# Staff Handbook > A warm staff handbook for a small retail or food business with a welcome letter, a first-week shift plan, opening and closing checklists, food safety basics, and pay and scheduling policy. Source: https://buildpdfs.com/templates/staff-handbook Category: Business A warm staff handbook for a small retail or food business with a welcome letter, a first-week shift plan, opening and closing checklists, food safety basics, and pay and scheduling policy. ## What's included - Personal welcome letter from the owner with team facts - First-week shift-by-shift orientation plan - Front-of-house basics: menu, allergens, and till - Opening and closing checklists - Food safety and cleaning routines - Shifts, pay, and scheduling policy ## Sample content Marigold Bakehouse Staff handbook 2026 edition ### Welcome to the _bakery._ Everything you need for your first week, and the hundred small things after it. **for Theo, & everyone after** A letter first #### Hello, and _welcome._ I opened Marigold in 2017 with one oven, a borrowed mixer and a lot of hope. Today there are six of us, and our neighbours start their day with what we bake. That is a big thing to be trusted with, and now you are part of it. You do not need to know everything on your first day. Nobody does. Watch, ask, taste, and ask again. The best question is the one you ask before you guess. This handbook tells you how we open, how we make coffee, how we keep people safe, and who to call. Read it once now. Keep it in your locker for the days when you forget, because everyone forgets. We start early. We look after each other. We never sell a bake we would not eat ourselves. NadiaOwner & head baker **2017** the year we opened on Alder Street **6** people on the team, now 7 with you **5:30** am, when the first oven goes on **0** bakes we keep from yesterday Your first five shifts #### Your first _week_ One new thing each day. You will work next to someone the whole week, so you are never alone at the counter. Day**1** ###### Meet the bakery A tour of the kitchen, the till and the cold room. Shadow Nadia on the morning bake and learn where everything lives. Tour Uniform Till login Day**2** ###### The coffee bar Dial in the espresso with Jo. Practise milk for flat whites and lattes until the pattern looks like a leaf, or close to one. Espresso Milk Cleaning Day**3** ###### Front of house Serve with Sam. Learn the menu by tasting it, take orders on the till, and answer allergen questions with the chart. Menu Allergens Till Day**4** ###### Opening Your first 5:30 start. Run the opening checklist with a partner, fill the cases and open the doors at seven. Checklist Displays Day**5** ###### Closing & a chat Close with the team, then twenty minutes with Nadia: what went well, what was hard, and what you want to learn next. Closing Check-in Before the doors open #### Opening _checklist_ Tick each line, every morning. Two people open together, always. ###### Kitchen 5:30 – 6:15 Ovens on: deck to 240°C, convection to 190°C _5:30_ Check fridge and cold room temperaturesWrite them in the log. Below 5°C, always. _5:35_ Proofed croissants out of the retarder _5:40_ Bake the first loaves, then the pastry _5:50_ Wash hands, aprons on, hair tied back _6:00_ Label today’s bakes with the allergen cards _6:10_ ###### Front 6:15 – 7:00 Espresso machine on, flush both heads _6:15_ Dial in: 18 g in, 36 g out, 27–30 sTaste it. Adjust the grind if it is sour or bitter. _6:25_ Fill the cases, front to back _6:40_ Till float counted: $150 _6:45_ Chalkboard and menus out on the counter _6:50_ Lights on, music low, doors open _7:00_ **Stop.** If a fridge reads above 8°C, do not sell what is inside it. Move it to the cold room and call Nadia, even at 5:40 in the morning. She would rather be woken up. The coffee bar #### How we make _coffee_ | Drink | Shot | Milk | Cup | | ----------- | ----------- | ------------------ | ---------- | | Espresso | 18 g → 36 g | — | 3 oz glass | | Flat white | double | 60–62°C, thin foam | 6 oz | | Latte | double | 60–62°C, silky | 10 oz | | Cappuccino | double | thick foam, cocoa | 8 oz | | Maple latte | double | 10 ml maple first | 10 oz | | Chai | — | oat, 65°C | 10 oz | Taste one shot every hour. Sour means grind finer; bitter means coarser. When you are not sure, ask Jo, who has pulled more shots than anyone in the city. **1**Purge the steam wand before and after every jug. **2**Knock out and wipe the basket for every shot. **3**Never re-steam milk. Pour it away and start again. Keeping people safe #### Food safety & _allergens_ One small kitchen, many allergens. When someone asks, check the chart, never guess. | Bake | Gluten | Dairy | Egg | Nuts | Sesame | | ---------------------- | ------ | ----- | --- | ---- | ------ | | Country sourdough | | | | | | | Seeded rye | | | | | | | Almond croissant | | | | | | | Cardamom knot | | | | | | | Spiced pumpkin loaf | | | | | | | Pear & frangipane tart | | | | | | | Apple & oat cookie | | | | | | Contains May contain (shared kitchen) ###### Hands Wash for 20 seconds when you come in, after breaks, after money and after raw egg. ###### Dates Everything in the fridge gets a label: what it is, the date, and your initials. ###### Burns & cuts The first-aid box is above the sink. Write every accident in the book, even small ones. The practical bits #### Shifts, pay & _people_ _EARLY_ **5:30 – 1:30** Bake and open. Breakfast included, of course. _MIDDLE_ **8:00 – 4:00** The busy hours: coffee, counter and catering pick-ups. _LATE_ **11:00 – 5:30** Lunch, close, clean, and tomorrow’s prep list. ###### Rota & swaps The rota goes up on Thursday for the next two weeks, on the board by the back door and in the team chat. Swap with anyone you like, then tell Nadia. No swap is final until she says yes. ###### Pay & breaks Pay day is every second Friday. Tips are shared equally between everyone on shift. Thirty minutes paid break on every shift over six hours. Take it, and sit down. ###### Who to call **Nadia** Owner, anything at all 555 0142 **Jo** Coffee bar lead 555 0187 **Sam** Front of house, rota 555 0123 **Oven engineer** Only if Nadia says so 555 0199 See you at 5:30\. We’ll have the coffee on. ## Frequently asked questions ### What should a staff handbook for a small business include? A staff handbook for a small retail or food business should include a welcome letter, a first-week plan, how to run the till and handle customers, opening and closing checklists, food safety basics if you serve food, and your pay and scheduling policy. This template has each section. ### How is a staff handbook different from an employee handbook? They cover similar ground, but a staff handbook for a small shop or cafe focuses on daily shift tasks like opening checklists, the till, and food safety, while a corporate employee handbook focuses more on HR policy like leave and benefits. ### How long should a small business staff handbook be? Most small business staff handbooks run 8 to 15 pages. Long enough to cover the first week and daily checklists, short enough that a new hire reads the whole thing on their first shift. ### Is this staff handbook template free? Yes. You can customize the staff handbook template for free and download it as a print-ready PDF for your shop, cafe, or small team. ## Related reading - [How to write an employee handbook](https://buildpdfs.com/guides/how-to-write-an-employee-handbook) - [Lead magnets for HR consultants and coaches](https://buildpdfs.com/guides/lead-magnet-for-consultants) - [How to design a professional PDF](https://buildpdfs.com/guides/how-to-design-a-professional-pdf) [Use this template](https://buildpdfs.com/signup?templateId=staff-handbook) — free, no credit card required.