Restaurant Closing Checklist

Pull the Open Checks report in Toast or Square before nightly lockout. Abandoned tabs become lost revenue and break tip-out reconciliation. Manager initials any voids or comps over the house threshold.

Roll silverware to par, refill condiments and salt/pepper, wipe down sugar caddies, and reset table layout per the floor plan. Track time spent on non-tipped duties — beyond 30 continuous minutes the tip credit cannot be claimed for that time.

Wipe tables, flip chairs for the overnight cleaning crew, vacuum or sweep banquette areas. Restock menus on host stand and pull any inserts that change tomorrow (specials, 86 list).

Check soap, paper towels, toilet paper, and trash. Health inspectors look at restrooms first when they walk a kitchen the next morning — a stocked, clean restroom signals operational discipline.

Sous walks the line with the closing cook, notes 86s and low-pars for tomorrow's prep sheet, and inspects each station's mise en place. This becomes the AM crew's starting prep list.

Hot food must reach 70°F within 2 hours and 41°F within 6 hours under the FDA Food Code. Use shallow pans or ice baths, not deep hotel pans buried in the walk-in. Every container gets a date-marked label per the cooling log.

Walk-in must read 41°F or below; freezer 0°F or below. A reading out of range triggers the equipment-failure branch — do not just write down a number you wish were true. Inspectors look for log gaps and obviously fake entries.

If the walk-in is above 41°F or the freezer is above 0°F, page the on-call tech, move TCS product to a working unit, and document the time the unit went out of range. Without a paper trail the next inspection cannot tell whether food was held safe.

Use a quat or chlorine test strip per the brand of sanitizer in use. Quat: 200-400 ppm. Chlorine: 50-100 ppm. Log the ppm reading on the sanitation log; an unread strip is the same as an unsanitary sink.

Skim and filter fryer oil per the manufacturer's lockout sequence — never drain a hot fryer. Break down flat top, salamander, and six-burner; degrease per closing schedule. Boil-out the dishwasher if it is the night for it.

Pull the daily sales summary, server cash-out report, and tip-out distribution from Toast (or your POS). Verify comp percentage and void percentage against the house threshold and flag outliers for the GM's morning review.

Count each server's cash bank against the POS owed-to-house figure. Log over/short on the cash-out sheet — chronic shortages of $5+ per shift compound to thousands per year and surface as a per-employee pattern over a month.

Variances above $20 require a same-night write-up to the GM with the offending employee's name, shift, and prior variance history. Repeat offenders within 30 days follow the progressive-discipline policy.

Bag deposit by denomination per the deposit slip, witness the seal with a second employee, log the bag number, and drop in the safe. Two-person sign-off protects the closer if a deposit goes missing between safe and bank pickup.

Confirm all gas equipment, fryers, flat top, and salamander are off and the hood vent fans are shut down. Check Ansul system gauges are in green. A hood fire after a missed shutdown is the most common kitchen total loss.

Lock the office filing cabinet (employee I-9s, tip-credit notices, payroll). Shut down R365 and the back-office computer. Confirm the safe is locked and the camera DVR is recording.