The FSA Rating System in 30 Seconds
Every food business in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland gets inspected by their local authority and scored on the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme (FHRS), run by the Food Standards Agency.
The rating runs from 0 (urgent improvement necessary) to 5 (very good). Inspectors assess three areas:
- Hygienic food handling – how food is prepared, cooked, reheated, cooled, and stored
- Cleanliness and condition of facilities – the physical state of the building, equipment, and surroundings
- Management of food safety – systems in place to keep food safe, including staff training and record-keeping
A score of 0, 1, or 2 means something has gone seriously wrong.
Why a Low Rating is a Pest Control Signal
When a restaurant scores poorly on “cleanliness and condition of facilities,” the underlying problems almost always include pest-related issues. Structural deficiencies – gaps in walls, damaged drain covers, poor waste storage – are exactly the conditions that attract rodents and insects.
Here’s what the data tells us:
- A rating of 0 means the premises has urgent structural or hygiene problems. In many cases, the inspector has found evidence of pest activity or conditions that make infestation likely.
- A rating of 1 (major improvement necessary) typically means significant structural issues that create harbourage points for pests.
- A rating of 2 (improvement necessary) often flags deteriorating premises conditions – the kind of slow decline that leads to pest problems within weeks.
The restaurant knows they need to fix these problems. They’re under pressure from the local authority to improve. And in most cases, the first call they need to make is to a pest controller.
The Timing Advantage
This is where it gets interesting for pest control businesses.
When a restaurant gets a low hygiene rating, that information becomes public record – typically within days of the inspection. The restaurant now has a regulatory mandate to fix the problem. They’re motivated, they have a deadline, and they need professional help.
But here’s the thing: most pest controllers don’t know about these failures until weeks or months later, if at all. They’re relying on Google Ads, word of mouth, or cold calling from generic business directories.
The pest controller who contacts a restaurant within days of a failed inspection – before the owner has even started searching Google for help – has an enormous advantage:
- No competition. You’re the first call, not the fifth.
- Urgency is built in. The owner has a regulatory deadline. This isn’t a “maybe later” conversation.
- The budget is already approved. The owner knows they have to spend money on this. The only question is who gets the contract.
What This Looks Like in Practice
Across London alone, there are typically 400-500 food businesses rated 0, 1, or 2 at any given time. That number refreshes constantly as new inspections happen and businesses improve (or don’t).
Each one of those businesses is a warm lead for pest control. Not a cold lead scraped from a directory. A business with a documented, regulatory-confirmed need for exactly the service you provide.
The data includes the business name, address, postcode, rating, and date of inspection. Enough to build a targeted territory plan and prioritise by urgency (rating 0 first, then 1, then 2) and recency (inspected this month vs. three months ago).
From Data to Revenue
The pest controllers who act on this data consistently report higher response rates than any other outreach method. The reason is simple: relevance and timing.
A cold email to a random restaurant asking “do you need pest control?” gets ignored. A message to a restaurant that failed its hygiene inspection last week saying “I noticed your recent inspection result – I help businesses in your area get back to a 5” gets a response.
That’s the difference between a lead list and a signal.
Get the Data
We track every food hygiene failure across London in real time. New inspections are added within days of the rating being published. Every lead includes the business details, rating breakdown, and inspection date.
If you’re a pest controller or deep cleaning company working in London, get in touch and we’ll send you a free sample of leads in your area.