Takeout and Delivery Service Checklist

Per-order workflow an FOH manager or expo runs to package, verify, and dispatch takeout and third-party delivery orders. Covers ticket intake, allergen handling, hot/cold-hold packaging, driver handoff, and customer follow-up.

Use this workflow
1

Order Intake and Ticket Routing

  1. Pull the ticket from POS or aggregator
  2. Identify the order channel
  3. Flag allergen or special-instruction tickets

    • Mark the ticket with an allergy slip and call it out to the line before fire. Allergen tickets require dedicated tools, hand-changed gloves, and a clean station — same cutting board or fryer oil as a non-allergen item is a cross-contamination citation and an anaphylaxis risk.

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  4. Confirm the promised pickup or delivery time

    • DoorDash, UberEats, and Grubhub each surface a different prep-time window. Adjust the quote in the tablet if the line is in the weeds; a missed quote drives a chargeback faster than a missing item.

2

Allergen Protocol

  1. Brief the line on the allergen ticket

    • The allergen-aware manager on shift (PCFP or AllerTrain certified in MA, IL, MI, NY, RI) calls out the allergy verbally to every station the ticket touches before fire.

  2. Stage dedicated tools and surface

    • Pull a sanitized cutting board, dedicated tongs, and a clean sauté pan. For fried allergen items, use a dedicated fryer or coordinate with the kitchen on a clean-oil window — shared fry oil cross-contaminates.

  3. Plate the allergen item separately

    • Hand-change gloves before plating. Seal and label the container with the allergen name (e.g., "NO GLUTEN") and the guest name so the runner and driver cannot mix it up with the rest of the order.

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3

Packaging and Hold Temperature

  1. Select leak-proof, vented containers

    • Use vented lids for fried items so steam escapes and crust holds; sealed lids for soups, sauces, and braises. Pack sauces on the side for any item that travels more than 15 minutes.

  2. Verify hot-hold temperature before packing

    • Hot TCS items leave the line at 140°F or above. Probe the protein with a calibrated thermometer; food held in the danger zone (41–140°F) for over 4 hours must be discarded, not bagged.

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  3. Pack cold items with insulation

    • Salads, raw bar, and desserts hold at 41°F or below. Bag separately from hot items, and add a gel pack for any delivery quoted over 20 minutes.

  4. Label each container with item and modifiers

    • Write the dish name, modifications ("no onion", "sub fries"), and any allergen flag on the container lid. Drivers and guests cannot see inside a sealed bag — labels prevent the wrong-item refund.

4

Order Verification and Bag Seal

  1. Read the ticket back against the bag

    • Expo reads each line item aloud and physically touches the matching container. Catch missing sides, wrong proteins, and absent modifiers here — refund rates above 5% on third-party platforms throttle your store ranking.

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  2. Add utensils, condiments, and napkins

    • Default packout: utensils, napkins, condiment packets matched to the dish (soy + chili oil for noodles; ranch + hot sauce for wings). Skip plasticware only if the guest opted out — many municipalities now require opt-in by ordinance.

  3. Remake any missing or wrong items

    • Fire the corrected item with priority and notify the guest of the revised time. Do not seal the bag until the remake is in.

  4. Apply tamper-evident seal

    • Tamper seals are required by DoorDash, UberEats, and Grubhub on every order. Place across the bag opening so the seal tears on first open. Several states (NY, NJ, RI) require tamper-evident packaging on all third-party delivery.

5

Driver Handoff

  1. Match the bag to the driver's order code

    • Confirm the last 3 digits of the order ID or the driver's confirmation code on the aggregator app. Mis-handoffs are the top-cited reason for missing-order chargebacks on Toast Delivery Services and DoorDash Drive.

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  2. Load into an insulated delivery bag

    • Hot bag for hot orders, separate cold tote for cold. Driver-supplied bags are often filthy or unzipped — visually inspect before transferring food.

  3. Mark the order picked up in the POS

    • Tap "picked up" or "out for delivery" in Toast, Square, or your aggregator tablet. This stops the prep-time clock and triggers the customer notification downstream.

6

Customer Follow-Up and Logging

  1. Send the ready or out-for-delivery notification

    • For first-party orders (Toast Online Ordering, ChowNow, Square Online), the SMS or email fires automatically when status flips. For phone-in orders, the host calls the guest with the actual ETA, not the original quote.

  2. Log refund or remake reasons in the daily report

    • Note any voided items, comps, or platform refunds in the manager log with reason code (missing item, wrong item, late, quality). Weekly review of this log is how the GM catches a station that's running 8% error vs the line average.

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