Restaurant SOP template: how to write SOPs your staff will follow
A restaurant SOP (standard operating procedure) says how one job is done, the same way every time. Use this restaurant SOP template to write SOPs that fit on one page, use plain words, and turn into the tasks your staff actually do.
The one-page SOP template
- Title: the job, in the words staff use ("Closing the kitchen")
- Who: the role that does it, and who checks it
- When: the time, or what starts it
- Why: one sentence on what goes wrong if it is skipped
- Steps: numbered, one action each, starting with a verb
- Standard: what "done" looks like, with a photo where you can
- Version: the date and who changed it last
Worked example: receiving vegetables
Who: store keeper; checked by the sous chef. When: every morning delivery. Why: short or poor deliveries paid in full are the easiest food cost leak.
- Count every item against the order before signing.
- Weigh what is sold by weight.
- Reject anything wilted, bruised or past its date.
- Write any shortage on the bill, and tell the supplier.
- Record what arrived and the amount on the bill.
- Put it away, oldest stock to the front.
Standard: the record matches the bill, and the bill photo is kept.
Rules for SOPs people follow
- One job per SOP. If it needs two pages, it is two SOPs.
- Short words and short sentences; write for someone on their first day.
- A picture for every step that can be misunderstood.
- Write it with the person who does the job, then test it on a new joiner.
- Review every SOP when the menu, the equipment or a rule changes.
Turn SOPs into daily tasks
An SOP in a file is read once. The same steps as a checklist on someone's phone are done every day. For every SOP, decide which steps become a daily or weekly task, who gets it, and which steps need a photo or a sign-off. Ask each person to confirm they have read the SOPs for their role, and again when one changes.
How Senior does it
Hey Senior comes with starter SOPs for each kind of outlet, each sitting with the department that follows it and listing the tasks it owns. Every task says which SOP it is part of. Must-read SOPs ask each person to confirm, version by version, and the steps become checklists with pictures and photos. See checklists and SOPs.
Put this list on every phone.
Senior gives each person their part of it, with photos and sign-offs.