By Natasha Reta – Culinary Consultant
It’s not just about opening or closing; it’s maintaining operational excellence in your business throughout the day, but how do you do that? By implementing standard operating procedures (SOPs). All SOPs should be organized per station and monitored by management. It should also be verified and checked periodically throughout the day to ensure that all items are completed as expected. This process must also include SOPs for recipe following. Closing and day-to-day service will require continuous review and discipline by management to incorporate and ensure best practices. The following are suggestions for added improvement of SOPs in your restaurant business.
- Go digital. Limit paper waste and keep staff accountable with online checklists and monitoring that is efficiently and quickly completed on a phone or tablet and alerts management of its completion.
- Clearly defined expectations. Expectations cannot be met without detailed guidelines shared with staff. Be sure your expectations as a business are clearly communicated to achieve a complete and thorough understanding with all team members.
- Close to Open for success. Digital checklists will keep staff aligned with essential tasks throughout the day. Be sure that closing and opening procedures are outlined step by step in a detailed timeline checklist to avoid confusion and any unforeseen safety issues. Some great examples of items to incorporate on these checklists:
- Changing out insert pans and changing squeeze bottles, following FIFO standards and date labeling.
- Verify equipment temperature and function with an Infrared Thermo Temp gun.
- A line check form should be utilized to ensure all products are organized where they belong, taste, and look as they should, and each station is set up for success with the correct tools and items needed.
- Lastly, gentle, constant pressure and follow up to ensure staff follows the guidelines and expectations.
Without discipline, daily routine, and detailed organization, the business will constantly struggle to work at its peak performance levels. Need help developing or implementing SOPs to ensure operational excellence? Reach out to Synergy today!