Every licence, permit and food safety cert for every kitchen, on one dashboard.
A restaurant keeps a run of dated items current: in many places a liquor or alcohol licence and a food service or health permit, staff food handler and food manager certificates that renew every few years, and service contracts. ExpiryEdge puts each one on a record with its expiry date, document and owner, and sends reminders at 90, 60, 30 and 7 days by email, SMS or WhatsApp - to the general manager and, for staff certificates, to the person who holds them.
Last updated · ExpiryEdge editorial team
Built for kitchens where nobody sits at a desk
Liquor licence, health permit and staff certs on one dashboard
Reminders by WhatsApp and SMS, not only email
Every location and franchise site rolled up for head office
Inspection-ready export in CSV, PDF or XLSX
Quick answer
To keep track of restaurant licence renewals, list every licence, permit, staff certificate and service visit with its expiry date and an owner, then set reminders far enough ahead to complete the renewal. ExpiryEdge does this per location: alcohol licences, health permits, food handler and food manager certificates, pest control, hood cleaning and fire suppression service each get reminders at 90, 60, 30 and 7 days, with escalation to an area manager if a date passes.
What a restaurant or hotel kitchen actually has to keep current
Liquor / alcohol licence and premises licence
Food service or health permit
Food handler certificates for every staff member
Food manager certification (e.g. ServSafe)
Allergen awareness training
Pest control visits and reports
Kitchen hood and duct cleaning
Fire suppression system service
Music and entertainment licensing
Signage and outdoor seating permits
Liability, property and liquor liability insurance
Lease, refrigeration and equipment service contracts
Who runs renewals in hospitality
Owner-operators
Run one or two sites and handle licensing themselves between services. They need the next six renewals in one list, not in a drawer of letters from the council or the state.
General managers
Own the site file: the liquor licence on the wall, the health permit, the pest control log and the staff certificates an inspector will ask for.
Head chefs and kitchen managers
Keep food handler and allergen training current for a brigade that turns over every few months, and know whose certificate lapses before the rota goes out.
Multi-site and franchise operators
See every location on one screen, compare which sites are behind, and give each GM access to their own site only.
Hotel operations and compliance
Cover bars, restaurants, banqueting and room service under one property, plus the fire, pest and equipment contracts that sit behind them.
From a folder behind the bar to a tracked register
Alcohol licence, health permit and signage permits with lead time to renew
Licensing authorities set their own renewal windows, fees and paperwork, and many ask for supporting documents such as a current insurance certificate. Each licence sits on a record with its number, issuing authority, expiry date and the current document. Reminders start 90 days out, so there is time to gather what the authority asks for.
One record per licence, per location
Issuing authority, licence number and document stored together
Escalation to the owner or area manager if the date passes
Food handler and food manager certs held against each person
Food safety certificates belong to the person, not the building. Hold each one against the staff member with the certificate attached, and see by site who is valid, expiring or expired. New starters upload their certificate through a link with no login, so the GM is not chasing photos on a group chat.
Valid / expiring / expired per person, per certificate
Collect certificates from new hires by upload link
Leavers archived with their history intact
One view across sites, one site per GM
Group records by location, brand or region. Each general manager sees their own site; the operations director sees every site, filtered by what expires in the next 30, 60 or 90 days. When a GM moves to another site, their renewals move to the new owner in one click.
Role-based access per location
Roll-up by region or brand for head office
Reassign a whole site in one action
Reminders on the phone the kitchen already uses
Kitchen and floor staff rarely read work email. Send certificate reminders by WhatsApp or SMS to the holder and by email or Teams to the manager. The cadence is set per item type, so a liquor licence can start at 120 days and a food handler card at 60.
ExpiryEdge vs a spreadsheet vs a calendar
| ExpiryEdge | Spreadsheet | Calendar | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reminders to staff by WhatsApp or SMS | |||
| Multi-step cadence (90 / 60 / 30 / 7 days) | Manual | ||
| Licence or certificate document on the record | Partial | ||
| Escalation when a date passes | |||
| Per-location view and head office roll-up | Manual | ||
| Collect certificates from new hires by link | |||
| Reassign when a manager leaves | Manual | ||
| Timestamped audit trail and export |
It depends on your city, state or country, so confirm the list with your local licensing authority. Most restaurants renew some mix of a business licence, a food service or health permit, a liquor or alcohol licence if they serve drinks, signage or outdoor seating permits, and music licensing, plus insurance and service contracts. Keep track by giving each one a record with its expiry date, issuing authority, document and a named owner, and set reminders to start at least 90 days before expiry so there is time to gather supporting paperwork.
Put each licence and permit on its own record, per location, with the licence number, the issuing authority, the expiry date and a scan of the current document. ExpiryEdge sends reminders at 90, 60, 30 and 7 days to the person responsible, and escalates to the owner or area manager if the date passes without a renewal logged. Alcohol licensing often has the longest lead time and may require supporting documents such as insurance certificates, so you may want that reminder to start at 120 days. Renewal rules and timelines vary by jurisdiction; check with your issuing authority.
Track the certificate against the person, not in a site folder. UK food hygiene certificates have no legal expiry, so refresher intervals come from your policy or local authority guidance; some US food handler cards do expire. Each staff member gets a record for each food safety certificate they hold, with the certificate attached and its expiry date. Reminders go to the holder by WhatsApp or SMS and to the kitchen manager by email, starting early enough to book a course. A per-site view shows who is valid, expiring or expired before the rota is published. New starters upload their certificate through a no-login link, so the record exists from day one rather than after an inspection finds the gap.
They hold three kinds of item in one register: licences that belong to the premises (alcohol, food business registration or permit), certificates that belong to people (food hygiene, allergen training) and recurring service visits (pest control, hood and duct cleaning, fire suppression service). Each gets an expiry or next-due date and an owner. Recurring visits can be logged with the contractor report attached, and SOP checklists cover the steps a manager follows after each visit, so the evidence is in one place when an inspector asks.
Group every record by location, then give each general manager access to their own site and head office access to all of them. The roll-up view shows what expires in the next 30, 60 or 90 days across the estate, and which sites have overdue items. Franchisors can use the same structure to see franchisee licences and certificates without managing them directly. ExpiryEdge supports role-based access, so a GM cannot change another site's records, and a whole site's renewals can be reassigned in one click when a manager moves.
Yes. Reminders can go out by WhatsApp, SMS, email, Slack or Microsoft Teams, chosen per person. A common setup sends certificate reminders to the holder by WhatsApp or SMS and copy the manager by email, because line staff rarely check work email. The default cadence is 90, 60, 30 and 7 days before expiry, and you can change it per certificate type.
Track them as recurring items with a next-due date rather than a single expiry. Pest control contracts, kitchen exhaust cleaning and fire suppression servicing all run on intervals set by your contract, insurer, local fire code or the manufacturer, and inspectors and insurers may ask for the latest report. Log each visit with the contractor's report attached and the next date set, and the reminder cycle restarts automatically. Check the required intervals with your fire authority, insurer and service provider, because they differ between jurisdictions and equipment types.
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