Food safety records and digital compliance logbooks for UK cafes and restaurants

If you run a cafe or restaurant in the UK, you need a food safety management system and the day-to-day records that prove you follow it. When the environmental health officer (EHO) visits, those records are a big part of how they judge you.

This page sets out what to log, how often, who checks it and what happens if the records are not there. It is written for owners and head chefs, not lawyers.

What a restaurants & cafes business needs to record

Record	How often	Why it matters
Opening checks	Every day before service	Confirms fridges are cold, the kitchen is clean and there are no signs of pests before food is prepared.
Fridge and freezer temperatures	At least daily; most kitchens check at opening and closing	Chilled food must be kept at 8°C or below by law in England, Wales and Northern Ireland; the FSA advises setting fridges to 5°C or below.
Cooking and reheating core temperatures	Each batch of high-risk food, or as your safe method says	Shows food reached a safe core temperature, such as 70°C for 2 minutes or 75°C for 30 seconds.
Hot holding temperatures	At regular intervals while food is on the pass or bain-marie	Hot food must be kept at 63°C or above if it is not served straight away.
Cleaning schedule sign-off	Daily tasks daily, deep cleans weekly or as scheduled	Your schedule must say what is cleaned, how often and with what. The sign-off proves it happened.
Deliveries (goods in)	Every delivery	Records chilled and frozen temperatures on arrival and keeps the supplier details you need for traceability.
Allergen matrix	Whenever a recipe, ingredient or supplier changes	You must be able to tell customers which of the 14 allergens are in every dish.
Closing checks	Every day after service	Food covered, labelled and stored, equipment off, and anything that went wrong noted with what you did about it.
Staff training and illness reporting	When training is done; whenever someone reports sickness	Staff with diarrhoea or vomiting must not return until 48 hours after symptoms stop, and you should be able to show training at inspection.

Who checks your records

Local authority environmental health (food hygiene)
Inspects your kitchen, gives your food hygiene rating and can serve hygiene improvement notices. Visits are usually unannounced, and how often depends on your risk.
Local authority environmental health (health and safety)
Councils, not HSE, usually enforce health and safety law in catering businesses: slips, gas, manual handling and so on.
Fire and rescue authority
Checks your fire risk assessment, alarms, escape routes and training under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 in England and Wales. Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own fire safety law.
Licensing authority (if you sell alcohol)
Your council issues and can review your premises licence under the Licensing Act 2003 in England and Wales.

If your records are missing

Your rating suffers first. The EHO scores how you manage food safety alongside hygienic handling and the condition of the premises. Missing or patchy records make it hard for them to have confidence in your management, which can pull the whole rating down even if the kitchen looks clean.

For serious problems, the officer can serve a Hygiene Improvement Notice with a deadline, or a Hygiene Emergency Prohibition Notice that stops a process or piece of equipment being used (GOV.UK).

If a customer falls ill and you are taken to court, the Food Safety Act 1990, section 21 lets you argue you took all reasonable precautions and exercised all due diligence. Without records, that defence is very hard to prove.

Quick answer

UK cafes and restaurants must run a written food safety management system and keep records showing it works: daily fridge temperatures, cooking and hot-holding checks, cleaning, deliveries, allergens and staff illness. In England and Wales most small kitchens use the FSA's Safer food, better business (SFBB) pack and diary.

How your food hygiene rating is built

The Food Hygiene Rating Scheme gives you a score from 0 to 5. The officer looks at three things, and records feed into each of them.

What the officer assesses	What it covers	Where your records help
How hygienically food is handled	Preparation, cooking, reheating, cooling and storage	Probe readings and fridge logs show control on days the officer was not there
The physical condition of the premises	Cleanliness, layout, lighting, ventilation and pest control	Cleaning sign-offs and pest checks show the kitchen is kept this way, not tidied for the visit
How you manage food safety	Your processes, training and systems	This is where the diary, training records and corrective actions carry the most weight

The third element is about whether the officer believes standards will hold up between visits. A kitchen can look spotless on the day and still lose marks if nobody can show what happened last Tuesday.

