Restaurant Operations Manual

Designed for busy restaurateurs who want to keep a clean, organized, and easy-to-navigate single source of knowledge for their business and team.

🚀 This is a comprehensive and customizable business operations manual on Notion pre-packed with standard operational processes and best practices, designed specifically for streamlining restaurant business processes and systems to transform the chaos of running a restaurant into a harmonious flow.

TL;DR

✔️ Inspired by The E-myth: Read "The E-myth" but struggling to create an operations manual for your restaurant? All your systems are in your head but you don't know how to extract and/or neatly organize them in a single place? With this pre-built template, you don't have to create your manual from scratch.

✔️ Industry-Specific & Ready-Made: 60+ sections fully pre-packed with standard and best practices in operating a successful restaurant.

✔️ Fully Customizable: Tailor any part of the Manual to fit your business needs.

✔️ Function Over Fluff: While aesthetics are important, this Manual prioritizes functionality. No sacrificing usability on Notion for the sake of pretty (but irrelevant) pictures or designs.

✔️ Evergreen: An evergreen, living resource that you can update and expand as your business grows.

✔️ Easy-to-use & Aesthetically Designed: Easy to use, and eye-pleasing by default with no cramped look.

✔️ Digital & Free: Hosted on Notion, a platform that’s free forever. Share your manual digitally with your team anytime, anywhere.

If your business is in a different industry, check out our range of business-specific pre-built OM templates on our homepage 👇 We may have one specifically tailored to your industry.

Who needs this?

Perfect for restaurant owners who want to get completely organized and streamlined by centralizing their business's knowledge hub, implement structured systems in their business, save time on admin work, and ensure seamless daily operations.

• Are your restaurant's SOPs, recipes, checklists, training materials and so on dispersed across various digital and physical locations (e.g. post-it notes, binders, Google Drive files), making them hard to access in critical moments?
• Do you struggle with inconsistent service quality, customer experience, or operational efficiency due to poorly documented processes and standards?
• Do you find it difficult to train new staff quickly and effectively, leading to bottlenecks and errors in service?
• Are you spending too much time on administrative tasks when you should be focusing on guest experience and business growth?
• Is your restaurant operation too reliant on your constant oversight to function properly, preventing you from taking deserved breaks or focusing on strategic planning?
• Are you looking to expand or franchise but unsure how to standardize operations for consistency across multiple locations?
• Do you repeatedly face issues with staff not following established protocols, leading to varied customer experiences?
• Do you plan to sell your restaurant in the future and need to establish its value through documented systems and processes?

If you answer 'yes' to any of the above questions, then this Restaurant Operations Manual is an essential tool that can transform the way your business operates, making it more efficient, scalable, and profitable.

Why do you need to build systems in your business?

1. Systems create consistency. When we don't have systems to work with, we (and our team) tend to do things differently every single time which gets us inconsistent results and an inconsistent experience for your customers. 
2. Systems make it easier to delegate to other people. Written systems make it clear what is the way in which you want things to be done.
3. Having written systems reduces the new hire training and onboarding time, removes the guesswork in day-to-day operations for your team, and allows your team to find the information they need faster. 
4. Having solid systems in your business allows you to scale, franchise, or sell your business with ease. (You get top dollar when selling your business because systems-run businesses are always worth more. This is because systems-run businesses function without key person dependency.)

What's inside?

Section 1: Introduction

This section briefly introduces the purpose of the manual, what information is included, how it is used, and what you and your employees can expect from using it.

Section 2: Business History

Knowing the history of the business can provide your employees with a sense of ownership and pride which is likely to result in their commitment to the business’ success. You insert your business' history here, if you'd like to.

Section 3: Culture & Values

At the heart of most successful businesses is a clear set of values and a strong company culture. Values give people guiding principles to make their own choices when things are not explicitly described in the systems. You'll see recommended values in this section and can adopt or customize them to suit your business’ culture.

Section 4: Organization Chart

Successful businesses are organized around positions, not around personalities and dependency on each employee’s personal strengths and knowledge. You'll have a template and example organization chart in this section and can customize it to reflect the hierarchical structure of your business.

Section 5: Job Descriptions

Having clear job descriptions is essential for everyone to understand the roles and responsibilities that come with their title. If everyone knows what they are accountable for, it leads to a more organized workflow. You'll have a template and examples in this section and can adopt or customize them to suit your business.

Section 6: Business Systems & Processes ⭐

The heart and backbone of your operations lie in this section. Think of it as your ultimate organizational hub where every crucial detail, process, system, and instruction is documented. It's here that you lay down the blueprint for how things run in your business.

Once you've poured your expertise and knowledge into this section, you can confidently step back knowing that your team has a robust, go-to resource. New hires? They'll be trained seamlessly. Existing team members? They'll always know the right step to take. This is your playbook for clarity, consistency, and efficiency.

Without a comprehensive and well-organized section like this, businesses risk the chaos of inconsistency, with everyone marching to the beat of their own drum. But by dedicating time and effort here, you ensure a harmonious, unified approach to serving your customers and growing your business.

You’ll find 50+ templates and examples in this section (with Employee Relations, Customer Relations, and Administrative Processes subsections) which you can adopt or customize to suit your business.

Section 7: Checklists, Forms,Templates & More

This section is where your employees can locate the business’ spec sheets, checklists, forms, how-to guides, and other job aids. You'll see tons of examples in this section that you can adopt or customize to your business needs.

Section 8: Owner-Only Section

In this section, you'll find the systems and processes that shouldn’t necessarily be accessible to your employees. These are the information that only you should know, and data you will track, as an Owner/General Manager of your company.

Section 9: Training & Resources

This section is where you keep your video trainings (remember those recordings we create on Loom for our team? :)), tutorials, and other resources for your employees.

Section 10: Glossary

Any key terms and acronyms that are commonly used in your business can be added to this section. By maintaining a comprehensive and up-to-date Glossary section, you will ensure that everyone in your team is on the same page and able to communicate effectively. 

Section 11: Directory

Having a comprehensive list of important contacts is essential for your business to run smoothly, especially if the management is unavailable. This helps your employees handle any situation that may come up and ensures that the business keeps running without any hiccups.

Section 12: Emergency Procedures

You don't need emergency procedures every day, but you know when you need them you better have them ready and easily accessible! You'll have a comprehensive list of standard emergency procedures in this section.

Section 13: New Hire Onboarding Quiz

When you hire a new team member and ask them to read this Manual, you can test their knowledge with a short quiz to make sure that they have read it carefully and captured the important details. You'll have an example quiz in this section that you can modify the questions as you’d like.

Need a custom-made Operations Manual for your business?

If you'd like a custom Operations Manual developed for your business by a seasoned Systems Consultant, please refer to my premium Done-For-You service:

Have you seen our Wall of Love❤️?