How to use Mattilsynet’s inspection data in sales
Mattilsynet’s smiley inspections produce thousands of public findings every year, each with a requirement, a grade and a date: in 2025 there were 1 746 findings (grades 2–3) at 590 restaurants (Mattilsynet, data as of 7 Oct 2026). Every finding points at a concrete problem someone has to solve – and that is where you, the supplier, come in. This guide shows which findings match what you sell, when to get in touch, and which rules apply.
From finding to product
A smiley inspection checks 25 requirements, and most of them point straight at one supplier industry. This is how they map, with the number of restaurants that had a breach (grades 2–3) in 2025:
- Temperature and refrigeration (3.7 cold chain, 1.4 internal control, 3.9 cooling of hot food, 3.10 thawing, 3.8 heat treatment): 250 places. For temperature monitoring, refrigeration service and cooling equipment.
- Allergen labelling (4.2 allergen labelling): 174 places. For allergen labelling, menu systems and training – the most common finding of all.
- Cleaning and hygiene (2.3 cleaning, 2.6 hand washing): 221 places. For cleaning services, cleaning products and hygiene equipment.
- Pest control (2.5 pest control): 51 places. For pest control.
- Internal control and HACCP (1.4 internal control, 1.5 hazard analysis and control measures): 117 places. For internal-control software, HACCP consulting and courses.
- Premises and maintenance (2.1 premises – layout, standard, maintenance, 2.2 premises – special requirements): 363 places. For tradespeople, commercial kitchen equipment and maintenance.
Every industry page on Restoradar is a ready-made filter with these requirements, and the “Fit” column shows how directly the finding addresses your product: high, medium or low. If you sell temperature monitoring, requirement 3.7 cold chain is “high” and cooling of hot food “medium” – both matter, but the first one is a sales conversation waiting to happen. Read more in Requirement 3.7 cold chain explained.
Timing: after the inspection the window is short
Mattilsynet publishes the result within five working days of the inspection, and Restoradar fetches the data every morning. A place that got a neutral face is given a deadline to correct the breaches and is entitled to a new inspection within ten working days after it reports that the problems are fixed. That means:
- The first two or three weeks after the finding the place is looking for a solution. That is when it buys a sensor, books refrigeration service or calls a pest controller. A factual enquiry that hits exactly that requirement is help – not noise.
- A tick with a date under the status means a later inspection ended “In order”. The problem is solved for now; use the finding as background, not as the opener.
- Repetition (“All findings” for one place) is a stronger signal than a single finding: the routine does not hold over time.
- New restaurants have not been inspected yet but must build their routines from scratch – see New restaurants as leads.
Sort the list by date (newest first) and filter by the county or municipality where you can actually deliver. Ten fresh findings in your area are worth more than a thousand old ones across the country.
The rules you must follow
The inspection data is open (CC BY 4.0), but how you contact the places is governed by the Norwegian Marketing Control Act (markedsføringsloven) and data-protection law. The buyer of a list is responsible for complying – Restoradar’s terms say so too. The main points:
- Sole proprietorships (ENK) are people. A sole proprietorship is registered in its owner’s name, and its e-mail address and phone number belong to a natural person. Section 15 of the Marketing Control Act prohibits marketing by e-mail, SMS and the like to natural persons without prior consent – with an exception for existing customer relationships. No cold e-mail to sole proprietorships. A visit or a call to the business number in opening hours is a different matter, but use judgement. Restoradar marks every sole proprietorship in the list and in every export with this rule, and shows neither the street address nor the organisation number for them.
- Companies (AS and the like) may be contacted business to business, but the enquiry must be factual, easy to opt out of, and the sender must be clear. If you e-mail, the recipient must be able to say no from the first message.
- Be factual. Quote Mattilsynet’s standard text (“Shortcomings in routines to ensure food is stored at a sufficiently low temperature”), never an interpretation. Do not write “you failed the inspection” or “Mattilsynet recommends us”. Restoradar is not affiliated with Mattilsynet, and neither are you.
- Never shame. No “worst restaurants”, no sharing of findings on social media, no reference to the inspector or the manager by name. The goal is to solve a problem, and the place already knows it exists.
- The finding may be fixed. Check the current status before you get in touch. Pitching a solution to a problem that was fixed a year ago kills the conversation.
- Contact details: Restoradar shows no phone numbers or e-mail addresses. You find the business’s own channels yourself – its website, the business register (the link is under the address for companies) or a visit.
How to use Restoradar
- The filters on the home page: period, county, municipality, industry, severity (grade 2 or 3), current face and “Include unlisted”. Everyone sees the list without names; registered companies (free, Norwegian organisation number) see names, addresses, the company, the link to the inspection and every year back to 2016.
- Minor remarks (grade 1) are shown to registered users only, always marked “not published by Mattilsynet”. They are not breaches, but a hint of where the routines are thin.
- The views: “Restaurants” gives one place per row with its newest findings; “All findings” one finding per row. “Only this place” shows one place’s whole history.
- New restaurants: places registered in the business register in the last 30, 60 or 90 days, with whether Mattilsynet has been there yet.
- Excel export: tick the places you want (or take the whole list) and download. Every company has a monthly quota of new restaurants; places you already exported the same month are free to fetch again. The file has its own sheet with the sources, the date and the rules above, and sole proprietorships are marked.
- Statistics and industry pages: Statistics gives numbers per year, requirement and county – useful as background in an offer or a presentation, without names.
Checklist before you get in touch
- Is the place a company or a sole proprietorship? (Sole proprietorship: no e-mail without consent.)
- Is the finding fresh, and is the status still a neutral or sad face?
- Does the requirement match your product – “high” in the Fit column?
- Do you have Mattilsynet’s standard text at hand, not your own interpretation?
- Can the recipient say no easily, and is the sender clear?
Want to understand the faces and grades first? Read Smiley, neutral face and sad face – what do the grades mean?
Sources
- Mattilsynet: Smilefjestilsyn (Norwegian) – publication within five working days, a new inspection within ten working days.
- Lovdata: Markedsføringsloven § 15 (Norwegian) – restrictions on certain means of communication.
- Open data: Smilefjestilsyn on data.norge.no (CC BY 4.0) and Enhetsregisteret (NLOD), processed by Restoradar, data as of 7 Oct 2026.
Questions and answers
- May I e-mail a restaurant that got a finding?
- A company (AS and the like): yes, as a business-to-business enquiry, factual and easy to opt out of. A sole proprietorship (ENK): only with prior consent – its e-mail address belongs to a person, and the Marketing Control Act § 15 applies. Restoradar marks sole proprietorships in every export.
- How fresh is the data?
- Restoradar fetches Mattilsynet’s open data every morning; Mattilsynet publishes a result within five working days of the inspection. The numbers on this page are as of 7 Oct 2026.
- Does Restoradar show the inspector’s report?
- No – only the public result per requirement (grades 2 and 3) with Mattilsynet’s standard wording, and a link to the inspection on smilefjes.mattilsynet.no. The inspector’s notes are not published.
Source: Mattilsynet – smiley inspections (CC BY 4.0) and the Brønnøysund Register Centre – Enhetsregisteret (NLOD), processed by Restoradar. Data as of 7 Oct 2026. Restoradar is not affiliated with Mattilsynet.