HACCP plan for a cafe or coffee shop: what to write and what to leave out
A cafe or coffee shop needs a short plan, not a restaurant's. Most of the risk sits in six places: milk and dairy, sandwiches and salads made ahead, cut fruit, pastries with cream or egg fillings, hot food you reheat, and cold brew or other drinks you make in batches. Write one row per place: the hazard, the limit (41°F for cold food, 135°F for hot), how you check it, what you do when it is off, and the record. One page of rows and a daily sheet will do for most cafes.
For the log sheets that go with the plan, see the free logs page. This guide shows how to build the plan itself.
Does a cafe need a HACCP plan?
Under the FDA Food Code, a standard retail food establishment does not need a full HACCP plan; one is required for certain special processes, such as reduced oxygen packaging, curing, or smoking as a preservative, and for operations that get a variance [1]. Some health departments, landlords, insurers, and wholesale or catering customers still ask for a written food safety plan, and a few jurisdictions require one. Check with yours.
Even where nobody asks, the plan is worth writing because it is the list of things you do every day, and that is what you train new staff on. The HACCP plan for a restaurant guide explains when a plan is required and the seven steps; the food safety plan template shows the parts. This page narrows both to a cafe.
What a cafe menu really includes
List what you serve before you write any rows. A coffee shop that only makes drinks and sells packaged pastries has a very small plan. A cafe with a breakfast sandwich line, soup and a lunch case has more. Sort the items:
- Drinks with dairy: lattes, cappuccinos, steamed milk, whipped cream, plant milks (oat, soy, almond).
- Drinks made ahead: cold brew, iced tea, batch syrups, chai concentrate.
- Cold food made ahead: sandwiches, wraps, salads, yogurt parfaits, overnight oats, cut fruit.
- Hot food: egg sandwiches, breakfast burritos, soup, panini, oatmeal.
- Bakery: plain pastries (low risk), cream-filled, custard, cheesecake, quiche (higher risk).
- Packaged items: bottled drinks and wrapped snacks. They need storage rules, not process steps.
The hazards, in the order they matter
For each item ask what could make a customer sick and where in your flow you stop it. In a cafe, the answers repeat.
- Dairy and plant milk held warm. Milk is TCS food (time/temperature control for safety food) and must be held at 41°F or below. Milk left on the counter between drinks, or in a fridge under the bar that reads 46°F, is the most common cafe citation [1].
- Egg and meat for breakfast sandwiches. Cooked eggs and sausage hold hot or cold. Eggs cooked for hot holding must reach the Food Code's cooking temperature for the item: 145°F for raw eggs cooked and served at once, 155°F for eggs cooked in bulk or held [1].
- Cut fruit and salads. Cut melon, cut leafy greens and cut tomatoes are TCS foods and need 41°F [1].
- Sandwiches made ahead. Ham, turkey, egg salad, chicken salad. Cold holding and date marking.
- Cream and custard pastries. Whipped cream, pastry cream, cheesecake, quiche and cream cheese frosting need refrigeration. A pastry case without a cold section is an issue.
- Cooling. Soup, cooked rice or oats made in a batch must be cooled in time; see the cooling log guide.
- Cold brew and batch drinks. Cold brew coffee is low-acid; keep it refrigerated, in clean containers, with a date, and follow your health department's rule on shelf life. Do not claim a long shelf life without a source or a test.
- Allergens. Milk, soy, tree nuts (almond milk, nut syrups), wheat, eggs and sesame are common in a cafe. The risk is cross-contact at the steam wand and the shared tongs, and it is a hazard in the plan as much as bacteria are.
- Cleaning. Steam wands, milk jugs, blenders, grinders and ice machines can carry bacteria and mold if not cleaned.
Worked rows for a cafe
These are examples of how the plan reads. Replace the numbers with your own and keep what applies.
