How to plan a store, restaurant or clinic opening on a Gantt chart
Plan a new store, restaurant, hotel or clinic opening on a Gantt chart: gates for the lease, keys and permits, the long waits that set the date, hiring and stock around them, and an owner for every group.
An opening date is set by a few slow things you do not fully control, such as a permit review, a landlord's works or a delivery, while the team, the stock and the marketing fit around them. This guide shows how to draw that on a Gantt chart so you can see which wait decides the date.
The short version
- Draw every wait you do not control, such as a permit review or a landlord's works, as its own task with a duration in working days.
- Make each approval or handover that holds work back a milestone of length 0, and hang the work that needs it from that milestone.
- Use start-to-start links with a lag where work overlaps, such as design that starts while the lease is still being negotiated.
- Compare the finish date with the opening date you want; the plan schedules forward and does not plan backwards from a date.
- Turn on Critical path in the View menu to see which chain sets the opening date before you try to shorten anything.
- Give each group an owner in People, using your org chart to decide who that is.
The opening date belongs to the slowest wait
Opening a new location looks like a checklist: lease, fit-out, systems, stock, staff, marketing, opening day. A checklist hides the one thing that matters for the date, which is which items wait for which, and which of the waits are outside your control. A building authority reviews a permit at its own pace. A landlord finishes the shell works when they finish. A fixture maker quotes a lead time. Nothing you do on site can start before those are done, so the date is decided by whichever of them finishes last.
A Gantt chart puts those waits on one page. Each wait is a task with a duration in working days, or a lag on a dependency. Each approval or handover that really holds work back is a milestone, a task of length 0. Everything else, such as hiring, training, ordering stock and marketing, hangs from those gates with the link that matches how the work overlaps: finish-to-start when one thing must be done first, start-to-start with a lag when the second can begin part way into the first.
The plan only goes forward. It starts on the project start and lets each task begin as soon as its dependencies allow, so you do not plan backwards from an opening date. You compare the finish with the date you want. If you have promised a date, give the first task a fixed Start on the day work begins and the opening milestone a fixed Start on the promised day: the plan starts on the earliest fixed Start, and if the dependencies cannot meet the opening date, the chart flags a conflict. Then the critical path toggle in the View menu lights the chain that sets the finish, which is where shortening a task actually helps.
The example below builds the retail store opening template in five stages. The same shape fits other openings with different gates: a restaurant waits for licences and an inspection (/templates/restaurant-opening-gantt-chart), a hotel for its building handover (/templates/hotel-pre-opening-gantt-chart), a clinic for payer credentialing (/templates/clinic-opening-gantt-chart) and a franchise unit for the franchisor's approvals (/templates/franchise-opening-gantt-chart). After the plan, an org chart shows who owns each group of tasks.
All durations are illustrative. A timeline schedules the work; it does not obtain a permit, pass an inspection or make the premises ready to trade. For the waits in detail see /guides/opening-permits-and-inspections-gantt-chart, and for the team see /guides/opening-team-hiring-gantt-chart.
A store opening, built in five stages
Twenty-six tasks in five groups. Durations are illustrative working days. Open the spreadsheet panel to see the rows behind each stage.
The lease and the keys are the first two gates
"Agree store format and budget" (4 working days) leads to "Negotiate lease and landlord works" (10) and the milestone "Lease signed". "Landlord completes shell works" (12) follows, and "Keys handed over" is the second milestone. With these numbers the keys arrive on day 26 of the plan.
The shop fit waits for the permit, not the keys
"Design store layout and shop fit" starts 5 days into the lease negotiation, a start-to-start link with a lag. After "Permit review" (15) the permit arrives on day 35, so "Carry out shop fit" waits for it and the keys have 9 days to spare. "Install fixtures and signage" starts 10 days into the shop fit, once "Fixture manufacture and delivery" (25) is done, and "Walk the store and fix the snag list" leads to "Shop fit complete".
Systems and stock fit around the shop fit
"Install and test POS and network" waits 15 days after the systems order for delivery and starts 8 days into the shop fit. "Receive and check opening stock" needs both the 20-day wait after "Order opening stock" and "Shop fit complete", because stock should not arrive on a building site. "Merchandise the store" (4) follows it.
The team is hired while the store is built
"Recruit store manager" (15) starts when the lease is signed, and "Hire the store team" (15) starts 10 days into it so the manager can take part. "Train the team on systems and service" (5) waits for the hire and for the POS, so staff train on the tills they will use.
