Visited a kitchen in Portland and saw something I never considered

I was staging at a place in Portland last month and noticed the chef had a small dry erase board above his station listing all the current prep times and par levels. He said it saved him from yelling across the line or checking the walk-in every 5 minutes. I tried it at my own spot and it cut down on miscommunication during service a lot. Has anyone else used something simple like that to keep the crew on the same page?

2 comments

2 Comments

hill.barbara1d ago

Honestly I used to think those boards were kind of a gimmick, you know? Like just another thing to keep clean and clutter up the station. I figured if you had a good system and your crew was solid you shouldn't need to write everything down. But then I tried it after a rough week where we kept running out of aioli mid-service and it totally changed my mind. It's not about not trusting your people, it's just about having one place where everyone can look instead of asking each other or guessing. Now I have a tiny one tucked next to the pass and it saves me from having to repeat myself or dig through the reach-in during rush.

jakegarcia1d ago

@hill.barbara you actually ran out of aioli mid-service and didn't just grab a spoon from the nearest backup bucket with a thousandaire's confidence? I would've needed a full whiteboard and a therapist after that.