Server Side Work Checklist

Sanitize the POS terminal, expo rail, tray jacks, and condiment caddies. Empty the trash, restock to-go bags, and confirm the server station is clear of personal items before service.

Pull silver from the dish pit, polish in hot vinegar water, and roll to the par set by the floor manager (typical: 1.5x covers on the books). Spot-check three rolls for water spots and lipstick before stacking in the bin.

Bring server-station pars up: cocktail napkins, straws, sweeteners, ketchup, hot sauce, and to-go ramekins. Date-mark any opened condiment bottles per the walk-in protocol.

Linen, marker, two-top vs. four-top setup, water glass at 12 o'clock, silver square to the table edge. Walk your section once at eye level — crooked silver is the most common pre-shift complaint from the GM walk.

Read the BOH board for tonight's 86s and features. Note allergen substitutions for the soup, sauce of the day, and any shared-fryer items. The allergen-aware manager runs through this in lineup — bring questions.

Capture today's 86 list so the rest of the shift has a single source of truth.

Clock in on Toast/Square/Aloha, fire a test ticket to the kitchen and bar printers, and confirm the card reader at the station is online. Flag the manager immediately if a printer is offline — fixing it mid-rush costs covers.

10-minute lineup with the manager: features, 86s, large parties, VIPs/regulars on the book (Resy or SevenRooms BNB notes), allergen call-outs, and tonight's sales focus.

Confirm your section on the floor chart and read every reservation note in your section — birthdays, anniversaries, allergies, dietary preferences. Pre-set tables for parties of 6+ before doors open.

State requirement in MA, IL, MI, NY, RI and others — at least one PCFP or AllerTrain–certified manager must be on the floor during service. If no certified manager is present, surface this to the GM before service begins.

Crumb tables between courses, swap dropped silver, and reset bussed tables in under 3 minutes. Walk past the host stand line every 15 minutes during the rush so waiting guests see active turns.

Allergy tickets get dedicated tools, dedicated cutting board, and hand-changed gloves at plating. Confirm the expo flagged the ticket as ALLERGY before it leaves the pass — never assume the guest's prior order is safe for tonight.

If a station 86s mid-service, walk the floor and pull the item from open tabs before the guest orders it. Long ticket times (>20 min on apps, >25 min on entrées) get a check-in and a manager visit.

Run any food on the pass, not just your own. Bus tables in your peripheral vision. The team that auto-busses for each other turns 0.3 more covers per night — that's real money in the tip pool.

Per TIPS / ServSafe Alcohol training: if a guest shows signs of intoxication, stop alcohol service, offer water and food, and notify the manager. Over-service is a license-level violation and the server is personally named on the citation in most states.

Wipe with sanitizer (verified ppm from the three-bay sink), tuck chairs, vacuum or sweep crumbs under booths, and reset to AM standard so the opener walks into a finished room.

Bring napkin, straw, sweetener, ramekin, and to-go bag levels back to par. Polish a roll-up bank that covers the AM seating, plus 25%. Note any items below par on the manager's restock list.

Examples by station: window server breaks down the host stand and runs menus; bar-back server polishes glassware; section 3 server runs ice wells. The side-work chart on the office door is the source of truth.

Walk every open tab in your name before cash-out. Open tabs at lockout get auto-closed and dropped from tip-out reconciliation — that's revenue and tip money lost.

Run the server checkout report, count cash owed to the house, and submit to the closing manager. Capture the variance (over/short) — chronic shorts trigger a sit-down with the GM.

Manager walks your section, checks side-work completion, and releases you. Clock out in 7shifts/Toast/Homebase only after release — clocking out before completion drops side work onto the closing manager and creates an 80/20 wage-and-hour problem.

Notify the GM or AGM by phone before doors open. In states requiring a certified manager on each shift, opening without one is a citation; the GM may need to come in or hold seating until coverage arrives.

Pull the open-tab report from the POS, identify each tab by table and time, and walk through them with the manager. Tabs without a clear payment path get logged as comp/void with manager approval before lockout.