Best Bites program open for 2025

Participating is completely free for food businesses and comes with a host of benefits, including lower overhead costs, a positive environmental impact, and stronger connections with your team and the community.

Best Bites provides consumers with an assurance of safety, sustainability and accessibility – a marketable angle to increase your customer base.

The Best Bites program is built on three areas of excellence:

• Access and Inclusion
• Health and Wellbeing
• Sustainability

To qualify, your business must demonstrate excellence at a ‘consolidating‘ level in at least two areas of excellence to receive a Best Bites door sticker and certificate of excellence to display at the business entrance.

How does your business join the program?

1. Food premises assessment
   Food businesses across the Mornington Peninsula are assessed by a Shire Environmental Health Officer each year. To be eligible for the Best Bites program, the business must achieve the following:

• • Obtain a score of 95% or above in the annual food premises assessment.
  • Safely manage food allergens and provide allergen information to customers on request.

You will be advised at the inspection what your score is and if you are eligible for Best Bites.

2. Opt in
   The Business and Industry Support team contact the eligible businesses to see if they would like to opt into the program and answer any questions. A member of the Best Bites team will then be in touch to arrange a time for a site visit at your business.
3. Site visit
   The site visit takes about 30 minutes and is a chance to chat about the ways your business is addressing health and wellbeing, inclusivity and sustainability. A short list of key elements across the three areas of excellence is used to guide the conversation.You will be sent the questions which will be asked in advance, so you have plenty of time to prepare.

The assessment conversation could include things like; how your business recycles cardboard, paper, steel, glass and plastic, provides services and facilities for customers with a disability or delivers healthy options on your menu.

4. Your business is in the program
   Once your site visit is completed; the team process your assessment and email you a copy of your assessment report and a load of great resources to access. When the 2026 annual registrations are processed all businesses in the Best Bites program automatically receive the discount. You will also receive early bird invitations and discounted tickets to business events throughout the year. So easy!

To help your business make the most of being in the Best Bites program, the Best Bites team have developed a suite of resources.

These include real-life case studies featuring local businesses using best practice to leverage the benefits of the Best Bites program, and expert presentations on the three areas of the program.

Find out more about the Best Bites program

Contact the Business and Industry Support team to find out more.

The award-winning Best Bites program was launched in 2011 and is the only food business award scheme in Australia which promotes food businesses in the areas of food safety, nutrition, access and sustainability.

The food businesses which are in the Best Bites program are delivering excellence for their staff, their customers and their community.

We developed this program because our local food industry is so important. They provide food for thousands of residents and visitors every day. In fact, the quality and diversity of our food offerings here on the Peninsula is one of our main attractions for visitors