1. Read the sheet, not the person
Each checklist in the kit is ordered by station. The person doing the job initials each station when it is done, not before, and initials the bottom of the sheet. The lead reads the sheet, not the person. In the kit's words, "A checklist nobody initials is decoration."
| Sheet | Signed at the bottom | The lead |
|---|---|---|
| Opening checklist | Opener, and the time the doors opened | Lead check |
| Mid-shift reset | Reset 1 and Reset 2, each with its time | |
| Closing checklist | Closer, when the doors locked and when they left the building | Lead check next morning |
2. Before the first sale
Two things at open go straight to the lead. If last night did not close out, with no z-report printed or batch settled, the opener tells the lead before the first sale. If the drawer count does not equal the float, the opener does not adjust it: they write the actual count, note the difference and tell the lead. Last night's closer owns the difference.
The opener reads the open note on the register and acts on it. If the doors will not open on time, text the owner the moment you know, then the staff on the way in. Three late opens in a month is a scheduling problem, not bad luck.
3. Mid-shift: breaks and the labor sheet
The reset takes ten minutes, twice a day: after the morning rush settles and again mid-afternoon. Its last section, People, is the lead's. Rotate breaks, and whoever is on break is off the floor and off the register. Then look at the hourly labor sheet. If the afternoon is running over target, this is the moment to send someone home early, not at 4:30.
4. The calls that come to the lead
When a machine goes down, the kit is plain: "The lead decides; the person who found it does not troubleshoot alone during a rush." The shop switches to that machine's fallback and keeps selling. Here is what else comes to the lead:
| When | The lead |
|---|---|
| A complaint about a person, a policy, or anything the bar cannot fix | Takes it. Nobody argues with a customer, ever. |
| A refund or a comp | Can refund up to $25 and comp a whole order to fix a bad experience. Asks first for a refund over $25 or a comp that repeats for the same person. |
| A customer threatens, touches staff or will not leave | Says once: "I need you to leave now." If they do not, the non-emergency police line, or 911 if anyone is at risk. Never a barista alone, never a physical response. |
| An item sells out | Marks it unavailable in the mobile app, and on every delivery platform at the same time. |
| The mobile order queue runs past the shop's limit | Pauses mobile ordering for 15 minutes. Nobody else touches the pause. |
| Two people want to swap a shift | Approves it in writing, before the shift. |
5. Who signs the cash
The kit's cash routine is "boring on purpose," and every step has a name next to it:
| Action | Who does it | Who signs | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| Opening count | Opener | Opener, plus a second person if present | Before the first sale |
| Drop | Whoever is on the drawer | That person | When the drawer is over the skim line |
| Closing count | Closer | Closer | After the last sale, before the deposit |
| Deposit | Closer or manager | Whoever takes it to the bank | Within 24 hours |
| Weekly review | Owner or manager | Owner or manager, on every daily log | Once a week, same day |
| Void or refund over the set amount | Person on the drawer | Second initial from the lead | At the time |
One person per drawer per shift wherever possible. If two people share a drawer, neither can own a variance.
6. The close, and the note for the morning
The closer starts 30 minutes before the doors lock and finishes within 45 minutes after; write in your own times. The drawer count, the variance written even when it is zero, the deposit, the float rebuilt and the safe locked are all on the sheet. The next-day prep is part of the close, not an extra, and it ends with the open note: what is low, what is broken, what the opener needs to know, left on the register.
The open note is also how the shift tells the owner what happened: a line for a complaint about a person or a process, a mobile order the lead refunded through the app, or a third-party delivery problem. The lead checks the closing sheet the next morning. Our guide to opening and closing checklists has every station on each sheet.
The kit's Tillwhistle Part 2 Open and Close file has every sheet in this guide ready to print, with the sign-off lines, the who-signs-what table and a daily cash log. It comes as a Word file you can edit and a PDF. It is part of the Tillwhistle kit, $97 once.