Compliance requirements to operate on Cookaborough

Food Business Compliance Requirements

Supporting safe, trusted, and high-quality food businesses

At Cookaborough, we’re committed to creating a platform where customers feel confident and food businesses can thrive. A key part of this is maintaining strong and clear compliance standards that meet the requirements of the Food Safety Act and relevant Government program requirements.

Before publishing menus and accepting orders all food businesses must meet our compliance requirements by providing up-to-date documentation to verify that the food business is registered, insured and operating safely.

This guide explains what compliance means on Cookaborough, what’s required, and how we support food businesses in meeting and maintaining these standards.

Why Compliance Matters

Our compliance program is designed to support food businesses and protect everyone involved:

• It ensures all food businesses meet legal food business requirements 

• It ensures those food businesses who are serving SaH & NDIS customers are aware of and meeting program requirements

• It helps build a platform of trusted, reputable food businesses 

• It gives customers confidence that they’re ordering from credible, safe providers 

Our Approach: Simple, Ongoing and Supported

We aim to make compliance: 

• Straightforward: Clear requirements and guided steps

• Low effort: Easy uploads and simple declarations 

• Ongoing: Supported by timely reminders and automation  

Our requirement is that each food businesses operating on Cookaborough is 100% compliant 100% of the time, with no exceptions.

The Two Types of Compliance

There are two parts to compliance on Cookaborough:

1. General Compliance

Every food business on the platform will need to provide:

• Food Business Registration (with expiry if applicable) 

• Food Safety Supervisor Certificate (with a date of issue)

• Public Liability Insurance (minimum $10M cover) 

• Workers Compensation Certificate of Currency (if applicable) 

• Signed General Compliance Declaration 

📍 Found in: Settings → Business Settings → Compliance

2. Government Compliance

This applies only to food businesses servicing customers who access Support at Home (SaH) or NDIS funding. These businesses require to:

• Upload a Certificate of Compliance issued by an Accredited Practising Dietician.

• Sign a Government Program Compliance Declaration confirming that your Food Business: 

  • Understands its obligations under the Aged Care Act 

  • Understands its obligations under the NDIS scheme 

  • Is meeting all relevant requirements as defined by these programs 

📍 Found in: Settings → Business Settings → Compliance

These additional requirements ensure that food businesses participating in government-funded programs are meeting their regulatory obligations and the expectations of care providers and plan managers.

How to upload and what happens after?

1. Upload documents 

• Via Settings → Business Settings → Compliance 

• All required fields must be completed before submission

2. Review process 

• Our Compliance Manager reviews each submission 

• Each document & declaration is either Verified or Rejected

• If a document or Declaration is rejected, an email with an explanation for the rejection is sent to the food business

3. Approval 

• Once all documents and declarations have been Verified, an email confirming compliance is sent to the food business confirming approval

• Food business is now ready to publish menus, accept standard customer orders and SaH & NDIS customer orders (if applicable)

Document Expiry Reminders

Compliance doesn’t stop once you go live, it’s something we maintain together. Uploading valid documents allows Cookaborough to send automated reminder emails advising which documents are approaching expiry:

• 60 days prior to expiry = early notice 

• 30 days prior to expiry = reminder 

• 7 days prior to expiry = urgent warning 

• 0 days = non-compliant status 

In addition to the automated email reminders, at 14 days prior to expiry and non-compliance on-platform messages advising that action is required will be displayed.

What Happens if Compliance Lapses?

We will give plenty of notice, but if requirements aren’t met this will result in the following actions taking place:

If General Compliance lapses:

• Menus cannot be published and orders cannot be taken

• The food business listing is removed from the “Find a Cook” directory

• Certain platform features are temporarily hidden 

• Customers will see a message if they try to order advising that the food business is currently unable to process orders and to check back soon

If Government Compliance lapses:

• The food business can still operate normally except for SaH & NDIS orders 

• The food business won’t appear in SaH/NDIS searches 

• SaH/NDIS ordering options are disabled 

• SaH/NDIS customers will see a message if they try to order advising that the food business is currently unable to process orders and to check back soon

If Annual Declarations are not signed:

• Every year in June, all food businesses are required to sign a Declaration and reconfirm their compliance.

• Food businesses servicing SaH customers and NDIS customers, will need to sign a second Declaration specific to Government programs

• If not completed by July 1st, the food business account will become non-compliant until submitted.