Taco Shop Checklists Kit Pro: Taqueria Opening & Closing Checklist Templates for Excel

The same as a restaurant opening checklist, built around the trompo, the salsa bar and the tortillas, one list per area and in order. Temperatures first: the walk-in coolers at 41 °F or below and the freezer at 0 °F or below, with the readings logged, the salsa bar display holding 41 °F or below, the shift's probe calibrated and the hood running. Then the trompo (light it and check every burner; if you smell gas, light nothing and call from outside), the cone checked as received before you stack it, the griddle and comal calibrated by zone and the fryer oil checked. Salsas and garnishes: raw salsas on the cold salsa bar, the allergen sign flagging the salsa macha and a utensil of its own for every salsa. Tortillas and guisados: the guisados in the steam table at 135 °F or above, the first batch of corn tortillas calibrated, corn and flour stock checked separately. Counter and delivery: the POS and starting bank, the delivery apps on with the menu current, and the pre-shift meeting. The "Taco Shop Opening" tab has those 28 tasks already written, each with who does it, a due-by time and initials.

Like any restaurant closing checklist: shutdown and cleaning by area, food stored or tossed, and the money counted. The trompo goes off and the leftover meat comes off it with a note of where it went: cooled or tossed, reused only if your health department allows it, and if kept, cooled from 135 °F to 70 °F within 2 hours and to 41 °F within 4 more, covered and date-marked. The drip tray is washed and sanitized, the griddle scraped and oiled while hot, the comal cleaned and the fryer oil filtered. The day's raw salsas and leftover salsa macha are tossed and logged, guisados cooled if they qualify or tossed, and corn and flour tortillas stored apart. Then the salsa bar is cleaned and sanitized (checked with a test strip), the blender and molcajete washed, rinsed and sanitized, the trash and floors done, the cash count with any over/short, tips split per your written tip pool policy, the delivery apps off, the temperature log signed and filed, and the lights, alarm and lock-up last. The "Taco Shop Closing" tab has those 22 tasks already written.

Yes. The "Temp Logs & Receiving" checklist has you log temperatures twice per shift under the FDA Food Code: walk-in coolers at 41 °F or below, the freezer at 0 °F or below, the guisados steam table at 135 °F or above and the cold salsa bar at 41 °F or below, with the probe calibrated at the start of the shift. It also covers receiving (temperature, packaging, use-by date and invoice number for every delivery, out-of-range deliveries rejected and logged, the lot and supplier of the al pastor meat, the masa or tortillas and the dried chiles), and reheating to 165 °F for 15 seconds within 2 hours; the closing and guisados checklists cool what you keep from 135 °F to 70 °F within 2 hours and to 41 °F within 4 more, with 7-day date marking. Every reading has a blank for the °F you measured, and the shift manager signs the sheet.

The FDA Food Code minimum for pork like the layers on a trompo is 145 °F for 15 seconds, and that is the figure the kit uses for the outer layer you carve, or your county's if it is stricter (some ask for 155 °F). The leftover cone and the maximum time on the broiler are also set by your county or health department, so the kit leaves a blank for your local rule instead of making one up. The trompo checklists have you check the cone as received (0 °F or below frozen, 41 °F or below refrigerated), probe the outer layer before each carving batch and at the start and middle of service, carve only the cooked layer, move carved meat that isn't served right away to 135 °F or above, and log where the leftover meat goes at close.

Yes. The trompo sections are marked "if applicable": if you don't stack a cone, mark those tasks N/A. They come out of the total, so the percentage stays honest, and you use the rest of the workbook for the griddle and comal. The kit covers the tortilleria, the salsa bar and the rest of the operation just the same, and the nixtamal tasks work the same way if you buy your masa or tortillas.

It depends on how thin you carve, your tortilla and your real waste: there is no single figure that works for every taqueria. The kit gives you the tasks to measure your own: pounds stacked and left over at close, the yield in tacos per pound, fat and trim waste, the number of cones used per shift and the day's yield against the week's average, so you decide with your own numbers instead of a generic one. If you are still planning the shop, the Taco Shop Business Plan Kit has a taco cost and trompo yield calculator.

