Why won't it fit into the daily one?
A daily routine works because it is short and always the same. The moment the weekly deep clean goes on it, every day carries five lines that don't apply that day. From then on the list isn't worked through, it's skimmed — and whoever skims it skims the important lines too.
The other reason is practical: a weekly job takes longer and doesn't fit inside the eight minutes of opening. Put it where opening lives and either opening runs over or the weekly job gets dropped. Two separate lists mean two separate times.
The weekly list
These are the things needed once during the week. They aren't urgent — which is exactly what makes them dangerous: they never will be urgent, right up until they turn into a problem.
- The full date check: not just the front row, but the back of the shelf and the stockroom too. This is the most important half-hour of the week.
- Deep clean: inside the chillers, under the shelves, the stockroom floor — whatever doesn't fit into the daily wipe-down.
- Restoring the shelf layout: in a week everything drifts, old stock ends up at the back, labels move.
- Preparing the order: what sold this week, what's left over — the order shouldn't be written from memory at the last minute.
- Checking price labels: is there a shelf where the label no longer belongs to what's standing there?
- Going through chiller temperatures: not at a glance as in the daily routine, but every machine, properly.
- Skimming the week's numbers: turnover, waste, till differences — five minutes, and it shows if something has started to drift.
The monthly list
- Stocktake or partial stocktake: it needn't always be the whole shop — a rolling system, one product group a month, works too.
- Supplier discussions: price changes, credits that never arrived, lines no longer worth ordering.
- The month's numbers: turnover, margin, waste, total till differences — against previous months.
- Machine maintenance: chiller condensers, the oven, the date the scales are next due for verification.
- Stock review: what has stood motionless on the shelf for months — that isn't range, it's tied-up money.
- The month ahead: holidays, season, staff leave, anything that has to be ordered in advance.
Which day should it be?
The most common mistake isn't having no weekly list — it's the list having no day. A job with no day can theoretically be done any time; in practice that means never.
| Job | When it's best | Why then |
|---|---|---|
| The date check | The quietest day of the week | It needs time and calm; it can't be left half done |
| Preparing the order | The day before the order goes in | What sold should be fresh — not three days old |
| Deep clean | After closing or before opening | It can't be done properly around customers |
| The week's numbers | The same day, always | Only what's produced on the same rhythm is comparable |
| Stocktake | Start or end of the month, fixed | The gap between two stocktakes should be the same |
Who does it?
For the daily routine a role is enough ("the opening shift"). For weekly and monthly jobs you need a name, because these come round less often: a role is shared between three people, and all three assume one of the others did it.
- Write beside every line on the weekly list whose job it is — divide the lines, not the list.
- A monthly job should belong to one person, even if several help with it.
- Anything involving money (stocktake, supplier discussions) should have two people: one who does it and one who checks.
- If someone is away for a long stretch, the weekly lines get new names — not "somebody will".
- Ticking off should be visible. Not for oversight: so the next person knows where the week stands.
What not to put on it
- Don't add daily jobs "just in case". What gets done every day belongs on the daily list, where it works.
- Don't write anything that has no end. "Keep an eye on dates" isn't a job; "walk the chiller and write down what expires within two weeks" is.
- Don't put annual things on it. Those belong on the calendar, not the weekly list.
- Don't let it run to twenty lines. If the weekly list doesn't fit on one page, it becomes two weeks, not one.
- Don't write a penalty next to an unticked line — that won't get it done, it will just get the tick faked.
In summary
- Weekly and monthly jobs get their own list — the shortness of the daily list is its greatest value.
- Anything without a fixed day and name gets skipped. The date matters more than the wording.
- Weekly core: dates, deep clean, shelf layout, preparing the order, price labels, the week's numbers.
- Monthly core: stocktake, suppliers, the month's numbers, machine maintenance, motionless stock.
- A monthly job belongs on the calendar rather than on a list.
- A name beside every line, and a visible tick — not for oversight, but so the others know too.
Frequently asked questions
Why can't everything go on one list?
Because then the daily list carries five lines every day that don't apply — and once someone has got used to skipping lines, they skip the important ones too. The shortness of the daily list isn't about convenience: it's what makes it work.
Which day should the weekly round be?
The quietest day of the week, and always the same one. Not because there's time then — but because only what's produced on the same rhythm is comparable. Check the dates on a different day each week and the interval between checks differs too.
How often do I need to take stock?
There's no single right answer, but in most small shops a rolling partial stocktake works best: one product group a month, in a fixed order. That way the shop never stops for a big stocktake, yet every group comes round — and a shortfall shows up sooner than with an annual count.
How long should the weekly round take?
Around thirty minutes if it's well put together. If it regularly takes longer, either there's too much on it or something has crept on that is really a daily job — restoring the shelf layout is usually the one that slips across.
What should I do about something that has been unticked for weeks?
Take it off. A line that hasn't been done for six weeks means one of two things: either it isn't important, or there is nobody to do it. The answer to both is to decide — because an unticked line doesn't only go undone, it takes the credibility of the other lines with it.
Do I need a separate list if I run the shop alone?
Then you need it most. Alone there is nobody to remind you, and the weekly job is exactly the kind that is never urgent. On your own the fixed day matters even more: the list stands in for the colleague who would have said something.
How does this relate to the daily routine?
The daily routine is what decides what ends up here. Whatever you took off the daily list because it isn't needed every day belongs here — so it doesn't get lost. Together the two are complete: the daily one holds the shop steady, the weekly and monthly ones stop it drifting.
Give the monthly review something to review.
Half of the weekly and monthly jobs are about numbers: what sold, what went to waste, where the till drifted. If the daily data is recorded, that review takes ten minutes — if not, it runs on memory and is worth nothing.
- Daily turnover and waste, going back months.
- Close per shift: at the monthly review you can see where it drifts regularly.
- Sales per product — that's what the weekly order comes from, not a guess.
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