Fewer surprises in the kitchen
The hood, separator, and cold room have their own reminders, so you do not wait for a blockage, a smell, or a temperature alarm.
Schedule restaurant equipment inspections
Ventilation, refrigeration and fire safety equipment need different checks. See how to track dates and assign tasks for one restaurant or several locations.
By ProbeList · Illustrative workflow with sample data.
Equipment checks in the kitchen and storage areas
Restaurants need separate schedules for ventilation cleaning, grease trap servicing, fire extinguisher inspections and refrigeration checks. Record a due date, task list and responsible person for each one.
In ProbeList a venue is a location, and each piece of equipment is an inspection item with its own cycle. Example items you can track this way:
- ventilation and extraction hoods, including duct cleaning
- the grease separator and its emptying
- fire extinguishers and other fire protection
- cold rooms, freezers, and refrigerated counters, for example with a temperature check
- hygiene and housekeeping checks carried out by venue staff
Which of them apply to your venue, and how often, you decide yourself, with your service providers or according to regulations. ProbeList does not impose a scope. It watches the dates that you record in it.
From weekly checks to annual inspections
The advantage of recurring inspections is that you can set one ladder of frequencies for the whole venue. The examples below only illustrate the split and are not a recommendation.
Weekly: equipment and cleanliness
A quick check of the cold room with a temperature reading as a numeric task, and a list of Yes / No questions about the back of house. Such an inspection returns every week and takes only one item in your plan.
Monthly or quarterly: external services
Emptying the grease separator and cleaning the hood ducts is usually done by an outside company. In ProbeList you record the date, the contractor, and the result, so you can see who came last and when the next visit is due.
Yearly: extinguishers and technical inspections
Rare inspections are the easiest to forget. You set them up once, and the app reminds you in advance, before the expiry date becomes a problem.
Rollout
Five steps for the owner of one or several venues
Start with one venue and one kitchen, then repeat the pattern.
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Walk the kitchen with a list
Go through the kitchen, back of house, and dining room and write down every piece of equipment that needs servicing or checking. Only then set up the cycles.
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Add the venue as a location
Enter the address and the details of the person responsible, such as the shift manager. In the note you can record who holds the keys to the technical rooms.
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Assign equipment to the venue
The hood, separator, cold rooms, and extinguishers become inspection items. Record the brand and serial number for each, which will help when you report a fault.
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Set different frequencies
For each item you choose its own interval: days, weeks, months, or years. Tasks in an inspection can be Yes / No or a numeric value, such as a temperature.
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Give roles and record results
The owner can have the administrator role and the venue manager the inspector role, entering the result, the date, and remarks. That way the history builds up as you go, not at the end of the quarter.
When one company has several addresses
The owner of several restaurants usually sees only what the managers tell them. If each venue has its own location and its own inspections, you can see at once where the hood service is overdue and where the extinguisher date is approaching.
Filters by location, assigned person, and dates let you compare venues side by side. The dashboard shows the nearest inspections, and the calendar in month or agenda layout spreads them out over time.
When someone asks to see the paperwork
During an inspection there is no time to rummage through folders. In ProbeList you see each venue’s inspection history: the date done, the result, and the person who recorded it. That lets you answer quickly when the ventilation was last cleaned or the cold room last checked.
ProbeList does not replace the records or documentation required by regulations, so you keep the originals where you always have. The app gives order to the dates and results that lead to those documents. The length of the history depends on the plan: 3 years in Basic and 8 years in Premium.
Benefits
What changes in the daily running of a venue
The restaurant manager can see upcoming checks and who is responsible for completing them.
A calmer inspection
The history of completed inspections is at hand when someone asks about the last service.
Comparing venues
Overdue items in one place can be seen next to the dates in the others, without phoning every manager.
A better conversation with the service company
A serial number and the list of previous visits make it easier to report a fault to an outside company.
Responsibility assigned to a person
Every inspection has its inspector, so there is no situation where everyone assumes someone else took care of it.
A simple rhythm for staff
A short Yes / No task list replaces the sheet pinned to the fridge and stays in the history.
A Monday for the owner of three venues
Picture an owner who runs three restaurants. In the morning they open the dashboard: in the first venue the separator date is approaching, in the second the cold room check is overdue, and in the third nothing is missing. They call the manager of the second venue, who checks the temperature and enters the result.
In the evening the owner looks through the month calendar. Next week the extinguishers fall due in two venues, so they book the service engineer for a single day. In the note on the location they add who will open the technical room.
For your own calculation
An example venue in numbers
These are example assumptions for your own calculation, not data from any venue.
| Item in the venue | Number of units | Example frequency |
|---|---|---|
| Hood and ventilation | 1 | every 3 months |
| Grease separator | 1 | every month |
| Fire extinguishers | 4 | every year |
| Refrigeration units | 3 | every week |
The calculation for four venues: 4 locations, 4 × 9 = 36 inspection items, and 4 × 4 = 16 active inspections, provided that you run each type of check as one inspection. That fits the Basic plan.
How many venues fit in which plan
In a restaurant business the location limit is simply the number of venues: two on the free plan, up to 20 on Basic, and up to 50 on Premium. The number of inspection items grows faster, because one kitchen usually has several pieces of equipment, sometimes a dozen.
If you run one venue, the free plan is enough for a short test. For a whole chain or franchise it is worth counting the items, as in the table above, and comparing the result with the limits on the pricing page.
What to watch for when rolling out in a venue
Entering only the big inspections
Extinguishers and the hood are easy to enter because they are loud topics. Daily and weekly checks often stay outside the system, even though they are the ones most often neglected.
One task list for every machine
The cold room, hood, and separator have different checks, so each deserves its own task list. A short list is quicker for staff to fill in than a long general one.
No owner for an inspection
When an inspection has no assigned person, it is easy for everyone to assume a colleague handled it. Assigning a name closes that gap.
Looking at statuses too rarely
The best reminder system will not help if nobody checks the overdue inspections. Introduce a short weekly review of statuses, for example on Monday morning.
FAQ
Questions from restaurant owners
Will ProbeList tell me how often to clean the hood or empty the separator?
No. The scope and frequency come from regulations, manufacturers' recommendations, and your agreements with service providers. In the app you record the interval you agreed, and it reminds you when the date approaches.
Can a shift manager enter the result of the cold room check?
Yes. You can invite them to the workspace with the inspector role and assign them to the inspection. After the check they enter the result, the date, and remarks, and they record the temperature reading as a numeric task.
How do I calculate how many venues and machines fit in my plan?
Each venue is a location and each machine is an inspection item. Multiply the number of venues by the number of machines in one of them and compare the result with the plan limits, as in the example table on this page.
What if an outside company moves a visit?
The inspection stays in the calendar until you record that it was done. When a visit is delayed, the inspection moves to the overdue status and is easy to find with a filter, so it does not get lost among other matters.
Does the inspection history stay after the venue manager changes?
Yes. The data is stored on the location, not with a particular person, so the new manager sees earlier results and dates. You only need to invite them to the workspace and assign them to the right inspections.
Can I keep health inspection reports in ProbeList?
The app stores the dates, results, inspectors, and notes of checks. You keep the original reports and certificates in your own archive, and in ProbeList you can note where they are.
How do I start if I have two venues and little time?
Start with the most important items: the hood, separator, and cold room. Two venues fit on the free plan, and when more equipment arrives you can change the plan at any time.
Start with one kitchen
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