Monthly food safety and service audit for company-owned cafes and QSR outlets.
A cafe and QSR store audit SOP template is the full monthly checklist an auditor uses to score a company-owned cafe or quick service outlet on service, food safety and compliance. It covers the exterior and front of house, the counter and order accuracy, kitchen hygiene and temperatures, food date labels, staff hygiene, seating and washrooms, FSSAI and other licences, fire safety and cash. The Auditor fills it on a phone during a monthly visit, with live photos of the kitchen, probe readings and counter, and the Regional Head reviews the score out of 100. Five items are fatal because they put guests or the licence at risk. A fatal fail caps the audit at zero and raises a ticket with an owner and a deadline.
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 85. A failed fatal item caps the score at zero and raises a ticket to the regional head.
| # | Item | Audit question | Answer | Photo | Weight | What good looks like |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Facade and signage | Is the cafe facade clean and is the sign fully lit with no dead letters? | Yes / No / N/A | Required | 3 | Glass clean, sign fully lit, no old promotion posters on the facade. |
| 2 | Menu board | Is the menu board lit, current and showing prices that match the billing system? | Yes / No / N/A | Required | 3 | Every item on the board priced as in the system, no taped over prices. |
| 3 | Entrance and outdoor seating | Is the entrance clear and is outdoor seating clean and arranged? | Yes / No / N/A | Optional | 2 | Doorway clear, outdoor tables wiped and aligned, no litter or cigarette ends. |
| 4 | Front of house staffing | Is front of house staffed as per the roster with a host or counter person visible? | Yes / No / N/A | No | 2 | Headcount matches the roster, someone at the counter at all times. |
| # | Item | Audit question | Answer | Photo | Weight | What good looks like |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | Counter display | Is the display counter clean, lit and stocked with labelled, priced items? | Yes / No / N/A | Required | 3 | Glass clean, every tray labelled with name and price, no empty trays. |
| 6 | Greeting and order taking | Was the auditor greeted within 30 seconds and was the order repeated back? | Yes / No / N/A | No | 3 | Greeted promptly, order read back, upsell of one add-on offered. |
| 7 | Order accuracy | Did the order served match the bill exactly, including customisation? | Yes / No / N/A | Optional | 4 | Every item and customisation on the bill served correctly. |
| 8 | Service time | Was the order served within the brand's service time standard? | Yes / No / N/A | No | 3 | Order served within the standard time for that item, measured from billing. |
| 9 | Product quality | Did the product served match the brand's recipe card for look, portion and temperature? | Yes / No / N/A | Required | 4 | Portion, garnish and temperature match the recipe card photo. |
| # | Item | Audit question | Answer | Photo | Weight | What good looks like |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | Kitchen cleanliness | Are kitchen floors, counters and equipment clean with no food debris or grease build-up? | Yes / No / N/A | Required | 4 | Surfaces wiped, floor dry, hood and filters free of grease build-up. |
| 11 | Chiller and freezer temperaturesFatal | Are chillers at 5 degrees or below and freezers at minus 18 or below, with logs filled? | Yes / No / N/A | Required | 5 | Readings in range at audit, temperature log complete for every shift. |
| 12 | Hot holding temperature | Is hot food held at 63 degrees or above, checked with a probe? | Yes / No / N/A | Optional | 4 | Probe reading at or above 63 degrees, probe cleaned after use. |
| 13 | Raw and cooked separation | Are raw and cooked foods stored separately with colour coded boards and knives in use? | Yes / No / N/A | Required | 4 | Raw below cooked in chillers, colour coded boards used as per the chart. |
| 14 | Food date labelsFatal | Does every prepared and opened food item carry a date label within its use-by? | Yes / No / N/A | Required | 5 | Every container labelled with prep date, use-by and initials, nothing expired. |
| 15 | Hand-wash station | Is the hand-wash station working with soap, hand towels and the hand-wash poster? | Yes / No / N/A | Required | 4 | Hot water running, soap and towels stocked, sink used only for hands. |
| 16 | Pest evidenceFatal | Is the kitchen and store free of any pest evidence and is the pest control record current? | Yes / No / N/A | Optional | 5 | No droppings or insects seen, pest control done within the scheduled date. |
| # | Item | Audit question | Answer | Photo | Weight | What good looks like |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17 | Hairnets and caps | Are all food handlers wearing hairnets or caps and clean uniforms? | Yes / No / N/A | Required | 3 | Every food handler capped or netted, aprons and uniforms clean. |
| 18 | Gloves and jewellery | Are gloves used for ready-to-eat food and is jewellery removed in the kitchen? | Yes / No / N/A | Optional | 3 | Gloves changed between tasks, no rings, watches or bangles on food handlers. |
