Guide
Safer Food, Better Business: what the SFBB diary must show
Updated
SFBB is the route most small caterers take, and it is not a shortcut around HACCP. It is HACCP, written for a kitchen rather than a factory.
Talk to a specialist The duty is monitoring and records commensurate with your business, not a form somebody sold you.
Question 1
What kind of food business is it?
Pick the closest. gov.uk defines a food business broadly: if you sell, cook, store, handle, prepare or distribute food, including from home, a mobile unit or online, you are one.
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What SFBB is
The FSA describes Safer Food, Better Business as "the food safety management procedures for small businesses". It covers cross-contamination, cleaning, chilling, cooking, management and the diary. The toolkits are "designed for small catering businesses such as restaurants, cafés and takeaways", adaptable to your business's size and nature (gov.uk).
Which pack, and where
- England and Wales: SFBB, with sector packs for caterers, retailers, Indian cuisine, Chinese cuisine, childminders, a supplement for residential care homes, and teaching resources for colleges.
- Northern Ireland: the FSA points to Safe Catering instead of SFBB.
- Scotland: Food Standards Scotland publishes CookSafe, whose records section includes a Delivery Record, Cold Food Record, Hot Temperature Record, Hot Holding Record and Off Site Temperature Record.
What the SFBB diary has to show
The Food Standards Agency diary is part of the pack, not an extra. The FSA's instruction is a duty, not a suggestion.
"This pack must be completed for all your food operations and must outline the food safety practices in place with daily records kept in the diary."
Two consequences follow. If you run an operation the pack does not describe, such as vacuum packing or sous vide, the pack alone does not cover you. And a diary with gaps is evidence about the gaps.
When a full HACCP plan is expected instead
The system depends on the size, risk level and complexity of the business. As gov.uk puts it, "your local food safety team might advise that you need an HACCP plan if your business is larger or higher-risk".
Its contrast is a café making sandwiches and salads for same-day sale against a factory making chilled ready meals with cooked meat for national distribution. The FSA's MyHACCP service and HACCP plan templates are the routes to building one.
The step before any of this
Registration. If you sell, cook, store, handle, prepare or distribute food you must register with your local authority, gov.uk states. That includes trading from home, a mobile unit, temporary premises, online or by distance selling. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland register at least 28 days before trading (gov.uk, last updated 25 June 2026). Registration is free.
Getting the system in place is also the fastest legitimate route to a better hygiene rating. Confidence in management is one of the things the rating scores, and a complete, current diary speaks to it directly.