When the bell goes
Somebody's break, at the hatch
A break is short, and the hatch is arranged around not wasting it. Food is cooked when it is asked for, held hot only for as long as the queue needs, wrapped after it is ordered and handed straight over. This page follows one order from the question to the hand-over, sets out the temperatures the law fixes and the one it only recommends, and explains how to ask about allergens.
One order, five moves
From the question at the ledge to the parcel in somebody's hand.
- AskedWhat, how many, and any allergen question, before anything is cooked.
- Cooked throughUntil the centre of the thickest part is hot all the way through.
- Held hot, or servedStraight to the ledge, or into the hot-hold at 63 °C or above for the next few minutes of the queue.
- WrappedAfter it is ordered, in greaseproof paper or a box.
- Handed overAcross the ledge, hot, with a hot drink if one was asked for.
Three temperatures, and which of them is law
The first two are requirements of the Food Safety and Hygiene (England) Regulations, Schedule 4. The third is guidance, and this page says so rather than dressing it up as law.
63 °C
Held hotCooked food kept for serving stays at 63 °C or above.Law in England
8 °C
Kept chilledFood that must be kept cold stays at 8 °C or below until it is cooked.Law in England
75 °C
ReheatedFood reheated to 75 °C at its core, the figure given as guidance in England. Scotland's figure is 82 °C.Guidance, not law
The probe goes into the thickest part of the food and is wiped between readings, and the readings are written down with the time: they are how a small food business shows, afterwards, that it took care.
Asking about allergens
Ask at the hatch before you order. The crew will tell you what is in each dish, and the information is there to be asked for every time.
Food that is not packed when it is ordered, which is everything cooked to order at the hatch, must have allergen information available, and it may be given by the crew, on a menu or on a notice. The law names fourteen allergens:
- Celery
- Cereals containing gluten
- Crustaceans
- Eggs
- Fish
- Lupin
- Milk
- Molluscs
- Mustard
- Peanuts
- Sesame
- Soybeans
- Sulphur dioxide and sulphites
- Tree nuts
Ask about cross-contact as well: shared frying oil, a shared plate or one pair of tongs can carry an allergen from one food into another. Anything wrapped before it is ordered, prepacked for direct sale, carries its name and a full list of ingredients with the allergens picked out. No dish on this stand will be described as free from anything.
Every dish's recipe, and which of the fourteen it contains, is set out on What the hatch cooks, with the table, dish by dish.
What the hatch will not tell you yet
Favourites
The menu is short and cooked to order, and it is written up in full with its allergens. What it cannot say yet is which dish people like best: nothing has been sold, so there are no favourites or best-sellers.
A rating
A new food business has no hygiene rating until the council has inspected it, so none is shown here, and none will be until it is real.
Registered details
The registered office is a private address for post and filings. No food is cooked, sold or collected there.
- Registered name
- MZ SOLUTIONS LTD
- Company number
- 17430729
- D-U-N-S
- 235118560
- Registered in
- England and Wales
- Incorporated
- 1 September 2026
- Registered office
- 107 Coventry Street KIDDERMINSTER, DY10 2BH United Kingdom
- Activities (SIC)
- 56103 Take-away food shops and mobile food stands · 82990 Other business support service activities not elsewhere classified