# If an establishment is serving food and drink.... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 21, 2011, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-an-establishment-is-serving-food-and-drink/579208 "2011-04-21T10:02:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![beckarooo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7ba0ec/32.png) [@beckarooo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beckarooo)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-an-establishment-is-serving-food-and-drink/579208/1 "2011-04-21T10:02:07Z")
If an establishment (kebab shop) is serving food and drink, are they legally obliged to provide a toilet for their paying customers? ---
**Author:** ![sandra\_nz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@sandra\_nz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sandra_nz)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-an-establishment-is-serving-food-and-drink/579208/2 "2011-04-21T10:10:49Z")
Is it a takeaway or a restaurant? ---
**Author:** ![beckarooo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7ba0ec/32.png) [@beckarooo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beckarooo)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-an-establishment-is-serving-food-and-drink/579208/3 "2011-04-21T10:14:18Z")
Its got seats and tables inside so you can eat in or takeaway. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-an-establishment-is-serving-food-and-drink/579208/4 "2011-04-21T11:17:39Z")
It will depend on jurisdiction. In Illinois, at least when I was in college, establishments that provided in-house seating were required to provide a restroom for customers. There was a bit of a kerfluffle in the local media when a hot-dog place with a couple of tables didn’t provide them (the space they were renting didn’t have any) and [whatever authority had jurisdiction over them] started hassling them. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-an-establishment-is-serving-food-and-drink/579208/5 "2011-04-21T13:38:31Z")
[QUOTE=HeyHomie] It will depend on jurisdiction. In Illinois… [/QUOTE] I remember a couple of decades ago when there was a big mess when a Chicago newsstand started to sell candy bars. At the time, the Cook County codes said that any establishment selling food had to have restrooms and hand-washing facilities. Took a while for common sense to prevail (In Chicago, no less!) and someone to realize that the level of risk in selling manufactured and wrapped candy bars was nothing like handling and storing raw meats and ingredients, and that a newsstand wasn’t a restaurant, and more often than not, wasn’t even a building. Generally, laws and codes regarding sanitation, food safety and service will be at the county level. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-an-establishment-is-serving-food-and-drink/579208/6 "2011-04-21T14:31:45Z")
The use of “takeaway” rather than “takeout” and “toilet” rather than “restroom” suggests to me that the OP is not in the US. Guidance about American law may not be useful. ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_of\_Lucan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dbc845/32.png) [@Michael\_of\_Lucan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_of_Lucan)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-an-establishment-is-serving-food-and-drink/579208/7 "2011-04-21T16:39:08Z")
In ireland a toilet is required in the sit down situaiton you describe - but not for takeaway places. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-an-establishment-is-serving-food-and-drink/579208/8 "2011-04-21T18:24:35Z")
> [@Michael\_of\_Lucan](#): > > In ireland a toilet is required in the sit down situaiton you describe - but not for takeaway places. It is, but I can think of a couple of places in Dublin that don’t have them. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-an-establishment-is-serving-food-and-drink/579208/9 "2011-04-21T18:46:21Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > The use of “takeaway” rather than “takeout” and “toilet” rather than “restroom” suggests to me that the OP is not in the US. Guidance about American law may not be useful. Good points, except note that “takeaway” was in response to someone previously asking if it was a takeaway place. “Toilet”, though, would be odd for an American to use in the OP. ---
**Author:** ![JerseyFrank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bcef8e/32.png) [@JerseyFrank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JerseyFrank)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-an-establishment-is-serving-food-and-drink/579208/10 "2011-04-21T19:07:52Z")
also, kebab shop is something I associate with England and not the US. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-an-establishment-is-serving-food-and-drink/579208/11 "2011-04-21T19:27:20Z")
We’ve got them here, but it’s usually spelled “kabab” or “kabob.” ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-an-establishment-is-serving-food-and-drink/579208/12 "2011-04-21T20:13:54Z")
