Restaurant Quality Control Checklist

Pull use-by-dated containers forward; anything past the 7-day TCS limit goes in the trash, not back on the shelf. Common drift point: prep cooks restocking on top of older pans during a rush. Photograph any product discarded for the variance log.

Pick one item from sauté, one from grill, one from garde manger. Compare against the recipe card for seasoning, portion, and plate-up. Flavor drift is the leading cause of negative Yelp reviews on returning guests.

Use the test strip for your sanitizer (quat 200-400 ppm, chlorine 50-100 ppm). Out-of-range readings are a top-five health inspection citation. Log the reading even if in range — the log is the evidence.

Each station needs hot water, soap, single-use towels, and a trash receptacle. Bare-hand contact with ready-to-eat food is a critical violation; a dry or empty handwash station is the upstream cause.

Purple-handled cutting boards, dedicated tongs, and a documented allergen-fryer protocol. Cross-contact at plating drives anaphylaxis liability — verify the line has a glove-change cadence on every allergy ticket.

Time the greet (target under 90 seconds from seat) and the two-minute check-back. Note any servers skipping the allergy question on first contact — this is where guest-allergen incidents originate.

From Toast or your POS, run the prior shift's ticket-time report. Flag any station running over 18 minutes on entrees during a peak. Pull the void/comp report and review anything over 3% of net sales with the GM.

Watch three pours against spec (1.5oz well, 2oz call). Pour-cost variance over 22% on liquor usually traces to over-pouring, not theft. Note any servers ringing in cocktails as wells.

Confirm at least one ServSafe-certified manager on every shift this week. In MA, IL, MI, NY, and RI, allergen-aware certification (PCFP or AllerTrain) is also required. Flag any cert expiring in the next 60 days.

Book the ServSafe or AllerTrain session and assign the staff member. Don't let a cert lapse mid-shift — an inspector arriving that night writes the citation regardless of the renewal being scheduled.

State ABC license must be visible at the bar. Expired postings trigger immediate suspension on inspection. Confirm renewal date in the operator's calendar with 60 days of buffer.

FLSA requires written notice before tip credit applies. Pull the signed acknowledgment for any tipped employee hired since last review. Missing acknowledgments expose the operator to retroactive minimum-wage liability.

Flat top, six-burner, salamander, fryers, and walk-in compressor. Listen for short-cycling on the walk-in — that's the early warning before a Saturday-night failure that costs $4K of inventory.

Log the issue with the maintenance vendor and photograph the equipment. Attach the service estimate to this step for the operator's monthly R&M review.

Exit paths clear of prep racks and trash cans. Hood Ansul system tag must show inspection within 6 months. Extinguishers tagged and pressurized. These are inspector freebies — don't lose points here.