By Don Ho · Reviewed by Billy Dietz ·
In 2014, I had my manager follow me through entire shifts at Harmony Tea Bar and write down what I did. I wanted to be able to step away from daily operations. That wasn't going to happen while the answers to routine questions lived in my head. The notes became part of the employee manual our team used for opening, brewing, closing, and handing over a shift.
To write a tea-shop standard operating procedure, record the task in order, define the result, and have another person test the instructions. Start with the brewing standard customers taste every day. Then document the opening checks, cash controls, and handovers that keep the next shift from starting behind.
You don't need to write a whole manual before improving one routine. Choose a task that causes repeated questions, interruptions, or avoidable rework. Document it, test it, and give someone responsibility for keeping it current.
Choose the first procedures by consequence
Ask what becomes difficult when you're absent. The answer might be preparing a station for opening, dealing with an unavailable product, checking an outgoing order, or leaving useful information for the next shift. Begin where unclear instructions create the most trouble.
Start with a brewing standard: leaf weight on a calibrated scale, water volume and temperature, steep time measured with a timer, and the finished serving. Include separate methods for iced tea and lattes. Record the recipe for the specific tea you're using; category names alone won't settle every brewing decision. Give the team a reference cup to taste against so they can recognize when preparation has drifted.
Some procedures involve food safety, equipment safety, or financial controls. Get the relevant requirements and expert input into those instructions before treating them as approved. A useful operating document should make it clear which decisions staff can make and which need escalation.
Capture the task while someone performs it
Observe a real cycle of the work. Write the steps and what the person checks before moving on. You can use a recording and transcription tool to prepare an initial draft, as I discuss in The Perfect Blend. Have the operator check the result: a transcript can miss a visual check, a quantity, or the reason someone stopped a task.
Keep the first version close to the work. If the person has to move between three screens to complete a task, record that. If an instruction assumes they already know where a form lives, add its location. Include the relevant product specification or reference rather than asking the employee to guess.
At Harmony, explaining why a procedure mattered helped the team engage with it. We also listened when staff suggested a better method. The person doing the task regularly may spot a problem the owner no longer sees.
Use a consistent format
Give each procedure a name and a clear starting point. Then record these fields so a new person can understand both the task and its limits.
- Purpose and trigger: what the procedure achieves and when someone should start it.
- Owner and backup: who performs the work and who can answer a question or take over.
- Inputs and sequence: what is needed, where to find it, and the steps in order.
- Completion check: the observable result that shows the task is finished correctly.
- Exceptions and record: what to do when something fails, where to log it, and who must be told.
Add an approved version date and a review owner. Keep the instructions where the work happens. A procedure nobody can find will quickly be replaced by whatever a coworker remembers.
Make opening and closing checks specific
At opening, check brewing-station readiness and hot-water temperature, review leaf stock using your stock-rotation procedure, and record the starting cash balance. Keep flavored teas sealed and away from unflavored stock. Include water-filter replacement and descaling checks on the equipment schedule; changes in filtration and scale buildup can affect the cup. Assign checks to a person and record faults before service.
At closing, date or discard batch-brewed iced tea according to your approved holding procedure, clean the brewing equipment, and record what needs replenishing. Count and reconcile cash, secure it, and report discrepancies through your cash-control process. The next opener should find a clear record of unfinished cleaning, product shortages, and equipment concerns.
Set cleaning, product-holding, and equipment instructions using the rules applicable to your shop and manufacturer guidance. The US FDA Food Code is a model; check your jurisdiction's adopted requirements. Canadian operators should check their province or territory's food-premises requirements and local inspection authority. In Ontario, public health units provide food-premises inspection. FDA Food Code overview.
Write a handover that leads to action
Consider a station that has an equipment fault at the end of a shift. “Machine broken” leaves too much work for the next person. The handover should identify the equipment, the observed problem, the action already taken, and the person handling the next step.
Use this handover checklist as a starting point:
- Before leaving, the outgoing lead records inventory and cash drawer counts, cleaning status, and outstanding stock, equipment, or customer issues in the agreed handover log.
- For each issue, record what happened, what is affected, what has already been done, and who owns the next action.
- Flag matters needing an immediate manager decision and follow the approved safety procedure for product or equipment concerns. Leave staff room to exercise customer-service judgment within clear limits. At Harmony, the team joked about WWDD—What Would Don Do? If someone had considered our core values and could explain the decision, a wrong call led to training rather than punishment. Safety limits and thoughtful service can sit together in the same manual.
- The incoming lead reads the log, confirms the priorities with the outgoing lead when possible, and records acceptance of unresolved actions.
- The responsible person closes each action with a result, or escalates it with the information needed for a decision.
Test the instructions before calling them finished
Give the procedure to someone who understands the role but didn't write it. Watch them perform the task without filling in the gaps for them. Each point where they stop, ask a question, or interpret a step differently tells you what needs clarification.
Revise the instruction and test it again. Explain changes to everyone affected and remove obsolete copies. At Harmony, daily team huddles reinforced procedures and surfaced operating problems. Use that brief conversation to ask what was unclear yesterday and whether a change needs to be documented.
Choose one brewing or handover routine to document this week. Bring the draft and the questions it exposes into Steep Insights: Founder's Circle for practitioner guidance and peer discussion.
Work through your next tea business decision
Bring your questions to Steep Insights: Founder's Circle, or discuss your operating needs with BDH.
Questions tea founders ask
Which tea shop SOP should I write first?
Start with the brewing standard customers taste: measured leaf, water, temperature, steep time, and finished serving. Then document opening, closing, cash, and handover.
How do I test an SOP?
Have another trained person follow it without you supplying missing instructions. Record unclear steps, revise, and test again.
Sources and further reading
- The Perfect Blend by Don Ho — Chapter 9 Operations
- FDA Food Code overview
- Ontario food premises inspection
Related frameworks: Daily Operations SOP Framework and Retail KPI Framework.