Food safetyfor caterers.
Lemon keeps a caterer's food safety records on the team's phones, in the production kitchen and at the venue: cook, cool and reheat checks, fridge rounds, deliveries and allergens. Every record has a name and a time.
What records does a caterer need to keep?
Every UK caterer needs food safety procedures based on HACCP principles, and records that show the team follows them, at the kitchen and at the event. Most start from a ready-made pack: Safer Food, Better Business for caterers, CookSafe in Scotland or Safe Catering in Northern Ireland.
Day to day, a caterer's records come down to these seven.
| Record | What it shows | In Lemon |
|---|---|---|
| Cook, cool, reheat and hot-hold | Core temperatures in the kitchen and at the venue, and who probed them. | Food checks |
| Fridge and freezer temperatures | Chilled and frozen stock stayed cold, checked at least once a day. | Temperature logs |
| Problems and what you did | What went wrong, what the team did about it, and whether food was affected. | Issue reports |
| Deliveries | Supplier, arrival temperature, use-by and condition of each delivery. | Deliveries |
| Cleaning and closing checks | The production kitchen was cleaned and shut down, and who did it. | Checklists |
| Allergen information | Which of the 14 allergens each dish on the event menu contains. | Allergen matrix |
| Staff training | Who has been trained in food safety, casual staff included. | Staff training |
Cook and chill, probed and named.
Batch cooking for an event is a run of Cook and Cool checks: the dish, the core temperature, the time and the cook's name. Each button shows its target.
The times on the two checks show how long a batch took to cool. Work to the temperatures in your own safe methods.
Food checks, step by step
Checks at the venue, even without signal.
Readings, food checks, deliveries and issue reports are saved on the phone first and sent when the connection returns, even if the app is closed in between.
Checklists still need a connection, so run them at base or wherever the phone has signal.
How temperature logs work
Allergen answers for every event.
Record each dish on the menu against the 14 allergens, with a may-contain list and notes. Staff at the venue search the dish or pick an allergen.
Any team member can export the matrix as a PDF to print for the event.
How the allergen matrix worksExample event
A wedding for 120 guests.
From the production kitchen to the marquee, and what is on file after. Names and readings are made up.
- 15:00
Thursday, cook
Sam probes the chicken thighs at 79°C. Cook, chicken thighs, 79, save.
- 16:20
Thursday, cool
The trays come out of the blast chiller at 6°C, saved as a Cool check.
- 08:00
Saturday, morning round
The production kitchen's fridges and freezers, one at a time, before the van is loaded.
- 13:10
At the venue, reheat
No signal in the marquee. Priya probes the chicken at 84°C and saves the Reheat check. It uploads once the phone is back in range.
- 13:40
“Is there sesame in the dressing?”
Priya searches Allergens and answers from what the kitchen entered.
- 23:30
Back at base, close
Closing Checks for the production kitchen, under Sam's name.
On file after the event
- Cook and cool checks for every batch, named and timed
- The reheat check from the marquee, sent once back in signal
- Fridge rounds at the production kitchen
- The event menu's allergens, with who confirmed each dish
- Closing checks, in full
Export any range of dates as one PDF. Nothing to type up first.
See a sample reportWhat Lemon does not do for a caterer.
- It does not keep a transport temperature log.Probe the food when it arrives at the venue and save it as a food check.
- It does not plan events or take bookings.Menus, quotes and staffing stay in your other tools.
- It does not keep guest dietary profiles.The matrix lists what each dish contains, not who is eating it.
- It does not print labels.Food you prepack for sale needs a label made elsewhere.
- It does not read probes or sensors.
Caterer questions,
answered.
Something else on your mind?hi@getlemon.app
Does an event caterer need a HACCP plan?
A caterer needs food safety procedures based on HACCP principles, written down and followed, and they should cover the event as well as the kitchen. Most start from Safer Food, Better Business for caterers, or CookSafe in Scotland. Lemon keeps the daily records. It does not write the pack.
Do we need a new location for every event?
No. A location in Lemon is a kitchen you run. Checks taken at a venue are recorded under the kitchen the food came from. A second production kitchen is a second location, at £19 per location per month.
Can casual and agency staff record checks?
Yes. Each person gets their own login at no extra cost, so every record shows who made it. Staff can record checks and read the allergen matrix, but cannot change units, checklists or dishes.
How do we show allergen information at an event?
Any team member can export the allergen matrix as a PDF to print for the event. Staff can also search a dish or pick an allergen in the app. Food you wrap before anyone orders needs its own label.
Do we need probes that connect to the app?
No. Use the probes you have and type the reading. Lemon needs no hardware beyond your phones.
Does Lemon work in a field with no signal?
Temperature readings, food checks, deliveries and issue reports are saved on the phone first and sent when the connection returns, even if the app is closed in the meantime. Checklists still need a connection, so run them where the phone has signal.
Something else on your mind?hi@getlemon.app
Keep reading.
HACCP corrective-action examples for UK kitchensWhat to write when a fridge, a cook or a hot-hold fails.- SFBB, CookSafe, Safe Catering or MyHACCP? Choose the right UK packWhich official pack applies to your nation and your business.
- Food safety records for UK restaurants: a practical checklistThe monitoring, action and review records that show your pack is used.
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Then £19 per location per month. Every fridge, every team member, staff training included.
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