The success of a restaurant is driven by how you operate the kitchen. If the kitchen is a mess, with the waiters getting the orders wrong while the chefs are unprofessional and unethical, your restaurant is bound to an early grave.

To avoid falling into such a mess, you need a detailed checklist. Yet a detailed checklist doesn’t just involve writing down a to-do list. It requires advance planning like ordering the right equipment, quality food and training your employees to run a flawless restaurant.

So, here are five tips to help you not only create an effective restaurant kitchen opening checklist but also ensure efficiency.

1. Hire and Build a Dream Team

Opening a restaurant involves daily tasks like:

• Signing in
• Taking stock of the pantry, freezer, fridge, and any other storage you may be using
• Turning on the Point of Sale (POS) system
• Adjusting the thermostat
• Cleaning and disinfecting the space

However, all these daily tasks cannot be done smoothly if you do not have a qualified team. A qualified team doesn’t necessarily mean having formal education; it means having people working in your restaurant with good interpersonal skills and work ethics.

Therefore, you should hire servers and kitchen staff who are capable of handling the various challenges that come with dealing with people. To ensure they are equipped with these skills, invest your time, resources and train your staff.

To help your staff understand your restaurant’s policies, procedures, and standards, provide them with real-life scenarios. This involves carrying out a mock scenario during training to check which of your employees are unable to handle a particular situation with finesse.

2. Conveniently Integrate Technology in the Kitchen

According to research by Popmenu, restaurants that leverage technology have seen a 77% increase in efficiency. So, when creating a restaurant kitchen opening checklist, leverage technology to make most of the tasks easier.

For instance, you can use technology daily to contribute to the smooth operation of your restaurant in the following ways:

1. Implementing an effective and modern POS to help in managing orders, processing bills without errors, improving the server’s efficiency, and tracking sales.
2. Create a well-organized menu using Evergreen’s digital menu software. By using Evergreen’s innovative interface, you can incorporate your restaurant’s theme colors for aesthetics. You can also edit the menu whenever necessary to feature the meal of the day or any offer you may have running in your restaurant.
3. Create a website where your customers can leave reviews. Then each morning you can hold a brief meeting where you go through the reviews and improve on the areas you find lacking. It will ensure that no other customer makes the same complaint the following day.

3. Adhere to Health Protocols

As part of your restaurant kitchen opening checklist, ensure that your staff understands all the daily health protocols they need to adhere to. These include:

• Display all current health inspections and food safety certificates in a convenient spot.
• Wash their hands thoroughly before handling food or cutlery.
• Fill and place hand sanitizers in the restrooms, on top of the table, and near the door.
• Wear clean uniforms and aprons and the proper protective gear like gloves and hair nets.
• Separate raw and cooked foods and store them effectively to prevent cross-contamination.
• Dispose of recyclable and non-recyclable waste properly.

4. Perform a Comprehensive Equipment Inspection and Setup

Before you start any activity, whether that’s prepping for breakfast or cleaning the dining area, you should conduct a thorough inspection of your equipment and setup.

Here are three reasons why this is very important before opening your restaurant:

1. When you identify and address safety issues like leaking gas lines, dull knives, exposed or frayed electrical wires, faulty cables, and sockets, incorrectly connected appliances, or wobbly tables and chairs, you prevent related injuries or accidents.
2. Minimize downtime as faulty equipment can grind operations leading to frustrated customers and thus losing revenue.
3. Reduces repair costs. Checking your equipment and appliances daily is preventive maintenance that helps you catch any issues before they escalate into major issues.

When your team members perform daily maintenance checks, it boosts their self-esteem that they are working in a safe environment. This enables your servers and kitchen staff to work efficiently, as they know that the equipment is safe and reliable.

5. Source and Store High-Quality Ingredients

A restaurant should serve quality foods and any other consumables if you want to have your customers enjoy their meals. However, as much as most chefs can turn most ingredients into finger-licking cuisines, the type of ingredients you use plays a larger part. In other words, ensure that your restaurant kitchen opening checklist confirms whether your chefs use high-quality ingredients.

Keep in mind that verifying the exact methods of food cultivation can be challenging unless you obtain it directly from the farm. Nevertheless, you can rely on these guidelines to determine whether the ingredients you utilize meet high-quality standards:

1. Always check for certifications such as non-GMO, organic, or Halal.
2. Pay attention to the packaging used. Most manufacturers that deal with high-quality ingredients tend to use better packaging.
3. Source from trusted suppliers. Once you purchase an ingredient and find it to be of better quality, build a partnership with the supplier or manufacturer you bought it from. You can also ask for referrals from your friends and family.
4. Opt for local farmers, as most of them tend to grow their food organically. It also supports the local economy and enables you to purchase the produce in season at an affordable price.

By following these tips, you make it easy for your workers, as they check off a restaurant kitchen opening checklist ensuring the ingredients used for meal prep are of high quality.

Leverage Evergreen to Create a Kitchen Menu That Sizzles

When you are done with your restaurant kitchen opening checklist, your focus shifts to daily operations. The most frequent task is serving your customers meals.

However, a dull menu can raise doubts in customers’ minds about whether the food will be tasty. So having a well-curated menu will captivate and reassure your audience.

Ready to take your restaurant or bar to the next level? Request a demo to  see how you can transform your kitchen menu from mundane to captivating.