Comprehensive Guide to Restaurant Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) + Free Template

What are Restaurant Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)?

Standard operating procedures (SOPs) specify how specific work or tasks should be accomplished. Restaurants, bars, and other food businesses that operate multiple locations use SOPs to ensure consistency in their operations.

Restaurants, bars, bakeries, and other food businesses that operate multiple locations utilize SOPs to bring consistency to their operations - from how hands should be rinsed to how a store is opened and closed every day to how food is prepared - and to operate each store with the level of quality and efficiency that customers should expect no matter where they visit.

Standard restaurant operating procedures enable staff and leadership to execute their jobs better, which ultimately makes customers happier. 

A store manager who has restaurant Standard Operating Procedures for how the restaurant should be cleaned every day is sure that they can complete the work correctly in order to maintain a healthy, attractive environment and meet their district manager's standards. 

Similarly, a VP of operations can better manage each site if she knows that chicken is properly stored in every store she manages.

Do You Need Restaurant Standard Operating Procedures for Your Business?

It can be difficult to consistently uphold brand standards if you are a restaurant manager. This is especially the case when additional branches are opened or new hires are made. For this reason, you must provide a set of formal guidelines that ensure adherence regardless of the person carrying out the work or the setting.

As per the 2023 State of the Restaurant Industry Report, 47% of restaurant owners expect more fierce competition compared to the previous years. Therefore, you need to be able to keep customers coming back by providing them with an excellent experience throughout all of your branches. Standard operating procedures and quality control in restaurants contribute to this consistency, which instills a sense of comfort and security in your patrons. 

Standard operating procedures are essential for restaurants that want to have a positive customer reputation. 

The specifics of each SOP, however, will differ depending on the establishment. Nevertheless, when creating their standard operating procedures, restaurants need to adhere to certain defined procedures. 

Well-documented restaurant Standard Operating Procedures form the basis of your onboarding training program and may be referred to by experienced staff members when they need a refresher. It's quite helpful if you've been struggling with staffing issues and employee churn.

Types of Restaurant Standard Operating Procedures

1. Food Handling + Food Safety SOPs

The majority of SOPs are unique to the operations of your particular business. However, in the case of food safety, it is also beneficial to incorporate industry-wide food safety norms and regulations. A Food Handling SOP encompasses the following concerns:

• Which chopping boards correspond with which kinds of food? (Fish, seafood, veggies, red meat, and chicken)

• What is the process and location for storing various food types in the walk-in and freezer?

• What kinds of food thaw and how?

• What's the ideal temperature for refrigerators?

• What kind of temperature is ideal for freezers?

• How frequently should the oil in fryers be changed?

• What is the recommended frequency of hand washing for employees?

• How should staff members cool heated goods before storing them to stay out of the danger zone for food, which is between 40°F and 140°F?

• After handling and preparing items such as raw meat, chicken, seafood, and fish that have a high risk of foodborne illness, prep areas, and cutting boards need to be cleaned and sterilized.

2. Workplace Safety SOPs

This SOP is for maintaining a safe working environment, preventing accidents and injuries. This includes:

• In restaurants, what kind of shoes are appropriate to wear?

• What should be done if someone gets a serious burn or cut?

• In order to avoid cuts, how often should blades be sharpened?

• What is the methodical process for removing large accidental spills?

• Where are the non-slip mats kept? How are they supposed to be cared for?

3. Food Preparation + Cooking SOPs

This SOP is for consistent and safe food preparation and cooking practices. This includes concerns such as:

• How finely should onions be diced?

• What kind of blender is used for tomato sauce?

• When serving carne asada, how done should it be?

• How al dente should pasta be?

4. Service SOPs

This SOP is for providing efficient and quality service to customers. This includes:

• Which specific actions are involved in serving customers at your restaurant?

• What kind of services are you providing? Sophisticated and formal? Pleasant and cozy?

• How are sections of the dining room apportioned for each shift?

• When food is ready to be served, where do bussers stand?

• For what is the longest food should remain on the pass before being taken up?

• What happens if a guest exhibits inappropriate behavior?

• What happens if a guest is under the influence of alcohol?

• What proportion of tips are automatically added to your POS?

• Do you charge for services rendered?

• How does a server refill a water glass? Pour from a pitcher, or take the glass and refill in the back?

5. Dishwashing + Cleaning SOPs

This SOP is for properly cleaning and sanitizing dishes and kitchen areas. This includes:

• Which tasks related to housekeeping must be completed every day?

• Which cleaning tasks must be completed every week?

• Which appliances are unsuitable for the dishwasher?

• What kind of detergent is being used?

• If there is a problem with the dishwasher, who should be notified?

• In what location are the cleaning supplies kept?

• What is the proper way to clean the floor at night? Which products do you work with?

• Which cleaning products are used for cutting boards?

• When should cutting boards be cleaned and disinfected?

