Shared kitchen rules are the short, posted version of the member agreement: what every member does every time, written so it fits on the wall by the handwashing sink. Good rules say why, because members follow a rule they understand: raw meat goes on the bottom shelf because its drips can't reach food that won't be cooked, not because the manager likes it there. Below are thirteen rules by topic, with the reason for each, how to introduce them, and a free rules sheet with a member sign-off.
The short version
- Book every hour, arrive and leave on time, cancel ahead.
- Wash hands, restrain hair, keep jewelry off hands.
- Label every container: business, contents, date.
- Keep everything on your own shelves, raw meat at the bottom.
- Say which allergens you bring in, and wash shared tools before and after.
- Use only equipment you've been trained on; report breakage.
- Leave your station clean and sanitized; take your trash.
- TaroStack keeps each member's goods as theirs, counted on their shelves. More below.
The rules
| # | Topic | Rule | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Booking | Book every hour through the calendar; arrive and leave on time | The next member's slot starts when yours ends |
| 2 | Booking | Cancel at least 48 hours ahead, or the time is charged | Late cancellations leave hours nobody else can book |
| 3 | Hygiene | Wash hands on arrival and after every break; no open drinks in prep areas | The health department's rules, and everyone's food |
| 4 | Hygiene | Hair restrained, clean clothing, no jewelry on hands or wrists | Keeps hair and objects out of food |
| 5 | Labels | Every container labeled with your business, contents and date | Unlabeled food can't be traced, and may be thrown out |
| 6 | Storage | Everything on your own rented shelves; nothing on the floor | Keeps members' goods apart and the walk-in usable |
| 7 | Storage | Raw meat and poultry on the lowest shelves | Drips can't reach food that won't be cooked |
| 8 | Allergens | Tell the kitchen which major allergens you bring in; wash shared tools before and after | Members selling allergen-free products depend on it |
| 9 | Equipment | Use only equipment you've been trained on; report breakage at once | Safety, and repairs before the next booking |
| 10 | Cleaning | Station, sinks and tools cleaned and sanitized; trash out | The next member starts clean; a fee if not |
| 11 | Temperatures | Close cooler doors; cool cooked food in shallow pans before the walk-in | Warm food in the walk-in warms everyone's |
| 12 | Chemicals | Use the posted sanitizer strength; chemicals below and away from food | Too weak doesn't sanitize; too strong isn't safe |
| 13 | Leaving | Remove your goods within 7 days of ending your membership | After that, the kitchen may dispose of them |
Your health department's rules come first: add anything it requires, and use its numbers for sanitizer strength and temperatures. The cleaning side of rule 10, task by task, is in cleaning log template.
Introducing the rules
Shenandoah Commons Kitchen, a made-up shared kitchen in Harrisonburg, Virginia, I use in these examples, walks each new member through the rules on their first booking, shows them their shelves and the sanitizer station, and has them initial the sign-off sheet. The rules go on the wall by the handwashing sink and in the walk-in, and into the member agreement by reference, so a broken rule has a consequence written down somewhere. What the agreement itself covers, and what kitchen time costs, is in commissary kitchen cost.
Labels and storage
Rules 5, 6 and 7 do most of the work in a busy shared kitchen. A walk-in with thirty members' goods only works if every container says whose it is and when it was made, everything sits on the right member's shelf, and raw meat is always at the bottom. The daily walk-in check enforces them: anything unlabeled or out of date is pulled. How expiry is tracked is in what is expired stock.
Get the rules sheet
Download the shared kitchen rules. Two sheets: the rules, thirteen by topic with the reason for each, to change and print; and a member sign-off, with each member's business, name, date and initials. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.
Where this stops working
Rules on the wall say every container is labeled and on the member's own shelf. Counting what's really there, member by member, is another job, and the one that matters when a member stops paying or a shelf goes missing.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps each member's goods as theirs, counted on their shelves.
Members' goods as theirs. With We make or keep goods for clients turned on, each member's goods are their own: received at no cost to the kitchen, kept apart from the kitchen's own supplies, and counted on a phone where they sit, even in a walk-in with no signal.
Releases and statements. A member taking goods out is a release to them, and each member's monthly statement shows their goods you hold and how each moved, so rule 13 has a record behind it.
Dates first. Goods with dates show the earliest first, so the daily pull of out-of-date items starts from a list. How a count of the shelves works is in inventory count sheet example.
| The job | Notebook | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| Whose goods are on a shelf | Labels, if they're there | Every item says whose it is |
| What a member has on hand | Walk the walk-in | Their goods, counted |
| What a leaving member took | Not recorded | A release to them |
| Out-of-date items | Read every label | Dates, earliest first |
Keeping members' goods, with releases and monthly statements, is on Standard at $99 a month. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.