Records are the evidence, not the safety
The safety is the fridge being cold and the chicken being cooked through. The record is what survives the season, and it is what turns "we always check" into something anybody else can look at.
There is a second reason that matters more to a mobile caterer than to a restaurant. Your paperwork gets asked for by people who are not your local authority: event organisers, insurers, wedding venues, a market operator on the morning of the market. Answering in five minutes rather than five days is worth as much as the record itself.
Opening and closing checks
A short list at the start and the end of the day, covering the things that would stop you trading if they were wrong.
- Fridges on and holding, probe clean and working
- Hot water available and hand wash stocked
- Surfaces and equipment clean before food is out
- Nothing out of date in the cold store
- Water and waste sorted for the site you are on
- A signature, and a reason recorded when something is incomplete
Keep it short. Forty items get ticked without being read, which is worse than eight that get read. Keep it yours, too: a unit with on board water and a unit on a mains supply do not have the same opening check.
When something is not right, write what you did, not just that it was wrong. "Fridge 11 degrees" is a problem. "Fridge 11 degrees at 07:20, stock moved to the trailer chiller, engineer called, back to 4 degrees by 09:40" is a record of a business working properly.
Temperatures
Chilled holding, frozen storage, cooking, hot holding and reheating are the usual five. How often you record each is a judgement about your own business, and it is worth writing the reasoning down once.
Do not copy a limit off the internet, including from us. Use the limits that apply to your food and your equipment, check them with your local authority if you are unsure, then write them where the person doing the check can see them. A reading is only meaningful against a limit.
Record the awkward readings. A run of perfect readings looks less credible than a run with one bad reading, an action and a closing entry.
Deliveries in
- Supplier and date
- What arrived, and whether it was chilled, frozen, ambient or dry
- Temperature or condition on arrival
- Accepted, part accepted or rejected, with a note when rejected
The last line is the one people leave out and the one that matters. A rejected delivery is evidence of a working system; a delivery record with no decision on it tells nobody anything.
Keep the supplier name consistent. A season that names the same wholesaler four different ways is very hard to look back through.
Cleaning
A schedule paired with a signature: what gets cleaned, how often, with what, and who did it this time. The trap is the "with what". Use the contact time and the dilution on the label of the product you actually bought, never one copied from a guide, ours included. If the label is missing, get the data sheet from the supplier rather than estimating.
Certificates and documents
Gas safety, electrical testing, public liability insurance, waste transfer, training certificates, your registration. None of them is a daily record and all of them are what somebody asks for first.
Keep the expiry date with the document. The failure is not losing the certificate. It is finding out in August that it ran out in June.
Corrections, and why you do not tidy them
Somebody writes a temperature in the wrong row, or signs for a unit they were not at. The fix is a correction that says what the entry should have said and leaves the original visible. Erasing it turns an honest mistake into something that looks like a cover up, and anybody who spots a tidied record trusts the rest less.
Questions people ask
What records does a mobile caterer usually keep?
Most units keep opening and closing checks, temperature readings for chilled, frozen, cooking, hot holding and reheating, a note of each delivery in, a cleaning schedule with signatures, and the documents an organiser asks for first: gas, electrical, insurance, registration and training. What you keep and how often is a decision about your own business, and it is worth writing the reasoning down once.
How often should I record fridge temperatures?
There is no single answer that fits every unit. Decide how often each reading is taken from how your food and your equipment behave, check the limits with your local authority if you are unsure, and write the reasoning down once. Record the awkward readings too: one out of range reading with an action beside it says more than a run of perfect ones.
What should I write down when a check fails?
Write what you did, not only that it was wrong. "Fridge 11 degrees" is a problem. "Fridge 11 degrees at 07:20, stock moved to the trailer chiller, engineer called, back to 4 degrees by 09:40" is a record of a business working properly. Add the closing entry so the gap has an end.
Can I correct a mistake in a signed record?
Yes, by adding a correction beside it, never by erasing the original. A correction says what the entry should have said and leaves the first version visible. A tidied record, with entries overwritten or pages replaced, makes anyone reading it trust the rest less.
What this looks like in CaterPad
CaterPad asks how each unit works and builds the daily lists from your answers rather than from a national template. Every entry carries who signed it, the time on the device and the time it reached the server, so a check signed in a field with no signal keeps its real time. A signed record is never edited: corrections are new entries pointing at the original, and both stay visible. Documents carry their expiry dates and say so before they lapse.
Related: what environmental health officers ask to see, and what is in CaterPad.