Guides
Ghost kitchen compliance checklist: the operating cadence
A ghost kitchen compliance checklist grouped by cadence: before the first sale, every shift, every week, every month, and at every change to menu or facility.
What to take away
- Compliance in a delivery kitchen is a cadence, not a launch task. The permits are the start; the shift log, the training renewals, and the terms changes are the work.
- The ghost kitchen compliance checklist below is grouped by when each item happens, so that it can actually be used on a Tuesday.
- Each item names the rule behind it and, where a permit or certificate is involved, who issues it: the county or city health department, the state revenue department, the state labor department, or the platform's merchant agreement.
- Platform terms are on the list, because a platform enforces its rules faster than any agency.
- Keep the evidence where an inspector or a platform reviewer can see it in five minutes.
New owners tend to treat compliance as the paperwork before opening. In a ghost kitchen most of the exposure comes afterward: a hot-holding lapse at peak, a food handler card that expired, a rating threshold crossed, a facility rule broken by a night crew that never read the agreement.
The checklist below is organized by cadence for that reason, and every item names the rule behind it — the FDA's model Food Code, your state's retail food code, your state's sales tax and wage rules, or the platform's merchant terms — and who issues or enforces it.
Before the first sale
Before the first sale
- Health authority approval in hand
- Facility agreement read and understood
- Business registration and tax ID
- Food handler training completed
- Insurance certificates issued
- Platform merchant terms saved
- ADA customer-facing points reviewed
- Food service establishment permit (your state may call it a retail food permit or a food establishment license) from the county or city health department, matching the facility type and the operation described to them. It is issued under the retail food code your state or county has adopted — in California, for example, county environmental health issues the retail food facility permit under the California Retail Food Code. Start with the FDA's directory of state retail food codes and agencies to find your state's code and issuing office; the licenses article has the questions to ask.
- Facility agreement read for what its approvals cover, what is yours, and its rules on storage, labeling, hours, and driver access — and for what the commissary or shared-kitchen operator can end, and when.
- Business registration, tax identification, and state sales tax account opened, with the state revenue department's answer on platform-collected orders on file.
- Food handler cards for everyone who touches food, renewed on the cycle your state or local health department sets, and a food protection manager certificate from a program accredited by the American National Standards Institute. ServSafe, the National Restaurant Association's program, is the one most state and local health departments name, and its certificate runs five years, so the expiry goes in the calendar the day it is issued.
- Insurance certificates issued, matching what the facility and each platform's terms require; the insurance article covers what to ask for.
- Merchant terms saved as signed for every platform you runDoorDash, Uber Eats, Grubhub, and any others — with the rating, cancellation, and refund limits each platform sets noted in one place.
- Customer-facing points reviewed against the U.S. Department of Justice's ADA guide for small businesses: the pickup counter or window, and your own ordering site.
- Employment setup completed for anyone paidwage, overtime, and timekeeping rules confirmed with the state labor department or the U.S. Department of Labor, notices posted where required.
Every shift
Every shift tasks
- Temperature and hot-holding checks logged
- Allergen separation and labeling done
- Cleaning and closing tasks completed
- Tablet flow managed at peak
- Incidents written up same night
- Temperature and hot-holding checks written on the temperature log sheet at the intervals your state or local food code sets — the FDA's model Food Code, which most states build their own codes on, puts cold holding at 41°F or below and hot holding at 135°F or above — with the sheet where an inspector would look.
- Allergen separation and container labeling done as the health department requires for food leaving with a driver.
- Cleaning and closing tasks done to the facility's standard as well as the authority's, because the facility can end the agreement faster than the authority can.
- Tablet flow at peak run by the trained person, with refunds and cancellations recorded by reason, since that record is what the weekly platform check runs on.
- Any incident written up the same night on an incident loga customer or crew illness report, an injury, a spill, an equipment failure.
Every week
Weekly compliance review
- Refund and cancellation log reviewed
- Rating trend checked against thresholds
- Training expiry dates verified
- Facility rule reminders given to new crew
- Platform scorecard checked in each platform's merchant portal: rating, cancellation rate, refund rate, and unresolved complaints, each read against the limit that platform's merchant terms set — the terms you signed are where DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub each state their own numbers.
- Shift logs spot-checked for missing times, initials, and corrective actions, with the gaps closed the same day.
- Training and certification expiries checked for everyone on the coming schedule.
Every month
- Permit and approval expiries reviewed; anything due within ninety days started.
- Sales tax return filed on the schedule the state revenue department assigned when the account was opened — states assign monthly, quarterly, or annual filing, and the due date is printed on the return — with platform-collected tax reconciled to the state's marketplace facilitator rules.
- Insurance certificates still current and still matching what the facility and platforms require.
- Corrective actions from the month closed or carried with a date.
- The FDA's model Food Code is the reference many authorities adapt; if your state or local health department adopts a new edition of its food code, read it against your procedures this month.
At every change
A change in any of these sends you back to the relevant authority before it goes live:
- Menu format: a staged group order, a retail shelf, a second brand, a new cuisine with new allergens.
- Hoursoperating later can change youth work rules and facility access.
- Radiuslonger transit changes hot-holding exposure; re-run the sealed-transit tests.
- Facilitya new bay or a new commissary is a new set of approvals.
- Platforma new platform is a new set of terms and onboarding documents.
- Staffa new hire needs training and, where required, certification before working alone.
The expansion and market guide treats a full pass through this section as a gate before any growth step, and that is the right way to read it.
The evidence folder
One place, indexed, holding permits, written answers from authorities, the facility agreement, training records, inspection reports with corrective actions, platform terms as signed and as amended, insurance certificates, and the shift logs for the current period. The licensing and compliance guide explains why this folder is most of what compliance means when someone asks to see it.
Common questions
These four come up in opening week and again in the first inspection.
How often does the health authority inspect?
There is no single national interval. The FDA's model Food Code is a model, and the inspection cycle is set in the retail food code your state or county has adopted and in that department's own risk-based schedule, so the number differs by department. Ask the issuing department for its published cycle when the food service establishment permit is issued, and plan on being ready any shift rather than on a schedule: a critical violation brings a follow-up visit within days, not next year's date.
Who owns this checklist in a small kitchen?
The owner owns the monthly section; the person running the pass owns every-shift; the manager owns the weekly. Write the names on the sheet.
What happens if a platform suspends the listing?
The order stream stops until you work the reinstatement process in the merchant agreement you signed. The steps run the same way for DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub, each of which publishes its own deactivation and appeals terms: find the deactivation notice and the policy it cites; open the appeal in that platform's merchant portal; attach the evidence the appeal asks for, such as order records, the shift and temperature logs, and photos; and answer the specific policy cited rather than arguing about the rating. Keep the listing running on your other platforms while the appeal is pending, and if the appeal is denied, ask for the review step the agreement names. The prevention is the weekly check on rating, cancellations, refunds, and unresolved complaints against the limits in those terms.
Can I skip the every-shift logs if the facility does its own?
No. The facility's logs cover the facility's equipment and shared areas; the temperature, allergen, and cleaning records for the food your operation handles are yours to keep. An inspector asks the operator for those records, so keep your own sheet even where the facility keeps one.
