Restaurant pre-opening checklist (India) — 84 items, 90 days

About this piece. A pre-opening checklist is the difference between a restaurant that opens on the planned date with paying customers and one that opens 6 weeks late with the first month's rent already burnt. This is the 84-item version — every task we've seen actually matter in 50+ India launches, sequenced into 6 phases across 90 days. Print it, stick it on the project room wall, tick items as you close them. The one rule: don't move to the next phase until the prior phase is signed off.

How to use this checklist

Six phases. Each phase has a clean exit criterion — when that's met, move on. The phases run partly in parallel (you'll be hiring while you're fitting out), but the sequencing of dependencies — licence before signage, plumbing before kitchen install, recruitment before training — has been tested.

Tracking format: print on A3, one item per row, columns for Owner, Due date, Status (NS/IP/D), Notes. A Google Sheet copy works equally well; the rule is one source of truth, not three.

Phase 1 — Pre-lease (Day –90 to –75)

Exit criterion: lease executed, project budget signed off, brand & menu locked.

1. Catchment study — footfall, F&B density, anchor tenants
2. 3 site shortlist with comparative rent / sqft / footfall
3. Licence-feasibility check (fire, FSSAI compatibility, signage rights)
4. Architect appointed; concept design + estimate
5. Vendor list — kitchen equipment, furniture, POS, signage shortlist
6. Final business plan with 3-scenario P&L
7. Capex + opex + working capital corpus committed
8. Lease term sheet negotiated (rent escalation, lock-in, renewal)
9. Lease registered + stamp duty paid
10. Project bank account opened + opening balance funded
11. Brand identity — name, logo, menu narrative locked
12. Menu draft (final SKUs + recipe cards)

Phase 2 — Statutory + design (Day –75 to –60)

Exit criterion: all licences applied for, sanctioned drawings approved.

1. Trade licence application (municipal)
2. Shop & Establishment registration application
3. FSSAI State Licence application (water test booked + uploaded)
4. GST registration (if turnover-eligible)
5. Eating House licence (police, where applicable)
6. Fire NOC application + sanctioned plan submitted
7. Signage licence application
8. PAN/TAN/EPFO/ESI registration if employer
9. PPL + Novex music licence applications
10. Final architectural drawings (civil + MEP + kitchen layout)
11. Kitchen layout signed off by chef + brand standards (if franchise)
12. Brand artwork — menu cards, table tents, packaging proofs
13. Insurance quotes — fire, public liability, content
14. Liquor licence application (if applicable; separate 4–9 month track)

Phase 3 — Fit-out + supply (Day –60 to –30)

Exit criterion: civil + electrical + plumbing closed, kitchen equipment delivered.

1. Civil works — flooring, ceiling, wet area
2. Electrical — load sanction, DG/inverter, lighting
3. HVAC + kitchen exhaust install
4. Plumbing — kitchen, washroom, grease trap
5. CCTV install (DPDPA-compliant; signage at entry)
6. Network / Wi-Fi infrastructure + dual ISP for POS uptime
7. Kitchen equipment delivery + commissioning
8. POS hardware + KOT printers + payment terminals
9. Furniture delivery + assembly
10. Smallware — utensils, plating, glassware, cutlery
11. Cleaning + sanitisation pre-handover
12. Snag list — architect + civil + MEP walk-through
13. Snag closure — second walk-through with sign-off
14. Insurance policies executed (effective date = handover)

Phase 4 — Hiring + training (Day –45 to –10)

Exit criterion: full team on payroll, SOP training complete, trial service done.

