--- title: "Burger Joint Receiving Checklist" canonical: "https://peakscaleops.com/checklists/burger-receiving-checklist/" --- > Source: https://peakscaleops.com/checklists/burger-receiving-checklist/ [Checklists](/checklists/) / [Burger Joint](/checklists/burgers/) / Receiving Goods # Burger Joint Goods-In & Receiving Checklist A Burger Joint receiving checklist has four jobs at the back door: **probe every chilled protein, prove the frozen cases never thawed, count and weigh against the invoice, and date-mark before anything reaches the walk-in**. These 7 checks cover all four, and each is tied to published inspection data - cold holding is out of compliance in 68.24% of fast-food observations and date marking in 32.09%, so a delivery accepted warm or undated starts the shift already failing. The seventh check is the one most kitchens skip: moving tomorrow's frozen protein into the thaw fridge tonight. [Run this checklist - free](/run/burgers/?list=goods-in) [Download PDF](/checklists/pdf/peakscale-burgers-checklists.pdf)[Download Excel](/checklists/excel/peakscale-burgers-checklists.xlsx) The checklist · 7 checks ### Check and reject at the door **1\. Check the temperature of every chilled protein delivery. Reject anything above 5°C (41°F).** Warm patties and chicken arrive already part-way through their shelf life. Keeping food cold is the check that fails most often in fast food - 68.24% of the time. Do not start the shift already behind. **2\. Check that frozen patties, chicken and fries are frozen solid. Reject cases with ice on top, clumped blocks, or an odd shape.** A case that thawed during delivery cannot be safely refrozen, and it never cooks back to good quality. Rejecting it at the door costs nothing. Finding out at the grill costs you the whole batch. **3\. Count and weigh the cases against the order and the invoice before you sign.** A delivery that is short on protein means you run out of your best-seller at your busiest hour. A delivery that is too big turns into food you throw away later. Write down every mismatch and ask for credit the same day. **4\. Check buns, tortillas and fresh produce for crushing, mould and staleness.** A crushed bun or a split tortilla means you make the order twice and pay for it twice. Reject damaged cases and write them down for supplier credit, instead of covering the cost yourself. ### Date it before it goes in the walk-in **5\. Write the delivery date and use-by date on every case when it arrives.** Date marking fails in 32.09% of fast-food inspections. You cannot rotate stock or throw it out on time if nobody wrote the date on it. **6\. Use the oldest stock first (FIFO): put new cases at the back, and move the oldest cases to the front of the walk-in and freezer.** This way the oldest stock sells first, and nothing quietly goes bad at the back. This is the cheapest kind of waste in the building to prevent. **7\. Move tomorrow's frozen protein straight into the thaw fridge. Never put it on a bench or in a sink.** Thawing in the fridge is the method the food code requires, and it takes overnight. Deciding to do this when goods arrive is what stops a rushed bench thaw at 11am. ## Frequently asked questions **What temperature should chilled burger patties and chicken arrive at?** At or below 5°C (41°F), probed at the door, with anything warmer rejected rather than 'risked'. Cold holding is the worst-performing check in this entire segment: FDA inspectors found foods requiring refrigeration held at the proper temperature out of compliance in 68.24% of fast-food observations (290 of 425), up from 40.2% in the 2003 baseline. A case accepted warm has already spent part of its shelf life, and nothing on a cold rail ever cools back down. **Can you accept a frozen delivery that has partly thawed?** No. Product that thawed in transit cannot be safely refrozen and will not cook back to quality, so reject it at the door and record it for supplier credit. Look for ice glaze, clumped or misshapen blocks and distorted cases. The alternative is discovering it at the grill, where FDA Food Code 3-501.13 allows only four thaw methods - under refrigeration, completely submerged under running water at or below 21°C (70°F) under the conditions the code specifies, as part of the cooking process, or in a microwave with cooking started immediately - and none of them rescues a case that has already been through a thaw-refreeze cycle. **Why date-mark deliveries at intake rather than at prep?