Kitchen cleaning checklist: a close-down log for every shift

A cleaning rota on the wall is easy to ignore, and a sheet in a drawer goes missing. I would rather have the last person out answer a short form on their phone. Then I can see from home what was done.

Surfaces and equipment

Prep surfaces, the grill and the fryers. These are the places where grease and leftovers build up first, so each one gets its own tick.

Floors, bins and sinks

The dull jobs that get skipped on a busy night. Separate ticks make a skipped job visible instead of hidden inside "cleaned up".

Food and handover

Leftovers covered and dated, fridge doors shut, gas off and the hand wash sinks stocked. A final box catches anything broken or unfinished, so the opening cook knows what to expect.

Who fills it and who reads it

The closing cook fills it in. The manager reads the CSV. A cook's AI might ask "Which shift did you close?" Then "Were the fryers filtered or covered?" Then "Is anything broken or unfinished?" It shows all answers and sends them only after a yes. See agent-fillable forms.

A tip

Make the form the last job before the lights go off. Read the previous night's log first thing. This is a log, not a food safety plan, so follow your local rules. Browse forms for restaurants and food businesses and forms for IT and operations. Pair it with a restaurant opening checklist, a fridge temperature log and a general cleaning checklist.

Questions

Why are the tick boxes optional?

An honest log must show what was skipped. An unticked box appears in the CSV as a gap, so you see the missed job and the note that explains it.

How do I check that every shift logged a close-down?

Sort the CSV by shift_date and shift_closed. A missing row means nobody logged that shift. The form sends no reminders, so check the list each morning.

Can I change the tasks?

Yes. The tasks are examples for a restaurant kitchen. When you create the form, swap them for your own, such as a pizza oven, a smoker or a milk frother.

Or paste the JSON

Give this to your AI. It needs the AI Form API MCP server or an API key. It makes the form and sends you the link.

text

Create this form with the AI Form API create_form tool (or POST https://aiformapi.com/v1/forms with my API key). Then reply with the public_url.

{
  "title": "Kitchen close-down check",
  "description": "Tick every job you finished before you leave. Leave a job unticked if it is not done, and tell us why at the bottom.",
  "fields": [
    {
      "id": "staff_name",
      "label": "Your name",
      "type": "short_text",
      "required": true,
      "max_length": 100
    },
    {
      "id": "shift_date",
      "label": "Date of the shift",
      "type": "date",
      "required": true
    },
    {
      "id": "shift_closed",
      "label": "Which shift did you close?",
      "type": "single_choice",
      "required": true,
      "options": [
        "Lunch close",
        "Dinner close",
        "Late night close"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "surfaces_sanitised",
      "label": "Prep surfaces and chopping boards washed and sanitised",
      "type": "checkbox"
    },
    {
      "id": "grill_cleaned",
      "label": "Grill and flat top scraped and cleaned",
      "type": "checkbox"
    },
    {
      "id": "fryers_handled",
      "label": "Fryers filtered or covered",
      "type": "checkbox"
    },
    {
      "id": "floors_done",
      "label": "Floors swept and mopped",
      "type": "checkbox"
    },
    {
      "id": "bins_emptied",
      "label": "Bins emptied and liners replaced",
      "type": "checkbox"
    },
    {
      "id": "sinks_cleaned",
      "label": "Sinks and drains cleaned",
      "type": "checkbox"
    },
    {
      "id": "food_labelled",
      "label": "Leftover food covered, labelled and dated",
      "type": "checkbox"
    },
    {
      "id": "fridge_doors_shut",
      "label": "Fridge and freezer doors shut",
      "type": "checkbox"
    },
    {
      "id": "equipment_off",
      "label": "Gas and equipment switched off",
      "type": "checkbox"
    },
    {
      "id": "handwash_stocked",
      "label": "Hand wash sinks stocked with soap and towels",
      "type": "checkbox"
    },
    {
      "id": "problems_found",
      "label": "Anything broken, missing or left unfinished",
      "type": "long_text",
      "max_length": 1000
    }
  ]
}

