For California food trucks and carts
Your food truck commissary log, a few taps a night.
The daily commissary visit, the water tanks and the cooler readings, typed in by your crew in a few taps in the phone's browser. Ready when an inspector asks.
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Saturday, 9:10 pm
Why is the paperwork
always last?
You opened to feed people, not to chase clipboards.
- A commissary, a daily service, water tanks, a permit from the county, and in Los Angeles a route notification: a truck has its own rulebook.
- You are cooking, serving and driving. At 9 pm at the commissary, with greasy hands and a phone nearly dead, the commissary line is the last thing you write. Or the thing you skip.
See a sample night's two switches before you decide anything.
What California asks
What does California's truck rule
actually list?
California law makes a truck a mobile food facility. It works out of a commissary or another approved facility, and is serviced there every operating day (HSC 114295, 114297). It needs a health permit from your county (HSC 114381). Each rule below says where it comes from, and where your county differs.
Mobile food facility permit
A food truck needs a health permit from the county or city (HSC 114381). It works out of a commissary or other approved facility, and is cleaned and serviced there at least once every operating day (HSC 114295, 114297).
CleanCleaver: The app keeps the permit in the binder and puts the commissary line on your list at closing.
HSC 114295, 114297, 114381
Hot and cold holding
Hot food at 135°F or hotter. Cold food at 41°F or colder (HSC 113996).
CleanCleaver: Each cooler reading is saved with time and your name. A warm one asks what you did.
California: HSC 113996, HSC 114000
Guide: Hot and cold holdingCooling
Cool hot food from 135°F to 70°F in 2 hours, then to 41°F within 6 in all (HSC 114002). Whether you may cool on the truck is a CalCode section we have not read: ask your county.
CleanCleaver: Start cooling sets the 2-hour and 6-hour timers; each reading is saved with time and name.
California: HSC 114002.1
Guide: Cooling food in two stagesHandwashing
Wash hands at the truck's hand sink, at each moment the law lists (HSC 113953.3). A wash-your-hands sign hangs at the hand sink (HSC 113953.5).
CleanCleaver: Each person signs the handwashing rules in the app.
California: HSC 113953.3, HSC 113953.1, HSC 113953.4
Guide: Handwashing
What else can the inspector check? 4 more rules
Employee health: report, exclude, restrict
A sick crew member stays off food. The person in charge tells the county environmental health office about a diagnosed Salmonella, Shigella, E. coli (STEC), hepatitis A or norovirus (HSC 113949.5). No hour count: call right away.
CleanCleaver: Health questions before each shift. You see only
OK to work
orNo food work today
.California: HSC 113949.2, HSC 113950.5
Guide: Sick workers: report it and stay homeCalifornia Food Handler Card
Each crew member gets a California Food Handler Card within 30 days of being hired. It lasts 3 years, and you pay for the course and the time (HSC 113948). Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego counties run their own card instead.
CleanCleaver: The app keeps each card and its expiry date.
HSC 113948
Guide: Food handler cards and food safety managersDoes your county differ? 3 of California's 62 health departments do
California law: a California Food Handler Card within 30 days of hire, valid 3 years. Riverside County Department of Environmental Health: a Riverside County Food Handler Certificate within 7 days of starting work; it lasts 2 years; the state card is not accepted. Riverside County Code 8.44.030; rivcoeh.org Food Handler Certification
California law: a California Food Handler Card within 30 days of hire, valid 3 years. San Bernardino County Department of Public Health: a San Bernardino County food handler card; other counties' cards and other programs are not accepted; it lasts 3 years. San Bernardino County Environmental Health, Food Handlers and Managers page
California law: a California Food Handler Card within 30 days of hire, valid 3 years. County of San Diego Department of Environmental Health and Quality: a San Diego County food handler card from a county-approved school or the County test; it lasts 3 years. San Diego County DEHQ, Food Handler Training page
Cleaning and sanitizing
Wash, rinse, sanitize, air-dry. Test the sanitizer with a strip.
CleanCleaver: Each strip test is saved with the reading, time and name.
California: HSC 114099.2, HSC 114107, HSC 114099.7, HSC 114099.6, HSC 114105
Guide: Cleaning vs sanitizing, and sanitizer strengthsAccurate thermometers
Thermometers read within 2°F. Check yours in ice water at 32°F.
CleanCleaver: Dipping the thermometer in ice water is an opening step, saved with the reading.
California: HSC 114159
Guide: Thermometers and calibration
See what your crew taps in one night.
Your county
What does the county add
to a truck?
CalCode is the same everywhere, and the county enforces it. These are the local lines we read; the rest is a question for your office.
- Los Angeles County: the county asks for route notification, under its own code (County Code 8.04.403, cited on the county's page). The Department of Public Health, Environmental Health: (888) 700-9995.
