How to Stop Pencil Whipping Temperature Logs

by | 24-Oct-2022

 

Temperature logs.

Restaurant Managers and GMs across the country know what an inconvenience they can be.

Even if you’re especially good about completing daily temp logs, it’s hard to know if employees are doing them the right way.

The fact is, most restaurants could improve their daily food safety operations — especially temperature logs.

Temperature logs are notoriously pencil-whipped in the restaurant industry, and there’s a good reason for it.

Temp logs take a long time to do the right way, and restaurants move fast.

Luckily, Digital Food Safety has changed that pace with instant readings and records of all your daily temperatures (no clipboard required).

Here are the three steps you can take to stop pencil whipping temperature logs in your stores.

 

1. Quit Using Paper

The first step to solving a problem is admitting you have one.

The problem with temp logs is that employees are required to write them on paper, and because they’re so easy to copy from previous days, they lend themselves to falsification.

If you’re in the restaurant industry, this is no surprise to you.

Temp logs are one of the few things that nearly every restaurant could improve — and not because they’re unsanitary or don’t take food safety seriously.

It’s that temperature logs are not convenient to accomplish. They seemingly interrupt “normal” restaurant operations of focusing on the customer and preparing orders.

But the fact is, temperature logs are perhaps one of the most customer-friendly things you can do.

By completing temperature logs at the appropriate times each day, you’re ensuring fresh, hot food for the customer.

Nobody wants a cold burger and fries, no matter how fast they’re served.

 

 

2. Switch to Digital Food Safety

So how do you make temperature logs convenient to accomplish?

You equip employees with tools that remove human error, and speed up the temp check process.

Imagine you probe four burgers, one right after the other, and those temperatures are instantly saved in your logbook.

Do you think employees would do temp logs then?

Jolt Digital Food Safety connects a probe to your store’s tablet to eliminate pencil whipping temperature logs.

That means no more writing down yesterday’s temperatures.

With Jolt, you’ll be able to probe one burger right after the next, and Jolt captures the stabilized temperature of each patty.

If you don’t have a tablet in store, don’t worry. Jolt works on smartphones as well— both iOS and Android.

By switching your daily temperature logs from paper to digital, you make it easier for employees to do.

Most importantly, you’re now doing temperatures the right way, and can rely on the information you collect.

 

3. Get Consistent with Temp Checks

Now equipped with the right tools, your team should work towards consistent temperature logs.

Most restaurants require temperature logs at least twice daily, if not more.

Using a digital food safety solution like Jolt, you’ll be able to set audible reminders for your team to complete temperature logs at specific times of the day.

This will help foster a culture of accountability in your store, as employees will recognize food safety as a priority.

Without the managers saying a word, your entire back of house team will be reminded it’s time to do temp logs.

This gets your team in a rhythm of doing things the right way. And as you get more consistent, you can even add a round of temperatures to the daily rotation.

Top-performing restaurants all take their food safety checks seriously. Not just because they want to serve safe food, but because they want to deliver hot and fresh food to the customer.

Digital temperature logs with Jolt help your team accomplish food safety operations the right way.

The more consistent your food, the more customers can rely on it for a quality meal, even across locations.

Go beyond what compliance requires to improve your product, and you’ll see that reflected in annual revenue.

 

Jolt Digital Food Safety Improves Restaurants Operations

Digital food safety is the next great advantage in back of house restaurant operations.

Not only does it make temperature logs convenient to complete, but Jolt gives you perfectly accurate records for any inspections that come your way.

But most importantly, you’re delivering fresh, hot food to your customers, and that’s the kind of consistency it takes to build a business.

Interested in Jolt for your store? Request a demo here, and we’ll show you how digital restaurant operations can help you improve your stores today.