Front-of-House Shutdown Checklist

End-of-night closing workflow run by the FOH closing manager covering dining room reset, bar close, restroom turn, cash-out reconciliation, and lockup. Designed to leave the room inspection-ready for the opener.

Use this workflow
1

Dining Room Reset

  1. Wipe and sanitize tables, chairs, and booths

    • Use a fresh sanitizer bucket at the required ppm for your sanitizer (typically 200-400 ppm for quat, 50-100 ppm for chlorine). Test with a strip before starting — buckets diluted by service-night spills are a common health-inspection finding.

  2. Reset table settings and clean menus

    • Sanitize menus, condiment holders, salt and pepper, and any QR-code stands. Pull any menus with food residue or torn corners and stage them for replacement before the next open.

  3. Sweep and mop the dining floor

    • Move chairs onto tables before mopping. Pay attention to high-traffic paths and under booths where crumbs collect — these are the spots inspectors check for pest evidence.

  4. Stage opening side-work for AM crew

    • Roll silverware to par, refill water pitchers, restage host stand with current reservation sheets. Anything the morning shift would otherwise have to do before doors open belongs here.

2

Bar Close

  1. Break down the well and wash speed-rail bottles

    • Pour spouts get pulled, rinsed, and soaked overnight — fruit flies breed in the residue otherwise. Wipe down the well, juice rail, and ice bin gasket.

  2. Polish glassware and stage for AM
  3. Count bar par and flag restock needs

    • Check bottles against the bar par sheet. Anything below par gets noted for the morning bartender's pull from the liquor room — don't leave the next shift opening short on house wine or well vodka.

    Collects list
  4. Email the restock list to the beverage director

    • Send the shortage list before leaving so the beverage director can adjust tomorrow's distributor order before the cutoff. Note any 86'd cocktails on the board for the AM bartender.

  5. Verify the liquor license is posted and current

    • Glance at the posted license on the way out. Expired licenses are an immediate-suspension finding for state ABC inspectors. If the expiration is within 30 days, flag the GM.

3

Restroom Turn

  1. Sanitize fixtures, stalls, and high-touch surfaces

    • Hit door handles, stall latches, faucet handles, and the underside of toilet seats with sanitizer. These are the surfaces an inspector swabs.

  2. Refill soap, paper towels, and toilet paper to par
  3. Clear floor drains and check for standing water

    • Standing water or slow drains are an early indicator of a clogged line — flagging tonight beats a backup during lunch service tomorrow. Note any odors for the maintenance log.

4

Cash-Out and POS Reconciliation

  1. Close all open tabs in the POS

    • Pull the open-checks report from Toast/Square/Aloha and walk every line. Open tabs at lockout get auto-voided in some POS setups — lost revenue and a tip-out reconciliation problem for the servers.

  2. Reconcile server cash-outs against the POS

    • Compare each server's declared cash to the POS cash-due report. Variances above $5 get logged by employee — chronic shorts are how skim shows up before it becomes a real problem.

    Collects list
  3. Document the variance and notify the GM
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  4. Drop the deposit and log the envelope number

    • Two-person count when possible. Log the envelope number, total, and time in the deposit book — the audit trail matters if the bank reports a short.

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5

Lockup and Equipment Shutdown

  1. Cover stations and stage opening mise

    • Cover the raw bar, garde manger, and pastry stations with food-safe wrap. Any item that needs to come to temp for AM service goes into the walk-in on the correct shelf per FIFO.

  2. Power down non-essential equipment

    • Espresso machine, soda gun, music system, dining-room TVs, host-stand iPad. Leave walk-in, reach-in, ice machine, hood-vent overnight cycle, and security cameras on.

  3. Log final walk-in and reach-in temperatures

    • Walk-in must read 41°F or below; freezer 0°F or below. A second daily reading at close is the documentation that food was held safe overnight — gaps here are a serious finding if a foodborne-illness complaint comes in.

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  4. Escalate the temperature issue to the chef on call

    • If the walk-in is reading above 41°F at close, do not leave without a call to the chef on call. Move TCS items to the backup reach-in if available, and start the 4-hour clock on anything that may have been out of temp.

  5. Secure outdoor furniture and patio
  6. Lock doors, arm the alarm, and confirm code

    • Front, back, and patio gates. Verify the alarm panel shows armed before walking out — a false-fault on the panel that doesn't actually arm is the most common overnight break-in pattern.

6

Manager Sign-Off

  1. Walk the dining room and bar one final time

    • Lights down, candles out, no smoldering anything. Glance behind the bar and under the host stand for tabs, phones, jackets, and credit cards left by guests.

  2. Log lost-and-found items in the manager binder
    Collects file
  3. File maintenance and incident notes for the GM

    • Broken equipment, guest incidents, near-misses, comp patterns. Anything the GM should see before the AM pre-shift goes here so it doesn't get lost between shifts.

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