Locksmith for Restaurants and Retail Stores

We work on the doors of restaurants, cafes, bars and retail stores: the storefront, the back and kitchen doors, panic bars and fire exits, restroom locks, the office or cash room, and the keys behind all of it. The usual reasons to call are a front door that will not lock, keys that left with an employee, or a new space that needs new locks before opening.

We work Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 6pm. If you are locked out of your business after hours, call anyway. If we are free, we will come. We cannot promise a time, and we will tell you when we cannot make it.

The front door

Most storefront doors are aluminum and glass with a narrow frame, called a narrow stile. The lock sits in the edge of the door. It is usually a deadlatch or deadbolt of the Adams Rite type, with a key cylinder outside and a thumbturn inside. When it fails, the common causes are a door that has dropped out of alignment so the bolt no longer lines up with the strike, a worn or bent bolt, and a cylinder or key that has worn out. Depending on which it is, the fix is adjusting the door or swapping the lock.

Our storefront door locks page explains the parts, and the glass door locks page covers frameless and all-glass doors. After a break-in, we repair or replace the lock. Broken glass is a glass company’s job.

Back doors, kitchen doors and deliveries

The back door takes deliveries, trash runs and staff breaks, so its hardware gets more use than the front door’s. It is usually a steel door with an exit device, or a deadbolt and a lever. Three things to know:

• It is an exit. People must be able to leave through it with one motion and no key. A deadbolt that needs a key from the inside is generally a problem on a door that serves as a required exit while the business is open. Narrow exceptions exist for some main entrance doors, and the fire marshal or building inspector decides.
• Dogging. Many exit devices have a half-turn hex dogging that holds the latch back so a door can stay open during deliveries. It is permitted on some doors and not on others, and a fire-rated device cannot be dogged. When you close for the night, release the dogging so the door latches again.
• Walk-in coolers and freezers. They should always open from the inside, so nobody can be trapped. If the inside release is broken, fix it before anything else.

Panic bars and fire exits

Under the model codes, a door that people use to leave must generally open for them with one motion, with no key, tool or special knowledge, and the part that releases it sits between 34 and 48 inches above the floor. That rules out chains and a padlock on the inside of an exit door, and in most cases a key-only deadbolt on a required exit while customers or staff are in the building.

If you need the door secure when you are closed, there are legitimate ways to do it: an exit device with outside trim that locks, an alarm on the bar, or a lock that you set after closing and release before opening. Which doors count as required exits, and what they need, is up to the fire marshal or building inspector. They are the authority having jurisdiction, and they have the final word. We make the hardware do what the door is required to do.

Restroom locks

A customer restroom needs a lock that opens from the inside with one hand and no key, with no tight grasp or twisting, and that staff can open from the outside in an emergency. A privacy lock with an indicator window, red when occupied and green when vacant, does that and saves customers from trying a locked door. A keypad or pushbutton lock is the other common choice, with the code printed on the receipt. See restroom indicator locks and the lever lock functions guide.

Office, cash room and safes

The office and cash room need a lock that keeps the door secured and a closer so the door never rests open. A storeroom function relocks every time the door closes, while an office function stays unlocked if it was left that way, so pick the one that matches how the room is used. Give keys to the fewest people the job allows. Where several managers need access, a keypad with individual codes shows who opened the door and lets you remove one person without rekeying.

For a safe, see our safe locksmith page. Call and describe the safe, and we will tell you what we need to know before we schedule the visit.

Stockrooms, display cases and cash drawers

Retail stores also have locks that are not on doors. A stockroom door should use a storeroom function, so it is locked every time it closes and only a key or code opens it from the hall. Display cases and cabinets usually have small cam locks. If a key goes missing, the cam lock can be rekeyed or replaced, and a set of cases can be keyed alike so one key opens them all. Cash drawers and registers have their own locks, and the register maker is the right place to start for those.

Key control when staff turn over

Restaurants and stores lose staff all year, and every departure raises the same question: did that person have a key, and did they give back all of them? If they held an opening or closing key, or you cannot be sure, change the lock. Changing a lock is easier than explaining an inventory loss or a break-in later.

• Issue by role. The owner, the managers and the staff each get a different key. A staff key opens the front and back doors, not the office or the cash room.
• Keep a list. Write down who holds each key, the date, and the date it came back.
• Use a system. A master key system lets one key open many doors for a manager while staff keys open only theirs. Interchangeable core locks let you swap a core and cut off old keys without taking the lock apart.
• Do not trust a stamp. A “Do Not Duplicate” stamp does not stop anyone from copying a key.

Our commercial rekey page explains what a rekey involves and when it beats replacing the lock.

Pushbutton and keypad locks for back-of-house

For the back door, storage room or a staff entrance, a pushbutton or keypad lock replaces keys with a code. A mechanical pushbutton lock needs no battery and no wiring, and we repair them. See Simplex pushbutton lock repair. Keypad and smart locks are covered on our smart lock installation page.

The trade-off is that codes get shared. Change the code whenever someone leaves, and keep the list of who knows it short. On a door that serves as an exit, the lock still has to let people out with a plain lever or bar from the inside.

Access control for employee entrances

A card, fob or keypad reader on the staff entrance lets you add and remove people without collecting keys, and some systems record each entry. We install keypads, card and fob readers and electric strikes. See access control systems. New wiring or a link to a fire alarm usually belongs to your electrician or alarm contractor.

Taking over a space: new tenant rekey

When you take a lease, you do not know who still has a key. The last tenant, their staff, the landlord, a contractor and a broker may all have one. Rekey or replace the locks on day one. Your lease says whether the landlord keeps a key and who pays for lock work, so read that part before you call. Lease terms and Arizona law vary, so ask your attorney if you are unsure.

Move-in checklist

1. Count the locked doors. Front, back, office, storage, restrooms, utility rooms and any gate or shutter.
2. Rekey or replace every lock. Rekey changes the pins so old keys stop working and keeps the hardware you have. Replace a lock that is worn or damaged.
3. Test the front door. It should close by itself, the latch should catch, and the key should turn smoothly.
4. Test every exit from the inside. Each one should open with a single push and close fully behind you.
5. Check the restroom locks and the office door. Fix indicator windows, thumbturns and closers that do not work.
6. Ask who holds keys. Find out which keys the landlord, the previous tenant and the builder still have, and get the control key if the building uses removable cores.
7. Label and count your keys. Decide who gets which key and write it down.

Before you open a new location

Call a locksmith before the final walk-through, not after. Restricted keys and some hardware take time to order. If your location needs a building or fire inspection before opening, exit doors are a common item to check, so the exit devices and closers should work first. Ask your inspector what they look at. And if the builder used temporary construction cores, ask for the control key at handover so permanent cores can go in, which avoids a rekey.

Walk the doors with us or send photos, and we will tell you what each one needs. For a new location with many doors, we look at the doors first and agree on the price before work starts. Simple jobs, such as a rekey or a lock swap, are priced on the phone. You can also request a quote, read about commercial lockouts, or see all of our commercial locksmith services.

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