HACCP Flow Diagrams

HACCP Flow Diagram Example: Cafe or Coffee Shop

HACCP Flow Diagram for a Cafe: Worked Example

Quick answer

Cafes and coffee shops often assume they are too small or too simple for HACCP flow diagrams. That is a mistake. While a cafe handling sandwiches, paninis, soups, and baked goods has a simpler operation than a full-service restaurant, the hazards are real and the legal requirements under EC Regulation 852/2004 apply regardless of business size. The good news is that cafe flow diagrams are typically straightforward. Most cafes need only two or three diagrams, and the process steps are fewer. This example shows what a proportionate but thorough approach looks like.

Most cafes need only two or three flow diagrams: cold assembly, heated items, and baked goods.
Heating a toastie with pre-cooked fillings is an oPRP, not a CCP. Heating items with raw ingredients (egg, raw meat) is a CCP at 75C core.
Natasha's Law requires full ingredient and allergen labelling on pre-packed sandwiches made for direct sale.

Key takeaways

Most cafes need only two or three flow diagrams: cold assembly, heated items, and baked goods.

Heating a toastie with pre-cooked fillings is an oPRP, not a CCP. Heating items with raw ingredients (egg, raw meat) is a CCP at 75C core.

Natasha's Law requires full ingredient and allergen labelling on pre-packed sandwiches made for direct sale.

A hand-drawn diagram that is accurate and current is better than a polished diagram that does not reflect your actual process.

Typical Cafe Product Groups

Most cafes can group their products into three flow diagrams. The first covers cold sandwiches, wraps, and salads: ingredients received from suppliers, stored chilled, assembled without cooking, displayed for sale (often in a chilled counter), and served. The second covers heated items: toasted sandwiches, paninis, baked potatoes, and reheated soups. These involve a heating step that may or may not be a CCP depending on the starting ingredients. A cheese and ham toastie using pre-cooked ham and pasteurised cheese does not have the same cooking CCP as a restaurant cooking raw chicken - the heating is primarily for texture and customer expectation, not for eliminating pathogens from raw ingredients. However, if your cafe heats items containing raw egg (e.g. freshly made quiche) or raw meat (burgers, sausage rolls made in-house), that heating step is a full CCP. The third diagram covers baked goods: either received pre-made from a bakery supplier (receiving, storage, display, service) or baked on-site (receiving ingredients, storage, baking, cooling, display, service).

HACCP Flow Diagrams

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Cold Sandwich Flow: Step by Step

Step 1 (Receive ingredients): Bread, fillings, salad items, and condiments arrive from suppliers. Check temperatures of chilled items (below 8C), check use-by dates, and inspect packaging. Step 2 (Store): Chilled fillings go to the fridge (0-5C). Bread and ambient items go to dry storage. Keep ready-to-eat fillings separated from any raw items (if your cafe handles raw meat at all, which many do not). Step 3 (Prepare): Staff wash hands, put on gloves, and assemble sandwiches on clean, sanitised surfaces. Salad items are washed under running water. Allergen-containing fillings (e.g. cheese, tuna with mayo containing egg) are handled with awareness of cross-contact. Step 4 (Label): If sandwiches are pre-made for display, they need a label with the use-by date, ingredients list, and allergen declarations under Natasha's Law (the UK Food Information Amendment 2019, requiring full ingredient labelling on pre-packed for direct sale foods). Step 5 (Display): Sandwiches are placed in a chilled display unit. The display unit must maintain food below 8C. For ambient display (e.g. at a market stall), food must be sold within 4 hours and then discarded. Step 6 (Serve): Handed to the customer. For the cold sandwich flow, the primary hazards are allergen cross-contact during assembly and temperature abuse during display. The chilled display is a monitoring point rather than a CCP for most cafes, as the food is consumed quickly.

