Closing for a holiday? Plan the reopening too
Anybody can close. It is the reopening that costs money: the water has stood for three weeks, the beer lines were left full, the cold room is off with its doors shut, and the first delivery had to be ordered before the holiday ended. Enter two dates and this plan works out when everything has to happen — backwards from your last service, forwards to the day you open again.
How it works
- 1
Two dates
Your last service and the day you open again. The length of the closure follows from those two — and the length decides what the job actually is.
- 2
What your building has
Tick what you actually own: cold room, draught beer, machines, terrace, water. Whatever you do not have leaves the plan.
- 3
The clock runs both ways
The wind-down is counted backwards from your last service, the restart forwards to your reopening. Move either date and the whole plan moves with it.
- 4
Put names on it
Every job gets somebody. Whatever has no name is listed at the bottom — that is the list left standing on the last evening.
- 5
Print two sheets
The wind-down sheet for the last week, the restart sheet for the days before you open. Plus four notices with your dates already in them, ready to paste.
Five days shut is a different job from four weeks
For a short closure you leave the cold room running and eat the stock down. From a week upwards you do the opposite: empty, defrost, switch off, prop the doors open. No printable checklist online is conditional on the length — which is why every one of them is wrong for half the people who print it.
| What | Short closure | A week or longer | Why it flips |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stock and suppliers | Eat the fresh stock down: put deliberate specials on the board for the last days. | Clear the stock completely: freeze and label what keeps, give away what does not, and leave nothing perishable in the building. | Fresh food you eat down is revenue. Fresh food left standing is waste, plus a smell you will not get out on your return. |
| Draught beer | Leave the beer lines full and pull one glass through before you serve again. | Clean the beer lines, disconnect and seal the kegs, check the cellar cooling. | Beer in the line keeps for a few days. After that it is the line you get back, not the beer. |
| Cold room and freezer | Leave the cold units running: holding one full cabinet cold costs less than bringing everything back to temperature. | Cold units empty, defrosted, cleaned, dry and off — leave the doors propped open against mould. | Holding a full cabinet cold costs less than bringing everything back down to temperature — but nobody runs an empty cabinet for three weeks. |
| Water and toilets | Run every tap for a moment and flush every toilet before the first guest. | Flush the whole water system: every tap hot and cold for several minutes, every toilet flushed, and the water heater back up to temperature. | Water standing still in pipes is the one risk of a closure you cannot see, cannot smell and cannot judge for yourself. |
The words on this sheet
Five terms that come back in every closure, in the meaning they carry in a restaurant.
- Temporary closure
- A period during which a venue is deliberately shut and afterwards opens again: a collective holiday, a seasonal closure or a refurbishment. A different thing from closing for good or handing over.
- Wind-down
- The work before the last service: stopping orders, running the stock down, telling guests and staff. It is counted backwards from your last shift.
- Lock-up round
- The round you walk once, after the last service: clean, empty, switch off, close, photograph. Not to be confused with the daily closing round.
- Check visit
- Somebody who walks in during the closure and looks at three things: the cold units, leaks and the post. A freezer that dies on day four is otherwise found on day twenty-one.
- Restart
- The work before you open again: the flush, the cold chain back to temperature, the lines, the first delivery, the test service. It is counted forwards to your reopening.
Frequently asked questions
How far ahead should I announce a holiday closure?
Three weeks is a good rule of thumb for guests and staff, and ten days for your suppliers — that is the time a supplier needs to stop a standing order without bread turning up at your door anyway. This plan counts those dates back from your last service by itself, and says so when one has already gone by.
Should my cold room stay on or go off during a closure?
It depends on the length. Up to about a week you leave it running: holding a full cabinet cold uses less energy than bringing everything back to temperature. From a week upwards you empty it, defrost, clean, dry, switch off and leave the doors open — a closed, switched-off cold room is a mould cabinet three weeks later.
What do I have to do about the water if I am shut for more than a week?
Water standing still in pipes is why you flush after a closure before anybody drinks from it or washes up in it: run every tap hot and cold for several minutes, flush every toilet and bring the water heater back up to temperature. Exactly what applies in your country, and from when, is in your own installer's and inspectorate's guidance — this sheet says when, not how.
When do I have to place my first order after the closure?
Usually three days before you open — which means that for a short closure you have to order before you lock the door. That is precisely the job that is late every year, and the plan says so whenever your closure is shorter than the lead time a job needs.
Why would anybody come in during the closure?
Because a freezer has no alarm that reaches you on holiday. One visit a week is enough: cold units, leaks, post and pests. This plan puts those visits on the calendar itself, spread across your closure.
Can I print this sheet blank?
Yes. Anything with no name gets a ruled line instead of a gap, and every job has a tick box. So you can carry the sheet through the building and fill it in with a pen, or type it up first and print it as the record.
This is a house document, not a statement of law. What has to happen to water that has stood still, to gas and electricity, to food you throw away and to what must be recorded differs per country and per inspectorate. Follow your own HACCP plan, your own procedures and your installer's instructions.