Bars, pubs & clubs
Packed house, clear head: the process makes the difference.
Between opening the doors and closing time lies the real work: checking the tap system, topping up the ice, starting up the cloakroom and the till system, setting up the cocktail mise en place, adjusting along the way when a keg runs dry, the ice runs low or the queue backs up at the door, and at the end flushing the beer lines, switching off the lighting rig and fog machine and cashing up. Every shift hands this state over to the next. Set down as a clear process, the venue runs as smoothly at midnight as at eight, no matter who is behind the bar or on the door.
The same standards, from the neighbourhood pub to the club chain.
Every device has its own tasks
Tap system, fridges, glass washer, ice machine, lighting rig and fog machine are not a single "clean the venue" item on a list. Every device has its own tasks, split by opening and closing: unscrew the taps and clean them in the cleaning solution, flush the beer lines, visually check the ice machine, top up the rinse aid in the glass washer, fill the fog machine with fluid, check the lighting rig works.
Businesses name their devices by type rather than by a generic name. When a club runs several bars at once, "Tap system main bar" makes it immediately clear which one is meant, and the cleaning instructions match the exact device rather than a category.
Every task can be linked to devices from the catalogue. From the moment it is linked, the system automatically provides the matching operating manual: it is attached to the device and its text is searchable. The AI assistant answers questions from it, without anyone having to hunt for the manual.
Multilingual is the norm here
Tasks are created and evaluated in the business language, German or English. Every staff member sees them in their own language: German, English, Spanish, Serbian, Russian, Turkish, French or Vietnamese. Bartenders, waiting staff, runners, door staff and cloakroom staff in this industry rarely come from a single country — that is not a special case but everyday life.
The language follows the person, not the location. Anyone who prefers to read in their own language gets the tasks that way, while setup and reporting stay in the business language for bar management.
No two bars work alike
Hardly any two bars describe the same work in the same words. What one calls the tap handover is the middle shift in the other — and the order is different anyway.
For getting started that means a template list will barely fit. What counts is an empty, well-structured environment in which your own process is quickly mapped — and tasks you can describe in your own words.
Drink quality is logged like hygiene
Alongside the cleaning tasks run checkpoints on the product: check the tap pressure and the head on the beer, taste a cocktail against its recipe, check the pour against the fill line, check the tapping date of kegs and the opening date of bottles, check the best-before dates of juices and syrups. Plus the task of starting the ice production for the next day in the evening, so there is enough ice for every bar in the house in the morning.
So the record here is not only about the authorities. Pub or club, what gets documented is whether the gin and tonic tastes the same as last time — because that is exactly why the guest comes back.
„I like the simple operation and the well-thought-out flows. In the past I was often annoyed about forgotten tasks — with gastrotodo there are no excuses any more because every task is processed as a to-do.“
Jens, Owner · Bunthaus Schankraum
What bar, pub and club owners want to know first
Everyone does everything here. Do we need positions then?
No, positions are not required. Splitting by time of day, room or bar station works just as well, and can be refined at any time later as the business grows.
We have several bars or floors in the club. Does it all come together in one system?
Yes. Each bar or floor can run as an area of its own with its own equipment list, while reporting for the whole club stays central.
How do we document cleaning of the tap system?
As a recurring task with an optional signature. It lands in the HACCP documentation with timestamp and person, even when an external service cleans the lines.
Temps and students come and go all the time here. Is onboarding them worth it?
That is exactly when structure pays off: new staff find their way around straight away using the position list, without anyone having to put extra time into onboarding. Onboarding runs on the same task lists that are used day to day.
Ready to structure your business?
Start with gastrotodo — try free for 7 days, then carry on with the plan that fits your business.