Archived Starbucks closing

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Yesterday was my first night alone at starbucks and I had such a bad close. I left an hour after I was scheduled. It was very busy and stressful.
I checked the guides and Starbucks thread, but does anyone have a timeline for when to do things, like, at 5, do x, at 6, do xyz. We close at 9.
I have to close most of next week and don't want to disappoint anyone. It was very hard with all of the logs and food safety things to remember plus cleaning.
 
Most well organized Starbucks should have a set closing and opening procedure, preferably in print. If you don't know, just ask your SBux-TL.
 
Our SBTL (three TLs ago) had a checklist for openers & closers.
Let's see what I can remember & of course, this depends on your traffic flow how much you can get done & when.
Depending on the volume of your store, perhaps you have a dishwasher so this is based on that:
Around 5pm you should have shut down your airpots to just Pike & the others should be rinsed & filled will brew water.
Grab a dishwasher basket & load it up with all but two steam pitchers, spoons & drip mats; if there's room add the cream measure pitcher, a tea shaker & lid, any other small counterware. Load the basket into the dishwasher & run it thru.
While it's running, wipe down that space with 1. degreaser followed with 2. water followed by 3. sanitizer. Shake out pitchers & drip mats & place them in their proper spots.
Do the same with blender pitchers, tea shakers, remaining steam pitchers & other counterware.
Clean those areas while they're running thru the dishwasher & wipe out fridges.
Wash blender hood, ice scoops & remaining items wiping down counters using the 1. degreaser 2. water 3. sanitizer method.
Fill & date pump buckets for Chai, slightly sweet Chai & frapp roast. Bring out mocha syrup bucket (which should've been cooling in the walk-in). Dump old syrups, disassemble pumps & run thru the dishwasher.
Stock cups, lids, straws, spill sticks, pastry bags, check & replace syrups that are running low.
By 8pm pour each remaining tea into a trenta cup & discard the rest; do the same with ice coffee. Run the pitchers thru the dishwasher. Pull cream pitchers, empty, rinse & run thru dishwasher as well.
Stock fridges of the various milks, juices, refreshers, etc checking dates as you go.
By 8:30 we pull the old pastries, QMOS & toss; tomorrow's pastries (which should have been thawing in the walk-in) are set out. Wipe down the pastry case thoroughly & put in fresh paper liner. Turn off the warming oven (if you have one) & let it cool down before cleaning.
Check pulled sandwiches (If you're a warming store) & toss expired product after QMOS. I also double-check to see if there is adequate product pulled for the morning.
Take cleaned tea pitchers & prep with the appropriate tea bags, dated for close tomorrow; do same with iced coffee pitchers.
Time permitting, go thru the dining area wiping down tables, sweeping the floor & wiping condiment bars, stocking where needed.
At close, we turn off all but one light overhead so we can see our counter.
Pour out the last airpot coffee, cleaning it & filling with brew water.
Toss the trenta cups you filled with the teas & iced coffee.
Bring out espresso cubes, unlock bean bowl (or whatever type you have) & empty unused beans back into cubes.
Use the small shop vac to remove remaining beans & replace bowl.
If your machine is a Mastrena, remove & empty the grounds drawer, twist & remove the cleaning key in the back, load it with two cleaning tablets & replace the key & drawer.
The machine will detect the tablets & give the command to start the cleaning cycle by pushing 'rinse'. Start it while resuming your remaining duties.
If the oven has cooled down enough, pull out the rack & bottom plate then spray with the cleansor provided for it. Spray the rack & bottom plate & let them sit as well. After 10-15 minutes wipe out the inside, rinse off the rack & plate before putting them back in. Leave door ajar to let dry.
Run any remaining pitchers, steaming pitchers & other counterware thru while wiping down counters & stocking front cooler & impulse snacks.
Fill cream (& nonfat) pitchers & place them in the fridge.
Drain & turn off dishwasher; empty sanitizer bottle.
Sign/check off time/temp logs before leaving.
I'm sure I left details out & ASANTS so please add suggestions.
 
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Check and see if your TL has a list like redeye mentioned. A lot of it is about muscle memory. You can also ask your TL and the other baristas how they structure their night. Just remember that within a few months you will have it down pat. :)
 
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It definitely gets easier. I was so slow the first time I closed alone. We don't have a dishwasher, but most of Redeye's list is pretty much what we do. When new baristas are closing, I always tell them that if they have to leave anything unfinished, it should be the prep things--prepping iced teas and coffees, stocking, filling the half and half carafes.

