Hello, World!
https://dalmatian-beagle-3bmy.squarespace.com/config/pages/6ae87cc4c85dea6e95fe4465Founder, ampeli
Every restaurant has two shifts that decide how the day goes. One is the rush. The other is the ten minutes before the rush, and the ten minutes after you think you're done.
Opening and closing are where small restaurants win or lose their Friday night, and almost nobody writes them down. They live in one person's head, usually the person who has been there longest, usually the person who is out sick the one day it matters.
So here's a restaurant opening and closing checklist you can steal, tape to the wall, and fix to match your place. It's not fancy. It's the stuff that gets forgotten at 11:40 p.m. when everyone just wants to go home.
Why a restaurant opening checklist beats "everybody knows what to do"
Everybody knows what to do right up until two new people open together and each assumes the other turned on the fryer, checked the walk-in, and unlocked the back door.
A written list does three boring, wonderful things:
- It makes the job the same no matter who's on the schedule.
- It lets a new hire open without you standing behind them.
- It gives you something to point to that isn't "you forgot again."
Keep it to one page per shift. If it takes a binder, nobody will use it.
The restaurant opening checklist
Run it in the same order every day. Order matters, because the walk-in check can change what you do next.
Before you unlock
- Walk the outside. Trash, doors, sidewalk, anything that looks wrong from the street.
- Disarm the alarm and turn on lights. Check that nothing was left on or left open overnight.
- Read the closing notes from last night. This one habit saves more mornings than anything else on this list.
Cold side first
- Check the walk-in, reach-ins and freezer. Read the thermometers and write the numbers down. If something is off, find out now, not at lunch. Your local health department sets the actual temperature rules, so follow theirs.
- Look at dates and labels. Move older product forward, toss what's expired. (A date-label system gets its own post soon. Subscribe below and you'll see it.)
- Check what the closer flagged as low, then compare it to your par list. If you need a refresher on setting those numbers, here's par levels made simple.
Kitchen and equipment
- Turn on the hood, grill, ovens, fryers and holding equipment in the order they need to heat.
- Check the ice machine and make sure the bin is clean and the scoop is where it belongs. The full routine is in our ice machine maintenance checklist.
- Fill sanitizer buckets and test the strength with your test strips.
- Make sure hand sinks have soap, paper towels and hot water. A hand sink nobody can use is a problem that shows up at the worst time.
Prep
- Pull today's prep list and do the longest-lead items first (stocks, braises, dough, anything that has to rest or cook down). If you don't have a system yet, a prep list for busy Saturdays will get you started.
- Stock the line: containers, backups, spoons, towels, tickets, pens.
- Taste the soups, sauces and anything else that changes overnight. Your palate is a tool. Use it.
Front of house
- Unstack chairs, wipe tables, check menus for stains and typos.
- Restrooms: soap, paper, trash, smell test.
- Test the POS, the printer, the card reader and the Wi-Fi. Ring a $0.01 item or run a test ticket if that's how yours works.
- Cash drawers counted and ready.
- Music on, lights set, door signs flipped.
The last two minutes before open
- Quick huddle: specials, 86'd items, reservations, big parties, who's on what.
- One person scans the room like a guest walking in. Fresh eyes catch what busy eyes miss.
The restaurant closing checklist
Closing is where the tired part of you wants to cut corners. That's exactly why it needs a list. A good close also makes the next opening easy, and it's the same two shifts feeding each other.
Close the kitchen
- Break down the line. Wrap, label and date everything going back to the walk-in. Anything not safe to keep goes in the trash, not "just for tomorrow."
- Clean and sanitize prep surfaces, cutting boards, slicers and anything else that touched food.
- Turn off and clean the grill, fryers, ovens and hood filters per your own cleaning schedule.
- Empty and sanitize the sanitizer buckets. Rotate towels into the wash.
- Sweep and mop. Don't forget under the line and behind the fryer.
- Take out trash and recycling. Wipe down the cans.
Count and note
- Write down what's low for tomorrow while it's fresh in your head. A page of three or four lines is plenty.
- Jot anything that broke, ran out, or went wrong. A weird noise from the compressor is worth a note at 11 p.m. and a very bad morning if you skip it.
- Prep lists for tomorrow: what's already done, what's left.
- Record end-of-night temperatures if you log them.
Close the front
- Wipe and reset tables, chairs up, floors clean.
- Run end-of-day reports on the POS and close out the drawers. Count the cash, do the deposit prep, and have a second person sign off if you can.
- Stock the server station for tomorrow so the opener doesn't have to.
- Restrooms cleaned and restocked.
Lock up
- Walk the whole building once, back to front. Back door locked, windows, walk-in door fully shut, gas off where it should be.
- Lights off, alarm set, doors checked. Then check the back door again. You know why.
- Leave the closing notes where the opener will see them first.
Make it work in your place
A few things I'd tell another owner over coffee:
- Cut it to fit. A coffee shop, a pizzeria and a family dining room don't close the same way. Delete what doesn't apply and add what does. If you've ever run a pizza oven, you know the closing list has its own special items.
- Put names on it. "Closing" means nobody. "Maria: walk-in and dates. Sam: line and floors." means it's done.
- Sign it. Initials at the bottom. Not to catch people, but so the next shift knows who to ask.
- Review it quarterly. Whenever something goes wrong, add one line. Whenever a line never matters, drop it.
- Don't turn it into a novel. If it takes more than a few minutes to read, it won't get read.
And a note on rules: health codes, fire safety and cash handling vary by state and county. This list is a starting point. Your local health department has the final say on temperatures, cleaning, and what has to be written down.
A simple way to keep it from slipping
Paper on a clipboard works. A laminated sheet with a dry-erase marker works. A shared checklist on a phone works too. The best one is whichever your crew will actually use on a slammed Friday.
For what it's worth, this is the kind of thing we're building ampeli to help with: keeping small restaurants organized and consistent with recipes, prep and par-level ordering, so the routine doesn't live in one person's head. ampeli launches in January 2027. The founding price is $99 a month per location, and you can join the waitlist here. No pressure. Take the checklist either way.
One more thing: the Grapevine
If this was useful, I send a short note called the Grapevine with plain-English restaurant ops tips, new posts, and the occasional template. It's written owner to owner, with no fluff. Join the Grapevine here.
Next up: a FIFO and date-label system for the walk-in, so the stuff in the back gets used before the stuff in the front.
Now go print the list and cross out whatever doesn't fit. Your closer will thank you at 11:40 p.m.
