Catering delivery temperature log: pack-out, the drive, arrival and what happens to leftovers

The kitchen did everything right: the chicken hit 165°F, the salads came straight out of the walk-in. Then the order sat by the back door for 25 minutes waiting for the driver, rode across town in a car with the heat on, and got set out on a conference table an hour before lunch. Catering is where good food safety in the kitchen can get lost: once the food is out the door, nobody checks it unless it's somebody's job.

This post gives you the temperatures that follow the food out the door, the times to probe, a log to print, a note to leave with the client, and what to do when a reading is off.

General information, not legal advice. Your state or local health department enforces its own edition of the Food Code, and its rules can differ. Section numbers and quotes below are from the FDA Food Code 2026 unless a Florida source is named.

The rules that ride along

The Food Code's definition of a food establishment includes a "catering operation if the operation provides FOOD directly to a CONSUMER" (§1-201.10(B), "Food establishment"), so the same holding rules apply in the van and on the client's table as on your line.

Health inspectors check transport too: the Food Code's guide to inspections tells them to check "the temperature of TCS food during transport, e.g., hot holding carts being used to transport food to patient rooms in a hospital, satellite kitchens, or off-site catering events" (Annex 5).

In Florida

DBPR's catering guide defines catering as food or drink "prepared for service elsewhere in response to an agreed upon contract, function, or event", says a licensed public food service establishment "can provide catering services without holding a separate catering license from the Division", and that "No food operations can be conducted in a private residence" (DBPR: Guide to Public Food Service Catering Establishments, HR 5030-037). For time as a public health control, DBPR's written-procedures form HR 5022-090 has a Catering box under the type of establishment, and one of its statements to tick is: "I understand once time only as a public health control has begun, the food(s) may not be returned to temperature control." Our time as a public health control guide covers the written procedure.

Hot, cold or time: decide before you pack

Whichever you choose, write it on the order. Mixing them ("it's in a hot box, so it's fine for the afternoon") is how food ends up at 90°F at 3 p.m.

How to pack and probe

• Probe at pack-out, not at cook. The reading that counts is the one when the pan goes into the carrier. Take the coolest part of hot food and the warmest part of cold food.
• Pack hot food hot, cold food cold. Straight from the oven or the hot well into the carrier, and straight from the walk-in into the cooler. Preheat or prechill carriers the way their maker says.
• Hot and cold travel apart. Separate carriers and coolers, never side by side in one bag.
• Keep the gap short. Pack last, load last, drive straight there. Write down when the order left and when it arrived.
• Probe again on arrival, before you set anything out. A clean, sanitized probe for each item; wipe it between raw and ready-to-eat.
• On site, check every hour if your staff stay, and write it down.
• Label everything with the item, allergens and, for time control, the discard time. Our allergen matrix is the source for the allergen line.

The catering transport log

One sheet per order. Clip it to the order and bring it back.

[Café / restaurant name] — Catering transport log

Order / event: [client, event] · Date: [date] · Driver: [name] · Vehicle: [vehicle] Delivery type: ☐ Full-service ☐ Drop-off with equipment ☐ Drop-off, time as the control Thermometer: [ID, last calibrated: date] · Left kitchen at: [time] · Arrived at: [time]

End of service / hand-off at: [time] · Food discarded on site: [what, how much] · Leftovers left with client: [what] Handed to: [client name] · Signature: …………………………

Corrective actions: ………………………………………………………… Manager review: ………………………… Date: ……………

When a reading is off

Write the action next to the reading. These are starting points; your health department's rules and your written procedures come first.

The hand-off note for the client

For drop-offs, the food leaves your control at the door. Tell the client in writing what keeps it safe; tape the note to the lid.

From [café / restaurant name] · Delivered at [time]

• Hot food is in [chafers / hot box]. Keep it hot; eat it by [time].
• Cold food is in [cooler / on ice]. Keep it cold; eat it by [time].
• Food marked with a discard time: throw it away at [time].
• Use the serving utensils provided, one per dish.
• Allergens: see the label on each lid. Questions: [phone].

What happens to leftovers

• Don't bring them back into your kitchen stock. Food that was served or sold and is with the customer can't be offered again (§3-306.14(A)). That includes the untouched pan from a buffet at the client's office.
• Time-controlled food is served or discarded within its 4 hours (§3-501.19(B)(4)), and in Florida can't go back under temperature control once time has started.
• Leftovers left with the client are theirs. Your note says when to eat or discard them.
• Food that never left the van (an extra pan you didn't unload) stayed in your control; treat it by its temperature log, and if you can't show it stayed at 135°F or above or 41°F or below, discard it.

Your catering transport checklist

• [ ] Delivery type decided and written on the order
• [ ] Calibrated probe thermometer and sanitizer wipes in the delivery kit
• [ ] Carriers preheated or prechilled
• [ ] Pack-out temperatures and time logged
• [ ] Hot and cold in separate carriers
• [ ] Arrival temperatures logged before anything is set out
• [ ] Discard times on every time-controlled pan
• [ ] Hand-off note taped to the lid
• [ ] Log signed, back in the office, kept with the order

Where Mays fits

• The order on the schedule. Add the catering order to the Events row on the schedule, with a note (Pickup 11:30, 40 boxed lunches), and everyone with a published shift that day gets a reminder that morning. See Schedule events and birthdays.
• The log as a form. Under Tasks → Types, build a Catering run form: Text for the order, Date / time (Time only) for left and arrived, a Temperature field with a pass range of 135 to 212 for the lowest hot item at pack-out and another for lowest hot item on arrival, two more with a range of 0 to 41 for the highest cold item, a Text field for corrective actions, a Photo of the set-up and a Signature from the client. Record the worst reading in each group, so one field says whether the whole order was in range; for every item, use Repeatable rows, which Task Data shows as a row count (the rows are in each submission). See Building custom forms.
• One task per order. On the web, Tasks → Tasks → Create Task → Custom Task, with Response Type set to Custom form, gives the driver that form for this order; they fill it in on the iPhone or Android app. See One-off tasks.
• An alert when food arrives warm. Under Insights → Alerts & Reports, a Task Form Field Threshold alert on lowest hot item on arrival, At or below 134, notifies the people you pick each time a driver logs one. See Alerts and scheduled reports.
• The record. Tasks → Data lists every run with Export CSV; signatures and photos are in each submission, not in the table. See Task Data.

What Mays doesn't do: its wireless sensors are for fridges and freezers on Wi-Fi, so nothing logs the hot box in the van by itself. Form formulas work with numbers, not clock times, so a form can't work out a 4-hour discard time, and a Temperature field's pass range is fixed, so hot and cold items need their own fields.

Probe it when it leaves, probe it when it lands

Pick hot, cold or time before you pack. Probe the coolest hot item and the warmest cold item at pack-out and again on arrival, write both down, and leave the client a note that says when the food is done. The log is a minute per order; it's also the only proof your food was safe when it left you.

Start your free trial: 30 days, every module, no card needed. Or book a walkthrough and we'll build your catering run form with you.