Pastry Shop Checklists Kit Pro: Opening, Closing & Cake Order Templates

Two lists, because the kitchen and the shop open at different times. The kitchen checklist starts at 5:00 AM: ovens preheated, the spiral and planetary mixers, the retarder-proofer (temperature and humidity logged), the tempering machine and the sheeter if you use them, walk-in and freezer readings logged (41 °F and 0 °F or below), and a check of the gas and power supply. Then the setup: the doughs out of the retarder and checked, butter tempered for laminating, the day's mise en place and production order, pans and parchment ready, surfaces and marble sanitized (sanitizer at label strength, checked with a test strip) and the critical ingredients checked. The whole-shop checklist turns the refrigerated bakery cases on at least 45 minutes before stocking, until they hold 41 °F or below, then the lights, the shop at 68–72 °F, the POS and starting bank, today's custom orders, the cases stocked in order (viennoiserie first, then the refrigerated case for cream-filled pastries, savory last, with quiche, empanadas and ham & cheese croissants also in the refrigerated case) with a price and allergen label for each item and the allergen sign in view, and a team huddle before the door opens at 8 AM.

In the kitchen: doughs into the retarder-proofer and prepped items into the walk-in, wrapped and labeled with date and time (date marking), the mixers and utensils cleaned, tables and marble cleaned and sanitized, ovens off (or set for the pre-dawn start) and scraped, the walk-in and freezer readings logged, the case emptied with leftovers going to a labeled markdown area or to waste (never back into tomorrow's regular case), the day's waste logged, gas off and the alarm. The whole-shop "Shop Closing" tab starts with selling, not clearing: the markdown product grouped and signed in the last hour, tomorrow's custom orders set aside with their order form, the door locked to the public, then the leftovers logged item by item, recoverable items labeled into the walk-in, the rest donated or discarded (the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act protects good-faith donations), the cash out against the POS Z report, the cases cleaned and left as their maker says with the closing temperature logged, and the final checks, trash, alarm and lock-up last.

Yes, it is one of the four logs. The printable order form takes the order number and channel, the customer, pickup in store or a delivery address, the date and the time it leaves the kitchen, the product, size in inches, cake or base, frosting and finish, and the cake message in capitals. The customer's allergies are checked against the allergen chart, with a consent box that is separate from the optional marketing box (marketing texts need prior written consent under the TCPA; emails must offer an unsubscribe). Then the total, the deposit and the balance due, which calculates itself, a deposit policy line you fill in (a 30–50% deposit is common practice, not law: check your state's rules on nonrefundable deposits), the customer's signature and a privacy notice. The same workbook has a monthly order log with status, a weekly pickup schedule by hourly time slot, and "Today's Orders" to hang in the kitchen.

Yes. The allergen matrix comes with 43 starter items (viennoiserie, cakes, bread, savory, holiday items and the base creams) marked in gray as a proposal: check each one against your actual recipe and your suppliers' spec sheets, record the source and date it; until you do, the status column says DO NOT PUBLISH. The customer-facing allergen chart fills itself in from the matrix, and the workbook adds a sign for the bakery case and cut-out case labels with price and abbreviated allergens. It covers the 9 major US allergens (milk, eggs, wheat, soy, peanuts, tree nuts, sesame, fish and shellfish, under FALCPA and the FASTER Act), sulfites (declared from 10 ppm) and the UK's other four (celery, mustard, lupin and mollusks), so the UK's 14 are there too. For unpackaged items, the information has to be in writing before purchase where your state has adopted the FDA Food Code 2022 (3-602.12(C)); a "may contain" statement is voluntary and must be true.

Yes. The temperature log is one sheet per month with morning and afternoon readings for the walk-in cooler (32–41 °F), the dough retarder in retard mode (36–41 °F), the freezer (0 °F or below), two bakery cases (32–41 °F) and the blast chiller (135 → 70 °F in 2 hours and 41 °F within 4 more), with a corrective action column; readings out of range turn red on their own. The receiving log has one line per delivery (supplier, invoice, product, lot, expiration date, temperature at delivery, vehicle and packaging, accepted or rejected) and the rejection criteria: refrigerated TCS food above 41 °F, shell eggs in a truck with air above 45 °F, milk and cream above 45 °F (between 41 and 45 °F only where dairy law allows it, then cooled to 41 °F within 4 hours), frozen food showing signs of thawing, torn packaging or a dirty, warm truck. The workbook adds prep labels (item, made, use by, batch) and a shelf-life chart in °F.

The bakery cases, the walk-in and anything custard-, cream- or cheese-filled at 41 °F or below (the FDA Food Code limit for TCS food such as pastry cream, whipped cream, cheesecake and custard pies), and perishable savory items such as quiche, empanadas and ham & cheese croissants in the refrigerated case too, the dough retarder at 36–41 °F, the freezer at 0 °F or below, and creams cooled from 135 °F to 70 °F within 2 hours and to 41 °F within 4 more. Ready-to-eat TCS food carries a date mark of 7 days at most at 41 °F; for anything made with eggs, the kit's quality target is 24 hours. If TCS food has been above 41 °F for more than 2 hours, or nobody knows for how long, the kit says throw it out. Thermometers and probes are calibrated every month in ice water (32 °F), and the shop is kept at 68–72 °F for chocolate and puff pastry.

