Standard Operating Procedure · SOP-TH-001

TapHaus — daily stall operations

Open, serve, close. Written so that any trained staff member can run the stall to the same standard on a day the owner isn't there — which is the only real test of whether a process exists.

Business TapHaus Version 1.0 Applies to All stall staff Review Quarterly

The three non-negotiables

4°C

Cold holding limit — above this, stock is quarantined

60°C

Hot holding floor — below this, reheat once or discard

2hr

Max cumulative time in the danger zone

20s

Handwash, every trigger point, no exceptions

Read this first

Temperature and time thresholds below follow widely-adopted food-safety standards. Local regulations take precedence over this document. Verify every threshold against your LGU health office and current FDA Philippines / DOH guidance before this SOP goes live, and re-verify at each quarterly review.

01Purpose & scope

To standardise daily operation of the TapHaus stall so that food safety, service speed, and cash accuracy don't depend on who happens to be working. Covers opening, service, closing, safety, and money. Does not cover supplier negotiation, menu development, or permits.

02The three non-negotiables

Everything else in this document is procedure and can be adapted. These three are not. Any one of them broken means stop and fix it before the next customer.

Non-negotiable 1

Temp

Nothing is served that has been in the danger zone longer than the limit. No exceptions, no judgment calls, no "it's probably fine."

Non-negotiable 2

Hands

Handwashing at every trigger point. This is the single highest-leverage safety behaviour in the stall.

Non-negotiable 3

Log

If it wasn't logged, it didn't happen. An unlogged temp check is an unperformed temp check.

03Opening — T−90 to open

T−90 Arrive, unlock, lights & powerCheck nothing tripped overnight. A dead chest freezer discovered at open is a whole day saved.

T−85 Cold chain check — first, alwaysEvery fridge and freezer. Log the reading. If cold holding is above limit, quarantine and assess before anything else happens.

T−80 Handwash station liveRunning water, soap, single-use towels. If the handwash station isn't working, the stall isn't opening.

T−75 Surfaces & equipment sanitisedAll contact surfaces, boards, tongs, taps. Sanitiser at correct dilution — not "a good splash."

T−60 Stock check & FIFO rotationOldest stock forward. Anything past date out now, not "we'll use it first."

T−45 Prep to par levelsPrep to the day's par, not to the fridge's capacity. Over-prep is tomorrow's waste.

T−20 Hot holding to tempBring hot holding up and confirm it holds before service, not during.

T−15 Float count & POS openCount the float twice, log it, sign it. Two people if two are on.

T−5 Front-of-stall checkSignage, menu, pricing correct and clean. Staff presentable. Bins empty.

T−0 OpenOpening log signed off. Anything unresolved is escalated, not carried into service.

04Food safety thresholds

Control point	Threshold	Check frequency	If out of range
Cold holding	≤ 4°C / 40°F	Open, midday, close	Quarantine stock, log, assess time above temp before any decision to serve
Frozen storage	≤ −18°C / 0°F	Open & close	Do not refreeze thawed stock. Assess and discard if in doubt
Hot holding	≥ 60°C / 140°F	Every 2 hours	Reheat to ≥ 74°C once, or discard. Never hold below temp "until it sells"
Danger zone	4°C – 60°C	Continuous awareness	Max 2 hours cumulative. Discard past limit — this one is absolute
Poultry, cooked	≥ 74°C / 165°F core	Every batch	Return to heat. Probe the thickest part, not the edge
Ground meat, cooked	≥ 71°C / 160°F core	Every batch	Return to heat
Reheating	≥ 74°C / 165°F within 2 hrs	Every instance	Discard. Reheat once only — never twice
Cooling cooked food	60→21°C in 2 hrs, 21→4°C in 4 more	Every batch cooled	Discard if the window is missed. Shallow pans, not deep tubs

Handwash triggers — every single time

Arriving at the stall, and returning from any break
Before handling ready-to-eat food, and after handling raw
After handling cash or a phone — cash is the dirtiest thing in the stall
After touching face, hair, apron, or bins
After cleaning, or handling chemicals
After coughing, sneezing, or eating

20 seconds, soap, warm running water, dry with single-use towel. Gloves are not a substitute for handwashing — a contaminated glove is just a contaminated hand you can't feel.

The cash-and-food rule

If one person is on the stall, cash and food handling must be separated by a handwash every time. If two are on, split the roles — one on money, one on food. It's faster and it removes the decision entirely.

05Service standard

Acknowledge within 5 seconds

Even mid-order with someone else. Eye contact and "I'll be right with you" holds a queue better than speed does. People wait patiently when they've been seen.

Take the order, read it back

Read back every order before it goes to prep. Ten seconds here prevents a remake, a refund, and an unhappy customer telling the queue about it.

Flag allergens honestly

If asked about an allergen and you are not certain, say you are not certain and check. Never guess. This is the one place where a confident wrong answer can seriously hurt someone.

Handle payment, then wash

Complete the transaction fully, then wash before returning to food. Every time.

Recover a complaint fast and without argument

Remake or refund, no debate at the counter. The margin on one item is worth vastly less than the queue watching how you handle it.

06Cash handling

Float: counted and logged at open and close. Two-person count whenever two are rostered.
Mid-shift drop: excess cash removed from the drawer to a secure point at set intervals. Never let the drawer become worth robbing.
Every sale rings through the POS. No exceptions, including staff meals and comps — an untracked comp is indistinguishable from theft in the numbers.
Voids and refunds: reason logged every time. A pattern of unexplained voids is the earliest signal of a problem.
Reconciliation: at close, against POS totals. Variance beyond a small tolerance is investigated the same night, while people still remember.

07Closing — from last order

T+0 Last orders, stop prepNo new prep. Serve down what's already made.

T+15 Hot holding assessed & clearedNothing held over. Anything past the window is discarded and logged — not taken home, not "saved for tomorrow."

T+25 Cold stock rotated & datedEverything labelled with date. Unlabelled stock at open tomorrow gets discarded — that's the rule that makes labelling happen.

T+35 Cash reconciledCount, reconcile against POS, log variance, secure the take.

T+50 Deep cleanSurfaces, equipment, taps, floor, bins out. Grease traps per schedule.

T+70 Final temp log & stock noteClose readings logged. Note anything running low for tomorrow's order.

T+80 Close-down & securePower down per equipment list, lock up, closing log signed.

08Daily log — the actual accountability

One sheet, signed by whoever closed. This is what makes the SOP real rather than aspirational, and it's the first thing a health inspector asks for.

Log item	When	Signed by
Cold & freezer temps	Open / midday / close	On-shift staff
Hot holding temps	Every 2 hours	On-shift staff
Cook temps by batch	Every batch	Whoever cooked it
Waste & discard record	As it happens	Whoever discarded
Float count	Open & close	Counter (+ witness)
Cash variance	Close	Closer
Cleaning sign-off	Close	Closer
Incidents / complaints	As they happen	Whoever handled it

Why the log is the whole SOP

Every rule above is optional the moment nobody records whether it happened. The log isn't bureaucracy layered on top of the work — it is the mechanism that makes the standard survive a busy Saturday, a new hire, and a day the owner isn't there.

09Revision history

Version	Date	Change	Author
1.0	2026-07	Initial issue	J. M. Tapia

About this piece: A portfolio sample demonstrating SOP writing for a small food business. Temperature and time thresholds reflect widely-adopted food-safety standards and are illustrative — they must be verified against current LGU / FDA Philippines / DOH requirements before operational use. Menu-specific steps and par levels should be added per product.