--- title: "Bubble Tea, Boba & Juice Bar Shop Opening Checklist" canonical: "https://peakscaleops.com/checklists/bubble-tea-shop-opening-checklist/" --- > Source: https://peakscaleops.com/checklists/bubble-tea-shop-opening-checklist/ [Checklists](/checklists/) / [Bubble Tea, Boba & Juice Bar](/checklists/bubble-tea-juice/) / Opening - Brew, Cook & Set Up to Sell # Bubble Tea, Boba & Juice Bar Opening Checklist A Bubble Tea, Boba & Juice Bar opening checklist has three jobs before the first order: **make the equipment safe, cook and label the first batches, and set the counter up to sell**. These 9 checks do all three, and every one is backed by published data - food-contact surfaces fail sanitation in 40.94% of fast-food-format inspections, handwashing in 65.64%, and coliforms exceeded acceptable limits in 51.4% of ice samples taken across 105 food establishments. The pearl pot and the tea urn get a time label at open, because a batch with no discard time gets sold all day. [Run this checklist - free](/run/bubble-tea-juice/?list=opening) [Download PDF](/checklists/pdf/peakscale-bubble-tea-juice-checklists.pdf)[Download Excel](/checklists/excel/peakscale-bubble-tea-juice-checklists.xlsx) The checklist · 15 checks ### Make the equipment safe before the first drink **1\. Take apart, wash and sanitize blender jugs, juicer screens, shakers, dispensing taps and the sealer head before first use** Surfaces that touch food fail sanitation in 40.94% of US FDA fast-food inspections, and dirty equipment is the top violation at juice-format shops in NYC inspection records. **2\. Open the ice machine: check the bin, chute and scoop, and confirm the last deep-clean date is still on schedule** Coliform bacteria were above the safe limit in 51.4% of ice samples across 105 food outlets - ice touches every drink you sell. **3\. Mix sanitizer to the strength shown on the label, test it with a strip, and write down the reading** Sanitizer too weak cleans nothing, and sanitizer too strong spoils the taste - only a test strip tells you which one you have. One model of a foodborne-illness outbreak at a single US fast food restaurant put the cost from USD 4,000 for 5 sick people to USD 1.9 million for 250. **4\. Stock the handwash station (soap, towels, hot water) and wash your hands every time you enter the bar** Handwashing fails the rules in 65.64% of US FDA fast-food-format inspections - it is the cheapest check in the building, and the first one people skip. ### Cook, brew and label the first batches **5\. Cook the first pearl batch to spec and label the pot with cook time AND discard time** A pot with no discard time gets sold all day; the label is the control, not somebody's memory across a shift change. **6\. Brew tea to spec and label the urn with brew time and discard time** Tea held too long tastes stewed and quietly loses you repeat customers - the label is what stops it being poured at hour six. **7\. Wash, trim and rotate today's fruit; keep all cut fruit at 4°C (39°F) or below** Listeria did not grow on fresh-cut fruit held at a steady 4°C (39°F) over 8 days, but grew 1.37 log at 8°C (46°F) - those few degrees are the entire control. ### Set the counter up to sell **8\. Confirm the top three drinks and every topping are in stock, and that sugar/ice options, prices and offers on the board are correct** A missing topping makes the drink worse, and a wrong price costs you profit all day - and price changes how much people buy far more than any nutrition note does. **9\. Where your area runs a hygiene rating or grading scheme, display your current rating at the door and on your online listings** In the UK Food Standards Agency's 2024 audit, 74–75% of food businesses were active online, but only 2–4% showed their rating there - free trust most of your competitors leave unused. ### Hygiene & Safety **10\. Put on new gloves before you touch ready-to-eat toppings, pearls, or drinks.** Bare hands can pass germs onto food you will not cook again. **11\. Change your gloves after you touch trash, raw fruit, money, or your phone.** Used gloves carry germs from one task to the next task. **12\. Ask every staff member if they feel sick before the shift starts.** A sick worker can pass illness through food and drinks. **13\. Send home any staff member with vomiting, diarrhea, or a fever.** These signs mean a high risk of illness spreading to customers. **14\. List all allergens in syrups, toppings, and dairy substitutes on the menu board.** Customers with allergies must see this information before they order. **15\. Check the shop for pests, including gaps around doors and windows.** A quick daily look catches pest problems while they are still small. ## Frequently asked questions **What should a bubble tea shop do before opening?** Three things in order: clean the equipment, start and label the batches, then set up the counter. That means stripping and sanitizing blender jugs, juicer screens, shakers, dispensing taps and the sealer head; checking the ice bin, chute and scoop; making up sanitizer and testing it with a strip; cooking and time-labelling the first pearl batch and tea urn; washing and rotating the fruit; and confirming stock, prices and sugar/ice options on the board. It matters because food-contact-surface cleaning fails in 40.94% of fast-food-format inspections, and handwashing fails in 65.64%. These failures are common, not rare. **How clean does an ice machine need to be in a drinks shop?