A per-shift check of counter, service, seating, washrooms and customer feedback.
A front of house cafe checklist is a short per-shift check of everything a customer sees, hears and waits for, from the counter and greeting to seating, washrooms and feedback. The Shift Lead fills it once in each shift, ideally at the start of peak, walking the outlet with a phone and watching real orders being taken and served. It records wait times in minutes, scores the greeting on a scale of 1 to 5 and checks that allergen information is ready at the counter. The Cafe Manager reviews each shift's result. Any No raises a ticket with an owner and a deadline, and missing allergen information is fatal because it is a customer safety failure.
Free. No form. The workbook has the same columns as the table below, with the score formula and a fatal-item check in place.
Score = weight of items answered Yes ÷ weight of items not marked N/A, out of 100. Pass mark 90. A failed fatal item caps the score at zero and raises a ticket to the cafe manager.
| # | Item | Audit question | Answer | Photo | Weight | What good looks like |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Counter clean | Is the counter clean and clear, with only the POS, card machine, UPI standee and menu on it? | Yes / No / N/A | Optional | 3 | No used cups, receipts or personal phones on the counter, surfaces wiped in the last hour. |
| 2 | Display labelled | Is every item in the display labelled with name, price and the veg or non-veg mark? | Yes / No / N/A | Required | 3 | Every tray has a label, prices match the board, green or brown mark on each item. |
| 3 | Menu and sold-out items | Are the menu boards correct, with sold-out items marked and today's offer visible? | Yes / No / N/A | No | 3 | Sold-out items marked on the board, offer card at the till, no item sold that is unavailable. |
| 4 | Queue wait time | How many minutes did the last customer wait from joining the queue to placing the order? | Number | No | 3 | Under three minutes at peak, with a second till opened when the queue passes five. |
| # | Item | Audit question | Answer | Photo | Weight | What good looks like |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | Greeting at counter | How warmly were customers greeted within ten seconds of reaching the counter, on a scale of 1 to 5? | 1 to 5 | No | 4 | Eye contact, a smile and a greeting within ten seconds, even when the queue is long. |
| 6 | Order accuracy | Were the last five orders served exactly as billed, with the right size, milk and add-ons? | Yes / No / N/A | No | 4 | All five orders correct on first hand-over, no remake, name or token called clearly. |
| 7 | Order wait time | How many minutes did the last order take from payment to hand-over? | Number | No | 3 | Hot drinks within four minutes and food within eight, or as the brand standard sets. |
| 8 | Allergen informationFatal | Can the counter team show allergen information for every item when a customer asks? | Yes / No / N/A | No | 5 | Allergen chart at the counter, team member finds any item in under a minute. |
| 9 | Suggestion at counter | Did the counter suggest a pairing or size upgrade on the last three orders? | Yes / No / N/A | No | 2 | A natural suggestion on each order, such as a pastry with coffee, never pushy. |
| # | Item | Audit question | Answer | Photo | Weight | What good looks like |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | Tables cleared | Are tables cleared and wiped within two minutes of guests leaving? | Yes / No / N/A | Required | 4 | No table left with used cups for more than two minutes, even at peak. |
| 11 | Floor and spills | Is the floor dry and free of spills, with a wet floor sign out where needed? | Yes / No / N/A | No | 4 | No spill left unattended, sign placed at once, mop and bucket out of sight. |
| 12 | Condiment station | Is the condiment and water station stocked, clean and free of spills? | Yes / No / N/A | Optional | 3 | Sugar, stirrers, napkins and water topped up, counter wiped, no sticky rings. |
| 13 | Bins not overflowing | Are all bins below the line, with nothing overflowing near seating or the counter? | Yes / No / N/A | No | 2 | Bins emptied before full, lids closed, no smell near tables. |
| 14 | Ambience check | Are the music volume, lights and AC comfortable for guests at this time of day? | Yes / No / N/A | No | 2 | Music audible but not loud, lights at the evening setting after sunset, AC comfortable. |
| # | Item | Audit question | Answer | Photo | Weight | What good looks like |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 | Washroom clean | Is the washroom clean and dry, with no smell and no litter on the floor? | Yes / No / N/A | Required | 4 | Floor dry, basin and seat clean, bin not full, air freshener working. |
| 16 | Washroom supplies | Are soap, tissue and hand towels stocked in the washroom? | Yes / No / N/A | No | 3 | Soap dispenser full, tissue and towels stocked with spares kept in the washroom. |
| 17 | Cleaning log signed | Is the washroom cleaning log signed within the last hour by the named team member? | Yes / No / N/A | Optional | 3 | Log signed at each hourly slot of this shift, name and time written clearly. |
| # | Item | Audit question | Answer | Photo | Weight | What good looks like |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 | Feedback prompt visible | Is the feedback QR or card visible at the counter and on tables? | Yes / No / N/A | No | 2 | QR standee at the till and on tables, codes scan to the brand's feedback form. |
| 19 | Complaints this shift | Was any complaint raised this shift, and how was it resolved? | Text | No | 3 | States the complaint, what was done, and whether the customer left satisfied. |
| 20 | Team on the floor | Is at least one team member on the floor during peak, not only behind the counter? | Yes / No / N/A | No | 3 | One person clearing tables and checking on guests throughout the peak hour. |
Loaded into BorentisOps, each required photo is live, GPS and time-stamped, so a photo from yesterday or another store does not pass. Where the brand has a docket or display standard, Drishti scores the photo against it and marks the misses. Every fail raises a ticket with an owner and a deadline, and the cafe manager sees the store on a heat map before the next visit.
The checklist runs offline and syncs when signal returns, in Hindi, English and Hinglish, and the operations score sits next to the store's selling score from Borentis Floor on one store card. Pricing is per store, so every shift lead and staff member in the store is on the app.
Once per shift, ideally 15 minutes into the peak, when the outlet is under the most pressure. A check at a quiet hour will always look good. Filling it during peak shows the real wait times, the real state of the tables and whether the greeting holds up with a queue. Outlets with two shifts get two results a day, which the Cafe Manager can compare.
A customer with a nut or gluten allergy relies on the counter to tell the truth about every item. If the team cannot show allergen information when asked, the outlet is serving food without knowing whether it is safe for that person. Marking it fatal raises a ticket at once, and the Cafe Manager puts the allergen chart back at the counter before the next order.
Wait times are recorded as numbers in minutes, and BorentisOps compares them with the brand's standard for that outlet. The number itself does not add to the score unless the brand sets a threshold, in which case a wait above the limit counts as a No. Over a week, the numbers show which shifts and days need another person on the till.
Yes. The Excel download keeps the same columns BorentisOps uses: section, item, question, answer type, photo rule, weight and fatal flag, so it imports as a checklist without retyping. A Borentis onboarding person maps the roles and stores, sets who fills it and who reviews it, and schedules it so it reaches the right phone at the right time. You can edit, add or remove items before or after the import.