Free checklist
Drive-Thru Window Training Checklist
The checklist (12 items)
Written as observable actions, so two trainers scoring the same shift land in the same place. In CrewSharp this is the Drive-Thru Window checklist in the Restaurant / QSR starter set, filed under Front of House, and every item here is editable.
- 1Confirmed the order total with the guest at the window
- 2Counted change back to the guest
- 3Kept the cash drawer closed between cars
- 4Handled a declined card quietly and offered another way to pay
- 5Checked the bag against the screen before handing it outMust pass
- 6Confirmed sauces and condiments with the guest at handoff
- 7Handed drinks out before the bag
- 8Pulled a car forward to a waiting spot when an item was delayed
- 9Kept window times within the store's target
- 10Called out delays to the kitchen as soon as they showed on the timer
- 11Thanked the guest before they pulled away
- 12Kept the window ledge and payment area clean
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What usually goes wrong
Checking the bag before it goes out is the required item, and it is the first thing dropped when window times climb. A missing item found in the parking lot costs far more time than the five seconds the check takes.
When to sign someone off
A workable bar for this checklist: no critical items missed, a score above a line you set for Drive-Thru Window specifically rather than one number for the whole building, and observed on more than one shift with at least one of them busy. Then date it, so it can expire.
That last part is the one people skip. A sign-off with no date cannot be re-checked, which means a year later you have a record that says somebody was ready once.
Checklists that pair with this one
Someone trained on this one most often covers these alongside it, which makes them the sensible second checklist to train.
Common questions
Can one person run the drive-thru headset and the window?
On a quiet shift, yes, and the two checklists are paired for that reason. During a rush they need separate people, because a window worker who is also taking orders ends up doing both badly.
What should be on a drive-thru window checklist?
The 12 items above cover it: confirmed the order total with the guest at the window, counted change back to the guest, kept the cash drawer closed between cars, and the rest of the list. Keep it in that range. Fewer and a pass proves very little; many more and trainers stop finishing it during a real shift.
Does this checklist need critical items?
Not every checklist has one. Where nothing on the list carries a safety or legal consequence, a passing score plus observation across more than one shift is a reasonable bar on its own. Marking items critical when they are not just makes the flag mean less everywhere else.
Scoring it is the part that lasts
Run this Drive-Thru Window checklist on a tablet between rushes and CrewSharp keeps the rest: who is signed off, when it was last checked, and which item your crew misses most.
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