A FAMILY-RUN food business has been left "devastated" after being given a low food hygiene rating after becoming too successful.

Council bosses found no hygiene faults with Tibetan market stall Taste Tibet but said the business was now too big to run from the family's kitchen and gave them a one-star rating.

But husband and wife Yeshi Jampa and Julie Kleeman, who cook most of their food from their house in Oxford, expected to score a four-star rating when city council inspectors return next month.

Ms Kleeman said: "It was totally devastating for us and a huge shock.

"We have never had any problems with food hygiene and our customers love us but the expectations of us have changed because we have been such a success and now we have low rating.

"We provided catering for a college ball for up to 600 people and I think that didn't match up with council's category of us as a business."

The report, issued by Oxford City Council environmental health inspectors, recommended the couple limit their menu and extent of their catering or find a more suitable commercial kitchen.

But the pair said college balls were not a regular occurrence for the business and the hunt for a new location had proved tricky.

She said: "We are searching for a commercial kitchen but with this being Oxford there aren't a huge number of options and it's something we want to get right.

"If anyone would be able to help us find somewhere that would be great.

"In the meantime we have been in discussions with the council and for bigger events we will look at refrigerators on site and other things to comply."

The popular food stall, which was listed in the Guardian’s top ten budget food options in Oxford in 2014, serves Tibetan momo dumplings (meat or vegetable), curries, soups and home-made flatbreads.

The stall appears regularly at Gloucester Green market and at Bitten Street food markets across the city.

As the business has grown into more catering events and larger scale operations over the past years the council's report said the pair's home was "no longer suitable."

Ms Kleeman said: "It's very harsh - there were potential problems we flagged up at the inspection two years ago such as exposed brick in our kitchen but were told it wasn't significant.

"Now this time it was a problem, as far as I'm concerned it should be the same hygiene rules when you're cooking for ten people as when you're cooking for 1,000 people."

She added: "It is frustrating that we were not told that requirements would change as we expanded - we are a small family-run business and it's hard enough as it is without having a low rating."

The inspection - on May 16 - also took issue with the fact the business' curries were reheated at the stall but since then all curries have been cooked on site.