Food safetyfor hotels.
Lemon keeps a hotel kitchen's food safety records on the team's phones: the restaurant and breakfast fridges, buffet checks, deliveries, cleaning checks and allergens. Every record has a name and a time.
What records does a hotel kitchen need to keep?
Every hotel that serves food needs food safety procedures based on HACCP principles, and records that show the team follows them. Most use a ready-made pack: Safer Food, Better Business in England and Wales, CookSafe in Scotland or Safe Catering in Northern Ireland.
Day to day, a hotel kitchen's records come down to these seven.
| Record | What it shows | In Lemon |
|---|---|---|
| Fridge and freezer temperatures | Kitchen and breakfast fridges stayed cold, checked at least once a day. | Temperature logs |
| Buffet and hot-hold checks | Hot food on the buffet stayed hot, probed during service. | Food checks |
| 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 | Each kitchen and the breakfast room were cleaned, and who did it. | Checklists |
| Allergen information | Which of the 14 allergens each dish contains, breakfast included. | Allergen matrix |
| Staff training | Who has been trained in food safety, seasonal staff included. | Staff training |
Buffet checks, hot and cold.
Probe the hot buffet when it goes out and during service, and save it as a Hot-hold check with the dish and the reading. The button shows 63°C as the target.
Chilled displays are units in the fridge round, each with its own range, so the yoghurt and cold meats get checked too.
Food checks, step by step
Every kitchen's fridges, in one round.
Add the restaurant kitchen, the breakfast room and the banqueting fridges as units, in the order the team walks them. The morning and afternoon rounds take them one at a time.
A reading out of range is flagged as you type and opens an issue, which stays on Today until a manager resolves it.
How temperature logs work
Allergen answers at breakfast.
Record every dish against the 14 allergens, from the pastries to the room service menu, with a may-contain list and notes.
Staff search a dish or pick an allergen, and see who confirmed it and when. Any team member can export the matrix as a PDF.
How the allergen matrix worksExample day
A Sunday at a 40-room hotel.
Who records what, and what is on file by close. Names and readings are made up.
- 06:30
Breakfast set-up
Leah does the morning round, then Opening Checks for the breakfast room.
- 07:15
The buffet goes out
Sausages at 71°C and beans at 68°C, each saved as a Hot-hold check.
- 08:40
“Which pastries have nuts?”
Leah picks Tree nuts in Allergens. The almond croissant is the only one.
- 11:00
The dairy delivery
Supplier, 3°C on the probe, use-by checked, good condition.
- 16:00
The banqueting fridge reads 9°C
Lemon flags it. Tom notes the worn door seal and moves the stock. The issue stays open until the head chef resolves it.
- 22:30
Close
Closing Checks for the restaurant kitchen, under Tom's name.
On file by close
- Two fridge rounds across every kitchen
- Buffet hot-hold checks, named and timed
- One delivery, with its reading and supplier
- One issue: what went wrong, what was done, who resolved it
- Opening and 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 hotel.
- It does not cover rooms, housekeeping or water safety.Lemon is for the kitchens and food service.
- It does not keep guest dietary profiles.The matrix lists what each dish contains, not who is eating it.
- It does not print labels.Grab-and-go food wrapped before anyone orders needs a full ingredients label.
- It does not write your HACCP plan or SFBB pack.The safe methods and the diary sign-off stay yours.
- It does not read probes or sensors.
Hotel questions,
answered.
Something else on your mind?hi@getlemon.app
What temperature should a hot breakfast buffet be?
Hot food must be kept at 63°C or above if it is not served straight away, so probe the buffet when it goes out and during service. Lemon's Hot-hold button shows 63°C as the target and records what you probe, with your name and the time.
Does each hotel kitchen need its own location?
Not usually. One location can hold every fridge, freezer and hot cupboard in the hotel as units. A kitchen with its own team and its own records can be a separate location, at £19 per location per month.
Can seasonal staff do their food safety training in Lemon?
Yes. Owners and managers assign food safety courses in the Lemon admin, staff take them in the app, and the admin keeps the training records. Training is included in the price.
How do guests get allergen information at breakfast?
Staff search the dish or pick an allergen in the app. Any team member can also export the matrix as a PDF to keep at the buffet. Food wrapped before anyone orders needs its own full label.
Does a hotel need a HACCP plan?
A hotel that serves food needs food safety procedures based on HACCP principles, written down and followed. Most use a ready-made pack such as Safer Food, Better Business, or CookSafe in Scotland. Lemon keeps the daily records. It does not write the pack.
Does Lemon work in a basement kitchen with poor 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.
Food safety records for UK restaurants: a practical checklistThe monitoring, action and review records that show your pack is used.- How often should you check fridge temperatures?The daily minimum, and when an extra check makes sense.
- The opening and closing checklist every UK kitchen should be runningWhat belongs on each list, and the checks most often missed.
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