Set up FoodSafety HQ in minutes. Create your account, add a venue, invite staff, and start digital temperature, cleaning and allergen checks the same day.
What is FoodSafety HQ? FoodSafety HQ is a digital food safety management platform built for Australian hospitality businesses — cafes, restaurants, bakeries, food trucks, aged care and more. It replaces paper diaries with time-stamped digital records for temperature, cleaning, delivery and allergen checks, so you always have audit-ready evidence for your local council or health inspector. This guide walks you through account setup end to end. Most operators are up and running in under five minutes, and taking their first check the same shift. The dashboard is the first screen you see after logging in. Before you begin Have the following handy to make setup smooth: Your venue name and street address The email addresses of any staff you want to invite A rough idea of how many temperature and cleaning checks you run each day Step 1: Create your account Go to the sign-up page . Enter your name, work email and a password . Submit the form — a verification email is sent to your inbox. Open the email and click the activation link to confirm your account. Tip: Use a shared business email (for example manager@yourvenue.com.au) as the owner account so access isn't tied to one person who might leave. Step 2: Create your first venue After logging in you're prompted to create your first venue . Enter the venue name and address and save. FoodSafety HQ automatically builds a set of default check items so you're not starting from a blank page. Default check items you get out of the box Temperature: Cool Room, Display Fridge, Freezer, Hot Hold Bain Marie Cleaning: Benchtops, Floors, Equipment, Cool Room Shelving Delivery: Vehicle Condition, Packaging Integrity, Date & Quality, Documentation You can rename, add to or remove any of these later. See Setting Up Your First Venue for how to tune frequencies and temperature limits. Step 3: Invite your team Open the Team page from the sidebar and invite staff by email. Each person gets an invitation link to set their own password. You assign a role during invite so everyone only sees what they need. Roles range from Staff (perform checks) to Admin (manage venues and billing) — full details are in Inviting Team Members & Roles . Step 4: Get familiar with the dashboard Your dashboard is the real-time command centre for compliance. At a glance you'll see: A compliance gauge showing the percentage of today's checks completed Operational stats — venues, completed today, pending today and open corrective actions Urgent alerts for expiring stock and expiring staff certifications A live activity feed of recent log entries Learn to read every panel in Understanding the Dashboard . Step 5: Run your first check You're now ready to record real data. A good first task is a temperature round: Open the temperature check screen for your venue. Enter the reading for each fridge, freezer and hot-hold unit. Save — each entry is time-stamped and stored automatically. Remember the core FSANZ temperature rules: cold food should be kept at or below 5°C , hot food at or above 60°C , and the 5°C–60°C danger zone is where bacteria multiply fastest. If a reading falls in the danger zone, FoodSafety HQ can prompt a corrective action so nothing is missed. What to do next Set up your allergen matrix for PEAL (Plain English Allergen Labelling) compliance — see the allergen feature page . Explore all platform features to see what else you can digitise. Compare plans on the pricing page when you're ready to add more venues or staff. Stuck on anything? Contact our support team — we're happy to help you get set up.