Restaurant Lookup Start your 25 days free

For California restaurants

Your restaurant temperature log, kept by the whole line.

Cooking, cooling and walk-in readings on every cook's phone, with the fix written down when the walk-in reads 45°F. Plans start at $8 a month.

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25 days free. Cancel anytime.

Friday, 6:40 pm

Why does the record slip?
Forty covers, and a cook out sick.

Food held too warm or cooled too slowly is how guests get sick, and a missing reading looks the same as a missed one.

  • The rules

    Cooking temperatures, two-stage cooling, hot holding, the consumer advisory: the California Retail Food Code (HSC 113700 and after) is long. In Los Angeles the grade goes on the door.

  • The day

    Forty seats full, one cook called in sick at four, and nobody has written the walk-in temperature since the 2:10 pm reading. You can't stand over every pan.

  • The point

    You opened to feed people, not chase clipboards.

See it work

See a sample Friday on the screen before you decide anything.

Whose rules, exactly?

Each rule, with where it comes from.
California writes its own code, CalCode.

Kitchens run on habits. The chili's cooling clock and the walk-in's reading go on the phone your cooks already carry. The rule is printed beside each, with its Health and Safety Code section, and where your county differs.

  • Cooling

    Cool hot food from 135°F to 70°F within 2 hours, then to 41°F or colder within 6 hours in all (HSC 114002).

    CleanCleaver: Start cooling sets the 2-hour and 6-hour timers; each reading is saved with time and the cook's name.

    California: HSC 114002.1

    Guide: Cooling food in two stages
  • Hot and cold holding

    Hot food at 135°F or hotter. Cold food at 41°F or colder (HSC 113996).

    CleanCleaver: Each walk-in reading is saved with time and name. A warm one asks what the cook did.

    California: HSC 113996, HSC 114000

    Guide: Hot and cold holding
  • Date marking and disposal

    CalCode has no general 7-day date rule: only sealed reduced-oxygen food carries a Use By date (HSC 114057). We recommend the FDA Food Code's 7 days (3-501.17) for prepped food anyway: the day you make it is day 1.

    CleanCleaver: The app counts the 7 days and says what to write on the wrap.

    FDA Food Code (model) 3-501.17, 3-501.18: not in California's code, so this line is our advice

    Guide: Date marking: the 7-day rule
What else can the inspector check? 5 more rules
  • Cooking temperatures

    The FDA Food Code's cooking temperatures, our recommendation (CalCode's cooking section wasn't read): poultry to 165°F, ground meat to 155°F, steaks, chops and fish to 145°F.

    CleanCleaver: Each cooking temperature is saved with the time and the cook's name.

    California: HSC 114004, HSC 114008

    Guide: Cooking temperatures
  • Reheating for hot holding

    The FDA Food Code's reheating rule, our recommendation (CalCode's reheating section wasn't read): to 165°F within 2 hours.

    CleanCleaver: The reheating reading is saved with the time and name.

    California: HSC 114016

    Guide: Reheating leftovers
  • Employee health: report, exclude, restrict

    A sick cook stays off the line. The person in charge tells the county environmental health office about a diagnosed Salmonella, Shigella, E. coli (STEC), hepatitis A or norovirus. Two or more workers sick at once: the same call (HSC 113949.5). No hour count: call right away.

    CleanCleaver: Health questions before each shift. You see only OK to work or No food work today.

    California: HSC 113949.2, HSC 113950.5

    Guide: Sick workers: report it and stay home
  • 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 strengths
  • Certified food protection manager

    At least one owner or employee is a certified food protection manager. A new place, a new owner, or one that lost its certified person has 60 days. The certificate lasts 5 years (HSC 113947.1, 113947.3).

    CleanCleaver: The app keeps the certificate on file, and the binder lists it.

    HSC 113947.1, 113947.3

    Guide: Food handler cards and food safety managers

See it work

See the same rule on the screen your cook sees.

The cooling pot

What does a rule look like
when a cook lives it?

Chili made ahead runs on two clocks: 135°F to 70°F within 2 hours, then to 41°F within 6 in all (HSC 114002). Step the pot through both.

Cooling log

By hour 2: 70°F or below. By hour 6: 41°F or below.

