure your bakes or products are of the highest standard, getting an accredited food handling certificate is a good place to begin. Food safety is an excellent step in a formal quality checking process, ensuring everything is perfect from start to finish.

Your business needs to meet all food handling standards

Whether you’re running your business from your own kitchen or at commercial premises, you’ll need to meet the same high standards defined by the Australian government. As such, proper food hygiene and safety certifications can help to ensure you pass any and all inspections. If you want to keep your business running in the long term, you’ll need to tick those all-important boxes. Meeting food safety standards is the bare minimum your business should do, and the correct training can make the process far easier throughout your business operation. If you want to make your business a long-time staple of your specific niche, you’ll need all the necessary certifications to back it up.

It’s easy for bad reviews to spread, so why not avoid them in the first place?

A bad review can spell trouble for any small business. While presentation, taste, and other superficial matters are easier to resolve, food safety and hygiene complaints are not. Whether your customer has received food that isn’t safe, or they’ve become sick due to lack of hygiene, word can get around quickly. If you want to retain your customers and ensure you never get negative reviews about your safety and hygiene, keeping up with the necessary measures is a must. With a food handling course, you have all the information you need to avoid bad reviews in the first place.

Good safety certification ensures your business practices are safe for your customers

Repeat customers are a vital way that small businesses sustain themselves. You want your customers to value your brand and purchase from you time and time again. Part of keeping those customers coming back is having all the business practices in place to keep them wanting more. Formal food safety certifications are one of the ways you can ensure those best practices are in place. By maintaining a consistently high standard, you can ensure the same quality of service for your customers every time they buy from you, which in turn could lead to more word-of-mouth recommendations over time.

Improve your business legitimacy in comparison to your competitors

Throughout the pandemic, hundreds of small businesses popped up across Australia. With so much more competition than ever before, standing out is a must for any business looking to get ahead. Your professionalism can be one of the best ways to stand out from the crowd, making your brand the preferable choice for hygiene and safety-conscious shoppers in your particular niche. If you can advertise full accreditation, your business looks far more appealing to the average potential customer than a brand without any licensing or safety certifications at all.

Are you planning on starting your own small business? Or are you already working away on your own social media venture? Whether you’re almost ready to launch or your brand is already out there, food safety certification from the American Institute of Accreditation is the best place to start. See our online courses today, or get in touch to find out more about what we could offer you.