LineReady / Guides / Opening checklist
Restaurant opening checklist: what your crew should do before the doors open
A restaurant opening checklist is the list of tasks your crew completes between walking in the door and serving the first guest: safety and security first, then sanitation, then stations, then cash. The list below is the one my own store runs every morning. Take it, cut what doesn't apply, and add the three or four things that are specific to your building. Every restaurant has them.
Why openers make or break the day
Almost every mid-shift fire traces back to the first hour. The sanitizer bucket that never got mixed becomes a health-inspection note at 2pm. The till that wasn't counted becomes a variance argument at close. An opening checklist works because it front-loads the boring, skippable work into a window when the building is quiet and one person can be responsible for it.
Front of house opening checklist
FOH: before doors
- Unlock doors and disarm the alarm; walk the building for anything unusual
- Lights, music, and thermostat to opening settings
- Mix fresh sanitizer buckets and place them at each station
- Wipe down tables, booths, and high chairs
- Stock napkins, straws, lids, cup sleeves, and condiments
- Brew teas and coffee; check dates on anything held overnight
- Count tills to the starting amount and log the count
- Check restrooms: stocked, clean, floors dry
- Turn on registers, kiosks, and the drive-thru headsets
- Unlock the front doors at the posted time, once the walk is done
Back of house opening checklist
BOH: before doors
- Walk-in and freezer temperature check, logged with the time
- Turn on hoods, fryers, grills, and holding cabinets; verify they reach temp
- Check dates and rotate product: first in, first out
- Set up prep stations with fresh utensils, gloves, and sanitizer
- Handwash sinks stocked with soap and towels
- Thaw-pull for tomorrow written down, not remembered
The manager's walk
The last item on any opening list should be a five-minute walk by whoever is running the shift: taste one product, touch one table, check one restroom, read the lineup out loud. The walk is what turns a stack of checked boxes into an actual opinion about whether the store is ready.
The problem with the laminated version
Most stores already have this list: laminated, hanging by the office, with a dry-erase marker on a string. The trouble is that a laminate can't tell you when a box was checked or by whom. Initials at 9:40 for tasks that were due at 6:00 look identical to a perfect open. If you've ever coached someone over an opening that "was done" and wasn't, you already know the paper version's ceiling.
Running your opening checklist in LineReady
LineReady is a restaurant checklist app built by a working director. Your opening list lives on your crew's phones, and every task records who checked it and at what time, so "done at 6:14" means done at 6:14.
- Build your opening, closing, and sanitation lists once; they generate fresh every day
- Give each list a due-by time, and see open lists on the dashboard
- Every completed task carries a name and a timestamp
- Assign the list to an opener from the shift lineup