Operations manual template, filled in for a single site
An operations manual describes how a site runs day to day (what gets done, when, by whom, to which procedure) so that it runs the same way when the owner or the manager is not there. It sits above the SOPs: the SOP says how to close the kitchen; the operations manual says the kitchen is closed every night by the closing cook to SOP K-012, checked by the manager, and lists the twenty other things that happen in a week the same way. Franchisors call it the franchise operations manual; a bank or a buyer calls it the proof that the business is not one person. The example below is a café with a kitchen; the structure is the same for a warehouse, a clinic or a plant.
What is in the template
Each section below says what goes in it, why it is there, and then shows the section filled in. The example: Written for "Mill Lane Café", 30 seats, a kitchen, 9 staff, open 7:00–17:00 six days a week. Change the rhythm and the functions to match your site.
- Control and distribution
- The business in one page
- Contacts and suppliers
- The rhythm: daily, weekly, monthly
- Functions
- Procedure index
- When things fail
- Compliance calendar
- Appendices
1. Control and distribution
What goes here. Version, owner, approval, review date, who holds a copy, and the rule for changing it.
Why it is there. An operations manual is changed by many hands. Without a single owner and a change rule, three versions exist within a year and nobody knows which is current.
Filled in:
| Field | Entry |
|---|---|
| Version / date | 3.0 · February 2026 |
| Owner | Owner-operator |
| Reviewed by | Head chef, front-of-house lead |
| Review | Every January, and after any change of supplier, equipment or law |
| Copies | Office binder (master); manager's tablet; one in the kitchen (sections 3, 4 and 8 only) |
| Changes | Propose on the change form; owner approves; superseded pages removed from all copies the same week |
2. The business in one page
What goes here. What the business does, the sites, the hours, the org chart by role (not by name), and the numbers that define normal: covers a day, average spend, staff on shift.
Why it is there. A new manager, a bank, a buyer or an insurer reads this page first. It should be enough to understand the operation without a conversation.
Filled in
Mill Lane Café serves breakfast and lunch to 180–240 covers a day, Monday to Saturday 7:00–17:00, with a kitchen that makes everything except the bread. Average spend £11.40. Staff: owner-operator (also the manager), head chef, two cooks, one kitchen porter, four front-of-house (two per shift). Peak is 8:00–9:30 and 12:00–14:00; the kitchen closes at 16:00. Monthly revenue £58,000–66,000; food cost target 31%; labour target 30%.
3. Contacts and suppliers
What goes here. Everyone the site depends on: suppliers with order days and cut-off times, contractors (refrigeration, gas, pest, fire, waste, card terminal), landlord, accountant, insurer, utility account numbers, emergency services. Updated at every review.
Why it is there. The contacts page is the one consulted at 6 am when the walk-in is at 50°F. If it is wrong, the manual has failed on the day it was needed.
Filled in:
| Who | For | When / how | Account / notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fresh produce: Greenway | Vegetables, fruit, dairy | Order by 14:00 for next-day; delivery 6:30–7:30 | Account 4471; min order £60 |
| Bakery: Hart's | Bread, pastries | Standing order; changes by 15:00 the day before | Phone 555-0171 |
| Refrigeration: ColdFix | Walk-in and reach-ins | 24-hour line 555-0199; 4-hour callout on contract | Contract renews June |
| Pest: Sentinel | 8 visits a year + callouts | Next visit on the calendar; report sightings same day | Folder in the office |
| Fire: Ashford Fire | Extinguisher service (annual), alarm test (6-monthly) | Dates on the compliance calendar | |
| Card terminal: Dojo | Terminal faults | Support line on the terminal; backup terminal in the office safe |
4. The rhythm: daily, weekly, monthly
What goes here. A table of everything that happens on a schedule: the task, when, who owns it, which procedure, and what record it leaves. Daily opening and closing, cash-up, temperature checks, orders, cleaning schedule, stock count, payroll, rota, maintenance, audits.
Why it is there. This is the heart of the manual. It is what lets a stand-in manager run the week from the page, and it is what tells the owner on holiday that Tuesday's stock count happened.