** Because you cannot rotate or discard on time what nobody dated, and the inspection data says this is where kitchens lose. Date marking and 7-day discard of refrigerated ready-to-eat food was out of compliance in 32.09% of fast-food observations (129 of 402) in FDA's study, and FDA Food Code 3-501.17 treats it as a Priority item. Marking the case at the door costs seconds; the undated tub found three weeks later costs the product and the inspection score. ## More Burger Joint checklists [Thawing & Prep (Mise en Place)](/checklists/burger-prep-and-mise-en-place-checklist/)[Opening & Starting the Line](/checklists/burger-opening-checklist/)[Grill & Fryer - Cook to Temperature](/checklists/burger-cooking-temperature-checklist/)[Keeping Food Hot, Building Orders & Speed of Service](/checklists/burger-hot-holding-and-assembly-checklist/)[Closing, Waste & Food Cost](/checklists/burger-closing-checklist/)[Weekly Checks](/checklists/burger-weekly-checklist/) One free app has all of them: [open the Burger Joint Checklists app](/run/burgers/) - 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, Report of the FDA Retail Food Program Database of Foodborne Illness Risk Factors](https://www.fda.gov/media/157223/download) - [CDC EHS-Net, Ground Beef Handling and Cooking Practices in Restaurants in Eight States](https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/48227/cdc_48227_DS1.pdf) - [FDA Food Code 2022, full document](https://www.fda.gov/files/food/published/FDA-FoodCode2022-FullDocument-01182023_0.pdf) - [Food Safety Magazine reporting CDC NORS contributing-factor analysis 2014-2022](https://www.food-safety.com/articles/10209-new-data-from-cdc-on-contributing-factors-of-foodborne-illness-outbreaks-in-20142022) - [CDC, Chicken Preparation](https://www.cdc.gov/restaurant-food-safety/php/practices/chicken-preparation.html) - [FSIS, Salmonella Categorization Process for Raw Chicken Parts and Comminuted Poultry Products](https://www.fsis.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media_file/2020-12/FSIS%20Salmonella%20Categorization%20Process%20for%20Raw%20Chicken%20Parts%20and%20Comminuted%20Poultry%20Products%20.pdf) - [QSR Magazine with Intouch Insight, The 2025 QSR Drive-Thru Report](https://www.qsrmagazine.com/story/the-2025-qsr-drive-thru-report/) - [QSR Magazine, The 2024 QSR Drive-Thru Report](https://www.qsrmagazine.com/story/the-2024-qsr-drive-thru-report/) - [Intouch Insight, 2025 Drive-Thru Study: Key Insights from our Annual Report](https://www.intouchinsight.com/blog/drive-thru-trends) - [WRAP, Overview of Waste in the UK Hospitality and Food Service Sector](https://bfff.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/WRAP-Waste-in-the-UK-Hospitality-and-Food-Service-Sector-2012-Report.pdf) - [Mlcek et al., Assessment of Total Polar Materials in Frying Fats from Czech Restaurants, Italian Journal of Food Science](https://www.itjfs.com/index.php/ijfs/article/view/182) - [FDA factsheet, The Occurrence of Foodborne Illness Risk Factors in Fast-Food and Full-Service Restaurants 2017-2018](https://www.fda.gov/media/169391/download) - [National Restaurant Association, Restaurant operators kept food cost ratios in check in 2024](https://restaurant.org/research-and-media/research/restaurant-economic-insights/analysis-commentary/restaurant-operators-kept-food-cost-ratios-in-check-in-2024/) - [National Restaurant Association, Elevated labor costs had a significant impact on restaurant profitability in 2024](https://restaurant.org/research-and-media/research/restaurant-economic-insights/analysis-commentary/elevated-labor-costs-had-a-significant-impact-on-restaurant-profitability-in-2024/) - [Bartsch et al., Estimated Cost to a Restaurant of a Foodborne Illness Outbreak, Public Health Reports](https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2018/a-foodborne-illness-outbreak-could-cost-a-restaurant-millions-study-suggests)