Field notes
Kitchen management guides for professional kitchens
Free, practical guides written for UK professional kitchens. Temperature logging and HACCP records, opening and closing safety checks, stock control, reducing food waste, food cost percentage, staff rota planning, allergen records, and FSA Safer Food, Better Business alignment.
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Free templates and calculators
Printable templates
- EHO inspection readiness checklist
The records to have ready before an environmental health visit.
- Weekly fridge temperature log
A printable sheet for daily fridge and freezer checks.
- Sample EHO audit pack
See what a complete audit pack from Chef’s Helper looks like.
Browser calculators
- GP calculator
Work out gross profit and the selling price you need for a dish.
- Batch recipe cost calculator
Cost a batch from pack prices and trim waste, then see cost per portion.
- Menu engineering calculator
Sort dishes into Stars, Plowhorses, Puzzles and Dogs from sales and margin.
Food safety & compliance
The records an EHO will ask for. Temperature logs, opening and closing checks, allergen reviews and FSA Safer Food, Better Business alignment.
How to prepare your kitchen records for an EHO visit
Bring safety checks, temperature logs, rota context and allergen reviews together, then prepare the right date range for inspection.
HACCP temperature logs: what UK kitchens need to record
Fridge, freezer, cooking, hot holding, cooling and delivery checks. The safe limits, the corrective actions, and the records an EHO will ask for.
Food safety checks for small kitchen teams
What belongs on your opening and closing checklists, who signs each one off, and how to handle a missed check without faking the paperwork.
How to maintain allergen records in a commercial kitchen
Check the 14 regulated allergens, verify supplier information, record manual changes and keep reviews ready for inspection.
How Chef’s Helper lines up with FSA Safer Food, Better Business
An honest, section-by-section map of the FSA’s Safer Food, Better Business pack against what the app records for you.
Kitchen operations
Stock control, waste and rota planning: the day-to-day rhythm that keeps a service running and a kitchen properly staffed.
Restaurant inventory management and stock control
Organise stock by location, set minimum levels that flag low stock, and use waste and order records to buy the right amount.
How to reduce food waste in a commercial kitchen
Measure what you throw away, tighten prep quantities, rotate stock properly, and turn waste data into gross profit.
How to build a practical kitchen staff rota
Plan service coverage, shift roles and realistic times, then use the rota as context when reviewing named food safety records.
Costing & recipes
Food cost percentage, recipe importing and the numbers behind a menu that actually makes money.
How to calculate food cost percentage
The dish formula, the period formula, a worked example with VAT handled properly, UK targets by venue type, and the mistakes that skew the number.
How to import recipes into your kitchen app
Bring recipes in from a CSV spreadsheet or a web link, preview them before saving, and export recipes or books as a backup.
Chef’s Helper
Run all of it from one app
Chef’s Helper brings recipe costing, inventory, prep lists, safety checks and your team into a single kitchen app.