How to write a HACCP plan for your hospitality business

You build a HACCP plan by mapping your kitchen process step by step, identifying where a hazard can occur at each step, and for the critical points, usually temperature, recording how you measure, how often, and what you do when a limit is exceeded.

What is a HACCP plan and why is it required?

HACCP stands for Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points and is a legal requirement for any hospitality business that handles food. The plan systematically describes where food safety can be put at risk in your process and how you keep watch over it. A good plan is not a thick binder gathering dust, it is a working document that matches what actually happens in the kitchen every day.

Step 1: map your process

Start with a simple flow from purchasing to serving: receiving goods, storage in a fridge or freezer, prep, cooking, cooling down if needed, and service. For each step, note briefly what happens. This does not need to be an elaborate diagram, a list per product group often works just as well.

Step 2: hazard analysis, what risks are actually in play?

Go through each step and ask what hazard could occur: spoilage from too high a temperature, cross contamination between raw and cooked, or a product left out of the fridge too long. In most hospitality kitchens, temperature turns out to be the dominant factor, since a fridge or freezer that is only slightly off is often only noticed once it is already too late.

Step 3: determine your critical control points

A critical control point, or CCP, is a step where you must actively intervene to prevent a hazard. Refrigeration and freezing are a CCP in almost every kitchen: once temperature goes wrong there, no later step in the process can undo it.

Step 4: set your standards and limits

For each critical point you set a concrete limit. In practice that usually comes down to:

• Refrigeration: 7 degrees or below.
• Freezer: minus 18 degrees or colder.
• Cooling down: below 7 degrees within a few hours.
• Hot holding: 60 degrees or above.

These limits are not optional: they come straight from the HACCP requirements for safe practice in a commercial kitchen set by the Dutch food safety authority, and an inspection checks precisely against them. Missing or incorrect records alone can already result in a fine, even if the refrigeration itself was actually working fine at the time.

Step 5: record and retain according to the retention requirement

Every reading at a critical point gets logged, with date, time and who took it. These records need to be kept for at least two years. You can do that by hand with fixed HACCP checklists, but many venues now choose digital registration instead, since it does not depend on whoever happens to remember to fill in the sheet that day.

Step 6: define your corrective actions

For each critical point, also describe what you do when the limit is exceeded: move stock, discard it, or get the refrigeration repaired. Without this step your plan is incomplete, since measuring alone without a defined response solves nothing when something actually goes wrong.

How do you keep a HACCP plan alive in daily practice?

The biggest risk with a HACCP plan is that it ends up in a drawer after the first draft while daily practice moves on. Automatic temperature monitoring helps directly here: Coolwatcher measures fridges and freezers continuously and sends a WhatsApp alert to whoever is responsible the moment something drifts, with an actual phone call if that alert goes unacknowledged or happens during a closed night or weekend. The Coolwatcher app also always shows you the current status, and by the end of the month your records are already sitting there as a report. Want to see first what a proper temperature registration should include? Take a look at the product page as a starting point for your own plan.

Frequently asked questions

Does every hospitality business need its own HACCP plan?

Yes, any business that prepares or sells food is required to run a system based on HACCP principles. The scale can match the size of the business: a small lunchroom needs a simpler plan than a large-scale kitchen.

Can I use a generic HACCP plan template?

A template from your industry association is a reasonable starting point, but you always need to adapt it to your own process and equipment. A plan that does not match what actually happens in your kitchen will not hold up during an inspection.

How often should I update my HACCP plan?

Update your plan whenever something structural changes: new refrigeration equipment, a new dish on the menu, or a renovation. Beyond that, it is wise to review the plan at least once a year to check it still matches reality.

Want to support your HACCP plan with automatic temperature registration instead of manual checklists? Coolwatcher offers that from 50 euros a month, including a free demo.