Restaurant Operations Playbook

Who This Playbook Is For

This playbook is for restaurant owners and operations managers who want ConfigBiz configured to run daily operations without chaos. It covers the capabilities, fields, workflows, and reports that a typical restaurant — quick-service, café, casual or fine-dining — actually uses. Use it as a checklist with your manager and tailor the fields to your menu and labour model.

Area	Your config decision	Why it matters
Menu	Categories, allergen tags, food-cost % per item	Margin live, not at month-end
Supplier + PO	Lead time, MOQ, price validity	Replenish without stock-outs
Shift	Station, role, station check	Coverage matched to covers
Waste	Reason, photo, approver	Shrink visible per day/week

Key Roles

Owner/Manager: Oversees operations, approves purchases, reviews reports
Kitchen Staff: Manages food prep, inventory usage, and quality
Front-of-House: Handles service, customer interactions, and POS
Procurement: Manages supplier relationships and purchase orders

Information Flow

Daily operations flow from customer orders → kitchen production → service delivery. Inventory depletes as orders are fulfilled. Purchase orders replenish stock based on par levels and demand forecasts. Expenses track across food cost, labour, and overhead. Reports consolidate daily, weekly, and monthly performance.

Recommended Fields

Menu Items: name, category, price, food cost %, prep time, available (Y/N), allergen, station
Suppliers: name, contact, products supplied, payment terms, lead time, rating
Purchase Orders: supplier, items, quantities, delivery date, status, total, variance
Shift Schedules: date, time, role, employee, station, status, cover reason
Daily Count: date, item, starting qty, ending qty, variance, reason, photo

Workflows

Workflow	Steps	SLA
Inventory reorder	Daily count → low-stock alert → PO draft → manager approve → supplier send	PO by 11:00 for next-day delivery
Supplier order	PO → manager approval → delivery → receiving → stock update	Variance <2% or flag
Shift coverage	Open shift → staff claim/assign → manager confirm → attendance	Fill 24h before service

Reports

Daily sales vs labour cost
Food cost percentage by menu item — flag > target +3pp
Inventory variance report (what disappeared, where)
Weekly supplier spend and OT hours

Common Mistakes

Tracking inventory only at the end of the month instead of daily counts
Not connecting purchase orders to inventory (double data entry)
Using separate spreadsheets for scheduling and attendance — one roster record that flows to attendance
Not tracking food cost per menu item, only aggregate

Get Started

Describe your restaurant to ConfigBiz AI — covers, stations, suppliers. It recommends a configuration that matches your specific setup and generates a blueprint you can approve before anything is built.