Good Food Guide reveals new scoring system

The Good Food Guide publisher Adam Hyman has announced an overhaul of the guide’s scoring system as it is relaunched as an app this year.

Previously, restaurants received a cooking score from 1-10, where one represented capable cooking with ‘some inconsistencies’ and 10 meant a ‘show of faultless technique at every service’ and was the highest accolade the guide could give.

In a post on the guide's website, Hyman, who is the founder of Code, said the old system was confusing and added that a detailed review of the food, ambiance and overall hospitality, along with the pricing, was “far more relevant and useful”.

Entries will now be rated ‘good’, ‘very good’, ‘exceptional’, or ‘world class’. To determine this overall rating, inspectors will judge against four metrics: uniqueness, deliciousness, warmth and strength of recommendation. If somewhere does not rank at least ‘good’ in all four categories, it will not be included in the guide.

An overall rating can only be as high as its lowest score in any category. For example, somewhere might achieve ‘very good’ in terms of uniqueness, deliciousness and strength of recommendation, but if its warmth is ‘good’, its overall rating will be ‘good’.

Hyman said: “Our aim is to keep the guide going for another 70 years so looking at how restaurants are judged is of the utmost importance. Earlier this year we met with our expert inspectors and agreed it was time for an overhaul. The result was a simplified and modernised scoring system.

“Our changes mark a departure from heralding fine dining as the pinnacle of achievement and promote a more democratic and egalitarian assessment of ‘good food’ in Great Britain. There’s no reason a beach hut, fish and chip shop or a local café can’t qualify, so long as they meet the criteria.” Further details on the scoring system are provided here.

The Good Food Guide was founded in 1951 by journalist Raymond Postgate, who was so appalled at the state of food in Britain that he launched the Good Food Club, which he initially called the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Food.

Formerly a print publication, Waitrose bought the guide from Which? in 2013, but then announced last year that it had no plans to publish future editions. Waitrose sold the guide to hospitality membership network Code Hospitality later that year.

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