Filled in:
| When | Task | Owner | Procedure | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daily 6:30 | Open: lights, equipment on, temperature round, delivery check, prep list | Opening cook | K-001 Opening | Opening checklist; temperature log |
| Daily 6:45 | Front-of-house open: tills, float, coffee machine, tables | FOH lead | F-001 Opening | Float sheet |
| Daily 14:00 | Place tomorrow's produce order from the par sheet | Head chef | K-020 Ordering | Order confirmation in the email folder |
| Daily 16:00 | Kitchen close: cleaning schedule, temperature round, waste log, bins | Closing cook | K-012 Closing | Closing checklist |
| Daily 17:15 | Cash-up and banking; reconcile card and cash to the till report | Manager | F-010 Cash-up | Cash-up sheet; banking slip |
| Mon | Rota for next week published; holiday requests answered | Manager | A-003 Rota | Rota in the app |
| Tue | Stock count: dry store and walk-in; food cost calculated | Head chef + manager | K-030 Stock count | Stock sheet; food cost figure |
| Wed | Deep clean: extraction filters, fridges inside, behind equipment | Kitchen porter | K-015 Deep clean | Cleaning schedule |
| Fri | Weekly fire walk; first-aid kit check | Manager | A-010 Fire walk | Fire log book |
| Monthly, 1st | Payroll hours submitted; supplier invoices reconciled | Manager | A-020 Payroll | Payroll file |
| Monthly, 15th | Probe thermometer calibration (ice water); pest folder review | Head chef | K-040 | Calibration log |
| Quarterly | Menu and price review; allergen matrix update | Owner + head chef | K-050 | Allergen matrix v. date |
5. Functions
What goes here. One section per function (kitchen, front of house, administration): its purpose, the roles, the procedures it runs (by number), the standards it is held to, its KPIs, and the records it keeps. The example is the kitchen section in full.
Why it is there. The function section is where a new head chef learns what the job is at this site (the procedures, the targets, the records) rather than the job in general.
Filled in
Kitchen. Purpose: make the menu to the spec sheets, safely, at a food cost of 31% or under, with nothing leaving the pass that a customer with an allergy could not trust.
Roles: head chef (orders, rota, stock, spec sheets, training sign-off); cooks (prep, service, opening and closing to the SOPs); kitchen porter (dish, deep clean, bins, deliveries put away).
Procedures: K-001 Opening; K-005 Deliveries; K-007 Temperature checks; K-008 Cooling; K-010 Allergen orders; K-012 Closing; K-015 Deep clean; K-020 Ordering; K-030 Stock count; K-040 Calibration; K-050 Menu change. All in the SOP binder in the kitchen and on the tablet.
Standards: FDA Food Code limits (41°F cold, 135°F hot, cooling 135→70→41) [UK: Food Standards Agency Safer Food Better Business pack]; spec sheet and photo for every dish; allergen matrix on the pass is the current version.
KPIs: food cost % (weekly), waste £ (daily log), temperature log complete (daily), EHO/inspection score, allergen incidents (target zero).
Records: temperature log, cooling log, cleaning schedule, waste log, delivery log, stock sheets, training sign-offs, kept 12 months in the kitchen office.
6. Procedure index
What goes here. The master list of every SOP: number, title, owner, current version, last review. The manual references procedures; it does not reprint them.
Why it is there. The index is how you know what exists, what is out of date and what is missing. It is also the first thing an auditor or a franchisor asks for.
Filled in:
| Number | Title | Owner | Version | Reviewed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| K-001 | Kitchen opening | Head chef | 4 | Jan 2026 |
| K-005 | Receiving deliveries | Head chef | 3 | Jan 2026 |
| K-007 | Temperature checks | Head chef | 3 | Jan 2026 |
| K-010 | Allergen orders | Head chef | 5 | Oct 2025 |
| K-012 | Kitchen closing | Head chef | 4 | Jan 2026 |
| F-001 | Front-of-house opening | FOH lead | 2 | Jan 2026 |
| F-010 | Cash-up and banking | Manager | 3 | Jan 2026 |
| A-010 | Weekly fire walk | Manager | 1 | Nov 2025 |
7. When things fail
What goes here. One short entry per failure the site will see: refrigeration failure, power cut, gas smell, no water, card terminal down, key staff absent, delivery not arrived, customer illness complaint, inspection visit. Each: first action, who to call, what to record, when to close or stop trading.
Why it is there. The manual is read most on bad days. An operations manual without a failure section is consulted exactly when it has nothing to say.
Filled in
Walk-in above 41°F: move TCS food to the reach-ins or the backup chest freezer in the store; note the time and the temperature; call ColdFix (4-hour callout); food that has been above 41°F for more than 4 hours in total is discarded and logged. Do not wait to see if it recovers.
Power cut: keep fridge and freezer doors closed (a closed walk-in holds for about 4 hours; a chest freezer 24–48 hours); switch off cooking equipment at the isolators so it does not restart unattended; card terminal on battery for ~2 hours, cash only after; if no power by 9:00 on a weekday, close for the day and tell staff.
