Restaurant Grading System

Recently the New York Restaurant Association has put into place a restaurant grading system that has several restaurants in anxiety over passing grades. Restaurants are being put under pressure to pass new inspection exams, the results of which are letter grades that will be posted for the public to see. The significance of this new testing system is that not only are the restaurants graded on a letter scale, but also if they score less than an A, they are either subject to a follow up inspection that takes place approximately two weeks after the first, or forced to shut down until certain health requirements have been fixed. The Health Department hopes to inspect all of New York City's 24,000 establishments in the next fourteen months. As a cautionary measure, many restaurants are now hiring consultants to do weekly walk throughs of their establishments.

Although this new inspection system is specialized in New York City, if it proves to be effective in weeding out unsatisfactorily run restaurants, it may spread to other parts of the US. This may effect the growth of the restaurant industry by decreasing the amount of new restaurants planning to open, while also decreasing the amount of operating restaurants. Also, the new inspection system may effect the pricing of restaurants. With the new cost of maintaining a private consultant, restaurants may resort to raising their prices, which may in turn result in a decrease in consumer activity.