Yes, it's the riskiest point in a taqueria. The "Salsa Bar" checklist has you measure the pico de gallo, guacamole and raw salsas at 41 °F or below (or use time as a public health control with a written procedure and toss them at 4 hours), note when each salsa goes on the salsa bar and when it gets tossed, give every salsa its own spoon or tongs, restock in small batches in a clean container (never on top of the previous batch) and check the temperature midway through service. The "Allergens & Cross-Contact" checklist covers the 9 major allergens: the salsa macha (peanuts and/or sesame) flagged and kept apart with its own utensil, flour tortillas (wheat) kept apart from corn with a separate fryer basket and tongs, the moles and the dairy checked against the allergen sheet, the blender and molcajete washed, rinsed and sanitized, and a written allergen notice for unpackaged food.

Yes. If you make your own, the "Nixtamal & Masa Milling" checklist follows the corn from cooking with food-grade lime and resting to grinding, with the corn mill cleaned and sanitized before and after (sanitizer checked with a test strip), the masa held at 41 °F or below or under time as a public health control with a written procedure (masa is a TCS food), and the yield logged in pounds of corn, pounds of masa and number of tortillas. The "Tortillas & Comal" checklist calibrates the tortilla machine at startup, keeps corn and flour apart, logs production and waste and, if you buy them, checks purchased tortillas at receiving: supplier, lot, temperature and use-by date.

With 11 workbooks that cover opening and closing, the trompo, griddle and comal, food safety with the salsa bar and allergens, nixtamal, tortillas and guisados, the manager's daily and weekly tasks, duties for 6 roles (taquero, tortilla maker, salsa prep cook, griddle and fryer, counter and register, delivery driver), weekly and monthly upkeep, events and seasons, and an annual calendar: the sheets that carry out, shift by shift, what an operations manual only describes.

Daily cleaning goes in the closing checklist. On top of that, the kit schedules a weekly deep clean (the trompo and the hood filters degreased, the carving knives sharpened, the corn mill and tortilla machine fully taken apart, the fryer cleaned and its oil changed, the salsa bar and its utensils sanitized) and monthly upkeep: a visual gas check of the trompo, griddle and comal by your staff, with the installation inspected by a licensed professional as often as local code requires; probes calibrated at the ice point (32 °F); the hood filters cleaned by your team while a certified contractor cleans the ducts and the full hood (NFPA 96); and pest control by a licensed operator.

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 298 taco shop tasks already written and sorted by shift, area and role, a counter on every checklist that skips the tasks you mark N/A, and °F temperatures under the FDA Food Code. Print it on US Letter, or save any sheet as a PDF from Excel.

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

Each checklist has columns for the area, who does it, when (a due-by time on the daily lists, a day or frequency on the weekly and monthly ones and a lead time on the event 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. The event calendar works by quarter: Three Kings Day, Candelaria, Lent Fridays (with the parasite-destruction record for raw fish), Holy Week and Easter, Cinco de Mayo (one of the biggest days of the year for a US taco shop), patio season and Memorial Day weekend, Mexican Independence Day, Day of the Dead, Our Lady of Guadalupe, and the posadas with the holiday parties. The bonus annual calendar adds Super Bowl Sunday, Thanksgiving and New Year's Eve, with the key tasks and the lead time for each. Margaritas, mezcal, tequila or beer only if you hold the license, 21+ with ID.

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 locations, which makes it a good fit for multi-unit taco shop 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.

The cash count is part of the day: the closing checklist and the manager's daily list have you do the cash count and note any over/short, and split the tips per your written tip pool policy (managers and supervisors don't keep tips). This kit has no separate cash count sheet by bill and coin; if you want one that works out the starting bank and the over/short against your POS Z report, the Restaurant Checklists Kit Pro includes it.

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, in the delivery bag too) and the 9 major allergens. In the UK, the legal limits are 8 °C for cold holding and 63 °C for hot holding, and allergen information covers 14 allergens (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. Your patio is your terrace or beer garden, and you can type in the delivery apps you use. If you serve beer, mezcal or tequila, you need the licence your area requires; the legal age is 18 in the UK and Australia, and 19 in most Canadian provinces (18 in Alberta, Manitoba and Quebec). The annual calendar has a UK note (Mothering Sunday, bank holidays and Boxing Day) 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, staff rules and alcohol 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.