Make sure that closing duties are completed every time with this free restaurant closing checklist

Yes — the closing checklist template is completely free to download, no credit card required. It’s a fully editable file you can customize with your restaurant’s name, departments, and specific closing duties. You can add or remove tasks to match your operation and distribute it to your team right away.

Absolutely. The template is designed to be edited, so you can create separate sections for FOH roles (servers, hosts, bartenders) and BOH roles (line cooks, dishwashers, prep staff). Just duplicate the relevant sections, label them by role or department, and list the specific tasks each person is responsible for. If you want to go further and automatically assign checklists based on who’s scheduled for a shift, 7shifts’ task management feature does that for you digitally.

The free template gives you a solid starting point — a customizable document you can print or share with your team. But it’s static: you can’t track whether tasks were actually completed, who did them, or when. With 7shifts, you get real-time notifications when tasks are checked off, completion rate reports, and the ability to update checklists on the fly from your phone. For operators running one location, the template may be enough to get started. For anyone managing multiple locations or a larger team, a digital system pays for itself quickly in time saved and fewer missed tasks.

Review your closing checklist at least once a season, or any time your menu, staffing structure, or equipment changes. For example, if you add a new piece of kitchen equipment, the cleaning procedure for it should go on the BOH checklist immediately — not weeks later when something gets missed. A good rule of thumb: if your managers are verbally reminding staff to do the same task more than twice a week, that task needs to be added to the checklist.

7shifts’ task management feature works for any type of checklist — opening, closing, mid-shift, weekly deep cleans, or anything else your operation needs. You can create different checklists for different days, shifts, or roles, and assign them to the right people automatically based on who’s scheduled. That means your opening manager sees their tasks, your closing crew sees theirs, and nothing gets mixed up or missed.