What is a Restaurant Checklist?

A restaurant checklist is an evaluation tool used by restaurateurs or restaurant managers to quickly identify and resolve issues that may impact the business. This tool includes all restaurant activities and procedures and ensures compliance. Restaurant checklists can help improve daily operations, employee training, store cleanliness, food safety, and customer satisfaction standards, especially because working in the fast-paced world of the food service industry can be challenging. Stay on top of everything that is happening in your restaurant by utilizing restaurant checklist templates across topics including restaurant procedures, kitchen cleaning, food hygiene inspections, management site visits, customer satisfaction surveys, and more.

Essential Restaurant Checklists

Restaurant checklists include different focuses in day-to-day operations. Here are some of the most common checklists used by restaurant managers :

• Restaurant Opening Checklist– This checklist can be used daily by the store manager or shift supervisor before the commencement of operations.

• Restaurant Closing Checklist – Before closing the restaurant doors, it is important to quickly inspect all items and create a report of any issues you had for the day. This checklist covers important things to do before leaving the premises.

• Restaurant Cleaning Checklist – This checklist helps staff to make sure your restaurant is clean, sanitized, and in order.

• Restaurant Food Safety Checklist – This checklist covers personal hygiene across staff, food preparation methods, refrigerator and food storage standards, utensils and work surfaces, dishwashing, garbage storage, and pest control. With this form, you can easily document food safety practices to comply with regulatory bodies.

• Restaurant SOP – This checklist is a simplified Standard Operating Procedure checklist for restaurant staff and managers. This helps ensure that the overall day-to-day operations are guided with proper practices for cleanliness, food safety, and compliance.

How do I Make a Checklist for a Restaurant?

Using the right restaurant checklist can greatly improve the overall dining experience of your customers. Follow these steps on how you can make a checklist that is ideal for your restaurant:

1. There are plenty of checklists to choose from so begin by knowing what the checklist is going to be used for.

2. Once you have determined what the checklist is for, use a reliable restaurant checklist template that is readily available and can be edited to fit the unique needs of your restaurant.

3. Make sure that your checklist items are easy to read and understand.

4. Include photos as references to help the person doing the checks better identify what to look for.

5. Test the completeness of your checklist by checking the restaurant using it. Involve the person who will be doing the checks as this will help make sure everything is covered. This activity can also help reinforce accountability.

6. Use the checklist and see how the checks impacted the operation of the restaurant. Revise the checklist as needed before providing the person in charge of doing the checks with a copy of the checklist.

7. Revisit the checklist to make sure that it remains up-to-date especially when there are changes in the restaurant.

Take a look at this sample restaurant checklist report to have a better idea of what it can look like. This is a result of using this restaurant opening checklist.

Preview Restaurant Checklist PDF Report

Benefits of Using a Digital Restaurant Checklist

Typical restaurant inspections are done manually with pen and paper checklists. Paper inspections, however, have multiple disadvantages that can be avoided by switching to a good digital checklist.

Here are the top 3 benefits of using a digital restaurant operation checklist:

Save time, money, and space

Inspections are much faster through a digital restaurant checklist since they can easily be customized for efficiency; whereas paper restaurant checklists are rigid and require numerous steps to update, communicate, and roll out to staff. Digital restaurant checklists also help restaurants save money by eliminating paper printing. Paper inspection checklists also take up a lot of space for filing and storage; while digital restaurant checklist reports are stored and automatically sorted in safe and secure cloud storage for easy access.

Inspection reporting is easier than ever

After an inspection,restaurant auditors have to compile their findings to write a comprehensive report. Using a digital restaurant operation checklist makes auditing more efficient by combining inspection and reporting into one task; automatically generating a comprehensive report after an inspection is completed. Revisions and editing are also easier with digital reports, compared to messy and at times illegible on paper reports.

Limitless opportunities for collaboration

Collaboration is limited with traditional paper reports since information is often only shared with an inspector’s direct supervisor or manager. A good digital restaurant checklist operates through a shared platform that encourages collaboration through in-app communication; making assignment allocation and tracking faster and easier.