Ghost Kitchen Checklists Kit Pro: Cloud Kitchen Opening & Closing Templates

The same as a restaurant opening checklist, built around production and delivery instead of a dining room, one list in order. Personal hygiene first (clean uniform, no jewelry, cuts covered, hands washed, anyone with symptoms stays off food). Then the hood on and the kitchen ventilated before any equipment, a check that the hood really draws, and the gas checked (if you smell gas, don't turn anything on); the griddle, oven, fryer and burners on, and the steam table at 135 °F or above; the walk-in at 41 °F or below and the freezer at 0 °F or below, with the readings logged; prep for every brand (house sauces, cut vegetables and proteins, rice and pasta); each brand's containers, delivery bags, utensils and tamper-evident seals stocked; and the packing station set up. Last, the order tablets on and online, every brand live in the delivery apps, menus and prices up to date, each dish's allergens still listed, the ticket printer working and 86s paused. Every task needs who does it, a due-by time and initials. The "Ghost Kitchen Opening & Closing Checklists" workbook has it all written, and the whole-site checklist covers the alarm, lights, POS, driver pickup area and printers.

Like any restaurant closing checklist: cleaning and shutdown by area, food stored and the money counted, plus the delivery apps. Kitchen: prep labeled and dated, sauces in sealed containers and everything covered and refrigerated at 41 °F or below; what you won't use tomorrow frozen the same day in single-use portions; the day's waste logged by brand; the griddle, oven, fryer and burners off, and the fryer oil filtered or changed the way your fryer maker says; the hood off once the griddle, oven and fryer have cooled; the walk-in temperature logged and the gas shut off; stations cleaned and sanitized, floors, trash and a lot of cardboard; the packing station cleaned, every brand off in the apps and the tablets off; the day's orders reconciled against each app's sales report, and cancellations, refunds and complaints noted; tomorrow's orders placed and what you need thawing in the walk-in. The whole-site "Site Closing" tab pauses new orders first, checks no driver is still waiting, turns the brands off before the alarm and the lock-up, and the "Cash Drawer Opening & Closing" workbook works out the over/short against the POS Z report for you.

Yes. The app manager checklist turns the order tablets on (Wi-Fi and battery checked), turns every brand on in every app, keeps menus and daily promos up to date, 86s what's out of stock, accepts orders in under 30 seconds, watches prep times, handles cancellations, changes and refunds, pauses brands when the kitchen is overloaded and turns everything off at close. The manager checklists add ratings and reviews by brand and app, prep times against a 12-minute target, price checks against the competition in each app, sales by brand and app, and the app commissions every month (they depend on your plan, roughly 15–30%, and some cities, such as New York and San Francisco, cap them).

Yes. The packing station and packer checklists cover each brand's containers, bags and stickers, utensils, napkins and extra sauce, the brand sticker and the order ticket on every bag, hot and cold food in separate bags so hot food stays at 135 °F or above and cold food at 41 °F or below until pickup, allergen orders labeled where everyone can see them and kept apart on the pickup shelf, the order checked against the ticket, and a tamper-evident seal on the bag (California requires one on ready-to-eat food that an app's driver picks up; elsewhere, check your city or state rules). The packaging left is counted at close and the daily inventory tracks each brand's containers, bags, stickers and seals.

Yes, under the FDA Food Code: chicken cooked to 165 °F, ground beef to 155 °F for 17 seconds and fish to 145 °F for 15 seconds, checked with a probe; raw meat kept apart from ready-to-eat food; cooked food cooled from 135 °F to 70 °F in 2 hours and to 41 °F in 4 more, and reheated to 165 °F within 2 hours; date marking for up to 7 days; and thawing in the walk-in. For poke and sushi, raw fish is used only if it was frozen to kill parasites (−4 °F for 7 days, or −31 °F until solid and then 15 hours at −31 °F or 24 hours at −4 °F) or the supplier states it in writing, with the record kept for 90 days and a consumer advisory on the app listing; sushi rice is held at 41 °F or below, under a written time-as-a-public-health-control procedure (marked and thrown out after 4 hours), or acidified with a variance and a HACCP plan from your health department. Sanitizer is checked with test strips.

Yes, for drivers who come from the delivery apps. The tasks cover the driver pickup area (a clear counter, pickup shelves marked by app and good lighting), the pickup signs and each brand's hours, the doorbell or intercom and the access instructions you publish in each app, the order number checked when handing it over and the pickup confirmed on the tablet, no driver left waiting at close, and missing drivers or late pickups noted in the shift handover. The kit is written for third-party delivery: there is no checklist for your own drivers.

