To run a restaurant successfully you need 3 things:

• Consistency
• Internal Service Quality
• High Operating Standards

 

And most restaurants today are losing a lot of growth opportunities,

Simply because they are not meeting these goals,

Yet,

There are many ways to achieve operating excellence,

And one of the crucial ways is to create and follow consistent restaurant operation checklists,

For that reason,

In this article we’ll cover:

1. Daily Checklists
2. Cleanliness Checklist
3. Inventory Checklist
4. Customer Satisfaction Checklist
5. Managerial Checklist

 

At the end of each section, you will be able to download the checklist to use it for yourself.

 

Daily Checklist

 

When you are opening your restaurant every day,

You must check what is done and what is not to start the operations,

And without a proper checklist,

You will not be consistent as the human brain cannot remember everything that needs to be done,

Especially in a restaurant,

So the first thing you need to have is an opening checklist,

 

A. Opening Checklist

Having an opening checklist is your first step to quality excellence,

This operation checklist enables you to put in place consistent operating procedures,

That needs to be done every day at the opening of your restaurant,

Besides reducing your brain’s processing time,

It will make you gain a lot of operational time,

Which will allow you to make your operations better,

By implementing extra entertainment service activities such as:

• – Show cooking
• – Special cocktail offer
• – Special night

 

And here is your opening checklist:

 

 

B. Closing Checklist

The other part of your daily checklist is your closing checklist,

Those two go together,

But why?

The reason is that in the closing checklist,

We want to introduce tasks that will help the opening of the next day,

But then why have an opening checklist?

Having a closing checklist to support your opening checklist will lead to:

• Decrease in workload
• Increase in productivity
• Increase in consistency
• The increased quality of service

 

And in your closing checklist, those are the fields that you want to check:

 

 

 

Cleanliness Checklist

 

As the Tidiness of a restaurant is crucial,

It has its own checklist,

And you must note that this checklist goes along with the daily checklists,

Meaning that during your opening and closing time,

You will also need to check on your cleanliness checklist,

To ensure that safety and quality standards are met,

Cleanliness is huge in the food and beverage sector,

And not having a proper system to follow could lead you to potential trouble,

So in your cleanliness checklist, you want to include 2 sections:

• FRONT OF THE HOUSE
• BACK OF THE HOUSE

 

And as the Chef is the one responsible for the back of the house cleanliness,

You will simply check on it during the daily briefing with the kitchen team,

And to make your cleaning system even more efficient,

You should allocate tasks among your team to gain time and increase effectiveness,

But here is your cleanliness checklist:

 

Inventory Checklist

 

Inventory management and control is extremely important,

As it has a direct impact on the profitability of your restaurant,

Thus,

Having an inventory checklist makes sense,

In this inventory checklist,

You want to separate it into 4 different areas:

• Organization
• Availability
• Purchasing
• Controlling

 

And while checklists will vary depending on your own operation and concept,

Here is an example of an inventory checklist that we like to follow:

 

Customer Satisfaction Checklist

 

Customer satisfaction is the main goal of any operations,

And this is not something that all restaurants have,

But we have found that the few restaurants that are using a customer satisfaction checklist,

And that is following it up frequently,

Found on average more success,

Implementing this checklist within your operation,

Will make you stand out and increase your customer loyalty,

And while their many ways to increase customer satisfaction,

These checklists also include KPIs to track with your marketing team,

Here is your customer satisfaction checklist:

 

Managerial Checklist

 

This Last restaurant operation checklist is one that you should follow on your own every single day,

That is if you want to be highly successful as a manager,

The reason is that a managerial checklist includes all the management tasks that are a must in your daily routine,

It includes tasks such as:

• Analytics
• Performance tracking
• Staff management

 

And this checklist is not mandatory,

Yet,

I found out that it was the most valuable one when it comes to overall productivity, and personal development,

So if you really want to exceed customers’ expectations,

And your own perception of yourself,

You must create a managerial checklist,

We have an example for you that you can download,

However note that you should customize it and matches it to your own personal goals to make it more efficient,

Here is your managerial checklist:

 

Restaurant Operation Checklist : BONUS TIP

 

Here is a bonus tip,

If you want to increase substantially your staff productivity

You should also create your own staff management checklist,

And this will also be crucial if you want to grow faster,

Because the starting point of increasing customer satisfaction,

Is the internal service quality,

Which is directly tied to the overall motivation and productivity of your employees,

And here are the fields that you could consider for your checklist:

• Scheduling is appropriate
• Productivity
• Motivation
• Tips
• SOP
• Recruitment Process
• Performance appraisal
• Incentives programs

 

Summary

 

I hope you have enjoyed this article about the 6 restaurant operation checklist that you need for your restaurant,

You can download them and use them as it is,

Yet,

I would highly recommend that you customize them to your own concept,

Daily routines and checklists vary from operation to operation,

And the more you customize it to your needs,

The better of you will be,

And the better outcomes you will see,

If you need any help or if you have any doubts concerning anything related to Restaurant Management,

Drop us a couple of lines,

We would love to help you out on your project,

What’s next?

After downloading the different checklists,

You can read the article that covers all the operational metrics that you need to track in your restaurant,

That will be especially helpful for your managerial checklist,

That’s all for today,

Stay Safe and see you soon!