  1. Stage 1 135°F to 70°F within 2 hours
  2. Stage 2 70°F to 41°F within 4 more hours (6 in all)

Missed stage 1: reheat to 165°F and restart, or discard. Missed stage 2: discard.

Step the clock forward. On a keyboard, click the chart and use the arrow keys.

The cooling record asks for the chili's temperature at each stage, and saves who took it and when. Your cooks type it in on a phone between tickets.

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The plan

How long to set up?
Three steps, once.

  1. Pick Restaurant

    Start from the restaurant list, then edit it to match your menu.

  2. Send each cook a link

    Nothing to install. No phone? Use the shop tablet: tap your name, then enter a 4-digit PIN.

  3. Download one PDF

    Every reading is saved with the time and who took it. When the inspector comes, the binder is one PDF.

Start your 25 days free

Setup is minutes, and your cooks' first walk-in reading is on Today the same day.

Not open yet?

What goes on the wall
in a California restaurant?

Your health permit, where customers see it (HSC 114381). A wash-your-hands sign at every hand sink (HSC 113953.5). A notice that your latest inspection report is here for customers to read (HSC 113725.1). "No smoking" at each entrance (Labor Code 6404.5). If you serve burgers to order, rare steak, soft eggs or raw fish, a consumer advisory: a disclosure and a reminder (HSC 114093). With 10 or more employees, counting part-time, the Prop 65 food warning goes up (27 CCR 25607.5). One of three ways. An 8½ by 11 sign at each public entrance. A 5 by 5 sign at each register. Or the warning on your menu. Serving alcohol adds the Prop 65 alcohol warning (27 CCR 25607.3). Where your county grades, the inspector posts your grade card or placard.

Before any of that, your plans go to your county environmental health office and you build only after they approve them (HSC 114380). Serving alcohol takes a license from the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, and every server and their manager is RBS-certified within 60 days of starting. Smoking or curing food, adding preservatives, or keeping a shellfish tank takes an HACCP plan (HSC 114419).

How to open a food business in your county

The app keeps the permit and the manager certificate in the binder, so they are on the wall and on file.

A Tuesday

What does a Tuesday look like?
From check-in to close.

Today follows your weekly hours, so a place that opens at eleven is not asked for a seven o'clock reading.

  1. Check in

    Each cook answers a few health questions. The answer is OK to work or No food work today.

  2. Opening readings

    Thermometer in ice water, the walk-in and freezer temperatures, the sanitizer strip. Then Today says Open for food: Yes.

  3. Take the chili's temperature as it cools

    Chili and soups made ahead: 70°F within 2 hours, then 41°F within 6. Start cooling sets both clocks.

  4. The walk-in reads 45°F

    It will not save until you say what you did. Then: Caught early ✓

  5. Out of degreaser

    The dish cook taps I'm out on the step. It lands on the order list under your supplier, with one tap to it on Amazon. The strips that match your sanitizer sit beside it.

  6. Close the day

    The last walk-in temperature. Today shows what is still open, so it is handed off, not forgotten.

Start your 25 days free

This is the whole day. It is on your cooks' phones in a few minutes.

Inspection day

And when the inspector
walks in?

You download one PDF. No binder to fill at night.

  • Your permits and the manager certificate.
  • Every out-of-range reading, with the fix the cook wrote.
  • The temperature tables your cooks typed in.
  • The last 90 days by default. Only managers can download it.

See it work

Look at a sample binder before you decide.

Why not lose a few points?

A few points cost little.
An easier shift is worth more.

A few points off will not close you, so that is not the reason. The reason is Friday at 6:40 pm.

  • An easier shift

    Each cook sees one next thing: the walk-in, the chili's cooling clock, the 3 pm strip. Every machine's cleaning steps come with pictures. Out of degreaser? One tap puts it on the order list. The date labels count the 7 days, so prepped food is used before it is found. Less scramble at open and close.

  • Credit for your cooks

    For the cook, this is not policing. It is one next thing with the rule beside it, and his name on good work: every reading, every Caught early. A reading counts the same whether it passes or not. When the inspector walks in, you hand over one PDF, problems first, and go back to the line.

