For those of you wanting to own your own restaurant that never did work in one before, here are some key terms you'll need to know, hey you gotta speak the lingo bro! You can't be a Bozo owner, be in the know, sound hip and cool too.
BUSSING- to clear a dirty table, removing every piece of utensil, cups, glasses, anything, getting it thrown out or taken to the dishwasher, and resetting the tables, cleaned and ready for the next guests to sit down and enjoy their meal. This is where Bussers or Bus Boys come into play.
Fancy Chaffing Dish (L)
CHAFFING DISH- a stainless steel dish filled with some water and heated by a fuel cell under it. You see these fancy shiny warmers at buffets. Rice, mashed potatoes and gravy, seafood, pastas just to name a few are kept warm for serving in these.
86- the term 86 means something has run out, when your chef yells out "86 the Peking Duck!" He's not saying "Hey owner we got 86 Peking Ducks ready." It means you are out of Peking Duck, for whatever reason, there's none to be sold. 86 means it's a done deal, no more, got to order more. Or if you own a night club, and some crap heads come in and cause trouble, you can have your hired bouncers 86 his ass. "You, get out and never come back! You're 86!"
EXPEDITER- More than likely if you are watching your overhead, you'll be the Expediter my friend. An Expediter is very important. I'll give you an example, your dig is very busy, you are a freeking hit! The airlines are advertising your place on the flight video, imagine, some family flying in from Seattle watches the pre-landing video in their Airbus Hawaiian Airlines jet, they see your restaurant, all the good food, and people enjoying it. Now when these guys show up, the last thing they want is their food getting to their table late. So an Expediter's job is to group all the plates ordered for a particular table, so the server will have an easier time delivering the food on time and still hot and fresh. Team work is vital in a restaurant. If I ran one, everyone that works for me better be a team player.
SECTIONS- refers to the dining room that are divided into sections, usually it is sectioned by numbers, and each section will have a few tables that a waiter/waitress is responsible for. For instance, you'll schedule the waitstaff like this. Tonight, Jen has section 1 which has one table near the window, and three towards the middle of the room. Mike has section2, he has one table by the window, and 3 along side the wall. Tani has section 3, his section doesn't have even one table by the window, he may be upset, but hey, there's only two tables by the window, he can get one of those the next shift. So depending on your dining room layout, you can section it so that each waiter will have at least one table that may get him more tips. A couple dining and sipping wine and overlooking the ocean may have a great effect on them for tipping large. When diners are looking at a pretty view, they tend to be happier, I mean if you were seated next to the bathroom, would you feel all Yay Yay? I don't think so.
TURNOVER RATE- this refers to how quickly your tables are filled with diners, and then cleared, cleaned, and filled with the next set of diners. If you are into comfort foods, or a diner, you want your tables or booths turning over quickly, if you got great food, this is your goal, number one, you aren't charging gourmet prices so the people are those that can afford it. Two, that line out the door has to move forward, greeted and seated in minutes. If you want to watch a good system, find your local IHOP restaurant, everyone eats there, and when it's busy, people are moving in and out of there pretty quickly. The average wait time once you sign in, is about 20 minutes. Meaning for every table that's taken, someone is going to leave soon. Just go and study this. It is like that, unless there's a special event, where a family of 40 is seated on tables joined together, then it may take longer. But you want your turnover rate to be pretty fast. Get em in, let them enjoy, let them relax a little, and get them going to fill that table again, high volume, higher profits.
BUSSING- to clear a dirty table, removing every piece of utensil, cups, glasses, anything, getting it thrown out or taken to the dishwasher, and resetting the tables, cleaned and ready for the next guests to sit down and enjoy their meal. This is where Bussers or Bus Boys come into play.
CHAFFING DISH- a stainless steel dish filled with some water and heated by a fuel cell under it. You see these fancy shiny warmers at buffets. Rice, mashed potatoes and gravy, seafood, pastas just to name a few are kept warm for serving in these.
86- the term 86 means something has run out, when your chef yells out "86 the Peking Duck!" He's not saying "Hey owner we got 86 Peking Ducks ready." It means you are out of Peking Duck, for whatever reason, there's none to be sold. 86 means it's a done deal, no more, got to order more. Or if you own a night club, and some crap heads come in and cause trouble, you can have your hired bouncers 86 his ass. "You, get out and never come back! You're 86!"
EXPEDITER- More than likely if you are watching your overhead, you'll be the Expediter my friend. An Expediter is very important. I'll give you an example, your dig is very busy, you are a freeking hit! The airlines are advertising your place on the flight video, imagine, some family flying in from Seattle watches the pre-landing video in their Airbus Hawaiian Airlines jet, they see your restaurant, all the good food, and people enjoying it. Now when these guys show up, the last thing they want is their food getting to their table late. So an Expediter's job is to group all the plates ordered for a particular table, so the server will have an easier time delivering the food on time and still hot and fresh. Team work is vital in a restaurant. If I ran one, everyone that works for me better be a team player.
SECTIONS- refers to the dining room that are divided into sections, usually it is sectioned by numbers, and each section will have a few tables that a waiter/waitress is responsible for. For instance, you'll schedule the waitstaff like this. Tonight, Jen has section 1 which has one table near the window, and three towards the middle of the room. Mike has section2, he has one table by the window, and 3 along side the wall. Tani has section 3, his section doesn't have even one table by the window, he may be upset, but hey, there's only two tables by the window, he can get one of those the next shift. So depending on your dining room layout, you can section it so that each waiter will have at least one table that may get him more tips. A couple dining and sipping wine and overlooking the ocean may have a great effect on them for tipping large. When diners are looking at a pretty view, they tend to be happier, I mean if you were seated next to the bathroom, would you feel all Yay Yay? I don't think so.
TURNOVER RATE- this refers to how quickly your tables are filled with diners, and then cleared, cleaned, and filled with the next set of diners. If you are into comfort foods, or a diner, you want your tables or booths turning over quickly, if you got great food, this is your goal, number one, you aren't charging gourmet prices so the people are those that can afford it. Two, that line out the door has to move forward, greeted and seated in minutes. If you want to watch a good system, find your local IHOP restaurant, everyone eats there, and when it's busy, people are moving in and out of there pretty quickly. The average wait time once you sign in, is about 20 minutes. Meaning for every table that's taken, someone is going to leave soon. Just go and study this. It is like that, unless there's a special event, where a family of 40 is seated on tables joined together, then it may take longer. But you want your turnover rate to be pretty fast. Get em in, let them enjoy, let them relax a little, and get them going to fill that table again, high volume, higher profits.
No comments:
Post a Comment