--- title: "A thirty-day checklist for opening a restaurant | GoSufra" description: "A week-by-week plan for getting a restaurant ready: menu and costing, suppliers, systems and hardware, training and a soft launch — in an order that does not conflict." url: "https://gosufra.com/en/blog/opening-checklist/" language: "en" source: "https://gosufra.com" --- # A thirty-day checklist for opening a restaurant A week-by-week plan for getting a restaurant ready: menu and costing, suppliers, systems and hardware, training and a soft launch — in an order that does not conflict. 2026-04-06 · 9 min read ![Illustration of a checklist with ticked boxes](https://gosufra.com/blog/opening-checklist.svg) ## Key points - Start with the menu and its costs — every later decision depends on them. - Configure systems before training, not during it. - A soft launch is not a PR event. It is a stress test of the kitchen and the system. - Reserve the final week for mistakes, because they are coming. Most restaurants do not stumble at opening because of the food. They stumble because too much was left to the last week: the menu is not costed, the staff are not trained, and the system is configured the night before. Here is a thirty-day plan in an order that does not conflict. Each item must be finished before the next. --- ## Week 1: menu and costing Every later decision — from fridge size to how many cooks — depends on the menu. - Lock the final menu (start small; 25–35 items beats 60). - Write a quantified recipe for every item, **and every size**. - Cost each plate after yield. - Set a target food cost percentage and price from it. - Put packaging inside each item’s cost. - Produce the final ingredient list with base units. > Do not move to week 2 until you know the price and cost of every item. Late pricing forces you to redo everything that follows. --- ## Week 2: suppliers and stock - At least three quotes per major ingredient. - Agree a written specification (size, grade, packing), not just a name. - Fix payment terms and delivery days. - Calculate the opening order: `expected daily usage × days of cover + safety stock`. - Set a reorder point per item. - Prepare storage, shelving, FIFO and temperature checks. - Load items into the inventory system with units and prices. --- ## Week 3: systems and hardware This is the week usually compressed into two days. It should not be. **Hardware:** - POS terminals and kitchen screens in their final positions. - Thermal printers (till and kitchen), with Arabic printing tested. - Branch network: router, access points, and coverage inside the kitchen specifically. - Cash drawer, barcode scanner if needed, payment devices. **System:** - Load the menu, categories, prices, sizes and modifiers. - Attach every item to its recipe and its kitchen station. - Configure tax and service charge, and review the order with your accountant. - Create users and assign roles and permissions. - Set delivery zones, fees and minimums if you will deliver. - **Test offline mode:** unplug the network and complete a full sale with a printed receipt. - Print a test bill and read every line on it. --- ## Week 4: training and soft launch **Training (4 days):** - One day on the menu: ingredients, allergens, how to describe a dish. - One day on the system: every person completes ten full transactions themselves. - One day on exceptions: void, refund, discount, modified order, internet outage. - One day on service: greeting, handling a complaint, closing a shift. **Soft launch (2 days):** - One day with a limited guest list (friends and family) on the full menu. - One day of deliberate pressure: fire 20 orders in 15 minutes and watch prep times. Log every fault that appears. A soft launch is not a PR event — it is a **stress test**, and its purpose is to find breakages while you can still fix them. **Final day:** - Fix the top five problems the soft launch exposed. - Run a full opening stocktake. - Confirm every person knows their job for the first hour of trading. --- ## After opening: the first thirty days | Cadence | Review | | --- | --- | | Daily | Net sales, transactions, average check, discounts and voids | | Daily | Prep times and the three slowest items | | Weekly | High-value stock count | | Weekly | Food cost and labour cost percentages | | At 30 days | First menu engineering pass | --- ## Recurring opening mistakes - **Too long a menu.** Sixty items in a new kitchen means slow prep, dead stock and waste. Start small and add after two months based on real demand. - **Configuring the system on opening night.** Anything left to the last night will be set up wrong. - **Theoretical training.** Someone who never held the device has not been trained. - **Ignoring kitchen network coverage.** Kitchens are hostile to wireless signal; test at the kitchen screen itself. - **An oversized opening order.** Enthusiasm buys double what you need, and half of it expires in month one. ## The point A good opening is not a spectacular day. It is **an ordinary day, repeatable**. Every hour spent on this list before opening saves you a day of repair afterwards. - opening - operations - setup - management ## Run all of this from one system POS, kitchen, inventory, recipe costing, staff and accounting — connected, and free to start. [Create your free account](https://app.gosufra.com/register?lang=en) ## Related articles ![Illustration of a till still selling while the cloud link is cut](https://gosufra.com/blog/how-offline-mode-works.svg) How it works 2026-08-30 · 7 min read ### [What "works offline" actually means for a restaurant POS](https://gosufra.com/en/blog/how-offline-mode-works/) Offline mode is easy to claim and hard to build. Here is what a till must keep doing without internet, what it cannot do, and how the queue catches up safely afterwards. Read article ![Illustration of neatly stacked inventory crates](https://gosufra.com/blog/inventory-control.svg) Inventory 2026-05-18 · 9 min read ### [Inventory control: stopping leakage before it reaches the P&L](https://gosufra.com/en/blog/inventory-control/) A practical stock system for restaurants: purchasing and receiving, count cadence, batch and expiry tracking, and reorder points that prevent running out mid-service. Read article ![Illustration of a plate divided into recipe components with a price tag](https://gosufra.com/blog/plate-costing.svg) Costing 2026-06-01 · 8 min read ### [Plate costing: work it out from the recipe, not from a hunch](https://gosufra.com/en/blog/plate-costing/) A practical guide to costing every dish on your menu — from unit price to yield and waste, ending in a sell price that actually protects your margin. Read article [← All articles](https://gosufra.com/en/blog/) [Contact us](https://wa.me/201132421261)