Free printable temperature log for restaurants

A temperature log is the record that your coolers, freezers, and hot-holding units stayed in a safe range, and what the team did when one didn't. Add your equipment below, then print a sheet for the week and keep it where the checks happen.

What to record

• The equipment, and the safe range it should stay within.
• The reading and the time it was taken, for every scheduled check.
• The initials of the person who took it.
• For any reading outside the range: what was done about it, and whether the food was kept or thrown away.

How often to check

Many kitchens check at least at opening and closing, and more often for hot holding during service. Your local rules or your food safety plan may require a specific schedule, so check them before you choose the columns on your sheet.

When a reading is out of range

1. Check the thermometer and take the reading again.
2. Look for a simple cause, such as a door left open during a delivery.
3. Follow your food safety plan for the food inside, and write down what you did.
4. Tell a manager, and log a repair if the unit keeps drifting.

Keeping the records

Keep completed sheets somewhere an inspector can see them, for as long as your local rules require. A binder by the pass is the usual answer; the problem is that a ticked box can't show who took the reading, and a missed check is easy to fill in later.

Going digital

When paper stops being enough, Barley's temperature logs give each unit its own safe range, flag a reading outside it and require a comment explaining what happened, and keep a history you can filter by date, equipment, employee, or status.