Daily cleaning belongs in the closing checklists. On top of that, the kit schedules a weekly deep clean (walk-in interiors, the hood filters, behind and under equipment, cutting boards deep-cleaned and inspected, a fryer boil-out, floors with degreaser, the packaging storeroom organized by brand, the pickup shelves cleaned and damaged packaging pulled), a weekly FIFO check (fresh proteins for 3 days at most, house sauces for 5, cut vegetables for 2) with a freezer shelf-life table, and monthly maintenance of the griddle, the fryer (the oil itself is changed when the TPM tester says), the dish machine, the hood motor and filters and the walk-in gaskets, plus the order tablets, the app updates, the ticket printer and the Wi-Fi, and a visual check of the fire extinguisher and the first aid kit. Contracted services go on the "Quarterly & Annual" tab: hood and duct cleaning under NFPA 96 (quarterly for a high-volume kitchen that cooks all day, semiannual if moderate), alongside pest control, fire extinguishers and the hood suppression system, gas, refrigeration, used fryer oil and cardboard and plastic pickup, and thermometer calibration.

Yes, you will find free checklist templates online, and a blank one is fine to get started. This kit is something else: 11 Excel workbooks with 331 ghost kitchen tasks already written and sorted by shift, station and role, a counter on every checklist that skips the tasks you mark N/A, °F temperatures under the FDA Food Code and a cash count in US dollars. Print it on US Letter, or save any sheet as a PDF from Excel.

Yes. Every checklist comes with the real tasks of a ghost kitchen that runs several virtual brands already written. You'll want to make it yours: adjust tasks to your operation, delete the ones that don't apply and add the ones specific to your brands. The editable cells are green, and each checklist ends with 5 free green rows that the counter already includes.

Each checklist has columns for who does it, when (a due-by time on the daily lists, a day on the weekly ones, a frequency on the monthly ones and a lead time on the peak and launch lists), ✓ Done and initials. The shift manager prints the checklist and hands it to the team, and each person checks off and initials their tasks. At the end of the shift, the shift manager checks it and signs at the bottom.

Yes. There are checklists for the Friday night rush (extra ingredients and packaging ordered on Thursday, a bigger team, 50% more mise en place, weekend promos in the apps), game night (double stock of the top sellers, extra packaging, an extra cook and packer, and the least profitable brand paused if prep times pass 15 minutes), a new brand launch and the holiday season. The brand launch checklist runs from two weeks out: a menu of 8–12 items, packaging, the brand's listing in each app with photos, descriptions and prices, allergens declared before the brand goes live, the team trained and a timed test run, then a launch promo and the first week's data. Each kitchen needs its health permit; virtual brands usually run under it, but some cities ask you to report or register them, and you register each brand's trade name (DBA) if your state requires it. And the bonus calendar lists 22 key US delivery dates, from Super Bowl Sunday to New Year's Eve, with their tasks and recommended lead time.

Checklist apps charge a monthly fee per location and need connected tablets or phones. This kit gives you the same kind of task lists in Excel for $19, a one-time payment. What it is not: there are no reminders, photos or notifications on your staff's phones.

Yes. One purchase covers one business with all of its kitchens and virtual brands, which makes it a good fit for multi-site operators. If you are a consultant, you can use the checklists with your clients, but you can't hand them copies: each business buys its own.

Yes, with a few edits, all in cells you can change (the protected sheets have no password). The kit is set up for the US: temperatures in °F under the FDA Food Code (41 °F cold holding, 135 °F hot holding), the 9 major allergens in each app listing and a cash count in US bills and coins. In the UK, the legal limits are 8 °C for cold holding and 63 °C for hot holding, and for food sold online the information on the 14 allergens has to be available before the customer orders and again when the food is delivered (the kit's allergen tasks already note the UK's 14). In Canada and Australia, check your provincial or state food safety rules and allergen list and type them into the tasks. Type in the delivery apps you use, and check the tamper-evident seal rules in your area. For pounds, Canadian or Australian dollars, unprotect the cash count sheet and change the label and value of each bill and coin. The holiday calendar has a UK note and free rows for your own dates. Every English edition also includes the US · UK · Canada · Australia Equivalents Guide, a bonus with the local terms, taxes, food safety and staff rules side by side.

The price is $19 USD, a one-time payment. At checkout, Stripe can show the amount in your local currency (for example GBP, EUR, CAD or AUD) and converts it for you.

No subscription: you pay once and get lifetime access to the online dashboard. When we add new templates or improvements, you get them at no extra cost — just download the files again.

Yes. A full 30-day guarantee. If you're not happy, we'll refund 100% with no questions asked.