5 Essential Restaurant Management Checklist Templates

Restaurant managers do it all. One minute you’re planning shifts, then checking inventory, then making drinks and bussing tables—and before you know it, your shift is almost over and you haven’t even started your core management tasks. So any cheat sheet or template is a huge bonus to save time on the more tedious jobs.

Our detailed restaurant management templates cover everything from work schedules to time tracking and closing checklist. There, you can download all our templates for free.

But we’re going to focus on the templates that simplify your job as a restaurant manager and help you automate tasks to focus on the bigger picture, and become a better boss.

That’s where our restaurant management checklist templates come in. They’re customizable documents that cover all bases for specific tasks, and you can share them with your team members before their shift so they know exactly what tasks they have to complete on the day.

So put your pen and paper aside—and spend less delegating or forgetting tasks—and check out our best restaurant management checklist templates to simplify everyone’s job.

Restaurant cleaning checklist template

It goes without saying that the cleanliness of your restaurant directly impacts customer satisfaction. Your cleaning tasks before opening and after closing set the standard for the next shift, so it’s crucial you have everyone working together to make sure your restaurant looks spotless.

Because of COVID-19, you need to take extra precaution not just cleaning after shifts, but cleaning tables, bars, door handles, and other surfaces every few hours. Your restaurant cleaning template can be customized to add in extra tasks to ensure your restaurant meets new mandated hygiene standards.

As well as higher cleaning standards, your restaurant cleaning template will breed employee accountability. If everyone knows their roles and management has visibility of tasks, it encourages greater performance.

Set higher cleaning standards instantly with your free template.

Download: Free Restaurant Cleaning Template

Restaurant server checklist template

Your servers are the face of your restaurant, and their job satisfaction and overall happiness correlates to the quality of service they provide. So any tool you can use to make their jobs easier—and allow them to focus on their core serving responsibilities—will benefit them, your customers, and influence your restaurant’s overall success.

This restaurant server checklist template helps you lay out all the essential tasks that need to be complete before and during a shift. It will simplify your job as you don’t have to continuously write out tasks on a whiteboard every shift and repeatedly check in to see if it’s been complete—and it will improve employee productivity and accountability, as everyone has visibility of their tasks, knows what’s expected of them, and how they’re performing.

Download your restaurant server checklist template now and see how you can customize it to your restaurant’s specific needs.

Download: Free Restaurant Server Checklist Template

Restaurant server closing checklist template

Shift closing is where a restaurant manager’s leadership and overall teamwork really come into play.

It’s important everyone has a clear understanding of their closing duties, not only to avoid annoying surprises but to help everyone work together and complete the tasks efficiently so they can finish in good time. And of course, the better you prepare for the next shift, the easier it will be when you open. You don’t want to be rushing around trying to clean and organize things while customers are waiting to get in!

By sending out your restaurant server closing template to your team members before they start their shift, they will know exactly what’s expected of them. Keeping open communication with your team builds trust and improves your leadership qualities.

Your restaurant server closing template has customizable checklists for FOH, BOH, and other departments to help you stay more organized and keep everyone in the loop. Download it for free now.

Download: Free Restaurant Server Closing Template

Bonus: Restaurant management templates

While the above will help you save time and improve employee productivity, we’ve also created some templates to boost your own management and leadership skills, and in turn, build a work culture of continuous improvement.

Our research from over 1,900 restaurant professionals shows that the main reasons employees quit are due to poor training and a sense of job stagnation. So here are two bonus templates to start solving these problems right away.

Employee training manual template

How you train your employees determines how they’ll perform—so if your training manual is subpar, you can expect the same from them.

Rather than spending hours designing and formatting your own training manual, use our free template to drag and drop all the essential information new employees need to hit the ground running.

If your existing training manual is outdated, check out our blog on how to create a staff training manual. It covers all the important training, health and safety, technology, and customer info, as well as what not to include—helping you create a training manual that’s engaging and friendly rather than dictatorial.

Download your employee training manual template now and make all new team members feel excited and supported in their new role.

Download: Free Restaurant Employee Training Manual Template

Employee performance review template

We understand that your job is all about planning for the next shift, the next big event, the next menu change. With so much planning ahead, you rarely get the time to look back on employee performance, job satisfaction and career development. Having these conversations with your staff builds stronger employee-manager relationships, improves employee engagement, and helps you understand where any potential problems lie.

Without performance reviews or feedback loops, employees can become disinterested and start to coast by. In fact, highly engaged employees generate 147% more profits than their less engaged colleagues. And they stay with their employers longer.

Our employee performance review template will help you eliminate tedious management work and spend more time actually talking to your employees. You’ll gain a greater understanding of your team’s job satisfaction, and learn the pros and cons of each role. This information is invaluable if you want to create a happier and more engaged team.

Download: Free Employee Performance Review Excel Template for Restaurants

7tasks is all of the above and more on autopilot

If you’ve outgrown templates and need to work faster and smarter, you’ll love 7tasks. 7tasks is one of the many time-saving tools from 7shifts— it improves employee productivity and accountability instantly, giving everyone clear sight of the tasks that need to be complete throughout their shift.

7tasks eliminates miscommunication and that worrying feeling you’re micromanaging staff. Simply create and assign tasks to your team members, and get real-time notifications when a task is complete.

See how much time you’ll save—and watch productivity soar—with your free 60-day trial. Get your restaurant signed up for 7tasks in less than 2 minutes.