Operator
This model was last updated on 18/02/2020, this is version 1.0
Stable
Model created
14/02/2020
Description
Operator is the person or legal entity responsible for running a food business. When considered in tandem with premises, the combined entity is an establishment.
The operator can be a natural person or a legal person and we sometimes use these terms to distinguish between the two. In data terms, these are simply contextual implementations of operator i.e., we have fields for data about the natural person or legal person but only one set of properties is used on any given record because the operator can only be one or the other.
Related entities
As the Operator can be a legal entity, such as a limited company, it is not always correct to use the Operator entity if you were building an inspection service for example. It can sometimes be necessary to identify a separate contact entity so that when the Inspector arrives at the premises they ask for a the person they need to speak to and not the name of someone at head office or in a Companies House listing.
Entity diagram
Synonyms
- Food Business Operator
- Trader
What it is not
The operator in this context is the entity which is associated with the establishment which is being regulated under a scheme. Frequently operators can be owned by other legal entities. These entities are not the operator.
Properties, identifiers and reference data
Key properties
When registering an establishment, the operator is assigned the registration identifier, for example, the Plant Approval Number or the registration number generated by the Register a Food Business service.
An operator has an address and a contact.
Contextual properties
The most frequent contextual changes to this entity are between Operators which are “natural persons” and those which are “legal persons”.
Natural persons use the following contextual properties in our models;
Legal persons use the following contextual properties in our models;
- Name
- Partner(s) this is a little more difficult to model in a relational store, we recommend simply recording the primary partner
- Companies House Number
Charity Commission Number
Operators can have a different address to the premises with which they are associated. This is most common when another company owns and runs the business, or when a sole trader lists their home address as the location for correspondence.
Unique identifiers
When the Operator is a limited company, we should include the Company Registration Number or Charity Commission Number from Companies House or the Charity Commission respectively in order to link to richer sources of data about the company and improve interoperability.