** Clean enough to treat as food-contact equipment, because it is. In a study of 105 ice samples from 105 food establishments, coliforms exceeded acceptable limits in 54 samples (51.4%), E. coli was detected in 7 (6.7%), and 98 (93.3%) were positive for total aerobic mesophilic bacteria. Dispensed-beverage equipment tells the same story - 90 beverages from 30 soda fountain machines were 48% positive for coliforms and over 11% contained E. coli. Use a scoop stored outside the bin, wipe and air the bin daily, and record the deep-clean date, since no inspection code isolates ice machines to remind you. **Should a bubble tea shop display its hygiene rating?** Yes, and specifically online, where almost nobody does. A UK Food Standards Agency audit of 1,348 businesses plus a survey of 1,349 found sticker display running at 72% in England, 90% in Northern Ireland and 94% in Wales, with the correct rating shown 93–96% of the time by those displaying. But while 74–75% of businesses were active on Facebook, Instagram or a website, only 2–4% showed their rating there - which makes it the cheapest piece of trust available to a shop that already earned it. ## More Bubble Tea, Boba & Juice Bar checklists [Goods-In & Receiving](/checklists/bubble-tea-juice-bar-receiving-checklist/)[Tapioca Pearls, Jellies & Toppings](/checklists/tapioca-pearl-cook-and-hold-checklist/)[Fresh Produce, Juicing & Blending](/checklists/juice-bar-produce-and-blender-checklist/)[Service Line - Sugar, Ice, Seal & Speed](/checklists/bubble-tea-sugar-ice-and-seal-checklist/)[Closing, Waste & Cold Chain](/checklists/bubble-tea-shop-closing-checklist/)[Weekly Checks](/checklists/bubble-tea-shop-weekly-checklist/) One free app has all of them: [open the Bubble Tea, Boba & Juice Bar Checklists app](/run/bubble-tea-juice/) - offline, no account, add it to your home screen. ## Sources Every statistic on this page comes from public inspection and food-safety data: - [FDA Report on the Occurrence of Foodborne Illness Risk Factors in Fast Food and Full-Service Restaurants, 2013–2014](https://www.fda.gov/media/117509/download) - [FDA 2003 baseline](https://www.fda.gov/media/157223/download) - [Foods](https://www.mdpi.com/2304-8158/14/20/3523) - [NYC Open Data DOHMH Restaurant Inspection Results](https://data.cityofnewyork.us/resource/43nn-pn8j.json) - [Journal of Water and Health 15(3):410](https://iwaponline.com/jwh/article/15/3/410/28453/Microbiological-quality-of-ice-and-ice-machines) - [Food Safety News on the Int. J. Food Microbiology soda-fountain study](https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2010/01/study-finds-bacteria-in-soda-machines/) - [RMUTSB Academic Journal, 'Microbiological quality of bubble tea beverages'](https://li01.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/rmutsb-sci/article/view/251912) - [Int. J. Food Science & Technology 59(7):4716](https://academic.oup.com/ijfst/article/59/7/4716/7911537) - [Hong Kong Centre for Food Safety, 'Sugar and Energy Contents of Common Non-Indigenous Tea-Based Beverages in Hong Kong'](https://www.cfs.gov.hk/english/programme/programme_rafs/programme_rafs_n_01_26_abstract.html) - [Food Protection Trends](https://www.foodprotection.org/files/food-protection-trends/Aug-12-Fishburn.pdf) - [Champions 12.3 / WRAP / WRI, 'The Business Case for Reducing Food Loss and Waste: Restaurants'](https://champions123.org/sites/default/files/2020-07/the-business-case-reducing-food-loss-and-waste-restaurants.pdf) - [Intouch Insight, 2025 Drive-Thru Study](https://www.intouchinsight.com/blog/drive-thru-trends) - [NACS, 'Starbucks Cuts Wait Time by Two Minutes'](https://www.convenience.org/stay-current/news/2025/april/30/6-starbucks-cuts-wait-time-by-two-minutes_fs) - [Consumer Reports, 'We Tested Bubble Tea for Lead. Here's What We Found.'](https://www.consumerreports.org/health/food-contaminants/we-tested-bubble-tea-for-lead-here-is-what-we-found-a1681465194/) - [Taipei Times, 'Six tea products fail inspections for pesticides in Taipei'](https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2025/04/29/2003836012) - [Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health](https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2018/a-foodborne-illness-outbreak-could-cost-a-restaurant-millions-study-suggests) - [Canadian Journal of Public Health](https://link.springer.com/article/10.17269/s41997-021-00599-0) - [Int. J. Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12966-023-01422-4) - [Boston University SPH on the JAMA Health Forum study](https://www.bu.edu/sph/news/articles/2024/sugary-drink-tax-prompts-substantial-decline-in-purchases/) - [UK Food Standards Agency, 'Food Hygiene Rating Scheme Audit of Display and Business Survey: 2024'](https://science.food.gov.uk/article/138241-food-hygiene-rating-scheme-audit-of-display-and-business-survey-2024) - [Grand View Research, Bubble Tea Market Report](https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/bubble-tea-market)