The Checklist for the Final 20 Minutes Before Doors Open
A concrete checklist for the last 20 minutes before service: groups, allergies, table preferences, delays, and who is responsible for confirming everything is ready before guests arrive.
Why the Final 20 Minutes Deserve Their Own Routine
The last 20 minutes before doors open are often the most hectic period in the kitchen and at the bar. Tables need setting, staff need briefing, and at the same time messages come in about changes to reservations. Without a fixed routine for this period, important clarifications easily happen in a rush, or don't happen at all.
A checklist for these minutes should cover five areas: groups, allergies, table preferences, delays, and who is responsible for what. How much time is allotted to each point, and whether it's divided into fixed time blocks or handled on an ongoing basis, is something each restaurant should decide for itself, based on its own staffing and how many tables need to be set.
The Checklist: Groups, Allergies, Table Preferences and Delays
Go through the evening's groups and table preferences: does the number of chairs match the table that's been set, and are requests for a window table or a quiet corner noted on the correct table in the floor plan? Have tables been combined for large parties actually been prepared, or are they still standing as separate tables? These are points that are easy to confirm visually before guests arrive.
Check whether today's allergy notes have been communicated to the kitchen, not just what was logged in the system from earlier bookings. Have any guests reported a delay, and are the relevant tables marked so the next guest isn't seated there too early? How close to opening time these points should be reconfirmed is something each restaurant must judge for itself.
Division of Responsibility: Who Confirms What
Should one person be responsible for the entire checklist, or should tasks be split between several people, for example one person going through groups and table preferences, and another handling allergies and delays? The answer depends on how many staff are on duty before opening, and how many tables and reservations the evening involves.
Regardless of how responsibility is divided, there should be a brief verbal confirmation before doors open, one message confirming that groups and table preferences have been checked, and another confirming that allergies and delays have been accounted for. This confirmation is what actually closes the checklist, not merely the fact that tasks were theoretically assigned in advance.
How the Dashboard Supports the Final Minutes
A dashboard that shows the day's bookings, guests and floor plan together makes it faster to run through the checklist before opening. When a table also has a reference photo, staff can more easily find the right table for a group or a table preference, instead of searching for a table number that isn't clearly marked in the room. TableBooking displays this overview in the dashboard.
The tool, however, does not replace the actual confirmation between those responsible. It's the verbal message confirming that groups, allergies, table preferences and delays have been reviewed that closes the checklist before guests arrive. The dashboard makes it faster to find the information; the routine for who checks what, and when, is something the restaurant must set itself.
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