The SFBB diary, and what a good one looks like

Safer food, better business is the FSA's food safety pack for small businesses. You fill in the safe methods once, then keep daily records in the diary. The FSA says you can keep the diary on paper or electronically, and you should keep completed pages until your next inspection. In Scotland the equivalent is CookSafe from Food Standards Scotland.

Officers read diaries quickly and they know what a weak one looks like. Common problems:

Identical entries. A week of fridge readings at exactly 3°C in the same pen suggests they were filled in at once.
No corrective action. A reading of 9°C with nothing written next to it is worse than no reading at all.
Gaps on busy days. Saturdays and bank holidays are often blank, which is when control matters most.
Safe methods out of date. The menu changed but the pack did not, so the allergen and cooking methods no longer match the food.

Small changes that help at your next inspection

Write down what you did when something was out of range, not just the number.
Review the diary every four weeks, as the SFBB diary prompts you to, and note any changes.
Keep training records where you can find them in two minutes.
Update the allergen matrix the same day a supplier swaps a product.

Going digital

LogBooks Hub turns these checks into timed tasks on a phone or tablet, with reminders, timestamps and photo evidence. It runs in the browser or on the iOS and Android apps, and exports a one-click audit pack PDF for the EHO. Plans start from £30/month.

LogBooks Hub logbooks for restaurants & cafes

These come ready to use from our 90+ digital compliance logbooks. Each one reminds staff when a check is due, records who did it and when, and can hold a photo as evidence.

Opening checks
Closing checks
Fridge and freezer temperature log
Cooking and reheating temperature log
Hot holding temperature log
Cooling log
Cleaning schedule
Goods-in delivery checks
Allergen matrix
Probe thermometer calibration
Staff illness and fitness to work
Staff training record
Pest control checks
Fire alarm weekly test

Free printable versions: Opening and closing checks, Fridge and freezer temperature log, Cooking, cooling, reheating and hot holding log, Cleaning schedule, Goods-in and delivery checks, Allergen matrix.

Frequently asked questions

Do I legally have to keep fridge temperature records?

The law requires you to keep chilled food at 8°C or below in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and to have a food safety management system with appropriate records. No regulation names a fridge log specifically, but a daily temperature record is the normal way to show the control works. Without it, an officer has only your word, and that affects your rating.

How long should I keep food safety records?

There is no single fixed period for most kitchen records. The FSA's SFBB guidance says to keep completed diary pages until your next inspection. Many businesses keep them longer, often a year or more, so they can answer a complaint or support a due diligence defence. Traceability records for suppliers must also be kept.

What does an EHO look at in a cafe?

They look at how food is handled, cooked, cooled and stored, the cleanliness and condition of the premises, and how you manage food safety. In practice that means checking fridges and probes, asking staff questions, and reading your SFBB pack, diary, cleaning records, allergen information and training records.

Can I use a digital system instead of the SFBB diary?

Yes. The FSA says the SFBB diary can be kept in printed or electronic form. What matters is that the records are complete, honest and easy for an officer to read. A digital log that timestamps each entry and shows who made it can make that easier.

What temperature should hot food be kept at?

Hot food must be kept at 63°C or above if you are not serving it straight away. FSA guidance allows food to be kept below 63°C for up to 2 hours. When cooking, standard advice is a core temperature of 70°C for 2 minutes, or an equivalent such as 75°C for 30 seconds.

How can I improve my food hygiene rating quickly?

Fix what the officer listed in your inspection letter first, then get your records in order: daily checks filled in at the time, corrective actions written down, and safe methods matching your current menu. Once the work is done you can ask your council for a re-rating inspection. You can also publish a right to reply.

Official guidance and sources

This page is general guidance, not legal advice. Rules differ between England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland; check with your local authority if you are unsure.

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