  • Proof, not promises

    An inspection is a snapshot. In Los Angeles County the letter at your door is your score: A is 90 to 100, B is 80 to 89, C is 70 to 79. Below 70, the card shows the number. San Diego, Riverside, San Bernardino, Imperial and Kern grade too. In Sacramento and San Francisco it is a green, yellow or red placard. Your records show how you run every day. Each walk-in reading has the time and the cook's name, a photo where it helps, and corrections struck through, never deleted. The binder is one PDF with its own fingerprint. That is proof you can show, not a promise. The county grades; we don't.

See it work

About five quick taps a day, on the phone your cooks already carry. Count them on a sample kitchen.

So what changes Monday?

Cook.
The record keeps itself.

Monday, the first cook opens the link, takes the walk-in temperature and types it in. By close, Today shows what is still open.

Start your 25 days free

Your trial covers weeks of real service, enough to see if it holds.

Questions

Before you
start.

Is this a HACCP plan?

No. A HACCP plan is a written plan for some special processes: smoking or curing meat, adding preservatives, keeping a shellfish tank. California requires one for those processes (HSC 114419); ask your county who approves it. CleanCleaver keeps the everyday temperatures and check-ins most small kitchens need.

Do we need a certified food protection manager in California?

Yes. At least one owner or employee at each food facility holds a food protection manager certificate from an accredited exam (HSC 113947.1). A new place, a new owner, or a place that lost its certified person has 60 days. The certificate lasts 5 years (HSC 113947.3). The law asks for one per facility, not a certified person on every shift. CleanCleaver keeps the certificate on file, and the binder lists it.

The walk-in reads 44°F. What does California say?

Cold food stays at 41°F or colder (HSC 113996). The law's 45°F exceptions are few: raw shell eggs, live shellfish, sealed pasteurized milk. A salad bar may sit at 45°F for up to 12 hours, then it is thrown out. The walk-in and the chili are not among them. In the app, a 44°F reading will not save until the cook writes what he did.

A cook is sick. Who do I tell?

The person in charge tells the county environmental health office. That is for a cook diagnosed with Salmonella, Shigella, E. coli (STEC), hepatitis A or norovirus. It is also for two or more workers with a stomach illness at once (HSC 113949.5). The law names no hour count: call right away. The app's check-in asks each cook the health questions before the shift; you see only OK to work or No food work today.

We serve beer and wine. What changes?

A license from the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, often type 41 (a beer and wine eating place) or type 47 (a general eating place). Every server and their manager is RBS-certified within 60 days of starting, and the certificate lasts 3 years. With 10 or more employees, the Prop 65 alcohol warning goes up beside the food warning (27 CCR 25607.3). The app lists the signs; it does not file the license.

I'm the general manager. The owner holds the card.

Send the owner this page, or open the demo: it runs on sample data. The owner starts the 25 days. Managers and staff never see billing.

Can cooks type readings without a phone?

Yes. Set up the shop tablet. Each person taps their name and enters a 4-digit PIN.

What if a reading is out of range?

It will not save until you write what you did. Then it shows Caught early. The reading is saved and flagged, and it goes in the binder with the fix.

We ran out of degreaser and sanitizer at 4 pm. Then what?

Whoever finds it taps I'm out on the step. It goes on the order list under that supplier. One tap finds the degreaser, the sanitizer, or the test strips that match your sanitizer, on Amazon. A manager sends the list from her own phone. CleanCleaver never places the order and adds nothing to the price.

Does it alert me when the walk-in is warm?

Not by text. In a browser, an alert can reach the people on shift once they say yes when the app asks. Open the app and Today shows what is due and what is late.

What does a restaurant pay?

It depends on how many people are on your staff list, per location per month: Solo (1–2) is $8, Small (3–6) is $24, Team (7–12) is $40 and Kitchen (13 or more) is $69 a month, per location. 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.

Isn't a B grade cheaper than all this?

Maybe, if the grade were the only thing. In Los Angeles County the card hangs at your door: A is 90 to 100, B is 80 to 89, C is 70 to 79. But the reason is the shift, not the inspector. Each cook sees one next thing, the chili's cooling clock runs on the phone, supplies are one tap away. The date labels count the days, so less prepped food is found too late. Your cooks get the credit, with a name on every reading. Your records show every day, with times and names, and the binder is one PDF with its own fingerprint. That is proof you can show, not a promise. About five quick taps a day. The Solo plan is $8 a month.

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