PREVRA Opening and Closing Checklist Template: Your Daily Start-Up and Shut-Down Routine
A structured checklist covering all SFBB checks for opening and closing shifts in UK food businesses. Ensures nothing gets missed when the kitchen is at its most chaotic.
Why opening and closing checks matter for food safety compliance
Most food safety failures don't happen mid-service — they happen in the first and last 30 minutes when staff are rushing to set up or get home. The transition periods are exactly when critical checks get skipped: fridge temperatures go unrecorded, surfaces are cleaned in haste, and equipment faults go unnoticed until tomorrow's service.
An EHO inspection will ask to see your opening and closing records. If you cannot demonstrate a consistent routine — day after day, every shift — you are looking at a compliance gap that affects your food hygiene rating. SFBB Safer Food Better Business specifically requires daily opening and closing checks as part of your documented food safety management system.
Using this checklist in your daily kitchen routine
Print one copy per shift and assign it to the shift supervisor or senior chef. Work through it methodically — opening checks before any food preparation begins, closing checks after the last service. Each item must be ticked off, not assumed. If a check fails (fridge above 5°C, no hot water, pest evidence), there must be a clear corrective action recorded.
Paper checklists work, but they get lost, coffee-stained, and filled in retrospectively. Digital SFBB opening and closing logs timestamp every check, flag failures immediately to the manager, and give your EHO a complete audit trail they can trust. No more wondering whether last Tuesday's closing checks were actually done.
Mistakes that cost hygiene ratings
Ticking without checking. The most common failure. Staff tick boxes because they "always" do it, not because they verified it today. This is worse than no checklist — it creates false evidence.
Skipping the closing fridge check. Teams check fridges at opening but forget the closing reading. If a unit fails overnight, you lose 12 hours of evidence about when the failure started.
No corrective action recorded. A checklist that says "fridge at 8°C" with no follow-up note is an admission of liability in an EHO inspection. Always record what was done about the problem.
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