Key takeaways
- A soft launch is a rehearsal with real guests. Use it to find problems in the kitchen, at the counter and in your systems before the grand opening.
- Confirm licences and the SFA pre-licensing inspection first. Nothing else matters if you cannot legally trade.
- Load the menu, train staff and run test transactions on every payment method at least two weeks before opening.
- Keep the soft launch menu short, collect structured feedback and measure ticket times.
- In the first week, review POS reports daily: sales by item and hour, voids and void reasons.
Opening a restaurant involves months of licensing, renovation and hiring, then everything has to work at once on a single day. The kitchen, front of house, POS, printers, payment terminals and suppliers all meet real customers for the first time. Something will go wrong. The goal of a soft launch is to make sure it goes wrong in front of friends, not on your grand opening night.
This checklist assumes your renovation is largely complete. If you are still at the fit-out stage, start with our restaurant renovation checklist, and for the full licensing picture see how to open a restaurant in Singapore.
Soft launch vs grand opening
A soft launch (or soft opening) is a limited period of trading before the official opening. You might open to invited guests only, trade for shorter hours, serve a reduced menu, or quietly open the doors without advertising. Some outlets offer a discount in exchange for feedback. The point is controlled volume: enough guests to test the operation, not so many that it breaks.
A grand opening is the public launch, often with marketing, media, promotions and your full menu and hours. By then you want the team confident, ticket times stable and your systems proven.
How long should the soft launch last? It depends on the size of the operation and how the first days go. A small café may need a few days; a large restaurant with a complex menu may want a week or two. Plan a range, and let the feedback and your ticket times tell you when you are ready.
4 weeks before opening
Licences and inspection
- Food Shop Licence: confirm your application on GoBusiness is progressing and that your renovation follows the approved layout.
- SFA pre-licensing inspection: book it and complete it once renovation is done. Treat opening dates as provisional until you pass. Our SFA food hygiene inspection guide explains what inspectors look for.
- Other licences: if you serve alcohol, play music or have outdoor seating, confirm those licences and approvals are in hand or on track. The opening guide lists them.
- Staff hygiene requirements: check that food handlers have completed the required food safety training.
Suppliers
- Confirm accounts, delivery days, cut-off times and payment terms with each supplier.
- Place trial orders to check quality, portion sizes and delivery reliability.
- Line up a backup supplier for your most critical ingredients.
Menu testing
- Cook every dish from the written recipe, not from memory, and adjust the recipe cards.
- Photograph plated dishes as the standard for plating.
- Cost each dish so your menu prices protect your margin. Our inventory management page explains how recipe costing links to stock.
- Decide which dishes make the soft launch menu. Start with the ones your kitchen can execute consistently.
2 weeks before opening
POS, kitchen display and payments
- Load the menu: items, prices, categories, modifiers (less ice, no chilli, add egg), set meals and any service charge and GST settings. Check that item names read clearly on receipts and kitchen tickets in both English and 中文 if your team needs it.
- Set up tables: map your floor plan into table management, including table numbers that match physical signage.
- Printer and KDS routing: drinks to the bar, hot food to the wok station, desserts to the pastry section. Send a test order for every category and check it arrives at the right printer or kitchen display screen, in the right language.
- Test transactions: run real payments on every method you accept, including PayNow, NETS, Visa and Mastercard. Test a refund and a void. Check that each payment shows correctly in reports and settles as expected. Our POS payments page covers the options.
- Staff permissions: decide who can void, discount, refund and open the cash drawer, and set up individual logins.
- QR ordering and online orders: if you use them, print table QR codes and place test orders end to end.
Staff training
- Run POS training for every front-of-house staff member: taking orders, modifiers, split bills, tabs, transferring tables and closing the day.
- Train the kitchen on the KDS: bumping orders, reading prep timers and handling priority orders.
- Walk through service from arrival to payment, including allergies, complaints and what to do if the internet drops.
- Do at least one full mock service with staff playing guests.
Build your first roster now, with extra cover for the soft launch and opening day. Our F&B staff roster guide can help.
Soft launch week
- Invite list: friends, family, neighbouring businesses, landlord staff and a few regulars-to-be. Stagger bookings so the kitchen is tested at a pace it can handle, then increase volume through the week.
- Limited menu: run a shorter menu so the kitchen can focus on consistency.
- Feedback forms: ask specific questions: temperature and taste of each dish, waiting time, clarity of the menu, friendliness and speed of service, ease of payment. A short form or QR link gets more responses than an open “any comments?”.
- Measure ticket times: track the time from order to dish served, by station. KDS prep timers make this easier. Look for dishes that consistently hold up the pass.
- Daily debrief: 15 minutes after each service with front and back of house. What went wrong, what will change tomorrow, who owns the fix.
- Stress tests: try a split bill for a large table, a busy burst of QR orders and a payment terminal swap during service.
