Most major national eating-out brands were found to have none or very few sites with unsatisfactory levels of food hygiene, according to analyst of Food Standards Agency data examined by the BBC.
While fast food chains Dixy Chicken and Chicken Cottage was found to have 33% and 29.7% respectively of their outlets receiving zero, one or two out of five in the Scores on the Doors rating, seven well-known brands had no outlets at all that fell below three out of five.
They were: Carluccio’s, Giraffe, Nando’s, Pret A Manger, TGI Friday’s, West Cornwall Pasty Company, and Zizzi.
The other brands with a double-digit percentage of sites with unsatisfactory hygiene ratings, according to the survey, were Little Chef (18.2%) and Pizza GoGo (20.7%).
Thirty three brands were listed in total.
Little Chef told the BBC that it recognises it has to make progress and the company is initiating an investment programme to drive its hygiene standards up.
Patisserie Valerie (8.3%) told the broadcaster that it acts immediately to remedy unsatisfactory ratings and that “we await our next inspections with confidence”. Wimpy (6.1%) also stated that it takes corrective action when any of its restaurants is found to be below par.
The data was collected from local councils.
