How does Basecamp Roasters open the café every morning with nine staff?

Who opens the café?

Basecamp Roasters is a neighbourhood roaster and café with nine staff. I manage it day to day; Avery Cairn owns it, along with nine other small businesses, and reads the café's mailbox but does not run the floor. The café is the only Cairn business with a team large enough to need written procedures, and this article is about the one we use most: the opening and roster procedure.

What does the roster check involve?

Before opening I check the roster. Three stations need a name against them every morning: inventory, the espresso station and the service counter. One staff member goes to each. Noor Haddad and the rest of the café team rotate through the stations across the week, so nobody is the only person who knows one of them.

If a teammate is absent, I update the shift roster and name an alternate before the first customer arrives. That sentence is in the procedure on purpose. The failure mode is not an absence; it is an absence discovered at the counter.

What does the inventory station do first?

Fridge temperatures. The person on inventory confirms each fridge reading and records it in the inventory sheet before anything is served from it. A reading that is out of range is a safety discrepancy, and a safety discrepancy goes to me before service resumes. It does not get noted for later.

After the fridges, inventory checks the beans and milk against the day's expected service and flags anything short. Roasting for wholesale happens later in the morning, after the café is open and steady.

What does the espresso station check?

Machine up to temperature, grinder dialled in, pitchers clean and labelled. The station also carries the café's milk-alternative procedure, which is worth explaining because it is the best example of why the opening checklist and the allergen procedure are kept apart.

What changed in the milk-alternative procedure?

We had two versions. The first said to use the shared steam wand for milk alternatives after a water purge and cloth wipe. The second said never to use the shared dairy wand for milk alternatives, even after a purge, and to use the dedicated wand and a separate labelled pitcher. The second version also says to ask the guest to name allergies before choosing oat or soy, to check the carton label, and to stop the order and ask me if the dedicated wand is unavailable.

Both documents are on the staff training board and neither says it replaces the other. Staff cannot be asked to guess in a food-safety question, so the training says what to do in the meantime: do not infer that one is newer from its version number, pause the order, keep both citations and ask me before serving a guest with an allergy. Ruling on the two versions is on my list. When I do, the other version stays on file, marked as superseded, so nobody finds it later and treats it as a second opinion.

Why is the allergen procedure not part of the opening checklist?

Because the opening checklist cannot resolve a disputed method. It tells you which station you are on and what to confirm before the door opens. It does not tell you how to steam oat milk, and it should not try. Two procedures with two purposes stay two documents, and each says clearly what it does not cover.

What does the service counter check?

Till, pastry case, the day's wholesale orders for the few local shops we supply with roasted beans, and the café mailbox. A person reads that mailbox every day, usually the same day a message arrives. Questions about the other Cairn businesses, a sponsor rate, a cabin booking, are not ours to answer; the counter points the writer to the right business's address rather than guessing.

What is the one rule underneath all of it?

Any safety discrepancy goes to Sam before service resumes. Out-of-range fridge, an unavailable dedicated wand, a procedure that seems to contradict another: stop, ask, then continue. It costs a few minutes in the morning, and that is the price of not guessing.

What does the opening routine look like written out?

1. Check the roster; name a person for inventory, espresso and the service counter.
2. If anyone is absent, update the roster and name an alternate before opening.
3. Inventory confirms and records every fridge temperature in the inventory sheet.
4. Espresso brings the machine to temperature, dials in the grinder and sets out the dairy and the dedicated milk-alternative pitchers separately.
5. Service counter readies the till and the case, checks wholesale orders and reads the café mailbox.
6. Any safety discrepancy goes to the manager before service resumes.

That is the whole procedure. It fits on the board by the grinder, which is where it lives.

Q&A

The questions we get asked most about opening the café are answered below.

Last updated 30 September 2026.