Donewell / Restaurants / Bar opening checklist

Bar opening checklist

A bar opening checklist is the stock, ice, draft and sanitation check that has to be done before the first drink. It has 12 items in 6 sections — stock, draft, glassware, register, sanitation and menu. Of those, two ask for a reading, two ask for a photo and one is a note; the rest are a tick. It is the shortest list in this library on purpose: a bar open is a stocking job with two readings in it.

Tick it here — nothing is saved anywhere but this browser — or copy it into Donewell and have your staff sign each item off on their phone.

What should be on a bar opening checklist?

Wells stocked, beer cooler stocked and faced, garnishes cut and dated, ice well filled. Then the two readings — the keg cooler at 33–38 °F and the sanitizer bucket at 200–400 ppm — then draft lines poured clean, glassware polished, the float verified, the bar top wiped with the stools aligned, and the menus and specials set.

How long does a bar open take?

Twenty to thirty minutes if last night’s close was done. If it was not, the open becomes a close, and the shift starts behind. That relationship is the single strongest argument for keeping both lists in one place: an opener who can see last night’s signed-off close knows within a second whether they are stocking or catching up.

Why check the keg cooler every day?

Because a draft system that drifts warm does not announce itself — it shows up as foam, then as a keg that pours badly all night, then as product poured down the drain. A reading at open costs five seconds and catches a failing cooler on the first day rather than the third.

Last updated 17 September 2026