Setting Up Equipment Categories for Your Kitchen

In this article:

Key Concepts for Categories
Primary IDs - Key Identifier
How to Set Up & Manage Categories
Advanced Category Logic

Categories are the building blocks of your equipment system in Safe Food Pro. Think of them as smart folders that keep your kitchen gear organised and easy to manage.

Setting these up first is super important—it makes the rest of your Food Safety Plan run smoothly.

And here’s the cool part: Categories aren’t just labels. They act like blueprints, telling the system what details you want to capture for each type of equipment. That way, whether it’s a temperature probe or a cool room, you’ll always collect the right info consistently.

Key Concepts for Categories

To get the most out of categories, it's important to understand a few key concepts about how they work.

Custom Categories and Sub-categories

You can create your custom categories to perfectly match your inventory. You can also nest categories inside each other to create a clear visual hierarchy. For example:

Refrigeration > Freezers > Chest Freezer
Cooking Equipment > Ovens > Combi Oven

How Properties Work

Each category has its own customisable set of properties—these are the data fields like Make , Model , Last Calibrated Date , or Next Clean Due . Every piece of equipment within a category will share this same set of properties, ensuring uniformity across your records.

Moving Equipment Between Categories

When you move a piece of equipment from one category to another, it takes all of its existing data and properties with it. It does not automatically inherit the properties of the new category. This ensures that information you've already filled out is never lost during re-organisation.

Duplicating a Category

If you need to create a similar category structure, you can duplicate an existing one. This action copies only the category's structure and its properties—the equipment inside is not copied over.

Primary ID: Your Key Identifier

For each category, you can set a Primary ID. This is an identifier that helps your team recognise it at a glance during daily checks.

For example:

For a Refrigeration category, the Primary ID might be a unique Asset Tag you've stuck on the door.
For Thermometers, it could be the Calibration ID.
For most other items, the Serial Number is a good choice.

Why is the Primary ID important? The Primary ID is the field that is prioritised and displayed most prominently on the mobile app. This ensures your kitchen team sees the most relevant piece of information first when performing checks.

While the Primary ID is set at the category level, it can be overridden on an individual equipment profile if needed.

How to Set Up and Manage Categories

There are two ways to create categories, depending on whether you need a quick folder or a fully customised blueprint.

Method 1: Quick Add from the Equipment List

Use this method when you need to create a basic category quickly while adding equipment.

From the Equipment List, hover your cursor over "All Categories" in the left-hand panel.
Select the three dots (...) that appear.
Select Add Category. This will create a new category with a default set of properties.

Method 2: Full Customisation from Settings (Recommended)

This is the best practice for setting up your categories properly. Using the settings page gives you full control over the category's properties and its Primary ID.

Navigate to Settings from the main admin console menu.
Under the Equipment section, select Categories.
Select Add Category.
Go through the list of available properties and tick the boxes for all the fields you want to include for this category.
At the top of the configuration page, select and configure the Primary ID you want to use for this category.
Save your changes.

If you are setting up a new Fridge Category, you can set Limits and Warnings. Will enable you to set the safe temperature ranges for that item.

Advanced Category Logic

Categories are designed to be flexible. Here are some specific rules on how they behave, especially in parent-child hierarchies.

Sub-categories are Independent: When you create a new sub-category, it will start with a copy of its parent's properties. However, after it's created, it becomes independent.
Changes Do Not Cascade Automatically: If you change a parent category (e.g., add a new property), the change will not automatically apply to the sub-categories beneath it.
Choosing to Propagate Changes: When you add a new property to a parent category, you will be given the choice to "propagate" (push down) that single new property to all of its child categories.
Moving a Category: If you move an entire category so it becomes a sub-category of a new parent, it will not inherit the properties of its new parent. It will keep its unique properties.