1. Org chart finalised — manager, head chef, FOH lead, KOT, dishwash
2. JD + salary band per role; offer letter template
3. Recruitment — direct + agency + referral channels
4. Background verification + reference checks
5. Offer letters issued + acceptance
6. Joining + medical checks (food handler health card per FSSAI)
7. Uniform sourcing + sizing
8. EPFO + ESI enrolment per employee
9. Bank account + UAN setup for salary credit
10. SOP manual — kitchen recipes, FOH service flow, cash close
11. Brand training (if franchise — at HQ or via brand trainer)
12. Health & safety training — fire drill, first aid, FSSAI hygiene
13. POS + KOT training for cashiers + service staff
14. Service drill — full menu rehearsal with timed plate-up
15. Trial service for staff families — soft service drill
16. Performance feedback + roster fix for opening week

Phase 5 — Supply chain + finance setup (Day –30 to –10)

Exit criterion: vendor accounts active, opening inventory delivered, books opened.

1. Vendor onboarding — vegetables, meat, dairy, dry, beverages
2. Vendor agreements — credit terms, delivery cadence, escalation contacts
3. Cold chain vendor (if applicable) — temperature monitoring SOP
4. Beverage agreements — soft drinks, water, juices
5. Packaging vendor — disposables, take-away, branded boxes
6. Cleaning + chemical supplier
7. Opening inventory order placed (week –2)
8. Opening inventory received + stocked + labelled (FIFO)
9. Recipe-card costing finalised with current vendor rates
10. Food cost % per SKU calculated; menu margin reviewed
11. POS menu programming — items, modifiers, taxes, combos
12. Petty cash float set; imprest discipline written into SOP
13. Cash deposit account + agreement with bank cash-pickup vendor
14. Books opened in accounting software (Tally / Zoho / equivalent)
15. Payroll software set up; first pay cycle dummy-tested

Phase 6 — Soft launch + grand opening (Day –10 to 0)

Exit criterion: 5–7 days of service tested under controlled volumes, all gaps closed.

1. Final fire NOC inspection + clearance
2. Final FSSAI inspection + clearance
3. Licence numbers printed on menu + bill format + entrance display
4. POS dry-run with full menu + payment modes
5. Friends & family soft service (3 nights, 30% capacity)
6. Issue log from soft launch — categorised by kitchen / FOH / billing
7. Issue closure — every red item resolved, ambers tracked
8. Soft launch to public (5 nights, 60% capacity, controlled marketing)
9. Daily review post-soft-launch — covers, ticket time, complaints
10. Grand opening date + invite list locked
11. Local digital push + influencer hand-over (3 days before opening)
12. Grand opening event — VIP slot + media slot + public slot
13. Day 1 of normal operations — DSR locked, owner cash close at end

Items 76–80 are the single most leverage-able phase of the entire plan. Operators who skip the soft launch — usually because the team is anxious to monetise and bills are mounting — open with a kitchen line that hasn't run a real service. The first paying customer is then the test customer. That's expensive.

Phase exit gates — don't skip these

The discipline that turns this checklist into a working tool is the phase exit gate. End of every phase, owner + project manager sign a one-page summary:

• Items closed
• Items open + reason + new ETA
• Spend vs budget for the phase
• Risks for next phase

Three signatures across three weeks is roughly 90 minutes of total ceremony. It is the single highest-leverage 90 minutes in the whole project.

What goes wrong most often

From 50+ India launches, the failure modes cluster in five places:

1. HVAC + kitchen exhaust under-quoted. The original quote misses ducting routing or commercial-grade hood. Cost overrun ₹2–5L; timeline slip 10–15 days.
2. Fire NOC delayed. Sanctioned plan rejected first time, requires resubmission. Slip 15–30 days. Mitigate by engaging a fire consultant in phase 2, not phase 6.
3. Liquor licence missed entirely. Operator assumes "we'll add liquor later". The application takes 4–9 months; "later" is actually 9 months later. Decide on liquor in phase 1.
4. Trial-stage staff attrition. New joinees walk in week 2 of training because the brand isn't open yet and they have other offers. Mitigate by joining + training in two waves with overlap.
5. Working capital underestimated. The corpus runs out in month 4. See the cost breakdown piece for the right number.

Related on Restaurant Daily

• Restaurant cost breakdown in India
• Restaurant license cost in India (2026)
• Equipment list for a new Indian restaurant