| Step | Hazard | Limit | How and when you check | If it fails | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Receiving dairy, eggs, deli meat | Delivered warm | 41°F or below (milk 45°F, then cooled to 41°F in 4 hours) | Probe one item at delivery | Refuse items above the limit; note on invoice | Receiving log |
| Milk and cold units under the bar | Milk above 41°F | 41°F or below | Thermometer in each unit; read at open, midday and close | Probe milk; move to working unit; discard milk above 41°F more than 4 hours; call repair | Cold unit log |
| Milk on the bar during service | Time out of the fridge | Return to fridge after each use; do not top up old milk with new | Watch at each shift change | Discard milk left out above 41°F for 4 hours or more | Note on daily sheet |
| Breakfast eggs and sausage | Survival of bacteria | Eggs 145°F (155°F if bulk); sausage 155°F | Probe the first batch and each new batch | Keep cooking until limit is reached | Cooking log |
| Hot holding | Growth if below the limit | 135°F or above | Probe every 2 hours | Reheat to 165°F once if under 135°F for less than 4 hours; else discard | Hot holding log |
| Sandwich and salad case | Warm case, old food | 41°F or below; date marked 7 days or less | Case thermometer 2×/day; check dates at open | Discard past date; move food out if case reads high | Cold unit log, date labels |
| Cut fruit prep | Cut melon, greens held warm | 41°F or below | Prep rail or reach-in checked at open | Discard if above 41°F more than 4 hours | Cold unit log |
| Cooling soup or oatmeal | Slow cooling | 135°F to 70°F in 2 hours; to 41°F in 6 total | Probe at 2 and 6 hours | Reheat to 165°F and restart, or discard | Cooling log |
| Allergen: nut and dairy-free drinks | Cross-contact | Separate, labelled jugs and clean wand | Observe at the bar | Remake; wash jug and wand | Cleaning sheet |
Cold limits, cooking temperatures and the 165°F reheat figure come from the Food Code [1]. A hold of "4 hours" is the Food Code's time as a control rather than temperature for TCS food, and it applies only if you have marked the start time. Do not use time as a control unless you can write the start time on the food.
The daily sheet
A cafe does not need five forms. One page per day, one column per check, is enough:
- Open: temperature of each cold unit and the pastry case; sanitizer test strip reading; handwashing sink stocked.
- First hot batch: temperature of eggs, sausage, soup; time.
- Midday: cold units again; hot holding probe; date labels checked.
- Close: cold units; cooling started and finished; steam wand and milk jugs cleaned; items discarded.
- Name or initials by each, and a line for "what went wrong today".
For limits and examples of each row, see the restaurant temperature log sheet and the cold holding temperature guides. The walk-in cooler temperature log post applies equally to a small reach-in.
A coffee shop with only drinks and pastries
If you make drinks and sell packaged pastries or pastries made by a licensed bakery, the plan shrinks to three jobs: keep milk cold, keep the equipment clean, and handle allergens. Write: receiving (milk and dairy), cold storage temperature, milk handling at the bar, cleaning schedule for steam wands, jugs, grinders and the ice machine, and an allergen line. That is half a page. Add rows only when you add food. Adding a breakfast sandwich is the point where you add cooking, hot holding and date marking.
Cleaning rows people forget
- Steam wand: wipe with a clean damp cloth and purge after every use; soak the tip daily.
- Milk jugs: wash between types of milk; never top up. Plant milk jugs are separate from dairy for allergen reasons.
- Ice machine: clean and sanitize on the schedule the maker gives. Ice scoops live outside the bin in a clean holder, never in the ice.
- Syrup and sauce pumps: pull and wash on a schedule; sticky pumps grow mold.
- Blender and smoothie equipment: clean between uses, particularly after nut or dairy items.
- Handwashing: a sink for hands only, soap and paper towels, reachable from the bar.
How to start
- List your menu in the six groups above.
- For each group that applies, copy a row from the table and replace the numbers.
- Print the daily sheet and put it on a clipboard by the bar.
- Train every opener and closer for 15 minutes using the sheet.
- Review the plan whenever you add a menu item or change a supplier, and at least once a year. Note the date at the top.
Small spaces have their own habits; the food truck HACCP plan, shows how to run a plan in a very small kitchen.
Questions
Do I need a HACCP plan for a coffee shop?
Usually not a full plan, unless you do a special process or your health department asks. A short food safety plan and daily logs are still a good idea.
What temperature must milk be kept at in a cafe?
41°F (5°C) or below. Milk can arrive at up to 45°F if it is cooled to 41°F within four hours.
How long can milk sit out on the bar?
As little as you can manage. Return it to the fridge after each use. Milk above 41°F for 4 hours or more should be thrown out.
Is cold brew a TCS food?
Treat it as one: refrigerate, cover, date it, and ask your health department what shelf life they allow.
Which foods need date marking?
Ready-to-eat TCS food held more than 24 hours at 41°F or below: sandwiches, cut fruit, deli meat and soup. Discard by day 7, counting the first day as day 1 [1].
Do I need a thermometer in the pastry case?
If it holds anything with cream, custard, egg or cheese, yes, and it should read 41°F or below.
Can I use a restaurant template for my cafe?
Yes, but delete the rows you do not use. A plan with steps you never do is harder to follow and looks wrong to an inspector.
Sources
- FDA Food Code 2022 (cold and hot holding, cooking temperatures, date marking, HACCP plan requirements), U.S. Food and Drug Administration
- Food allergies: major food allergens, U.S. Food and Drug Administration
- Keep food safe: the danger zone, USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service
Related: all food safety guides.