Pre-opening checklist for a café or QSR: 60 days out to opening day

In the 60 days before opening, a café or QSR should, in order: apply for licences and book inspections; lock suppliers, equipment and the POS; hire and train staff; test every recipe and cost it; run a soft launch with invited guests; then go live on delivery apps. Licences and inspections take longest, so they start first.

What has to happen 8 to 7 weeks out?

Start the slow steps: licences, inspections and senior hires. Everything else depends on them.

• Sign the lease or letter of intent, and collect the owner's NOC and property papers.
• Apply for FSSAI. Registration now covers turnover up to ₹1.5 crore and is meant to be instant, with no pre-inspection (FSSAI, March 2026). Our licences guide covers the full list and the order to apply.
• Apply for GST. It is compulsory above ₹20 lakh turnover, or ₹10 lakh in four north-eastern states (CBIC), and delivery apps, landlords and suppliers often ask for a GSTIN anyway.
• Submit fire plans, if your state and building need a fire NOC, and apply for the municipal health or trade licence.
• Hire the head chef or kitchen lead and the café or store manager. They should help design the kitchen flow and write the recipes, not arrive after the fact.
• Freeze the menu draft. Aim for fewer items than you want; every item adds prep, stock and training.
• Open a current account and set up a payment gateway or UPI merchant account.

What has to happen 6 to 5 weeks out?

Lock suppliers, equipment and systems, and cost the menu.

• Shortlist two suppliers for each major category (dairy, produce, meat, dry goods, packaging, coffee) and agree prices, delivery days, credit terms and minimum orders.
• Order kitchen equipment and confirm installation dates against the fit-out plan.
• Choose a POS that handles dine-in, takeaway and delivery-app orders in one place, prints GST-compliant bills and tracks stock. Ask for a trial.
• Set up online payments. A gateway such as Razorpay charges 2% plus 18% GST per transaction, and UPI carries no merchant discount rate under RBI policy (Razorpay).
• Write a standard recipe card for every item: ingredients, weights, method, plating and yield.
• Cost every plate from those cards and set prices. Use our food cost calculator.
• Order uniforms, signage and printed menus. Check whether your sign needs a municipal permit.

What has to happen 4 to 3 weeks out?

Finish hiring and start training, and chase every open approval.

• Hire the rest of the team: cooks, baristas, cashiers, service staff, cleaners.
• Issue a written appointment letter to every worker. The four labour codes, most of which took effect on 21 November 2025, make appointment letters mandatory (KPMG).
• Check which social security rules apply to your headcount. ESI started with factories of 10 or more people and has been extended to shops, hotels and restaurants in notified areas, and it covers employees earning up to ₹21,000 a month (ESIC). Provident fund has its own threshold; confirm both with your accountant.
• File the Shops and Establishments registration. In Maharashtra, a place with fewer than ten workers files an intimation within 60 days of starting (Maharashtra Act, s.7); other states differ.
• Get every food handler a medical check. FSSAI's hygiene schedule asks for a yearly medical examination, with records kept for inspection (FSSAI Licensing Regulations).
• If you hold a state or central FSSAI licence, have at least one trained and certified food safety supervisor for every 25 food handlers (FSSAI direction). That supervisor then trains the rest of the staff at least once a quarter (FoSTaC).
• Start training: hygiene and allergens first, then recipes, then the POS, then service.
• Follow up on the fire and municipal inspections. Ask for dates in writing.

What has to happen 2 weeks out?

Stock the kitchen, rehearse, and prepare the delivery listings.

• Place the first stock orders, sized for trial services, not for a full week.
• Set par levels and a daily opening and closing checklist for each station.
• Run cooking trials of every item, timed, and fix recipes that are slow or inconsistent.
• Load the full menu, prices, taxes and modifiers into the POS and test a bill for each order type.
• Prepare aggregator listings: FSSAI certificate, PAN, GSTIN if registered, bank details, the menu and good photos. Decide your app prices now; read what Swiggy and Zomato really cost first.
• Photograph the food and the space for the apps, Google Business Profile and Instagram.
• Set up your Google Business Profile with correct hours, phone and location.

What has to happen in the final week?

Run a soft launch, fix what breaks, and only then open to the public.

• Hold two or three soft-launch services for friends, neighbours and nearby offices, free or at a discount. Treat each as a full rehearsal.
• Time every order from POS to pass. Note which items hold up the line and cut or simplify them.
• Count stock before and after each service to check your recipe quantities are real.
• Hold a short debrief after each service and change one thing at a time.
• Confirm every licence certificate is in hand and displayed where required.
• Go live on Swiggy and Zomato a few days after the dine-in opening, once the kitchen can handle walk-ins.

What should opening day look like?

A normal service with more people on the floor. Keep it simple.

• Full team in an hour early for a briefing: menu, specials, what to do when something runs out.
• Manager on the floor, not behind the counter.
• Cash float, spare printer rolls, backup UPI QR and a phone number for the POS vendor.
• A short list of things to note (complaints, slow items, stock-outs) for the next morning.

Worked example: a 30-seat café in Pune

These dates are illustrative, not a promise. We assume a café opening on a Saturday, with 10 staff, an FSSAI registration and a fire NOC needed for the building.

If the fire inspection slips to week 1, the opening moves; do not open without it. It is safer to announce a month, not a date, until the last inspection is booked.