Bar & Pub Checklists
Seven free Bar & Pub checklists covering the whole licensed day - goods-in, the cellar, the beer line cleaning cycle, opening and responsible service, glassware and ice hygiene, and closing with cash, stock and pour cost. 48 of the 67 checks are tied to published evidence: the Brewers Association Draught Beer Quality Manual, Cask Marque's beer quality reporting, a Journal of the Institute of Brewing survey of 237 keg beers from 57 outlets, peer-reviewed studies on biofilm (bacteria build-up on surfaces) and ice microbiology, FDA Food Code warewashing limits, Trading Standards test purchasing, NHTSA compliance-check research and ACFE fraud data. The three exceptions are the gas and CO2 safety checks, which earn their place on hazard grounds because no leak-incident data is published at all. Where nothing credible is published - pour cost benchmarks, inventory variance distributions, cash over/short rates - we say so plainly rather than repeat a vendor blog, and the checklist generates the number for your own bar.
Goods-In: Kegs, Spirits & Bar DeliveriesCellar losses start at the delivery door. Count every keg and case. Write the date on every one. Never sign for stock you have not checked yourself. · 7 checksCellar, Kegs & GasCold, clean, in date, and safe to walk into. The cellar decides what the tap can pour. · 8 checksBeer Line Cleaning CycleClean every line on schedule, and sign and date each clean. Hour for hour, this is the job that pays back the most. · 9 checksOpening & Responsible ServiceThe licence on the wall, correct measures on the optics, ice in the well, and every server briefed before the first customer arrives. · 13 checksGlassware, Ice & Bar HygieneA dirty glass ruins a perfect pint. Wash it hot, sanitise it to the right strength, and keep the ice as clean as the water it came from. · 9 checksClosing - Cash, Stock & Pour CostCount the cash, count the stock, and put a price on the difference. Nightly numbers are what stop a slow leak from becoming a big loss. · 12 checksWeekly ChecksDo these checks once a week, not every day. · 9 checks The five rules that protect profit
1. Clean lines or lose the pintThe line, not the brewery, is where draught quality dies. Every line, on the cycle, signed and dated - no line skipped because it was quiet.
2. Cold from keg to glassCellar temperature is not serve temperature. The keg, the python and the font all have to be in band, and you prove it by probing the pint, not the room.
3. Measure it, never eyeball itOptics, jiggers and lined glasses on every pour. Free-pouring gives away margin on the generous rounds and short-changes the customer on the mean ones.
4. No ID, no serve - and no serve when they've had enoughBoth refusals are trained, both are logged. The refusals log is the cheapest licensing insurance you will ever buy.
5. Count it nightly or lose it monthlyBlind cash count, closing stock, beer wasted when a keg runs dry (fob) and breakage totals every night. A leak you measure daily is a fix; a leak you find at stocktake is a quarter's profit.
Sources
Every statistic on this page comes from public inspection and food-safety data:
- Journal of the Institute of Brewing & Distilling, 'Draught beer hygiene: a survey of on-trade quality'
- Cask Marque Beer Quality Report 2017
- Brewers Association, Draught Beer Quality Manual
- Cask Marque, 'Beer quality issues'
- Chartered Trading Standards Institute, 'Over two thirds of UK beer and wine is short measured'
- Cask Marque, 'Scores on the Cellar Doors' launch, citing Quality Report 2016
- ACFE, Occupational Fraud 2024: A Report to the Nations
- Toomey et al., 'Can Obviously Intoxicated Patrons Still Easily Buy Alcohol at On-Premise Establishments?'
- Toomey et al., 'Alcohol sales to pseudo-intoxicated bar patrons', Public Health Reports
- NHTSA, Countermeasures That Work - Alcohol Vendor Compliance Checks
- Ohio Administrative Code 3717-1-04.4
- FDA Report on the Occurrence of Foodborne Illness Risk Factors
- Journal of Water and Health
- Food Safety Magazine, 'The Sanitation of Ice-Making Equipment', citing NSF/ANSI 12-2012
- Miller, Buckingham-Meyer & Goeres, 'Simulated aging of draught beer line tubing increases biofilm contamination'
- Brewers Association, 'Economics of Draught Quality' November Power Hour Q&A
- British Guild of Beer Writers, analysis of Food Standards Agency FHRS data
This is the manual version
PeakScale Ops runs checklists, audits and issue-tracking automatically across 2,000+ locations in 4 countries. See the real thing → Free to use in your shop · every check cites its evidence · agent-ready JSON available per pack