Opening a Restaurant Abroad? Build a Food Safety File Your Team Can Use
You know how to run a kitchen. Opening in another country brings a second job. You have to work out which local requirements apply, where the paperwork goes and what staff should record in the middle of service.
Start with the way food moves through your kitchen. Follow one ingredient from delivery to storage, preparation and service. At each step, decide who makes the check, where they record it and what they do when something goes wrong. That gives you a food safety file organised around the work your team actually does. Codex General Principles of Food Hygiene
What goes in the file?
| When | What your team needs to find | Online‑Chef templates |
|---|---|---|
| Food arrives | Supplier record, product or batch reference, receiving decision and any action taken | 02 Receiving and 07 Storage and internal labels |
| Food is stored or prepared | Equipment and process checks, the applicable criteria and what happened if a reading was outside them | 03–04 Cold & Chilled storage and 12 Production time and temperature |
| A shift opens or closes | Who did the checks, which areas were cleaned and what needs follow-up | 01 Opening and closing, 05–06 Cleaning and maintenance, 13 Pest monitoring |
| A recipe changes or a guest asks about allergens | Current ingredient information, supplier evidence and the information your guests can access | 08 Allergen register |
| A check fails or a supplier issues an alert | What was affected, what was held or removed, who was contacted and how the issue was closed | 09 Frying oil where applicable, 10 Corrective actions and 14 Withdrawal and recall |
Download the restaurant hygiene templates
Preview the delivery receiving log or download all 15 printable PDFs for free. If the templates help your team and you’d like to support Online‑Chef, you can also buy the same pack on Payhip.
· Support Online‑Chef on Payhip · 4.99€ & Download all 15 PDFs
Use sheet 11 as the index. Add the location of your own procedures, supplier records, staff training evidence and any local documents that apply to your business. You can set the limits, frequencies and responsibilities in the English templates to fit your site.
What if I’m opening in France?
An English working copy can help an international team get started. Build your file around the requirements for your French operation, including the relevant parts of your plan de maîtrise sanitaire (PMS). Check which documents apply to your activity and what information must be available to guests. For example, French restaurants serving meals on site must make written allergen information available under the applicable rules. Decide which documents need a French version so staff, guests and the relevant authorities can use them. Service Public, food hygiene rules in France · French Consumer Code, allergen information
Can Online‑Chef prepare the documentation for my restaurant?
Yes. If you need a complete set of working documents tailored to your kitchen, we can start with your location, menu, layout, equipment and the records you already have. From there, we agree which procedures, checklists, registers, labels and staff instructions need to be prepared or adapted. For a team working across languages, we can also agree which documents need English and French versions.
Tell us where you operate, what you serve and whether you’re opening or already trading. That gives us enough context to discuss what you can use from the pack and what should be prepared for your site. Contact Online‑Chef through our website
“A good kitchen record tells the next shift what was checked, what went wrong, and what still needs doing.”
