Localyn vs the paper SFBB pack
The FSA's paper pack is free and familiar — and it is what most kitchens run on until the folder lets them down. Here is an honest comparison, including when paper is genuinely the right choice.
Where paper wins
- It is free. The FSA pack costs nothing and no subscription ever will.
- Zero setup. Print it, put it by the till, start today.
- No batteries. It works through a power cut, a WiFi outage and a dropped phone.
Where paper quietly fails
- Gaps are invisible until inspection prep. A missed week looks fine until an EHO (or the owner) opens the folder. Digital surfaces the missed check the same day.
- No supervision at a distance. With paper, "are the checks happening?" means driving to the site. Digital gives multi-site owners one view across every store.
- Backfilling is tempting and obvious. Six weeks of identical handwriting fools nobody — officers read it as low confidence in management. Timestamped entries remove the temptation and the suspicion.
- Folders leave with people. Records walk out the door with a departing manager; digital history stays with the store.
- Inspection packs take hours. Assembling paper evidence is an evening's work; a digital report is minutes.
The honest verdict
If you run one small site, the same person opens and closes every day, and the folder genuinely gets filled in — paper is fine, and the FSA pack is good. The switch pays for itself when any of these are true: more than one site, staff sharing the checks across shifts, a rating stuck on a 3 because of records, or an owner who wants to see today's status without being in the building.
Digital SFBB records are fully accepted at inspection — the requirement is that records are genuine and available, not that they are on paper. Read our guide to going digital with SFBB, or see the digital diary feature in detail.
See it working before you sign up
Walk through a sample store with realistic demo data — no login required — or start a 1-month free trial and set up your first site with Localyn.