| 19 | Staff health records | Are medical fitness certificates on file for every food handler? | Yes / No / N/A | No | 3 | Fitness certificate current for every food handler on the roster. |
| 20 | Hand-wash compliance | Did staff wash hands on entering the kitchen and after handling waste or cash? | Yes / No / N/A | No | 3 | Observed staff washing hands at every trigger point during the audit. |
| # | Item | Audit question | Answer | Photo | Weight | What good looks like |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21 | Seating area clean | Are tables cleared and wiped within minutes of guests leaving? | Yes / No / N/A | Required | 3 | No table left uncleared for more than five minutes during the audit. |
| 22 | Furniture condition | Is seating free of damage, with no wobbly tables or torn upholstery? | Yes / No / N/A | Optional | 2 | All chairs and tables sturdy, upholstery intact, no broken fixtures. |
| 23 | Seating area ambience | Are lighting, music volume and air conditioning as per the brand standard? | Yes / No / N/A | No | 2 | Lights working, music at the set volume, room comfortably cool. |
| 24 | Guest washrooms | Are washrooms clean, dry and stocked with a cleaning log signed in the last hour? | Yes / No / N/A | Required | 3 | Floor dry, soap and tissue stocked, log signed within the last hour. |
| 25 | Waste bins | Are waste bins lidded, lined and emptied before they overflow, with wet and dry separated? | Yes / No / N/A | Optional | 2 | Bins lidded and lined, none overflowing, wet and dry waste kept apart. |
| # | Item | Audit question | Answer | Photo | Weight | What good looks like |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26 | FSSAI licence displayFatal | Is a valid FSSAI licence displayed where customers can see it? | Yes / No / N/A | Required | 5 | Licence current, displayed near the counter, name and address match the outlet. |
| 27 | Other licences | Are the Shops and Establishments certificate, GST registration and trade licence displayed and valid? | Yes / No / N/A | Required | 3 | All certificates current and displayed together near the counter. |
| 28 | Water testing report | Is a current water testing report on file for drinking water used in the outlet? | Yes / No / N/A | No | 3 | Report dated within the testing interval the brand sets, results within limits. |
| 29 | DPDP and CCTV notices | Are the DPDP recording notice and the CCTV notice displayed at the entrance? | Yes / No / N/A | Required | 2 | Both notices visible at the entrance with clear text. |
| # | Item | Audit question | Answer | Photo | Weight | What good looks like |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 | Fire extinguishers and blanket | Are extinguishers and a fire blanket mounted near the kitchen, charged and in service date? | Yes / No / N/A | Required | 4 | Extinguishers in green, fire blanket in place, service tags current. |
| 31 | Gas cylinders and linesFatal | Are gas cylinders chained, lines checked and the gas leak detector working? | Yes / No / N/A | Optional | 5 | Cylinders secured upright, no smell of gas, detector tested today. |
| 32 | Emergency exit | Is the emergency exit unlocked, clear of stock and the exit sign lit? | Yes / No / N/A | Required | 4 | Exit opens freely, nothing stored in front, exit sign lit. |
| 33 | Cash tally | Does the cash in the till match the system at the time of audit? | Yes / No / N/A | No | 4 | Cash counted in front of the auditor, matches the system to the rupee. |
| 34 | Voids and cash deposits | Are voided bills approved with a reason and cash deposits for the month made on time? | Yes / No / N/A | No | 3 | Every void has an approver and reason, deposit slips filed by date. |
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 regional head 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 auditor and staff member in the store is on the app.
A full audit of one company-owned cafe or QSR outlet takes about 75 minutes. The kitchen section takes the longest because temperatures are probed and date labels are checked container by container. The auditor should place an order as a customer first, so the counter and order accuracy items reflect normal service, and only then enter the kitchen for the hygiene checks.
Five items are fatal: chiller and freezer temperatures out of range, expired or unlabelled food, pest evidence, a missing or expired FSSAI licence and an unsafe gas installation. Each is either a food safety risk to guests or a licence risk to the outlet. When any fatal item fails, BorentisOps caps the audit at zero and raises a ticket with an owner and a deadline, usually the Cafe Manager and the same day.
This SOP is the full monthly audit for a company-owned outlet, with 34 items including licences, water testing, staff health records and fire safety. The cafe audit report is a lighter visit audit for an Area Manager on a regular round, focused on what guests see and the kitchen basics. Many brands run the SOP monthly and the visit report on every other visit in between.
Yes. The Excel file keeps the same columns shown on this page and imports into BorentisOps as a checklist, with weights, photo rules and fatal flags intact. A Borentis onboarding person maps the Auditor and Regional Head roles and assigns the audit to your outlets. Temperature readings can be captured as photos of the probe display, taken live with GPS and a time stamp.