Chris Holder says he's selling Lucky Days café chain in York

Chris Holder was speaking immediately after his company Lucky Days Enterprises pleaded guilty to three kitchen hygiene offences at York Magistrates' Court.

All three offences relate to the Lucky Days café in Church Street that received two zero food hygiene ratings last year, meaning “urgent improvement" necessary, six months apart. It currently has a three rating, meaning “generally satisfactory”, awarded in October 2023.

Lucky Days cafe in Church Street York (Image: NQ)

In August 2023, the Lucky Days café in Low Petergate was given a one rating meaning “major improvement" needed. The chain's Parliament Street and Leeds cafés both have five ratings, the highest rating, given in 2022.

Lucky Days in Low Petergate, York (Image: Google)

Lucky Days Enterprises of Stonebow, York, pleaded guilty to three offences under food safety legislation. They were: failure to keep food premises clean and maintained in good repair and condition, failure to ensure washbasins were available for staff to clean their hands and failure to implement and maintain a permanent procedure to identify and control potential food hazards.

It was fined £6,000 and ordered to pay a £2,000 statutory surcharge and £2,956 prosecution costs.

As he left court, Mr Holder, the only director of the company, said: “I am selling the business.”

He did not go into further details. He had told the court it had a £1.6 million annual turnover. 

Asked about the court case, he said it had taken a long time to go before the magistrates. All the offences were committed in June 2023, when the Church Street café received its second zero rating.

A zero rating (Image: Staff)

He declined to answer when asked what he would say to customers going to his business today. He had told the court he felt the inspections were not done on a consistent basis.

Magistrates heard that City of York Council was so concerned about the Church Street café’s hygiene it had served a hygiene improvement notice to compel Mr Holder to make changes, which he did.

It also heard that he had co-operated with the council.

The Church Street café was the first one Mr Holder opened when he started the Lucky Days chain in 2012. He had previously worked in catering at the National Railway Museum and St William’s College and managed cafés at London Zoo and Buckingham Palace.

In January 2023, the Church Street café got its first Zero rating. Mr Holder said then that on the day of the inspection, the chef had been on leave and the boiler had broken down, leaving it without hot water in the kitchen sinks and toilets, and it didn’t have anti-bacterial soap in place. The dishwasher had been working, he said.

The café had then been closed for 10 days while it got a new boiler installed.

Six months later, the café was again given a zero rating and City of York Council was so concerned about it that it started the procedure that led to the company’s kitchen hygiene convictions. 

In September, Mr Holder told York Press he had taken measures to meet the concerns of the food safety inspectors and was confidently expecting an upgrade when the premises were re-inspected in October. That resulted in the current three rating.

In December 2023, he announced he was looking for an area manager to boost the chain’s hygiene.