Soft opening first, grand opening after the fixes
"Plan and run opening marketing" (15) starts once the keys are handed over. "Soft opening" (2) waits for merchandising, training and marketing, and "Fix issues from the soft opening" (3) leads to "Grand opening" on day 67. With Critical path on, the chain from "Permit review" through the shop fit, snagging, stock and merchandising is lit: that is where a shorter task moves the date.
Who owns each group: the retail org chart
The plan says when; the org chart says whose name goes in People for each group of tasks. The chart grows one branch at a time.
Store operations runs the opening
Head Office, Store Operations, Regional Managers, Store Managers and Store Teams. A regional manager usually owns the whole plan until the store manager is hired; from then on the store manager owns the Store team and Opening groups.
Merchandising owns the layout and the merchandising
Merchandising and Category Management add the branch that decides what goes on the shelves. Add their name in People to "Design store layout and shop fit", since they shape the layout, and make them the owner of "Merchandise the store".
Marketing owns the opening campaign
Marketing and Campaigns own "Plan and run opening marketing". Because that task starts at "Keys handed over", the campaign team can see exactly how long they have before the soft opening.
Supply chain owns the stock
Supply Chain and Distribution own "Order opening stock" and "Receive and check opening stock". The dependency on "Shop fit complete" is the handoff between them and store operations, and it is worth naming both people on it.
Corporate holds the budget and the hiring
Corporate, Finance and People complete the tree. Finance owns "Agree store format and budget" and the lease signature, and People owns "Recruit store manager" and "Hire the store team". Every group of the plan now has a branch, and every branch has tasks.
How it works
List the gates
Write down every approval and handover that holds work back: the lease, the landlord's handover, permits or licences, inspections, a franchisor's sign-off. Make each one a milestone with a duration of 0.
Draw the waits you do not control
Give each review, lead time or contractor's works its own task with a duration in working days, from the authority's stated time, a supplier quote or the contractor's programme. These are the tasks that usually set the date.
Hang the work from the gates
In Depends on, link the shop fit to the keys and the permit, stock to the finished fit-out, and training to the hired team and installed systems. Use a start-to-start link with a lag, such as 2SS+5, where work can begin before the previous task ends.
Add the team, stock and marketing
Put hiring, training, stock and the opening campaign in their own groups so each group has one owner. Link each to the gate it really needs, not to the end of everything before it.
Check the date
Compare the finish with the date you want to open. If the date is promised, give the first task a fixed Start on the day work begins and the opening milestone a fixed Start on that date; if the dependencies cannot meet it, the chart flags a conflict. Turn on Critical path in the View menu to see which chain to work on.
Name owners and share
Put a responsible person in People for each task, using your org chart, then share the chart as a link or export a PDF for the landlord, contractors and head office. Update progress as the work is done.
Mistakes to avoid
Planning backwards from the opening date
The chart schedules forward from the project start. Writing an opening date into every task hides the conflict instead of showing it. Fix the first task on the day work begins and the opening date you have promised, and let the dependencies show whether the date can be met.
Starting the fit-out at the keys
Having the keys is not the same as being allowed to build. If the fit-out also needs a permit, link it to the permit review too, or the plan will show work starting before it can.
Stock with nowhere to go
Opening stock ordered early arrives early. Link its delivery to the end of the fit-out as well as to the supplier's lead time, so it lands in a finished store.
One owner for the whole plan
A single name on every task means nobody owns the handoffs. Give each group its owner and name both people on tasks where one branch hands work to another.
Editable organizational charts
Open the store opening Gantt chart
Open the store template, put your own permit review and lead times in, and see which wait sets your opening date.
Related guides
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to open a new store or restaurant?
It depends on the lease, the permits or licences, the building work and the lead times in your location. The templates use illustrative working days. Replace them with quotes and the authority's stated times, and read the finish date from the chart.
Can I plan backwards from the opening date?
No. The plan schedules forward from the project start, which is the earliest fixed Start. Give the first task a fixed Start on the day work begins and the opening milestone a fixed Start on your date; if the work before it cannot finish in time, the chart flags a conflict and names the earliest date the dependencies allow. Fix the first task too, or the plan keeps starting on the day the chart was created.
Does the chart count weekends?
No. Durations and lags are working days, Monday to Friday, and there is no holiday calendar. Add public holidays as extra days in the tasks that cross them.
Which template should I start from?
Use the store template for retail, the restaurant template for food service, the hotel pre-opening template for a hotel, the clinic template for a medical or dental practice, the franchise template if a franchisor approves your steps, and the pop-up template for a temporary shop. For several stores at once, use /templates/multi-store-opening-gantt-chart.
Does QueryChart track the opening budget?
No. The chart schedules the work and who owns it. Costs, quotes and the budget stay in your own records; you can link them in a task's notes.