Restaurant SOPs: when staff leave, you still open

I asked a Melbourne bistro chef for the recipe on the best-selling pasta.

He tapped his head. The ladle was the portion. Nobody else could plate it on his night off.

Two weeks after he resigned, the dish was a different plate and the reviews said so.

Restaurant SOPs are not a corporate binder. They are how you still open on Thursday when the hero is gone.

What an SOP actually is

The stuff a nervous starter can follow at 7am:

• Recipe cards with weights, yields, photo, allergen
• Opening and closing checklists that are used, not laminated and ignored
• Pars and supplier contacts out of the owner's phone
• Plating standard for the ten dishes that make 60% of food revenue
• Allergen as a spoken check and a pass check

WhatsApp is not an SOP. A PDF nobody opens is not an SOP. The chat will win until you train from a document and sign off on the floor.

Key-person risk is a filing problem

Two or three people know how the venue works. Everyone else guesses. Hospitality already turns over hard. If standards live in one skull, you volunteered for that number.

Replacement is not the job ad. It is weeks of inconsistent plates, food cost up, return guests gone.

Training day is not the system

A quiz and sandwiches do not survive Saturday. Sequence of service, not a script. Floor coaching for the first ten tables. The ten things that would close you down (allergen, cash-up, fire, over-portion dishes) get signed off in the room.

What Hospo22 builds

SOP build is FOH, BOH or full suite. Fee quoted on the call. On-site sessions, remote build, handover, 4-6 weeks. If the venue only works when you are in it, you have a job with rent.

FAQ

Do small cafes need SOPs?

Yes. Small rooms die faster when one person is sick.

Should I write 90 pages?

No. Write what Thursday needs. Expand later.

Is this the same as a script for greetings?

No. Scripts kill judgement. Sequences and cards protect the plate and the allergen. Different problem.

Discovery call is 30 minutes. I will tell you FOH, BOH or both. Book.

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