How to Write an SOP for a Restaurant (Step-by-Step Guide)

What makes a restaurant SOP different

Restaurant procedures need to be specific enough that a new hire can execute them on their third shift — not just after six months of experience. The most common mistake in restaurant SOPs is writing at the level of an experienced employee rather than the level of someone who has never done it before.

"Clean the fryer" is not an SOP. "Drain the fryer into the designated waste container, wipe the interior with a clean food-safe cloth, refill to the fill line with fresh oil, and allow to preheat for 15 minutes before the first batch" — that's an SOP.

The 8 restaurant SOPs to write first

1. 1.

   Morning opening procedure

   By position — FOH, BOH, and management each have different tasks. A single combined checklist is less useful than three clear position-specific ones.

2. 2.

   Line setup by station

   What goes on the line, where it goes, par levels, and who checks it before service. Your best line cook does this automatically. Everyone else is guessing.

3. 3.

   Pre-service food safety checks

   Temperature logs, expiration checks, cross-contamination protocols. This is the one your health inspector looks for first.

4. 4.

   Customer complaint handling

   What does a server do when a guest complains? At what point does a manager get involved? What's the comp threshold? Without this, every employee handles it differently.

5. 5.

   Server and cashier checkout procedure

   The closing process for front-of-house staff by position. What gets cleaned, what gets counted, what gets signed.

6. 6.

   Closing kitchen procedure

   Station by station. What gets wrapped, what gets discarded, what temperatures get logged, in what order. This is where most health violations originate.

7. 7.

   New hire onboarding — days 1 through 3

   Shadow whom, what they observe, what they do first, what they're not allowed to do without supervision.

8. 8.

   Shift handoff procedure

   What the outgoing shift lead communicates to the incoming one. Every restaurant has a version of this. Almost none have it written down.

The format that actually works

A restaurant SOP that gets used has six components:

• →Title (specific, not generic)
• →Who does this and when
• →What they need before they start (equipment, codes, keys, etc.)
• →Numbered steps — one action per step, written action-first
• →What done correctly looks like (quality check)
• →Common mistakes to avoid (trainer notes)

The key is the numbered steps. Each step should describe one specific, observable action. If a step requires judgment, state the criteria explicitly. "The grill is ready when the thermometer reads 450°F" — not "when the grill is hot enough."