Opening day run sheet
A run sheet puts the day on one page so nobody has to ask what happens next. Adapt this example to your hours:
| Time | Task | Owner |
|---|---|---|
| Opening minus 3 hours | Receive deliveries, check quality and quantities | Head chef |
| Opening minus 2.5 hours | Kitchen prep against prep list; check fridge and freezer temperatures | Kitchen team |
| Opening minus 2 hours | Power on POS, printers, KDS and payment terminals; print a test ticket at every station | Manager |
| Opening minus 1.5 hours | Front-of-house set-up: tables, cutlery, signage, QR codes, cleaning check | Service team |
| Opening minus 1 hour | Cash float counted and logged; staff logins checked | Manager |
| Opening minus 30 minutes | Staff briefing: menu specials, 86’d items, allergens, section assignments, escalation contacts | Manager and head chef |
| Opening | Doors open; manager floats between door, pass and counter | All |
| Peak hours | Watch ticket times on KDS; hold or pace orders if the kitchen falls behind | Head chef |
| Quiet period | Restock stations; quick check-in with each staff member | Manager |
| Close | End-of-day report, cash count, payment settlement check, cleaning | Manager |
| After close | Debrief and fix list for tomorrow | All leads |
Keep a printed contact list next to the counter: your POS support line, payment provider, key suppliers, landlord and building management. If something fails at 7pm, nobody should be searching emails for a phone number.
First-week reviews with POS reports
Your POS is the most accurate record of what actually happened during opening week. Review the reports every day for the first week, then weekly after that.
- Sales by item: which dishes sell and which do not. A dish nobody orders may need a better description, a different price or removal.
- Sales by hour: when you are actually busy. Use it to adjust the roster, prep timing and opening hours.
- Voids and void reasons: a high number of voids on one item may point to a kitchen problem, a confusing menu name or a POS button in the wrong place. Void reasons also help spot training gaps.
- Discounts: check that soft launch discounts were applied as intended and have been switched off.
- Payment mix: check each payment method reconciles to the bank settlement.
- Average bill and covers: the baseline you will measure your growth against.
Compare these with the feedback forms and your ticket time notes. The combination tells you what to change before the grand opening, and which fixes matter most.
Marketing around opening
Timing matters. If you market too hard during the soft launch, you invite the crowds you were trying to avoid. A common approach is:
- Before soft launch: set up your Google Business Profile, social media accounts and menu photos. Tease the opening without committing to a date until the SFA inspection is passed.
- During soft launch: invite-only or quiet opening. Ask happy guests to follow your accounts.
- Grand opening: announce the date, run a clear opening offer with stated terms and end date, and invite local food writers or community groups if it suits your brand.
- After opening: start collecting customers into a loyalty programme so the opening crowd becomes repeat business. See our CRM and loyalty page.
If you message customers by SMS or WhatsApp, follow PDPC’s Do Not Call rules and collect clear consent. Our restaurant marketing guide covers channels and consent in detail.
Common opening mistakes
- Setting a public opening date before the inspection is passed. Delays are common; announce once you are sure.
- Launching the full menu on day one. A long menu spreads the kitchen thin before it has found its rhythm.
- Skipping test transactions. A payment method that has never been tested will fail at the worst moment.
- Printer routing errors. Drinks tickets printing in the kitchen, or dishes going to the wrong station, cause delays that look like slow cooking.
- Under-staffing opening week. Rosters based on “normal” volume do not cover curious first-week crowds and new-team mistakes.
- Not collecting feedback in a structured way. Friends are polite. Ask specific questions.
- Ignoring the reports. Gut feel after a hectic week is unreliable. The numbers show what really sold and when.
- Leaving soft launch discounts switched on after the grand opening.
Master checklist
| When | Task | Done |
|---|---|---|
| 4 weeks | Food Shop Licence and other licences confirmed or on track | ☐ |
| 4 weeks | SFA pre-licensing inspection booked and passed | ☐ |
| 4 weeks | Supplier accounts, delivery days and backups confirmed | ☐ |
| 4 weeks | Recipes tested, costed and photographed | ☐ |
| 2 weeks | Menu, modifiers, taxes and service charge loaded in POS | ☐ |
| 2 weeks | Printer and KDS routing tested for every category, in English and 中文 where needed | ☐ |
| 2 weeks | Test transactions on PayNow, NETS and cards, plus a refund and a void | ☐ |
| 2 weeks | Staff logins and permissions set | ☐ |
| 2 weeks | POS and KDS training done; full mock service run | ☐ |
| Soft launch | Invite list booked and staggered | ☐ |
| Soft launch | Limited menu, feedback forms and ticket time tracking in place | ☐ |
| Soft launch | Daily debriefs held and fixes assigned | ☐ |
| Opening day | Run sheet printed; support and supplier contacts at the counter | ☐ |
| First week | Daily review of sales by item and hour, voids and payments | ☐ |
| First week | Soft launch discounts switched off; loyalty sign-up running | ☐ |
Where ChaChaCha fits
ChaChaCha is a Singapore POS powered by AppsPOS, with table management, split bills and tabs, custom modifiers, staff permissions and an English/中文 interface and kitchen tickets. The kitchen display system handles station routing, order prioritisation and prep timers, and Epson cloud printing supports multiple printers. Payments cover PayNow, PayLah!, NETS, Visa/Mastercard and GrabPay, and the POS keeps taking orders if the internet drops, syncing later. Hardware is supplied as part of the package, and pricing is quote-based. Contact us well before your soft launch so setup and training fit your timeline, and see our grant guide for current grant support.