Or call the API

bash

curl -X POST https://aiformapi.com/v1/forms \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $AIFORMAPI_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"title":"Kitchen close-down check","description":"Tick every job you finished before you leave. Leave a job unticked if it is not done, and tell us why at the bottom.","fields":[{"id":"staff_name","label":"Your name","type":"short_text","required":true,"max_length":100},{"id":"shift_date","label":"Date of the shift","type":"date","required":true},{"id":"shift_closed","label":"Which shift did you close?","type":"single_choice","required":true,"options":["Lunch close","Dinner close","Late night close"]},{"id":"surfaces_sanitised","label":"Prep surfaces and chopping boards washed and sanitised","type":"checkbox"},{"id":"grill_cleaned","label":"Grill and flat top scraped and cleaned","type":"checkbox"},{"id":"fryers_handled","label":"Fryers filtered or covered","type":"checkbox"},{"id":"floors_done","label":"Floors swept and mopped","type":"checkbox"},{"id":"bins_emptied","label":"Bins emptied and liners replaced","type":"checkbox"},{"id":"sinks_cleaned","label":"Sinks and drains cleaned","type":"checkbox"},{"id":"food_labelled","label":"Leftover food covered, labelled and dated","type":"checkbox"},{"id":"fridge_doors_shut","label":"Fridge and freezer doors shut","type":"checkbox"},{"id":"equipment_off","label":"Gas and equipment switched off","type":"checkbox"},{"id":"handwash_stocked","label":"Hand wash sinks stocked with soap and towels","type":"checkbox"},{"id":"problems_found","label":"Anything broken, missing or left unfinished","type":"long_text","max_length":1000}]}'

JSON definition

json

{
  "title": "Kitchen close-down check",
  "description": "Tick every job you finished before you leave. Leave a job unticked if it is not done, and tell us why at the bottom.",
  "fields": [
    {
      "id": "staff_name",
      "label": "Your name",
      "type": "short_text",
      "required": true,
      "max_length": 100
    },
    {
      "id": "shift_date",
      "label": "Date of the shift",
      "type": "date",
      "required": true
    },
    {
      "id": "shift_closed",
      "label": "Which shift did you close?",
      "type": "single_choice",
      "required": true,
      "options": [
        "Lunch close",
        "Dinner close",
        "Late night close"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "surfaces_sanitised",
      "label": "Prep surfaces and chopping boards washed and sanitised",
      "type": "checkbox"
    },
    {
      "id": "grill_cleaned",
      "label": "Grill and flat top scraped and cleaned",
      "type": "checkbox"
    },
    {
      "id": "fryers_handled",
      "label": "Fryers filtered or covered",
      "type": "checkbox"
    },
    {
      "id": "floors_done",
      "label": "Floors swept and mopped",
      "type": "checkbox"
    },
    {
      "id": "bins_emptied",
      "label": "Bins emptied and liners replaced",
      "type": "checkbox"
    },
    {
      "id": "sinks_cleaned",
      "label": "Sinks and drains cleaned",
      "type": "checkbox"
    },
    {
      "id": "food_labelled",
      "label": "Leftover food covered, labelled and dated",
      "type": "checkbox"
    },
    {
      "id": "fridge_doors_shut",
      "label": "Fridge and freezer doors shut",
      "type": "checkbox"
    },
    {
      "id": "equipment_off",
      "label": "Gas and equipment switched off",
      "type": "checkbox"
    },
    {
      "id": "handwash_stocked",
      "label": "Hand wash sinks stocked with soap and towels",
      "type": "checkbox"
    },
    {
      "id": "problems_found",
      "label": "Anything broken, missing or left unfinished",
      "type": "long_text",
      "max_length": 1000
    }
  ]
}

A kitchen cleaning checklist for the end of every shift