A kitchen’s food safety file is the same five things everywhere: temperature records for receiving, cold storage, cooking, cooling and hot holding, the cleaning schedule with sign-offs, the pest control visits, the training records for every food handler, and the licence or Certificate of Acceptability the premises trades under. In South Africa the environmental health practitioner opens that file under R638 of 2018. In Dubai the Municipality’s inspector opens it under the Food Code with a certified Person in Charge. ASCloud puts the whole file on the phones already in the kitchen, from R499 per site per month excluding VAT, as at October 2026.
Why kitchens lose the paper battle
A kitchen runs on shifts. The morning chef does the fridge temperatures, the afternoon team does the cleaning, the night porter does the close-down check, and the manager reconciles it on Monday. Any missed line is invisible until the inspector’s visit. The temperature log on the fridge door is written from memory at the end of service. The pest control report is in the manager’s email. Paper does not escalate, does not time-stamp and does not search.
What the phone does
Each check is a task on the shift’s phone with a time window. Fridge and freezer temperatures are typed against the limit, and a reading over the limit opens a corrective action and alerts the manager. Cleaning tasks are ticked with a photo where it matters. The pest control contractor’s visit is a scheduled task with the report uploaded against it. Training certificates sit against each person with expiry reminders. The Certificate of Acceptability or trade licence is held with its renewal date. The inspector’s pack exports by date in one file.
Hotel groups and central kitchens
A hotel with six outlets and a central kitchen sees every outlet on one dashboard, with the group’s shared procedures controlled centrally and each outlet working its own checklists. Allergen control, which hotel audits lean on heavily, runs as a checklist on the pass with the allergen matrix one tap away. Where a hotel group or a client asks for HACCP certification, the same records carry into a Codex HACCP plan with CCPs and monitoring, without starting again.
The Dubai specifics
The Dubai Food Code requires a documented HACCP-based programme and at least one certified Person in Charge on site. ASCloud holds the Person in Charge register with certificate expiry reminders, the food handler training records and the programme itself, written to the Food Code. See the UAE page for the regulation and prices in dirhams.
What it costs
The R638 and Certificate of Acceptability plan is R499 per site per month with two named users and a R3,850 once-off setup. Hotels and caterers that need a full HACCP plan take the HACCP plan at R3,800. Every plan includes missed-task alerts, scheme updates and the apps for iPhone, iPad and Android. Setup by ASC Food Safety Consultants, the consultancy that advises KFC Africa and Spur Corp nationally on food safety.
Put your kitchen file on a phone
R499 per site per month for R638 and Certificate of Acceptability records. Live in five working days.
Frequently asked questions
Can a small restaurant afford it?
The R638 plan is R499 per site per month, less than the cost of one hour of a consultant’s time, with no long-term lock-in.
Does the inspector accept records on a phone?
Yes. Environmental health practitioners under R638 and Dubai Municipality inspectors assess the records, not the medium. The export produces the file by date in one document.
What about staff who do not have smartphones?
A shared tablet in the kitchen with each person logging in under their own name works for most kitchens. Each record still carries the named person.
Does it cover allergen records?
Yes. The allergen matrix, the changeover checks and the customer enquiry log are checklists and records on the same system.