In a busy restaurant, prepping everything in the front and back of the house before opening isn’t easy. There’s only so much time before customers start coming in, and if even a small detail is missed, that oversight can impact everything from service quality to food safety.
Fortunately, a detailed checklist can make every pre-shift prep an opportunity to prime your restaurant for success.
This article offers an organized, customizable restaurant opening checklist you can adapt to your needs. We’ve even thrown in a bonus checklist for closing the restaurant at night. Plus, we’ll show you how you can use software to streamline your daily opening and closing procedures to make everyone’s lives easier.
What is a restaurant opening checklist?
A restaurant opening checklist is a structured guide used daily by restaurant managers and staff before they welcome the first customers of the day. It’s a tool to help make sure that the business day has a smooth and efficient start.
A restaurant opening checklist typically includes a variety of tasks grouped into categories. Examples of these categories include cleaning and sanitation, food preparation, setting up the dining area, and making sure all equipment is functioning correctly. Specific tasks include wiping down tables, prepping food and service stations, and checking restrooms.
This level of detail and division of labor paves the way for a comprehensive, efficient approach to opening the restaurant each day.
What are the benefits of having a restaurant opening checklist?
Creating a checklist may seem like a lot of extra work, but it comes with a number of benefits for your bar or restaurant. Here are the most important ones:
1. Making sure all essential tasks are completed
What happens when coffee isn’t made until the first customer orders a cup during a busy brunch — and then 10 more orders come in and the first pot is still brewing? Or when a line cook forgets to prepare a specific sauce for one of your signature dishes?
When opening tasks are missed, service inevitably slows down, and you risk upsetting your customers. In short, a simple slip-up can quickly lead to a disaster.
An opening checklist serves as a reminder for restaurant staff to complete all necessary tasks before the customers arrive. This systematic approach keeps critical steps from being overlooked — to the peace of mind of everyone involved.
2. Preventing customer dissatisfaction and health and safety violations
Forgetting to perform certain tasks can lead to unhappy customers or, worse, health code violations such as unsanitary dining conditions. A checklist keeps issues like hygiene at the top of the daily priority list.
3. Streamlining operations
A checklist standardizes the opening process, which makes opening more efficient. Standardization also helps new staff, who can use the checklist as a guide to understanding their responsibilities.
4. Boosting employee confidence and accountability
A clear set of tasks in hand improves employees’ confidence and sense of accomplishment in their roles. They know exactly what needs to be done and can check off tasks as they complete them.
5. Consistency in the quality of service
Having a checklist means each day can start with the same high standards. This consistency is key to maintaining a loyal customer base and a good reputation.
In short, a restaurant opening checklist is more than a to-do list — it’s an important tool for successfully managing a restaurant’s daily operations.
Daily restaurant opening checklist: A free template
Below, you’ll find our curated restaurant opening checklist designed to kick-start each day in your restaurant with energy and efficiency. Use this indispensable guide for a smooth transition from completing all your daily preparations to welcoming your first customers.
While you, as a restaurant owner or general manager, shoulder the overall responsibility for this daily checklist ritual, the checklist allows you to delegate specific sets of tasks to area managers or individual team members. Not only that, but the checklist is a customizable workflow document. Feel free to tweak and refine it until it matches your restaurant’s unique needs.
With this tool in hand, you can set the stage for smooth operations, great service, and satisfied customers.
Bonus: Daily restaurant closing checklist
Below is a simple yet detailed checklist for closing your restaurant each day. Use it in conjunction with the daily opening checklist to cover everyday operations from beginning to end.
How Lark can simplify your daily restaurant routine
Printed checklists are great when used on a clipboard — but they work even better when integrated with modern communication devices and project management technology for restaurants.
Lark is an all-in-one productivity app that offers everything from chat and videoconferencing to transcription and project management features. These features can help restaurant owners, managers, and staff streamline and simplify their restaurant’s daily opening and closing procedures.
Here’s what Lark can do for your restaurant business:
Assist in streamlining inventory management: According to the Food Waste Reduction Alliance, U.S. restaurants waste 22 to 33 billion pounds of food annually — a major revenue loss — due to poor inventory management. With Lark, staff can easily update inventory using mobile forms on Lark Base, ensuring optimal real-time tracking and management. Additionally, automated alerts help maintain the balance between overstock and stock shortages.
