The assessment of food safety culture in small franchise restaurant in Poland The case study Malgorzata Wiśniewska Department of The Economics of the Enterprises, Faculty of Management, The University of Gdańsk, Sopot, Poland Eugenia Czernyszewicz Department of Management and Marketing, Faculty of Agrobioengineering, University of Life Sciences, Lublin, Poland, and Anna Kaluża Wojewodztwo Pomorskie, Gdansk, Poland Abstract Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to measure and assess the level of food safety culture (FSC) in the restaurant operating in the SUBWAY franchise network. Design/methodology/approach – The case study accompanied by the questionnaire built of 38 items grouped into five areas/sections: management style/food safety (FS) policy, leadership, communication, commitment and work environment. Findings – The level of FSC is 3.83 on a 1–5 scale. It requires further improvement and taking greater care of FS. The work environment and management style/FS policy were assessed the highest, while leadership and communication the lowest. There is a need to increase the frequency of meetings that address the issue of FS, ensure a better atmosphere of mutual trust and sharing knowledge about potential problems. It is also necessary to appreciate FS initiatives as well as review the number and suitability of existing procedures. Research limitations/implications – In further studies, the case study accompanied by a questionnaire could be supported by additional qualitative methods, e.g. interviews with employees, observations or mystery shopping. Practical implications – The results may help managers to verify and improve the overall FS policy in the restaurant and to encourage ongoing assessment of FSC in other franchise network entities that will take into account the critical aspects of FSC indicated in the case study. Originality/value – In the literature, the issue of the role and meaning as well as the assessment of FSC has been undertaken for many years; however, there are no papers considering small restaurants from Central Europe. This is also the first paper in Poland that addresses the aspect of FSC and its assessment. Keywords Poland, Food safety, Restaurants, Franchising, Culture Paper type Case study Introduction The issue of food safety culture (FSC) underlies the general understanding of organisational culture and the need to create it in food industry enterprises. This is the key issue which addresses the needs of the modern market as well as the threats in the food chain. Culture as a concept in relation to an enterprise has been described, among others, by G. Hofstede (1999) who emphasises that it is a programmed way of thinking reflected in the behaviour of members of a given community which, according to the author, is the basis for distinguishing one group from the other. Schein (1986) perceives organisational culture as a model of shared, basic assumptions learned by the group when solving the problems of its external adaptation and internal integration. Those assumptions functioned well enough to be considered valuable, and therefore were inculcated to new members as the appropriate way of perceiving these problems, thinking and feeling about them. One of such problems is British Food Journal Vol. 121 No. 10, 2019 pp. 2365-2378 © Emerald Publishing Limited 0007-070X DOI 10.1108/BFJ-03-2019-0152 Received 3 March 2019 Revised 2 April 2019 24 April 2019 Accepted 5 June 2019 The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at: www.emeraldinsight.com/0007-070X.htm 2365 Food safety culture