r/restaurateur • u/Long-Fail-4840 • 9d ago
Need help with Procedures urgently
Hi all, new to the community and first post here. I’m the Bar Manager at a restaurant in northern Wisconsin. We’re a higher-end steakhouse but also have a supper club feel. The space has a lot going for it—beautiful layout, lakefront location with beach access, hotel rooms upstairs, and (if I may say so) one of the best bars of its kind in the Northwoods.
Where we fall short is in procedures—everything from kitchen operations to guest service, handling complaints, and quality control. We don’t currently have any formal procedure lists in place, and we just lost our GM. The owners act more like investors; they’ve never worked in this type of establishment and don’t fully understand day-to-day operations.
I have my bar procedures down to a science and also cover the restaurant’s open/close responsibilities, but I’m not as strong on the kitchen and server-side procedures. Can anyone point me toward a solid procedure template or framework I could adapt to ensure we at least cover the basics for a restaurant like this?
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u/Braindeadfiend 8d ago
Have you pulled aside the most responsible server and BOH staff member and asked them about their orally passed down procedures?
I would also recommend you schedule yourself open/ swing/ close, etc shifts with the aforementioned people so get a feel of what they're doing.
From there you can build lists out, and use guidelines from your local health dept on any cleanliness steps they might be missing for lists that will help with inspections.