Closing Guidelines

Karma Kitchen typically stop seating around 2:30PM, so we can wrap up the volunteer experience by 4PM. Below are some best practices for the closing hours.

Around 3PM, start to clean up the open tables and ask servers to complete all the open orders as soon as possible, while also leaving the check for the guest in advance.

Around 3:15PM, ask the platers in the back to setup a big volunteer table so everyone can sit in one big circle. Ask everyone else to help each other wrap up. Anchors can also lead the clean up of the kindness table and other supplies.

Around 3:30PM, if there are still guests on the tables, firmly ask them to leave quickly. Request all volunteers to join for the meal and closing circle. The closing circle is really critical to the process, so here are few things to be mindful of ...

• Start with couple minutes of silence. It helps focus everyone and create a unified space.
• Close the silence with a few words of gratitude. One of the anchors can usually recap the days occurences, and thank the crew.
• Do a circle of sharing. While people are eating, ask everyone to share stories/reflections from their perspective. Make sure that only one person is speaking at a time, to preserve the unified ambiance.
• Read activity responses. If there are submissions from the theme-of-the-day, read those sporadically. Someone may choose to share post them up online, and/or make something artistic with it as well.

Around 4:00PM, take a group photo that can be emailed to everyone later. And hug. :) Anchors should also make sure everything is left in reasonable condition for the restaurant's evening crew.

If anyone leaves early, urge them to stay till at least 4PM. Experience has shown that the closing hour creates a beautiful sense of closure for most volunteers. And in case you're running late, remember that being sensitive to the group's will is more important than ending at a hard and fast time.