Customer reports illness: take their details and what they ate and when on the complaint form; do not argue or diagnose; keep samples of any suspect batch; tell the owner the same day; notify the local authority if more than one report or if the customer says they have. Keep the form 2 years.
8. Compliance calendar
What goes here. Every licence, certificate, inspection and renewal with its date and owner: food premises registration, alcohol licence, gas safety, electrical (EICR / PAT), fire risk assessment, extinguisher service, insurance, music licence, health and safety poster, first-aider certificates, food hygiene certificates, data protection registration.
Why it is there. A lapsed gas certificate or an expired first-aider is the finding that closes a kitchen or voids an insurance claim. The calendar is the one page that prevents it.
Filled in:
| Item | Due | Owner | Evidence kept in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gas safety certificate (commercial catering) | Annually, May | Owner | Compliance folder, tab 2 |
| Fire risk assessment review | Annually, March; after any layout change | Owner | Fire log book |
| Extinguisher service | Annually, March | Manager | Fire log book |
| Electrical: fixed-wire (EICR) 5-yearly; portable appliance testing annually | EICR due 2029; PAT each September | Owner | Compliance folder, tab 3 |
| Food hygiene level 2 (all kitchen staff); level 3 (head chef) | Renew 3-yearly; check at hire | Head chef | Training file |
| First-aider certificate (2 staff) | 3-yearly; next Nov 2027 | Manager | Training file |
| Employer's and public liability insurance | Annually, July | Owner | Office safe |
| Local authority food inspection | Unannounced; last Sept 2025, rating 5 | Owner | Report in compliance folder |
9. Appendices
What goes here. Floor plan with equipment and isolators marked, the forms referenced above, the par sheets, the allergen matrix, the opening and closing checklists, the staff contact list (kept separately for data protection).
Why it is there. The forms live here so that the manual is the one place a stand-in looks. Reference each by name from the section that uses it.
Filled in
A. Floor plan with gas, water and electrical isolators marked. B. Opening and closing checklists (kitchen; front of house). C. Par sheets by supplier. D. Allergen matrix, current version. E. Complaint form. F. Change form. G. Staff contact list (manager's copy only).
Where operations manuals go wrong
It reprints the SOPs
A 90-page manual that contains every procedure in full is a second copy of the SOP binder, and within a year the two disagree. The manual indexes the procedures and says when and by whom; the procedures say how. One place for each.
It was written for the bank and never opened again
An operations manual produced for a loan application, a franchise sale or a due-diligence folder describes the business as the owner wishes it ran. Write it for the stand-in manager, keep it where they work, and it will be true.
No section has an owner
The rhythm table says what and when; if it does not say who, it is the owner's job, which means it is nobody's on the day the owner is away. Every row has a role.
The contacts page is three years old
The refrigeration contractor changed, the pest contract moved, the card terminal is a different provider. The page that is needed at 6 am on the worst morning is the one most likely to be wrong. Check it at every review, and after every change of supplier, the same week.
There is no failure section
Most of the value of the manual is realised on about five days a year, and those are the days nobody has time to read 60 pages. One page per failure, written in advance, is what the manual is for.
It is a single document nobody can find anything in
A manual is used by looking something up. Number the sections, number the procedures, keep the index current, and put the sections the kitchen needs in the kitchen.
Make it a video
The manual is for the manager; the staff need the opening, the closing and the three failure routines. Those are the four videos, in every language on the rota, that make a stand-in week run like a normal one.
Questions
What is the difference between an operations manual and an SOP?
An SOP describes one task step by step. An operations manual describes how the whole site runs, from the schedule and the functions to the people, the procedures (by reference), the suppliers and the compliance dates, so that someone who has never managed it could. One manual references many SOPs.
How long should an operations manual be?
For a single site, 20 to 40 pages plus appendices, most of it tables. Franchise operations manuals run to hundreds of pages because they also carry brand standards, marketing and the franchise rules; a site-level manual should not.
Who writes it?
The person who runs the site, with each function head writing their own section. A consultant can structure it; they cannot know that the produce order cut-off is 14:00 or that the back door sticks in the rain.
How often should it be reviewed?
Fully once a year, and the contacts, rhythm and compliance pages whenever anything changes, the same week. A review date on the cover, and a change form, is enough process for a single site.
Does it replace training?
No. The manual tells a manager what should be happening; the training manual and the SOPs teach staff how to do it. The link between them is the procedure index.
Sources
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