Small Business Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Checklists’

A good business will not only have a business plan, but an operations checklist as well. The same goes for a restaurant. You need to be sure that you have a restaurant operations checklist, and that it includes all the different aspects of your restaurant, and the various situations that you might encounter.

There are several different types of restaurant operations checklist that you might want to use. First of all, you might want to have a general checklist that lists the things that you need to do on a daily basis. This can be an important part of the opening, daily operations, and closing of your restaurant. You also might want to think about having a general operations checklist that details all the things that should be constantly done in your restaurant. Lastly, you will want to think about having several different operations checklists that you can use during different or unusual situations.

Daily Run Checklist

One of the things that your restaurant should have is a daily run checklist. This should be a list of things that are required in your restaurant and that should be done each day. You should break this list into three sections. The first section should be the opening section. These should be the things that you want done in your restaurant by whichever employees are responsible for opening your restaurant during the opening times. This should include any cleaning; stocking and anything that you need done as far as preparing the restaurant for service. All in all, this should be a checklist that tells an employee exactly how you want your restaurant to be when the first customers come in.

The second part of the daily run checklist should be a shift checklist for each of the shifts, or each of the service periods you serve. You need a list of things that should be done during the day of operations. This means all of the activities that should be done and what time they should be done; this includes preparation, cooking and cleaning etc. during the day.

The third part of this checklist should be for the people who are responsible for closing your restaurant. You want to make sure that these are all of the activities and other things that you need done to shut your restaurant down for the night, as well as to prepare it for the following day.

Always Checklist

There are some things that you want to tell your employees that they should always do. This can include permanent settings for lights and temperature, permanent rules regarding operations of the restaurant, and various policies that each employee should know. You can think of this as your list of rules for your employees. What do you want them to always remember and to always do, whether they are opening or closing, or working during the day?

Special Checklists

Something that you have to remember is that not every day is like the other. There are going to be situations in your restaurant that are not day-to-day occurrences. You should have a checklist for special events that might happen in your restaurant. You should have one checklist of each of them. This can include a checklist for what happens when a large party is in your restaurant, or when someone has rented a portion of it for a special event.

Also, you have to think about events that you do not plan. You should have a checklist for each emergency that your restaurant might encounter, and what to do if those happen.

All of your checklists should be written in such a way that a new employee, on their first day at work, could figure them out. This is especially important for the ones that deal with everyday activities, as well as with emergencies. If you have the right kind of checklists set up for your employees, you will find that your restaurant runs much more smoothly, and much more by your own standards, even when you aren’t there.

You need checklists.  Things in the life of a small business leader are hectic and overwhelming.  There is a seemingly endless list of tasks to be accomplished with constantly changing priorities.  It can be difficult to stay focused and accomplish those objectives that can truly grow your small business.  Checklists help you deal with this challenge.  Checklists are a great tool to help you grow your small business.

There were countless times in the earlier days of the development of my motivational speaking practice that I would forget things.  Let me walk you through a typical scenario so that you can learn from my mistakes.  When I first started planning events for meeting planners I would ask for basic information such as the time of my speech and the address of the hotel. 

I often made mistakes about confirming basic information.  Where was I to park?  If there are 3000 people at a convention that might have keynotes, breakout sessions and other activities at multiple venues, this seemingly simple question sometimes had me literally driving in a circle for an hour.  If “Where should I park?” were on my checklist, I could have invested 1 minute of time to potentially save 1 hour later. 

I have another example.  One client delayed paying an invoice by three months because my staff did not follow their invoicing process.  We combined two invoices into 1 sheet of paper.  This did not work in their accounting process.  In this example, a checklist question of “How would you like to be invoiced?” would have helped us avoid a 3 month delay in payment. 

What are the critical steps in your business process?  Are they all documented?  Does everybody know these steps?  When you have a checklist you help to insure that the critical steps are not overlooked.  This will create greater efficiency in your business.  If you spend less time trying to park and deal with invoice paperwork, you can focus on selling and providing higher value to your clients.

Have checklists for the important steps in your small business.  Having checklists is a great way to grow your small business. 

Could you use more tips like this to accelerate the growth of your small business?  Achievement thinking is a powerful concept that Mark Mikelat, the founder of Building Aspirations, www.BuildingAspirations.com, uses to coach his small business clients to double or even triple the size of their businesses. You can learn more and take advantage of a free strategic analysis at http://www.BuildingAspirations.com/BusinessSuccess.html.  Also, you can view his books on Amazon.com. 

Historically, checklists were simple to-do lists that served as reminders; attend the sales conference, fax or mail the contract to a customer, or distribute an employee memo. Even today, most dictionaries define a checklist as a document that serves as a reminder for a series of tasks to be completed. However, checklists have now evolved to important business management tools that do much more. In addition to listing action items, checklists are effective business processes that enable organizations to grow and progress systematically, and in a planned manner. They have become important organizational tools for business enterprises.

Business checklists enable you to evaluate organizational goals, and prioritize objectives so that while you are managing all the high priority actions, the smaller yet necessary tasks are also incorporated and dealt with. They allow you to stick to the planned course of action and recognize deviations before any adverse eventualities occur. Moreover, it is important for any business entity to move faster than its competitors. By prioritizing and organizing action items and schedules, checklists allow the company to save time and stay abreast, even ahead, of its industry.

Marketing checklists, business management checklists, employee development checklists, financial checklists, and several other such checklists enable you to plan business, marketing and sales strategies and organizational development along with moving the business down a well-defined path.

Checklists are valuable tools for long-term as well as short-term planning. They can be utilized by any member of a business organization involved in planning for organizational or business development, production and customer operations, or even human resource management. Checklists can be developed and used by any type of commercial enterprise, including a retail store or restaurant, technology company or producer of consumer durables such as automobiles.

Business owners and managers from all size businesses now acknowledge the benefits of and recognize the value of checklists as an important tool for business growth and profit. Checklists are not simply task lists, they also carry important details about strategy, key personnel responsible for activities, and required resources needed for success. Most importantly, business checklists drive all activity toward the target completion date and the intended business goal.

Business checklists are best used by the personnel directly involved in managing and coordinating specific activities. It is always advisable to make a single person responsible for tracking progress and, if necessary, updating the checklist. Multiple changes will only lead to confusion and errors. Periodic reviews will allow you to readily measure progress and better control application. If you have multiple locations and the checklist includes actions or tasks for long-distance workers, then you can easily make the checklist available via means such as web pages, company newsletters or the intranet.

The importance of using a professionally designed management checklist to serve as a guide for managing your business operations cannot be overstated. A sound checklist aids management by organizing important criteria, enhancing objectivity and guaranteeing reproducibility. A checklist makes planning, monitoring and guiding operations, and assessing business objectives, an easier and a far more efficient process. With such a tool, you greatly enhance your ability to provide consistent customer service, meet your financial and profit objectives, be focused and organized as well as operate your business more efficiently.