Enhance health and safety standards: Health inspection failures can lead to lower public health ratings and penalties, negatively affecting customer trust. Lark enables teams to conduct thorough safety and hygiene inspections through mobile forms, capturing detailed ratings and photographic evidence of areas that need attention. This facilitates analysis by management to address these issues — and, hopefully, prevent them from happening again.
Facilitate timely store openings: Delays in opening new restaurant locations can accrue significant costs, including rent, staffing, and unused inventory. Lark aids in efficiently organizing the tasks needed to open new stores. Set milestones and responsibilities on Lark Base, break them down into actionable steps, and assign them to staff. Automated workflows keep everyone on track with reminders and updates, ensuring all details are managed effectively.
Boost frontline employee engagement: High restaurant staff turnover, costing an average of $150,000 annually, can be mitigated by engaging employees effectively. Lark enhances the onboarding experience, offering instant access to up-to-date policies, recipes, and more through Lark Wiki. This centralized resource helps new employees quickly acclimate to their roles using their preferred devices.
Facilitate store communication: Lark recognizes restaurant team members’ diverse linguistic backgrounds, providing auto-translation for chats, documents, and meeting minutes. This feature enables seamless communication across language barriers, enhancing collaboration and understanding within these teams.
For instance:
Employees can use their mobile phones for some of these tasks, such as clocking in, and out via WiFi.
The checklists can be loaded into Lark Base and be readily available for anyone who needs them — and managers can easily update them without having to go through rounds of document printing and distribution.
You can use Lark to set automated reminders so that no one forgets to complete essential tasks every day.
You can also view and update the checklists in real time, enabling you to keep a pulse on your restaurant from anywhere.
And when a roadblock comes up — your bar manager needs to purchase more product before the lunch service, you want to brief your waitstaff on the details of a private party that made last-minute reservations, or the dishwasher calls in sick — you can address it right away, whether you’re in the next room or on the go.
Restaurant opening checklist FAQ
What is a restaurant checklist?
A restaurant checklist is a comprehensive list of tasks that need to be completed during the restaurant’s operation. They cover areas like cleaning, food preparation, inventory, customer service, and safety protocols, ensuring that nothing is overlooked and the restaurant can maintain a high quality of service.
What are the advantages of using checklists?
Restaurant checklists act as a clear roadmap for daily operations so that all necessary tasks are completed efficiently and consistently. They help maintain optimal standards of cleanliness, food quality, and customer service. They also minimize errors and oversights.
Plus, checklists can help meet health and safety regulations and reduce the risk of violations and customer complaints.
What checklists should I use in my restaurant?
There are several types of important restaurant checklists. They include the following:
Opening checklist (preparing the restaurant before customers arrive)
Closing checklist (properly shutting down the restaurant at the end of the day)
Cleaning checklist (daily, weekly, and monthly cleaning tasks)
Inventory checklist (for managing stock and supplies)
Health and safety checklist (for compliance with health codes and safety standards)
Taken together, these checklists are critical for the smooth operation of a restaurant.
What are the opening duties of a restaurant manager?
In addition to restaurant managers focusing on restaurant marketing and how to increase restaurant sales, they oversee the entire preparation process for each day’s service. This includes the following:
Supervising cleaning and setup
Briefing staff on the day’s menu, specials, and any special events or other happenings
Reviewing inventory levels and ordering supplies if needed
Performing an equipment check (making sure all kitchen and service equipment is functioning correctly)
Reviewing reservations, handling any special requests, and ensuring the POS system is updated
By performing these tasks, the manager makes sure the restaurant operates efficiently — and is ready to provide excellent service to its customers.
Streamline your daily restaurant openings and closings with Lark
Checklists can make a major difference in streamlining your daily restaurant operations, as they can improve the standard of service and prevent oversights from derailing your front and back-of-house teams.
A tool like Lark is invaluable in this process. Lark lets you be fully integrated into your restaurant’s workflow so you can always keep your team humming along.
Try Lark for free and discover how it can make your restaurant more successful.
Table of Contents
