What sidework is, and why it slips
Sidework is everything that keeps a restaurant running that isn't serving a guest: rolling silverware, stocking stations, cutting garnishes, filling ice, breaking down the line. It's split into opening sidework (getting ready for service), running sidework (keeping up during it) and closing sidework (resetting for tomorrow).
It slips for the same reasons everywhere: nobody's sure whose job a task is, the task is too vague to check (“clean station”), or there's no record of who did it. A checklist fixes all three — each task has an owner, it's specific enough to verify, and initials show who finished it.
How to write sidework tasks people actually do
Make each task specific enough that two people would do it the same way. “Roll silverware (par: 60)” is better than “silverware”, and “change sanitizer buckets every 2 hours” is better than “keep station clean”. Include pars, times and temperatures wherever they apply.
Assign tasks by position rather than by name, so the list still works when the schedule changes. Keep each position's list short enough to finish in 15–30 minutes. If closing sidework routinely runs long, split it or move some of it to the running list.
Make the sign-off mean something
The manager sign-off only works if someone actually walks the stations before initialing. A quick check of three or four tasks a night — are the ketchups married, is the walk-in labeled — keeps the standard where it should be.
Keep the completed sheets for a few weeks. They settle “I thought someone else did it”, show which tasks get skipped most, and make it easy to spot a checklist that needs rewriting.