Compliance for cafés + restaurants in Australia

Food safety, the Hospitality Industry Award, Payday Super, plain English allergen labelling, liquor licensing, payroll tax, and right to disconnect — what hospitality operators actually need to know.

Hospitality has compliance hot-spots most other SMBs don't: food safety regimes (state-implemented FSANZ standards), high-error-rate award compliance (the Hospitality Industry General Award is among the most error-prone), liquor licensing if you serve alcohol, and — from February 2026 — Plain English Allergen Labelling.

From 1 January 2025, wage theft became a federal criminal offence. The FWO has prosecuted multiple celebrity hospitality groups (Calombaris/Made Establishment, Tetsuya's, Rockpool). Get the award right.

Below: the compliance picture in order of operational priority.

1. Food Safety Supervisor (Standard 3.2.2A)

Every Category 1 food business (most cafés, restaurants, takeaway, caterers) must have a Food Safety Supervisor reasonably available during food service. The FSS must have a nationally recognised qualification. State implementations vary — Vic, NSW and Qld have full regimes; SA and WA have lighter equivalents.

2. Food Safety Management Tool

Standard 3.2.2A also requires Category 1 businesses to use a Food Safety Management Tool — recording temperature checks, cleaning, sanitising, cold storage, hot holding, cooking, cooling, reheating. Often paper-based; increasingly digital. Local council EHO inspections check records.

3. Modern award compliance (Hospitality Industry Award)

Hospitality is the FWO's perennial top-3 enforcement target. Common patterns: salaried managers not getting weekly award entitlements (set-off reconciliation must be weekly, not annual); misclassified casuals doing predictable shifts; missing allowances (laundry, on-call, split-shift); wrong penalty rates for late nights, weekends and public holidays. Wage theft is criminal from 1 January 2025 — intentional underpayment carries up to 10 years prison.

4. Plain English Allergen Labelling (PEAL) — from 25 February 2026

Standard 1.2.3 of the Food Standards Code (amended February 2024 with a 3-year transition) requires allergen declarations in a standardised plain-English format including 'Contains' statements and bolding. Applies to packaged food and products sold under your brand.

5. Liquor licensing (state-issued)

On-licence (consumption on premises), packaged liquor sales, or limited licences — each state has a liquor licensing regime (VCGLR in Vic, Liquor & Gaming NSW, OLGR in Qld). Responsible Service of Alcohol training mandatory for staff. Annual licence fees + compliance audits.

6. State payroll tax — if you grow

Once your wage bill exceeds the state payroll tax threshold (e.g. $900K Vic, $1.2M NSW, $1.3M Qld), monthly returns kick in. Grouping rules can capture related restaurants/cafés earlier than expected. See our per-state landings.

7. Payday Super — from 1 July 2026

Super contributions must reach the employee's fund within 7 days of each payday at 12% of Qualifying Earnings. STP transmits new QE + Super Liability fields. Cash flow shifts from quarterly lump sums to per-pay outflow — material change for hospitality businesses on thin margins.

FAQ

Is my chef the FSS?

They can be, if they hold a nationally recognised FSS qualification (e.g. SITSS00069 or equivalent). Otherwise nominate someone with the cert and ensure they're reasonably available.

Do I need liquor licence training myself?

RSA mandatory for any staff serving alcohol (you included). RMLV (Responsible Management of Licensed Venues) for venue managers in most states.

I've found I've underpaid staff — do I have to self-disclose?

Not legally required to self-disclose, but the FWO treats self-disclosure + full remediation as strong mitigating factor against criminal referral. Most major hospitality self-disclosures (Calombaris, Tetsuya's) have been resolved civilly, not criminally.