Describe a deep-clean checklist and it exists in Mays
Every kitchen manager has the deep-clean list in their head: pull the line out and degrease behind it, clean the hood filters, descale the dish machine, empty and wipe the walk-in shelves, scrub the floor drains. Getting that list into a checklist app is another story. Each item is a form with fields. Each answer type is a dropdown. The schedule has its own screen, and so does who gets it. So the list stays in the manager's head, and gets done when they remember.
When Mays is connected to your AI app, you describe the checklist the way you'd explain it to a new hire, and the AI builds it in Mays.
Part of our series Run your restaurant with your AI: one real situation per post, with the words you type and what happens in Mays. The prompts and results are illustrative examples.
What the kitchen manager types
"Create a quarterly deep-clean checklist for Midtown and Riverside, on the 1st of the month, from 2pm to 10pm, for the Kitchen staff role. Sections: Line, Dish, Walk-in, Floors. Line: pull out and degrease behind the fryers (photo), clean the hood filters (photo), clean the flat-top. Dish: descale the dish machine, final rinse temperature (number, in °F). Walk-in: empty and wash all shelves, check the door gasket (Good / Torn / Needs a look). Floors: scrub the floor drains, degrease under the line (photo)."
If you'd rather, paste the list from a document or attach the photo of the laminated sheet on the wall. The AI reads either.
What the AI does in Mays
It turns the description into one new checklist template and asks Mays for a preview. A template in Mays holds:
- Items, each with an answer type: a checkbox, a photo, a number (with a minimum, a maximum and a unit, so a reading outside the range stands out), text, or multiple choice with your options. Items can have a section heading and instructions, and are required unless you say otherwise. Up to 60 items in one checklist.
- A schedule: daily, weekly on the days you choose, monthly or quarterly on the dates you choose, or on demand (only when someone starts it in the app). Quarterly runs in January, April, July and October.
- A time window on the location's clock: shown from 2 pm, overdue after 10 pm.
- The locations it runs at.
- Who gets it: a Mays role by name (Kitchen staff), specific people, or, if you name nobody, everyone at the location.
What you see
The preview reads like a sentence, for example (illustrative):
"Create the checklist 'Quarterly deep clean' at Midtown and Riverside, quarterly (Jan, Apr, Jul, Oct) on day 1, 14:00–22:00, for the Kitchen staff role, with 11 items: 'Pull out and degrease behind the fryers' (photo), 'Clean the hood filters' (photo), … 'Final rinse temperature' (number (°F)), 'Check the door gasket' (multiple choice: Good / Torn / Needs a look) …"
If a checklist with the same name already exists, the preview warns you that this would create a second one. If a role name doesn't match a role in Mays, Mays lists the roles you can use and the AI asks you which one you meant.
Say yes, and the checklist exists. It starts appearing from its next scheduled day, in the app of everyone it's assigned to.
Changing it later is a sentence too
"Add 'clean the ice machine bin' to the Dish section of the quarterly deep clean."
"Move the deep clean to the 15th."
Each change gets its own preview before Mays saves it. To stop using a checklist, ask the AI to archive it: nothing is deleted, no new ones are created from the next day, and you can restore it later.
What it replaces
Before | With Mays connected to your AI |
|---|---|
A laminated list nobody signs | A recurring checklist in the team's app |
Build each item in a form, field by field | Describe it once |
Remember which quarter it was last done | It appears on schedule, and progress is in Mays |
"Did they really clean behind the fryer?" | A photo answer on the items that need proof |
For what a thorough quarterly clean covers, our kitchen deep-clean checklist lists the jobs behind, under and above the line.
Who can do it
The same people who can create checklist templates in Mays. A manager limited to some locations can only pick their own. Creating a checklist also needs the organization's Allow AI apps to take actions setting and make changes ticked when you connected.
What Mays doesn't do here
- It doesn't write your cleaning procedure. The AI can suggest items if you ask, but the checklist should say what your kitchen does, with your equipment. Read the preview, and remove what doesn't apply.
- It doesn't backfill. A new checklist starts from its next scheduled day; it doesn't create past ones.
- An on-demand checklist doesn't appear by itself. Someone starts it in the Mays app when it's needed.
Try it with the list in your head
- Connect Mays to ChatGPT, Claude or Grok from mays.app/ai (ChatGPT, Claude, Grok), and read Connect Mays to ChatGPT, Claude or Grok for permissions.
- Describe the checklist: sections, items, which need a photo or a number, the schedule, the locations and the role.
- Read the preview and say yes.
How templates work in the app: Creating a checklist template and Task answer types.
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