“its [sic] got” instead of “it has” also would tend to favor a non-American OP. Same with “establishment”. Neither would be unheard of for an American to say, but it would be more common of a non-American like a Brit. Hey, playing guess the nationality of the OP is a lot more interesting than finding out if a toilet/bathroom is required. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-an-establishment-is-serving-food-and-drink/579208/13 "2011-04-21T21:30:52Z")
It depends on the local authority and is based on how many seats are provided within the establishment. Basically, if there’s only space for less than ten seated customers then it seems most areas don’t require their food service establishments to provide access to a toilet for customers, so that would cover the kebab shop. It also depends on what other public facilities there are nearby - if it’s in a shopping centre which has non-paying public loos then the cafes within don’t have to provide customer toilets. Based on, among others, [Wolverhampton’s rules](http://www.wolverhampton.gov.uk/business/health_safety/faq.htm) and [Canterbury’s](http://www.canterbury.gov.uk/authority/assets/commercialhealth/sanitary_accommodation%5B1%5D.pdf) (note that the stuff about new or refurbished premises only applies to disabled toilets and doesn’t over-rule the stuff about how much seating is provided). This is all assuming you’re in the UK, playing along with the linguistic guessing game. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-an-establishment-is-serving-food-and-drink/579208/14 "2011-04-21T21:37:32Z")
> [@Michael\_of\_Lucan](#): > > In ireland a toilet is required in the sit down situaiton you describe - but not for takeaway places. If I’m in a sit-down situation, there’d better be a toilet there. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![typoink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-an-establishment-is-serving-food-and-drink/579208/15 "2011-04-21T21:46:53Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > We’ve got them here, but it’s usually spelled “kabab” or “kabob.” And they actually tend to be a different thing. My experience with kebabs in Ireland and the UK was something closer to what’s sold as a gyro here. But I’ll readily admit I am not an expert. Wouldn’t mind being an expert, though. ---
**Author:** ![beckarooo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7ba0ec/32.png) [@beckarooo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beckarooo)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-an-establishment-is-serving-food-and-drink/579208/16 "2011-04-21T23:29:35Z")
Well done everyone, you have correctly come to the conclusion that I am in fact from the UK! I apologise that guessing my nationality was more interesting than my question… Thankyou for all the replies! ---
**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2011, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-an-establishment-is-serving-food-and-drink/579208/17 "2011-04-22T00:40:23Z")
> [@gotpasswords](#): > > Generally, laws and codes regarding sanitation, food safety and service will be at the county level. Since you are not in the USA, this becomes immaterial, but these laws are generally at the state level. If a state has not preempted the field concerning this, then local municipalities can enact ordinances however they seem fit. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2011, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-an-establishment-is-serving-food-and-drink/579208/18 "2011-04-22T03:46:31Z")
> [@beckarooo](#): > > Well done everyone, you have correctly come to the conclusion that I am in fact from the UK! I apologise that guessing my nationality was more interesting than my question… > Thankyou for all the replies! The answer to your question will depend on where the eating establishment is. So knowing your nationality is essential for a correct answer. ---
**Author:** ![A.Gwilliam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ea5d25/32.png) [@A.Gwilliam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A.Gwilliam)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2011, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-an-establishment-is-serving-food-and-drink/579208/19 "2011-04-22T22:14:29Z")
> [@beckarooo](#): > > Well done everyone, you have correctly come to the conclusion that I am in fact from the UK! I apologise that guessing my nationality was more interesting than my question… > Thankyou for all the replies! Usual observation regarding UK law: The law is different in (a) England and Wales, (b) Scotland, and (c) Northern Ireland. Asking a question regarding “UK” law is not sufficiently specific. There may also be local Acts of Parliament and local bye-laws that are relevant…! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2011, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-an-establishment-is-serving-food-and-drink/579208/20 "2011-04-24T21:50:06Z")
US resident here (CA)- when I was pregnant and seemed to be going pee more than a dozen times a day, I was horrified to be told by a sit-down restaurant at the end of a pier that they had no bathroom, and that I needed to waddle back down the pier to the public restroom on the beach! :eek: If the waitress hadn’t relented and let me use the employee toilet, I would have peed myself halfway back to the public restroom (it was the Balboa pier- about 100 yds long?). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-an-establishment-is-serving-food-and-drink/579208.md?page=2)