• In what location is the sanitizing solution kept?

• What is the frequency of grease trap cleaning?

6. Kitchen Equipment SOPs

This SOP is for the safe and correct use and maintenance of kitchen equipment. This includes:

• How frequently should the oven be serviced?

• How often should the flat-top be deep cleaned and how should it be cleaned each night?

• How should employees unclog a sink that drains slowly?

• In what location is the vacuum kept?

7. Staff SOPs

Staff SOPs might include onboarding material that conflicts with your code of conduct, HR policies, and other SOPs. Make sure the information you provide is consistent at all times.

• How are the shifts that employees are working discovered?

• How do employees switch shifts?

• How do employees submit time off requests? How much time is it ahead?

• What kind of management should employees anticipate in a restaurant?

• Which requirements for personal hygiene must one always meet?

Benefits of Restaurant Standard Operating Procedures?

There's nothing worse than having to figure out the proper way to do things in the thick of a dinner rush. Restaurant Standard Operating Procedures provide clear expectations, and your workers will appreciate the open communication.

1. SOPs Create Consistency 

Undefined rules and expectations make it simple for employees to figure out new methods to work. This is one of the reasons it's beneficial to involve staff members right away to solicit their opinions and to be receptive to requests to alter established procedures in the event that a different course of action proves to be more effective in actuality.

It's up to you which approach works best for your business; however, make sure every employee is aware of it and that you document it. You'll notice greater uniformity throughout your restaurant when your expectations are clear and established. 

2. SOPs Help Your Restaurant Run Itself 

Managers and employees will differ in their backgrounds and areas of expertise. Some cooks can make the most complicated dishes from memory, while others might be natural at setting up the walk-in. However, by making restaurant Standard Operating Procedures visible, accessible, and documented—as not every employee will be flawless at every task—knowledge gaps can be rectified more rapidly.

This implies that regardless of which staff are working that day, you have a better probability of processes being followed and your business operating efficiently.

With a large binder full of SOPs and the most crucial ones displayed as flyers at the back of the establishment, restaurant owners can relax knowing that every staff member is aware of the requirements for each task even when they're on vacation.

3. SOPs Reduce Food Waste and Boost Profitability

SOPs have a significant effect in cutting down on expensive food waste.

By implementing standard operating procedures (SOPs), you can guarantee that a prep chef undergoing staff training understands the importance of cutting an onion in half through the root, discarding the tough outer layer, and then slicing all the way to the root, leaving no less than half an inch of onion behind. 

Your chef and line cooks will know when to order a fresh box of frozen shrimp and when to open the last one in stock. Line cooks should only use a half-cup ladleful of seafood stock per order of mussels. 

When restaurant Standard Operating Procedures are followed correctly, food waste is decreased, directly increasing the profit margin for restaurants.

4. SOPs Help Effectively Manage Staff

SOPs can significantly cut down on the amount of time your managers have to spend searching for errors and inefficiencies. 

This gives them more time to work on more significant tasks that can help with employee retention, such as developing skill-building workshops, checking in with employees regularly, and putting incentive programs into place.

5. SOPs Help Reduce Costs through Cross-training

SOPs make it easier to cross-train employees on all tasks around the restaurant, or at least tell them where to look if they're not sure how to do something. You can quickly go over the grill station SOPs with the pasta cook in case you have to put them on the grill station due to a sick call before the rush. 

Additionally, it's simpler to operate with a smaller workforce on slower days, which lowers labor expenses, if every member of your BOH team is proficient in every station and every FOH employee can handle any position.

6. Restaurant Standard Operating Procedures Ensure Customer Satisfaction

You would likely discover ten distinct methods for making rice, chopping carrots, and griddling a sandwich if you were to take a peek inside ten different restaurant kitchens in your area. 

SOPs are very beneficial at the back of the house since they instruct the staff on how you want things done in your particular restaurant. Your menu items must be prepared consistently and to a high standard because returning customers will only order their favorites.

Tips on Creating Your Restaurant’s Standard Operating Procedures

While the restaurant SOPs checklist is a great starting point, you should personalize all your procedures to the way your business runs.

1. Start by Identifying All the Tasks at Your Restaurant

You must first determine which tasks at your restaurant will benefit from effective SOPs before creating them. For instance, cleaning, serving, preparing food, managing inventories, etc.

Documentation with detailed instructions for every task will be simpler to develop if you have a broad picture of them all.

2. Use Easy-to-understand Language

Employees shouldn't have to spend a lot of time deciphering complex procedures; instead, they should be written in simple, understandable language.

You might make the process more like a checklist by using bullet points. In this manner, a staff member can simply make sure they finish every point when they finish a task.

To generate the checklist, employ an artificial intelligence content summarizer if you are unclear on what to include in the bullet points. Your staff will find it much easier to understand what is important and why as a result.