- Orange County: a permit from another county is not valid there. Ask the Health Care Agency, (714) 433-6000.
- Riverside County: high-risk trucks and trailers post an A, B or C decal near the ordering window, like the grade card on a restaurant door.
- Water tank sizes, cooling on the truck, hours at one spot: CalCode's mobile food sections (HSC 114205 to 114242) were not read line by line. The app says so and names your office to ask.
How to open a food business in your county
The app keeps the commissary lines and the last 90 days in one PDF, so the records are not one more job at midnight.
Set up
How do I get my
crew on it?
Three steps, and the first one is a single tap.
Pick Food truck or cart
The app adds the truck's own lines: commissary visits and water tanks.
Text your crew a link
They open it in their phone's browser, check in and type the cooler reading. Your phone sends the text. We don't.
Get one PDF
Every reading and every commissary line is saved with the time and who wrote it. The binder is one PDF.
See the closing screen before you set anything up.
A service day
What does a service day
look like?
The truck goes back to the commissary every operating day (HSC 114297). Open the app and it shows what is still open.
Check in
The answer is
OK to work
orNo food work today
.Water
Fresh water in, waste water out
is on the list every shift.Hold it right
Hot at 135°F or above, cold at 41°F or below (HSC 113996). Type the cooler reading as you go; a warm one asks what you did before it saves.
The commissary visit
One line: date, time in, time out, what was done, initials. Saved with your name.
Every step here is already on your list the day you sign up.
The cost of a gap
What if the record
has holes?
California asks that the truck is cleaned and serviced at the commissary at least once every operating day (HSC 114297). A night with no line looks like a night with no service.
Two switches a shift and one line at closing keep the record complete, and the binder prints the last 90 days as one PDF.
Why not lose a few points?
A few points cost little.
An easier night is worth more.
A few points off will not close you, so that is not the reason. The reason is 9:10 pm with greasy hands.
- Two water switches a shift and one line at close, on the phone in your apron. The app says what is next, so nothing waits for memory at the end of a long night.
- Your name is on every reading, and a reading counts the same whether it passes or not. On inspection day, one PDF, and you are back on the griddle.
- An inspection is a snapshot. In Riverside County a high-risk truck wears its letter by the ordering window. Your records show every service day. Each cooler reading and each commissary line has the time and your name, and a photo where it helps. The binder is one PDF with its own fingerprint. That is proof you can show, not a promise. The county grades; we don't.
A few taps a night, on the phone you already carry. Count them in the demo.
After service
Serve the line.
The record is a few taps away.
Try it for 25 days first.
25 days free. Cancel anytime.
Questions? Call or text (415) 640-1667.
A Solo plan for one or two people is $8 a month per location, after your 25 days free.
Questions
Before you
start.
What goes in the commissary log?
One line each time the truck is at the commissary: date, time in, time out, what was done and initials. California law has the truck cleaned and serviced there at least once every operating day (HSC 114297). The binder starts at the last 90 days.
Can we cool food on the truck?
We have not read that section of CalCode (the mobile food sections, HSC 114205 to 114242), so we will not guess. The cooling rule itself is 135°F to 70°F within 2 hours, then 41°F within 6 (HSC 114002). Ask your county environmental health office where a truck may cool.
How big does the water tank have to be?
We have not read CalCode's tank sizes, so the app says so instead of a number. Ask your county environmental health office; the county start page names it and its phone.
Can I use my permit in the next county?
Not in Orange County: its page says other counties' permits are not valid there. Elsewhere, ask the office where you will park. Each county issues the truck's permit under the same state law (HSC 114381).
Does my crew need a food handler card?
Yes. Each food handler gets a California Food Handler Card within 30 days of being hired. It lasts 3 years, and the employer pays for the course and the time (HSC 113948). Riverside County issues its own certificate, due within 7 days; San Bernardino and San Diego counties run their own cards. The app keeps each card and its expiry date on file.
I'm the only one on the truck. Who is the person in charge when I'm sick?
You are. The sick report tells you what the rule asks, no food work that day, and the report is saved. The person in charge tells the county environmental health office about a diagnosed Salmonella, Shigella, E. coli (STEC), hepatitis A or norovirus (HSC 113949.5). With nobody else on the team, the step is yours to follow.
Do I need a laptop?
No. It runs in your phone's browser.
What does a two-person truck pay?
One or two people is the Solo plan, $8 per location per month. The 25 free days start when you add a card on Stripe's page. Cancel before they end and you pay nothing. 25 days free. Cancel anytime.
Will the app remind us to write the cooler reading?
Not by text. In a browser, yes, once you say yes when the app asks. Open the app and the list shows what is due and what is late.
Your binder is ready when the inspector is.
Pick your place. Start with one shift.
Start your 25 days free See it work
25 days free. Cancel anytime.
Questions? Call or text (415) 640-1667