Starting out
The restaurant opening checklist
Opening day arrives faster than you think. This checklist groups the essentials so nothing critical slips through the cracks before your first guest walks in.
Starting out · 6 min read
Legal & premises
- Business registration, licences, and food-safety permits secured early.
- Lease signed, fit-out and equipment installed and tested.
- Insurance and any required inspections completed.
Menu, suppliers & costs
- Menu finalised and every dish costed.
- Suppliers lined up and opening stock ordered.
- Prices set with a target food cost and a known break-even.
Systems & hardware
- POS, QR menu, and kitchen workflow set up and tested.
- Printers, payments, and offline mode verified.
- Reporting and roles configured for the team.
Team & soft open
- Key roles hired and trained on the menu and the systems.
- A soft opening planned to test flow under real, limited pressure.
- Feedback loop ready so you fix issues before the full launch.
Key takeaways
The short version
- Lock licences, lease, fit-out, and insurance early
- Finalise and cost the menu; line up suppliers
- Set up and test POS, QR, printing, and offline mode
- Hire and train the team on menu and systems
- Soft-open to test flow before the full launch
FAQ
Questions, answered
Licences and permits — they take longer than expected — alongside the lease and fit-out. Start these well before your target opening date.
A tested POS, QR menu, and kitchen workflow, with printers, payments, offline mode, reporting, and team roles all configured and verified.
A soft opening tests the kitchen, flow, and team under real but limited pressure, so you fix what breaks before opening to a full house.
Put it into practice
Menulisa brings ordering, POS, kitchen, inventory, and reporting together so the ideas in this guide are easy to act on.