Heated Items Flow: Step by Step

Step 1 (Receive and store): Same as the cold sandwich flow. Step 2 (Assemble): The sandwich, panini, or wrap is assembled from chilled and ambient ingredients. Step 3 (Heat): The item is heated in a panini press, oven, toaster, or microwave. If the item contains only pre-cooked or pasteurised ingredients, this step is an operational prerequisite programme (oPRP) rather than a CCP: the heating is for quality, but you still want to ensure even heating throughout. If the item contains anything that started raw (a fresh egg in a croque madame, a raw sausage in a breakfast roll), this step is a CCP. The core temperature must reach 75C, verified with a probe for at least a representative sample of items during each service period. Step 4 (Serve): Heated items are typically served immediately, so hot holding is rarely needed in a cafe. If you do use a hot display (e.g. a heated cabinet for sausage rolls or pasties), that becomes a monitoring point: food above 63C, checked every 2 hours, discarded after a maximum display period your HACCP team defines (typically 4 hours). For reheated soups: if soup is received chilled from a supplier and reheated, the reheating step is a CCP. The soup must reach a core temperature of 75C. If soup is made fresh on-site from cooked ingredients, the initial cooking is the CCP and reheating is an oPRP.

Keeping It Proportionate

The FSA explicitly states that food safety management procedures should be proportionate to the nature and size of the business. For a small cafe, your flow diagrams do not need to be engineering-grade process maps. A clear, hand-drawn diagram on A4 paper is perfectly acceptable if it accurately shows every step, marks the CCPs, and is kept up to date. What matters is that you have thought through the process and can explain it. If an EHO asks "what happens to your chicken mayo filling between delivery and going into a sandwich?", you should be able to point to the diagram and walk them through receiving at below 8C, storage in the dedicated filling fridge, and assembly within a defined time window. For cafes that use the SFBB pack, your safe methods effectively serve as a simplified version of flow diagrams. However, if your cafe has processes the SFBB pack does not cover (e.g. baking on-site, making your own chutneys, or preparing meals for delivery), you should supplement SFBB with specific flow diagrams for those processes.

What to do next

Identify which of your heated items contain raw ingredients

Review every item you heat in your cafe. Separate those made entirely from pre-cooked or pasteurised ingredients from those containing anything raw. Only the raw-ingredient items have a cooking CCP.

Check your chilled display temperature logging

Ensure your chilled display units are logged at least twice daily and that you have a clear rule for what happens to food if the unit temperature exceeds 8C.

Review your Natasha's Law compliance

If you pre-make and wrap sandwiches for display, verify that every item has a full ingredient list with the 14 declarable allergens emphasised (bold, underline, or capitals) on the label.

Common mistakes to avoid

Mistake

Assuming cafes are exempt from HACCP requirements

Instead

Every food business in the UK, regardless of size, must have food safety management procedures based on HACCP principles. For small cafes, SFBB provides a simplified framework, but you still need to understand your processes and hazards.

Mistake

Treating all heated items as having a cooking CCP

Instead

If you are heating a cheese and ham panini where both the cheese and ham are already safe to eat, the heating is for quality, not pathogen elimination. Reserve CCP status for steps where failure would allow a significant hazard to reach the customer.

Frequently asked questions

Does my cafe need a flow diagram if I use SFBB?

The SFBB pack does not require a formal flow diagram. However, if your cafe does anything beyond the standard SFBB scope (baking, cook-chill, or preparing meals for delivery), adding flow diagrams for those specific processes is strongly recommended and shows an EHO that you understand your operation.

Do I need a separate flow diagram for each sandwich flavour?

No. Group sandwiches by process. All cold sandwiches assembled from chilled, ready-to-eat fillings follow the same flow. You only need a separate diagram if the process differs - for example, a toasted sandwich with raw egg follows a different route from a cold tuna mayo sandwich.

How do I handle allergens in my cafe flow diagram?

Allergen control should be noted at the assembly and labelling steps. Your flow diagram should show where allergen cross-contact could occur (shared prep surfaces, shared utensils, proximity of allergenic and non-allergenic fillings). Your supporting documentation should detail the specific controls: dedicated boards, separate storage, and labelling protocols.

What about drinks - do I need a flow diagram for coffee?

Standard coffee, tea, and cold drinks do not need a flow diagram. If you make smoothies with dairy or fresh fruit, or prepare any beverage involving ingredients that carry microbiological risk, a simple flow for that product group is worth having.

HACCP Flow Diagrams