The problem
Food safety diaries in many takeaways are filled in at the end of the week from memory, and gaps show at an inspection, where confidence in management is one of the three things the food hygiene rating looks at. If the owner spends 35 minutes a week checking the diary, chasing gaps and filing, that's about 151 minutes, 2.5 hours a month.
What the AI does
Mitti, until recently sold as SafetyCulture, is a checklist and inspection app. Its pricing page lists a Free plan for up to 10 seats with 5 active inspection templates, tasks and issue reporting, and PDF and web reports. Build templates from the food safety system you already use, such as Safer Food, Better Business: opening checks, closing checks, fridge and freezer temperatures, cooking and reheating temperatures, and allergen controls such as checking delivered products against your allergen matrix. Staff complete each check on a phone at the time, adding a photo of the probe where it matters. The app records what staff enter; trained staff and calibrated probes do the checking.
A worked example
A takeaway in Stoke with the owner and 4 staff uses Safer Food, Better Business. Opening and closing checks and temperature records move to Mitti on the shift leader's phone.
Before
35 minutes a week checking the paper diary, chasing gaps and filing: about 151 minutes, 2.5 hours a month
After
About 10 minutes a week reviewing reports and acting on issues: about 43 minutes a month
What it's worth
About $43£32€38A$61C$60 a month saved, at no cost on the Free plan. That's 1.8 hours (151 minus 43 = 108 minutes) at an assumed $24£18€21A$35C$34 an hour. The Free plan covers up to 10 seats and 5 active templates; Premium is $24 (about $24£18€21A$35C$34) a seat a month billed annually. Prices are shown in dollars. Records that hold up at inspection aren't priced.
How to set it up
- List the daily, weekly and monthly checks your Safer Food, Better Business pack or HACCP plan requires.
- Build up to 5 templates in the Free plan: opening, closing, temperatures, weekly cleaning and deliveries.
- Add allergen controls: check delivered products against your allergen matrix and record any recipe or supplier change for the trained person who updates allergen information.
- Give seats to shift leaders only, and have checks done at the time, not at the end of the week.
- Review reports weekly, act on anything out of range, and export them to your own records.
What goes wrong
- The app records results; it doesn't make food safe. A wrong temperature entered is still wrong, so train staff and calibrate probes.
- The Free plan stops at 10 seats and 5 active templates; check how long it keeps records and export them.
- If a check finds a problem, the record must show what you did about it, such as discarding food. Make that a required field.
- Ask your local food team if they're happy with digital records before your next inspection.