Founder, ampeli
Every kitchen has a prep list. Most of them work fine on a Tuesday. Then Saturday shows up, the ticket printer starts chattering at 5:45, and somebody is slicing onions on the pass because the onion bin was empty and nobody noticed.
The problem usually isn't the people. It's the list. A good restaurant prep list isn't a to-do note taped to the walk-in. It's a small system: it knows how much you need, checks what you have, tells each person what to make and when, and leaves a trail for tomorrow. Here's how to build one that holds up when it counts.
Why prep lists fall apart on Saturdays
Saturday doesn't create new problems. It finds the ones you already have and turns the volume up.
The list is a memory, not a document. If the prep list lives in your sous chef's head, it leaves when they take a day off.
Nobody counted. "Make dough" isn't an instruction. "Make 3 batches of dough" is.
Everything is due "before service." So the slow stuff starts last and the 20-minute jobs happen first.
No one owns it. Two people make the same sauce, and nobody makes the dressing.
Pars were set in the summer. The weekday number is quietly running the weekend.
The fix is boring, which is good news. Boring is repeatable.
Start with prep pars, not guesses
A prep par is how much of a prepped item you want ready before service. It's the same idea as an ordering par, applied to the cutting board instead of the delivery truck. If you haven't set ordering pars yet, our guide to par levels for restaurants walks through the formula. The logic carries over.
For prep, keep it simple:
Prep par = what you typically use in a shift + a small buffer
Set a separate par for busy days. Your Saturday par and your Tuesday par should not be the same number, and if they are, Saturday is going to tell you.
Example: a neighborhood pizzeria (example numbers only)
Say a pizzeria usually goes through about 6 quarts of pizza sauce on a weeknight and about 10 on a Saturday. With a modest buffer, they might set the Saturday prep par at 12 quarts. Shredded mozzarella might run 15 lbs on a weeknight and 25 lbs on Saturday, so the Saturday par lands around 28 lbs. These are made-up numbers to show the math. Use your own from a few weeks of real shifts.
The on-hand count: how much to actually make
This is the step that turns a list into a plan. Before anyone picks up a knife, someone counts what's already prepped and still good.
Amount to make = prep par − on hand
Using the pizzeria example: Saturday sauce par is 12 quarts. There are 5 quarts left from Friday that are still within shelf life. Make 7. Not "some." Seven.
A few rules keep the count honest:
Count only what's usable. If it's past its date or looks tired, it's zero.
Count in the same unit as the par. Quarts to quarts, pans to pans, batches to batches.
Round to how you actually make it. If your sauce recipe makes 4 quarts, 7 becomes 8, which is two batches.
Organize the list by station and by time
A list in alphabetical order is a list nobody follows. Organize it two ways.
By station
Group items where they get made and used: dough and bench, sauces, cold prep and salads, protein, dessert or bakery. Each cook sees their own section and nothing else gets in the way.
By time
Then sort each station by lead time. Anything that needs to rise, braise, cool or set goes first. Quick knife work goes last, closest to service, when it'll be freshest.
A simple way to mark it: AM early (long jobs, start right away), AM mid (sauces, dressings, portioning), pre-shift (garnish, fresh-cut, final fill of the line).
Who owns what
Every line on the list gets one name. Not "kitchen." Not "whoever's in." One person.
That person is responsible for making it, labeling it, and checking it off. A manager or lead does one walk-through before service to confirm every item is done or flagged. If something didn't happen, you want to find out at 3:00, not 6:30.
Ownership also makes training easier. A new hire can own two simple items on day one and grow from there.
A prep list template you can copy
Here's a simple prep sheet layout. Print it, put it in a sheet protector, and fill it in with a dry-erase marker, or copy it into a spreadsheet. Example values are from the made-up pizzeria above.
| Station | Item | Unit | Sat par | On hand | Make | Batches | Timing | Owner | Done |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bench | Pizza dough | dough balls | 120 | 40 | 80 | 4 | AM early | (name) | ☐ |
| Sauce | Pizza sauce | quarts | 12 | 5 | 7 → 8 | 2 | AM mid | (name) | ☐ |
| Cold | Shredded mozzarella | lbs | 28 | 10 | 18 | — | AM mid | (name) | ☐ |
| Cold | Caesar dressing | quarts | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | AM mid | (name) | ☐ |
| Cold | Sliced onions | 1/6 pans | 4 | 1 | 3 | — | Pre-shift | (name) | ☐ |
| Dessert | Cannoli filling | quarts | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | AM early | (name) | ☐ |
Add a notes line at the bottom for anything that ran out, came close, or got thrown away. That's how next week's pars get better.
The Friday-night and Saturday-morning routine
The best Saturdays start on Friday.
Friday night (15 minutes at close)
Count what's left on the line and in the walk-in.
Toss anything past its date, and write it down.
Fill in the "on hand" column for Saturday.
Start anything that needs overnight time, like dough or a braise.
Leave the sheet where the opener will see it first.
Saturday morning
Opener does a quick recount to check Friday's numbers.
Fill in the "make" column and assign owners.
Start every AM early item before anything else.
Lead does a walk-through about an hour before service.
Anything not done gets flagged now, while there's still time.
It sounds like a lot. In practice it's a clipboard and a few minutes, and it's a lot cheaper than running out of dough at 7:15.
Common prep list mistakes
One par for every day. Weekends need their own numbers.
Skipping the count. Without it, you're guessing with extra steps.
Over-prepping "just in case." Extra prep that dies on Monday is waste with good intentions.
No owner names. Shared jobs turn into nobody's job.
Never updating the list. Menus change, seasons change. Look at pars at least once a month.
Keeping it in one person's head. If it isn't written down, it isn't a system.
Keeping it consistent without more paperwork
A paper sheet works, and plenty of great kitchens run on one. When you want the recipes, prep lists and par ordering in one organized place so every shift does it the same way, that's what we're building with ampeli. It launches January 2027 at $99 a month per location. You can see pricing here.
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