3. Offer Training to Familiarize Employees with Restaurant SOPs­­

You have written a comprehensive handbook containing all of the standard operating procedures for restaurants. Now is the time to make staff aware of their existence.

Provide staff with regular training that covers the technique, new developments, and their necessity. If team members see how the restrictions benefit both the restaurant and them, they will be more accommodating.

4. Put in Place a System to Monitor Compliance

SOPs are only effective if they are followed by all. Thus, conduct a brief exam after each training session to make sure everyone is aware of their roles.

To find out if staff members are adhering to the protocols, you can also conduct routine audits.

5. Update the SOPs Regularly

If you want to succeed in the restaurant business in the long run, you have to be flexible. The same should apply to your SOPs. Make sure you develop a method for every new activity that is added.

Remember to arrange a brief training session to introduce the new procedure.

3 Free Restaurant SOP Templates 

• SOP For Inventory
• Cleaning SOP
• HACCP Based SOPs Food Safety Checklist

Digitize Your Restaurant SOPs with Xenia

Restaurant managers can optimize their operations with Xenia, one of the most comprehensive SOP software solutions available. 

This mobile-first platform offers customized features, allowing managers to quickly and easily build any type of SOP. Powered by AI, Xenia takes into account assignees, responsibilities related to work orders and activities, and the overall productivity of team members.

The software provides pre-made templates that can be altered to meet your own business needs. 

Managers of restaurants don't want to deal with the headache of creating separate work orders for each solution pertaining to back-of-house operations, or vice versa.

Instead, they can rely on a digital system that provides a centralized method for efficiently managing these tasks, with everything logged in one place. To ensure ongoing monitoring, utilize temperature and humidity sensors automatically with Xenia. 

Users can employ a detailed restaurant standard operating procedures template and maintain thorough records to ensure smooth compliance.

Our software also supports real-time temperature sensors to detect potential issues before they jeopardize your food inventory, triggering alerts and prompt corrective actions. This helps protect your business from mishaps and similar situations.

Xenia's work order management and preventative maintenance techniques streamline asset protection. By addressing problems quickly or preventing them altogether, you can save your team money on unnecessary repairs.

Key Features 

• Restaurant SOPs On The Go: Effortlessly create and manage restaurant SOPs with AI-powered writing tools that help you develop comprehensive policies and streamlined operational processes, all from your mobile device.

• Digital Restaurant Checklists: Whether you oversee staff shift scheduling, culinary prep, or daily cleaning, create personalized checklists to help you manage your daily operations.

• Inspections & Audits: Conduct thorough inspections with ease, leveraging insightful analysis to identify issues, and swiftly implement effective remedial measures to maintain compliance and operational excellence.

• Food Temperature Monitoring: Gather information from food probes, freezers, and refrigerators to track vital food temperatures and get alerts instantly when something deviates from or exceeds the ideal temperature range.‍

• Real-Time 24/7 Collaboration: The app keeps you linked all day long and gives you real-time information on the status of your job. It allows you to closely monitor your business and make quick adjustments to make sure everything is running smoothly.‍

• Analytics & Reports: Use analytics dashboards and reports to obtain deeper insights and encourage improved operations.‍

• Documents & Records Maintenance: Avoid near misses and streamline information flow by organizing and sharing documents, videos, and files!

Apply for a Personalized Demo

‍

Key Takeaway

SOPs ensure your restaurant operates smoothly, allowing you to step back from micromanaging your staff. Clear and easily accessible SOPs free you to focus on what you enjoy most: ensuring that both your team and customers leave your restaurant satisfied every night.

Restaurants can enhance their SOP implementation by using digital checklists, making them easily accessible to all employees through inspection apps. 

By integrating technology, businesses can elevate their standards without the hassle of managing paper documentation. An app-based approach allows you to maintain compliance with brand standards and stay ahead of the competition.

With Xenia, you can seamlessly implement standard operating procedures across all locations and ensure every staff member is on the same page. 

Create digital SOP checklists, schedule daily checks and self-inspections, monitor results in real time, and quickly identify issues or additional training needs - do it all with Xenia on the go!

FAQs

What are the 4 P's of SOP?

The 4Ps—philosophy, policy, procedures, and practice—must be coordinated in order to create a set of procedures that are effective. Practice is what occurs on the front lines. It is the ultimate result of every choice employees make and every action they take when conducting operations.

What are the types of  SOP?

Technical and management standard operating procedures are the two types. Within an organization, standard operating procedures facilitate communication among team members and at all levels. They involve employees as well as business owners. SOPs might be arranged according to an asset, manager, function, or department.

What is an SOP checklist?

An SOP checklist's primary goal is to guarantee that every task and procedure in your company adheres to a set of standard operating procedures. (Click here to learn how to write a SOP.) Your company's activities will be far more consistent if you dissect intricate processes into smaller, more achievable steps.

‍

‍