Lemon vs SFBB+: which food safety app should your kitchen use?

SFBB+ is the cheapest way to put the FSA's Safer Food Better Business pack on a phone, and for a single simple site that is sometimes all you need. Lemon costs more but is a working kitchen system rather than a diary replica: it adds delivery records, custom and pre-loaded checklists, tracked issues with corrective actions, multi-location and one-tap exports, with unlimited team members included. Pick SFBB+ if price is the only axis and your needs stop at the SFBB diary. Pick Lemon if you want the records and the operational layer around them in one app.

Where Lemon wins

• Delivery records, custom checklists and tracked issues that the SFBB pack does not cover.
• Out-of-range temperature readings automatically open a tracked issue with a corrective action and a verification step, which is exactly the HACCP Principle 5 paper trail an EHO wants to see.
• One account across multiple sites, with unlimited team members included in the flat price.
• One-tap PDF and CSV exports for the last six months when an inspector asks.

Where SFBB+ fits

• Materially cheaper if price is the only thing that matters.
• An exact digital copy of the SFBB pages an EHO already recognises at a glance.
• A good fit for a single, simple site whose needs genuinely stop at the SFBB diary.

Is SFBB+ cheaper than Lemon?

Yes. SFBB+ is around £4.99 per month per premises, against Lemon's £19 per month per location. The gap reflects scope: SFBB+ is a digital copy of the Safer Food Better Business diary, while Lemon is a wider kitchen system that adds deliveries, custom checklists, tracked issues, multi-location and unlimited users.

Does Lemon include the SFBB checks?

Yes. Lemon ships with a pre-loaded weekly EHO checklist covering the Safer Food Better Business ground, alongside temperature, cook, cool, reheat and hot-hold logs. You are not giving up the SFBB diary by choosing Lemon; you are adding the operational layer around it.

Will both produce records an EHO accepts?

Yes. SFBB+ produces records that look like the SFBB pages inspectors know. Lemon exports a timestamped PDF (and CSV) with named entries and corrective actions, which is what a due-diligence defence rests on. Both are a clear step up from a paper diary filled in retrospectively.

Which should a single-site cafe choose?

If your needs genuinely stop at the SFBB diary and price is the deciding factor, SFBB+ is hard to beat on cost. If you take deliveries, want custom checklists, or want out-of-range readings to open a tracked issue automatically, Lemon's flat £19 with unlimited users and a 14-day trial with no card is the better value.