Evening shift handoff at 21:50. Three open tickets at the bar: one waiting on dessert, one half-paid after a split, one card fail with no clear read on whether money left. Morning takes the keys; tickets are still on screen, but nobody knows who to ask. Next morning the recon is one short. Open tickets must not break when people change — handing over the keys is not enough.
When you score candidates, write handoff and day-end as checkable steps. Unfinished tickets must still have an owner; day-end must balance before the next open can start clean.
Unfinished tickets: still owned after the change
Before handoff list: open tables, unfinished payments, kitchen sends or reprints pending, voids or refunds waiting on authorisation, overnight notes for the next shift. For each row: who gives, who takes, first action after take. If the system has “hold,” “transfer” or “take shift,” walk it with people on shift here — do not take the pitch.
Scene: outgoing clicks “handoff”; three opens stay under the old staff number. Incoming can see them, cannot change or take payment. Guests push to settle; both wait on authorisation. Mark fail: seeing is not taking ownership.
If this shop hands over by mouth, still land the talk on paper or a system note: table, money dispute, payments already tried, who must approve. A handoff with no record leaves nobody to ask when morning does not match.
Handoff checklist: tick on the spot, do not fill in later
Write a short sheet; pin it by the pass or the cash drawer. At least: open table count and numbers; cash and float counted face to face; card or failed tenders still to chase; kitchen tickets not fired or not reprinted; permissions and drawer already with the incoming; both sign or confirm staff numbers. Tick during handoff. Do not rebuild from memory the next day.
Scene: the float matches; the failed card is not on the list. Morning treats it as settled and runs day-end one short. A “payment to chase” cell on the sheet would have called the shift lead that night, not the next morning.
In evaluation, have two real shifts each run a handoff. Demo-only “click the handoff button” is not a passed handoff.
Balance day-end before you talk about the next open
Match the way this shop works: orders, tenders, changes, voids, refunds, ticket counts. Export the sheets accounts actually use. Leave or find a deliberate mismatch — can the posts on that shift clear it, and how long. If day-end cannot finish or the gap cannot be explained, do not mark “can close” as pass.
Before the next open, glance again: yesterday’s finished records still readable; open issues in front of the right person; open state, menu and prices not scrambled by a half day-end.
Scene: day-end halfway, system says “opens remain.” The open is the half-paid ticket lost in handoff. Force-close and open anyway — next day money and tables do not match. Handoff and day-end are one story: ticket from whose hands to whose, money matched at which step. Write it clear before the next service.
Tickets that survive a change of people, and a day-end that balances — until both run on this shop’s shifts, do not lock a cutover date.