System Hub
Paper SFBB pack or a digital diary
The official Safer Food, Better Business pack is free, familiar, and legal when it is complete. It collapses when opening checks, temps, and the 4-weekly review are written up from memory. System Hub is the same diary on a phone during the shift — not a new hygiene system.
Last reviewed: . Written by Oriel Technology Ltd.
TL;DR
Keep paper if the pack is already done during service and lives where an officer can open it. Trial System Hub if gaps start at close — opening checks, temps, and deliveries written up from memory — or if you cannot see Thursday’s checks before morning coffee.
At a glance
| Paper SFBB pack | System Hub Food Safety | |
|---|---|---|
| The job | Official FSA pack: safe methods plus a daily diary | The same SFBB checks, timestamped, on a phone during the shift |
| Legal in England and Wales? | Yes, when complete, dated, and kept for the next visit | Yes, on the same test. FSA lists an electronic diary as an option |
| Opening checks and temps | Clipboard or diary page. Often filled in at close | Guided checks with a name on the line. Alerts when skipped |
| 4-weekly review | A page in the pack. Easy to skip between shifts | Walks the 4 Cs plus management. Progress saves |
| Inspection hand-over | Find the binder. Hope it is readable | Filter the dates they ask about, on a device a manager can unlock |
| Multi-site | Drive, or photos of diaries on WhatsApp | Overdue checks per kitchen in one account |
| Fire, Challenge 25, bookings | Separate clipboards | Optional modules, same login |
| Cost | Free FSA download. Printed refills from stationers | £5/week per location after a 14-day trial. No card to start |
| Setup | Print the pack. Write the methods. Keep the diary daily | Browser. No app to install. Same tasks the team already owes |
Paper is legal
Format is not the test. Completeness, dates, and access are. The Food Standards Agency says completed diary pages can be stored electronically or printed. Officers may still ask to see the diary and the pack.
Store all your completed diary pages safely until your next visit from a local authority food safety officer. This can be done electronically or with printed copies.
Safer food, better business (SFBB), Food Standards Agency / GOV.UK, 5 June 2025. England and Wales.
You can fill the official PDF on a tablet and never pay for software. That is already an electronic diary. Paid software is for names, timestamps, alerts, and a dashboard — not for a stamp that says “approved”.
Where paper fails on a busy service
The pack is not the problem. The habit is: “we’ve always done the diary at close.” Opening checks, temps, and deliveries get written up from memory. Clipboards go missing. The 4-weekly review stalls as a folded page in the office while the GM is on the floor.
- Opening and closing checks belong at the start and end of the shift, not in the car
- Fridge, freezer, cooking, and hot-holding records need the reading you took, with a name on the line
- The 4-weekly review is how a manager looks back. Skipping it is a gap in the system, not an optional extra
You are not a bad operator because the food is good. You are exposed if the pack was filled in at 11pm.
What stays the same
The 4 Cs, named daily checks, manager sign-off, safe methods. This is not a new job. Officers who know the paper pack should recognise the same headings. We do not replace cooking food until it is safe, or writing the methods you actually use.
What changes
A timestamp and a name at the time of the check. Alerts when Thursday’s fridge check is missing. A diary a manager can search when the EHO names a date. Overdue checks across kitchens without collecting binders.
Honest limits: it costs £5/week per location after trial. Staff still take the probe reading — there are no wireless sensors. You still need a device a manager can unlock when the officer arrives. See System Hub vs Checkit if overnight monitoring is the job.
Cost
The official pack is a free FSA download. Printed refill diaries are sold by stationers; we do not invent a shelf price. System Hub Food Safety is £5/week per location via Stripe after a 14-day trial with no card (~£260 a year). Cancel anytime. Frame that against hours after close and one stressful visit — not a made-up ROI.
Moving from paper
Keep the historic paper until the next visit. Start digital from the next opening check. Do not invent an import of last year’s ticks. If digital is the system, that is what you hand over — do not scramble a paper backup at the pass. Read will an EHO accept digital food safety records.
Who should stay on paper
- One-site café where the pack is already completed during the shift
- The diary lives where an officer can open it without a hunt
- You do not want another weekly fee, and the PDF on a tablet is enough
Ideal paper customer: a quiet site that never loses the pack and never fills it from memory.
Who should trial System Hub
- Busy restaurant, pub, or café where the pack lives in the office
- Multi-site groups that cannot see who skipped opening checks before coffee
- Owner-operators who want fire logs or a booking diary in the same login later
Ideal System Hub customer: a UK independent or small group replacing the SFBB diary pack, starting with Food Safety at £5/week.
Also in this set: vs Checkit, vs Food Alert, vs ResDiary.