A York fast food take-away which scored a one-star rating after opening before it was ready has now gained top marks.

City of York Council has awarded 5-stars to Elo’s Pizza following a re-inspection on November 19, meaning ‘very good’.

Previously, the take-away in Burton Stone Lane received a one-star rating due mainly to cross-contamination issues.

The visit, in July, was just a few days after the owner of the business, Mehmet Altin, had taken over the venture from its previous owner.

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In the inspection report by a city council inspector, Mr Altin was told: “I understand that you will be disappointed with this poor rating, as I am. The poor rating is mainly a result of your premature opening of the business before establishing good management and food handling procedures.”

The 51-year-old businessman has lived in York for 21 and has been a business owner all that time. He previously owned a café in Pocklington and also on Nunnery Lane.

Mehmet’s daughter Cillan told the Press: “It had only been a week since we took over the business from the previous owner and as you can imagine it wasn’t in the best state and the shop needed a lot of TLC including new appliances, decorations, structural work and overall making the shop appealing to customers and ourselves. 

(Image: Pic supplied)

“My father put a lot of hard work into this business as he prides himself to bring the best service to his customers. As being a chef, he has been in this industry for over 20 years so his lifetime experience really reflects on how he manages his businesses and what he brings to his customers.”

Cillan says no-one was at risk from such a poor rating, and in just a couple of weeks, “everything was put right and the shop looked immaculate with the correct procedures put in place.”

The family say they had issues with the inspection officer finding ‘faults’ during two revisits, but by working with the Food Standards agency it was able to gain a fair rating, with hygiene levels ‘above satisfactory.’

Then, during the November 19 inspection, due to the previous efforts made, the inspector was  “overly satisfied with the cleanliness and management of the business which as you can see that it reflected on our new 5 star rating.”

Cillan added: “Our pizzas are cooked from fresh dough each day to cater to all customers needs. Our ‘Capri pizza’ is one of the most popular on the menu which is made up of tomato sauce, hot chilli powder on the base, ham, onions, garlic butter and mozzarella cheese. Definitely a must try.”