What a café, restaurant or bar in NSW has to keep current

The short answer

Hospitality compliance in NSW sits in four groups: food safety (council and the NSW Food Authority), liquor and gaming (Liquor & Gaming NSW), people (Fair Work, SafeWork NSW, the Hospitality Award) and the premises (fire safety, pest, equipment). Most of it is dated, and most venues keep the dates in the manager's head. The two numbers that decide the month are wages as a percentage of sales and cost of goods as a percentage of sales, and both usually arrive weeks late from the bookkeeper.

Food safety

Every NSW retail, hospitality and food service business that serves unpackaged, potentially hazardous, ready-to-eat food needs at least one certified Food Safety Supervisor (FSS) per premises. The certificate comes from a Food Authority-approved training provider and expires five years from issue; since 8 December 2024 the rule also covers supermarkets, delis, greengrocers, school canteens and children's services. Since 8 December 2023, staff handling that food must have done food safety training or have the skills and knowledge for their duties. Councils register or notify food premises and inspect them; Scores on Doors results are public. Temperature logs, cleaning schedules, allergen matrices and pest control records are what an inspector asks for first. Dated items: FSS certificate expiry, food handler training per staff member, council registration, pest control visit dates, thermometer calibration, and the Food Safety Program review date if you run one.

Liquor and gaming

The liquor licence itself, its annual fee and any conditions (trading hours, capacity, outdoor area). Every person serving alcohol needs a NSW RSA competency card, valid five years, renewed with a refresher; every person on gaming needs RCG the same way. The approved manager or licensee must be nominated and current. Incident registers must be kept. Dated items: licence fee due date, RSA and RCG per staff member, approved manager nomination, and any temporary licence or extended trading approval.

People

Hospitality runs on casuals, and the casual rules (the Fair Work Act's employee choice pathway replaced casual conversion on 26 August 2024), Award rosters, break times and penalty rates are where wage underpayment claims come from. Dated items: right-to-work checks for visa holders (with visa expiry), first aid on every shift, WWCC for anyone in a venue with minors' programs, and the annual Award rate change (from the first full pay period starting on or after 1 July). Workers compensation policy renews annually. Modern-award timesheets are the evidence if a claim comes.

Premises and equipment

Annual fire safety statement to council and Fire and Rescue NSW, with a copy displayed in the building (a legal requirement for most commercial premises in NSW), exit and emergency lighting checks, extinguisher tags (six-monthly), gas appliance servicing, grease trap servicing, test and tag on portable electrical equipment, and music licensing through OneMusic if you play anything. The lease itself carries option dates and rent review dates that are easy to miss by a day and expensive to miss by a week.

The two numbers

Wages percent: rostered hours times Award rate, divided by sales, by day. Cost of goods percent: purchases divided by sales, by week. Most venues aim for wages between 28 and 35 percent and food cost between 28 and 35 percent, depending on format. Neither number needs the accountant; both come from the POS export and the roster, and both can sit on a one-page board every morning.

Where it usually slips

An RSA card that lapsed for a bartender who has been there three years. A Food Safety Supervisor who left, leaving the venue with no FSS for months. Fire safety statements lodged late because the last manager did it. A lease option that needed six months' written notice. And the month that was 'busy' but lost money because wages crept to 40 percent while everyone was flat out.

What the register and the board hold

The register: one row per dated item across the four groups above, with the holder, the document copy and warnings at 90, 60 and 30 days to a named person. A short form for staff to add a new RSA or first aid certificate from their phone. The board, at the Board: yesterday's sales, wages percent and food cost percent, today's roster and bookings, cash and what's due out this week, and the compliance warnings, on one page, with a morning check that lists only what needs a decision.

Where a spreadsheet stops being enough

A Google Sheet or Excel register handles a single venue comfortably. Two or more venues with separate managers, or a group with a head office, need each venue on its own tab with a group view, which is still fine in Sheets up to about four sites. Beyond that, or if you need rostering software integration for wages in real time, it's a rostering platform plus a register, not a register alone.

Quick answers

Specific questions

How a venue tracks RSA and RCG expiry for staff · Tracking Food Safety Supervisor certificates and food handler training

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Written by Christian Stewart, Stewart Systems, Wollongong. Published 2026-09-29. This is a records-and-flags view for business owners; it is not legal, WHS, food safety or insurance advice, and requirements change, so check the regulator named above for the current rule.

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