Also, we do not have Food Ave, so we take care of cleaning the pop and Icee machines. If you need help, you can ask someone from the front end to help you clean up the tables and pop/icee machines.
 
When I read the thread title I was like

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each store based on traffic is different. all they want to make sure is you clean everything. ask people who close for a timeline. i had a strong team member who struggled with closing (she requested another 15 minutes which i gladly gave her) till she knew what she could get away without using so she only had a little to do after closer.
 
Timelines WILL vary based on traffic & if your store doesn't have a dishwasher because you'll be darting back & forth between the front & the sink.
And there's always that last guest who has a multi-drink order & asks for pastries I've already tossed.
One thing that sometimes helps is breaking your tasks down to a particular area like: espresso area, frapps/teas/smoothies, brew station, pastries - cleaning the machinery & counterware of each.
 
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I got out 20 minutes late my last close, and I had to leave a few things.

Thank you all for the tips! I'm hoping to cut off 10 more minutes my next shift. We have so many trashes to do and rebag and i keep forgetting and having to do that at the last minute, so I'm going to empty and rebag those earlier and do Qmos earlier. Also, checking inventory and restocking while the mid is there will help. Running to the back at the last minute is so hectic.
 
MID SHIFT TASK LIST
When your mid comes in if they're not relieving anyone for a break pretend they're not there for a while with no interruptions to get things done. Also love and respect them, they are your best friend.


PULL & THAW - REFRIGERATED
Ideally your openers can do this but if your mid shift is more support oriented they can do this.
Frozen sandwiches take 18hrs to thaw so you want to pull them no later than 2PM so when you open the next day they are ready to eat! REMEMBER that you're dating them for when they finish thawing not pulled. Example: I am mid on Monday pulling frozen sandwiches at 2PM, so I would mark a reduced fat turkey bacon sandwich for EOD on Wednesday.
  • Move anything in the fridge that's getting thrown out tonight to the top shelf.
  • Move things getting thrown out tomorrow on the second and or third shelf if needed.
  • Open your logs check your pars vs on hand items. Do not account for items being thrown out tonight.
  • I like to grab my date dot stickers and fill them out with EOD so as I grab from fridge I can slap them on there..
  • Once you have your list of needed items, grab the empty bottom rack from fridge and your paper for what you need to grab.
  • Gather all items and remember to mark on the boxes per box how many items you took (helps with inventory/ordering)
  • Take your filled rack back to fridge in front and put on bottom shelf.

SAUCES, COLD BREW & WHIPPED CREAM
  • COLD BREW: If (remember 3lb bag is 4 1/2 in 4 1/2 out (LITERS) and takes 20 hours to brew with a 5 day shelf life, so try to make it no earlier than 11:30AM as no one will be there to put it into pitchers and it will get thrown out. Aim to have it done when you know there will be two people in the kiosk the next morning so that if there's only 1 opener they don't get stuck having to do that with their opening tasks,. Ive found a good time frame to make it is between 12PM - 4PM so it's ready the next day between 8AM - 12PM!
  • SAUCES: Mocha, Skinny Mocha and Frap Base. Grab 2 tubs, skinny tub, mixing pitcher, whisk and packets for all 3. If the sauces on bar and CBS are still good, just put saran wrap on top of the buckets, store somewhere where there's no possibility of someone knocking them over and date for tomorrow the current time.
  • WHIPPED CREAM: This should be an individual effort rather than a shift responsibility. Depending on your stores volume you typically want to always have around 4-6 whipped creams on hand. At the end of anyones shift try to get into the habit of making 2 whipped creams before leaving so that no person or shift (poor closers) gets stuck making a million whipped creams for tomorrow. There's no excuse why you can't make whipped cream before you leave for your shift. If your team can get into this routine it will make the upcoming frappy hour happy and not be a crappy hour. HOWEVER if by some chance your team is "special" it's easiest for mid to make 4-6 whipped creams and date 24hrs out.
I have to run, but there's more I wanted to add. If anyone founds this useful let me know and I can further elaborate!
 
BTW, Angee....please tell me that's not your real name or pic?
Because corp has come down on this site more than once we run below the radar.
Would not want you getting flak from your store's leadership from posting here.
And yeh, it's happened to others.
 
Some people do not fear outing themselves.
 
And Kartman's my real name.

Kart Man.

I shit you not...
 
I wouldn't say anything here that I wouldn't to someone at work. This is a variation of my name who would I talk to about changing it ? :3
 
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