Fit out gets tracked to the day. Licences, trials and training rarely do, and they are the three things that decide whether you open on the date you announced.
Licensing runs on its own clock
Licensing does not care about your programme. Applications have queues, inspections have lead times, and neither compresses because the launch was announced. Start the licensing pack in the same week the fit out starts, not when the builders leave.
Equipment arriving is not equipment working
Commissioning is a separate job from delivery. Gas connections, extraction balancing and cold chain stabilisation all take days that nobody has scheduled, and they cannot happen while the site is still a building site.
A team trained after opening is a team trained by guests
Training needs the real kitchen and the real equipment. Hire early enough that the brigade can run a full mock service before the doors open. The first week should be a normal week, not a recovery.
