Why approval matters
An inspector scoring confidence in management will ask how you know your suppliers are safe. The answer they want is an approved supplier list: for each supplier, when you checked them (their hygiene rating, a certification such as SALSA or BRCGS, product specifications) and when you will check again.
Recording an approval
Go to Suppliers and open the supplier
In the Approval block, set Approved on to the date you checked them
Set Review by to when you will check again. A year is usual; sooner for a supplier of high-risk food
Save
Keep the certificates or specifications you checked under Documents so you can show them if asked.
The Supplier approval chip
On Food Safety > Records, in the Checks view, there is a Supplier approval chip. A food venue is expected to approve its suppliers, so the chip carries a dot while any active supplier has no approval date, or has a review date that has passed. Pick the chip and it takes you to the suppliers that need attention. Once every active supplier is approved and in date, the dot goes.
Suppliers you have marked inactive are not counted, so a supplier you stopped using years ago never holds the chip red.
Reminders
Once a week Paddl looks for suppliers whose review date is within the next two weeks or has already passed, and tells the owners and the site's managers, in the app and by email. Open the supplier, check them again and move the review date on.
Where else it shows
The approval counts towards confidence in management on the Food hygiene page of Readiness, and the approved suppliers section of the Audit Pack lists your suppliers. For adding suppliers and handling recalls, see Managing Suppliers & Recalls.