Yes. The production workbook has a sheet for each station, with a Target / Spec column for the key parameters. Doughs and fermentation: the sourdough starter, croissant dough mixed short and checked at 72–75 °F, chilled before laminating (3 single or 2 double folds), shaped for a second bake and for tomorrow, proofed at no more than 82 °F and baked at 375–400 °F; artisan bread divided, shaped, proofed in bannetons, scored and baked with steam; sweet and savory tart bases blind-baked at 350 °F. Creams and fillings: pastry cream cooled fast and labeled, buttercream, ganache, diplomat cream, curds, mousses with cooked meringue or pasteurized whites, entremets frozen for glazing, mirror glaze, fondant, Italian meringue and caramel. Decorating and finishing: glazing, decorating, custom cakes from their order form and the bakery case, restocked every 2 hours.

The weekly plan lists 32 US bakery items in 5 categories (viennoiserie, cakes and pastries, bread, savory, cookies and small cakes), each with free rows for your own items: you enter the planned units for each day and it adds up the week. On "Made vs Sold" you log what was made and sold at closing, and the leftover, waste % and waste cost calculate themselves (enter the unit cost from your recipe costing). An action column says what to do with leftovers, each option with its condition: product that has been on display is not frozen to sell later. The weekly summary by category compares waste against a target you set (5% to start; the kit's guideline is 3–8% in an artisan pastry shop).

Yes, with US dates. The holiday season checklist runs from November to January: cookie tins and trays, Yule logs, stollen and panettone, gift boxes, pickup slots for December 22–24, New Year's Eve orders and Three Kings Day (Three Kings bread or rosca de Reyes for January 6, the big day, and King cake until Mardi Gras, with the baby figurine packed separately because it is a choking hazard). Seasonal hires come with the federal rules for minors: 16- and 17-year-olds don't run or clean dough or batter mixers, sheeters, dividers or rounders (portable countertop mixers of 5 quarts and ½ hp or less excepted), and 14- and 15-year-olds don't run power-driven machinery or bake, and work no earlier than 7 AM or later than 7 PM during the school year. Valentine's Day, Easter (hot cross buns, Easter breads, carrot cake, chocolate eggs) and Mother's & Father's Day have their own checklists, as do celebration cakes for First Communions, graduations and showers (consultation, written quote, tasting, deposit, tiered cake assembly and delivery with cream-filled items at 41 °F) and Thanksgiving pies (pre-orders, pickup slots on the Wednesday before, custard pies cooled fast and held at 41 °F, and pecan held cold unless your health department accepts it as non-TCS). Each campaign ends with a wrap-up of what sold and what was wasted, and the bonus calendar adds 17 key dates and occasions.

Daily cleaning belongs in the closing checklists. On top of that, the kit schedules a weekly deep clean by area: inside the ovens, the spiral and planetary mixers taken apart, the dough sheeter, marble benches with a dedicated cleaner, the hood filters (and, if you cook with grease, the ducts by a certified company under NFPA 96), walls and floors, the walk-ins with a full FIFO review and the freezer contents, dry storage, the bakery cases, register, scale and the packaging area. Monthly equipment maintenance covers the ovens (gaskets, thermostats, steam system), the walk-in coils, gaskets and drains, the probe checked against the display, mixer gears, sheeter belts and rollers, pans, piping tips and the scale.

Yes, you will find free checklist templates online, and a blank one is fine to get started. This kit is something else: 413 pastry shop tasks already written in 9 Excel checklists and a pre-shift huddle, sorted by shift, area and role, 4 logs ready to fill in (production and waste, cake orders, allergens, temperatures), °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.

The 9 checklists come with the real tasks of a pastry shop already written: you adjust them to your shop, delete the ones that don't apply and add your own. The 4 logs (production and waste, cake orders, allergens and temperatures) are ready to fill in with your data; the allergen matrix comes with 43 starter items that you must check against your recipes and suppliers. The editable cells are green.

Yes. The templates scale. A small pastry shop can use the kitchen and bakery case tasks. A large production kitchen can use every production station, the cake order form, order log and pickup schedule, and the weekly production schedule.

Each checklist has columns for the area, who does it, a due-by time, ✓ Done (a drop-down with ✓, — for not done, or N/A) and initials, with who does it and the due-by time already filled in on the task checklists, a done counter and a "Verified by" line at the bottom. The shift lead prints the checklist and hands it out, each person checks off their tasks, and at the end of the shift the shift lead checks it and signs.

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 shops, which makes it a good fit for pastry shop chains. 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 (no sheet is protected). The kit is set up for the US: temperatures in °F under the FDA Food Code (41 °F cold holding, 0 °F frozen), the 9 major allergens and a cash count in US bills and coins. In the UK, chilled food such as cream-filled pastries is kept at 8 °C or below, frozen food at −18 °C, and allergen information covers 14 allergens under the Food Information Regulations 2014: the allergen chart already has the UK's four extra columns. In Canada and Australia, check your provincial or state food safety rules and allergen list, and type them into the tasks. For pounds, Canadian or Australian dollars, change the label and value of each bill and coin in the cash count. The holiday calendar has a UK note (Mothering Sunday, bank holidays and Boxing Day). 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.