Mise en Place: Opening & Closing

Check refrigeration, equipment, clean glassware, ice bins and tools. Use beverage-safe ice only. Arrange bottles and mixers according to the menu. Record shortages before service: a full but incorrectly labeled bottle is not ready stock.

Prepare small batches based on expected sales and product life. Label juice, syrup and garnish with contents, preparation time, storage and house use-by limits. Keep allergen information visible. Excess prep may improve speed but increase waste; adjust par levels to real sales.

Keep backup stock accessible and within cold-chain requirements. Do not top up old containers with fresh batches; clean and relabel first. Keep dirty tools out of clean prep areas. Assign stock monitoring so others can maintain order flow.

Store opened products correctly, separate expired items and record waste. Clean surfaces, tools, machines and ice areas under the house plan. Write next-day purchasing and prep lists. Record cash, stock discrepancies and faults in the handover rather than relying on memory.

Build prep lists from actual sales. Count garnish, syrup, juice and glass needs for each recipe, combining shared preparations. Par quantities balance demand, shelf life, delivery time and cold-space capacity. Overproduction increases spoilage. Prep cards should include mass, method and actual yield.

Before service, check labels, allergens, temperatures and equipment. Use covered garnish containers and suitable utensils. Adequate tools reduce pressure to reuse poorly cleaned equipment. Unannounced brand substitution changes recipes. At closing, assess remaining prep, record discards and clean service bottles. Never top old batches with new; hand over dated usable quantities.