Operations & SOPs

The Operations & SOPs chapter of The Restaurants & Food & Beverage Playbook — 5 practical guides you can read start to finish, or dip into as you need them.

01Your Restaurant Has No SOPs. That's Why Every Shift Is Different.Your best server knows exactly how the restaurant should open. Your best line cook knows exactly how the proteins should be prepped. The day both of them call out sick, nobody else does. The knowledge is in two people's heads and nowhere else.
02How to Document Your Open and Close Processes So They Run Without YouMost operators train new staff on opening and closing by having them shadow someone who already knows the process. The new person learns what the trainer does, not what the standard is. When the trainer leaves, the standard goes with them. The counter-instinct: document the standard first, then teach anyone to it.
03The Line Check System That Prevents the Problems That Kill a Friday Night ServiceMost line checks happen two ways: either they are skipped when the rush is on or they are rushed through without catching what's wrong. The problem is not that line checks are hard to run. The problem is that there is no documented standard for what a passing line check looks like. A check without a standard is just a walk through the kitchen.
04How to Build a Prep System That Reduces Waste and Improves ConsistencyThe walk-in is full of last week's over-prep. The line runs out of the most-ordered protein on a busy Friday because the prep call was off. The prep system in most restaurants is one person's intuition about what to expect that day. When that person is wrong, the cost shows up in waste or in a table that cannot be served.
05What Happens to Your Restaurant When You're Out — and How to Prepare for ItMost operators are the single most important person in their restaurant. They are also the single biggest operational risk. The day they get sick or take a vacation, the restaurant runs differently because nothing was documented for those left in charge. That is the paradox a continuity plan resolves.

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