Two kitchen leaders explain how to eliminate chaos during service: build systems so clear that cooks don't have to think. Set inventory pars, define daily quantities, write detailed prep sheets. When the process is locked in, the team executes, shortages disappear, and consistency follows.
I would say if there's. If there's a secret to success in anything in life, it's don't think, just do. Just implement. Just execute.
You taught me that with my team, right? Oh, yeah. Don't let them think. Yeah, it's like, don't let them think because, like, I. Like, the other day, like, a couple weeks ago, I saw, like, you know, one of my cooks, like, he was, like, counting and thinking, and I'm like, why are you. Why are you thinking like you. Like, everything is here, ready to go, right? Like, the prep sheet. You know what you need to, you know, prep? It's all right here. You don't need to think. You don't need to count. You don't need to do anything. You just need to execute.
I had that problem when I. When I was a young chef. You know, you go in the kitchen, you. You try to get the team all fired up. Everybody ready, guys? Right. Everyone ready? Rock and roll. Ready for a big service? Yeah, we're ready, chef. We're ready, chef. And then, like, an hour into service, 86 this, 86 that, and I'll be like, hey, what happened? And they always say the same thing. I thought I had enough.
Yeah,
exactly. Like, oh. Then I was like, oh, I need to take. I need to take the thinking out. I just need you to execute, not to think.
That's. That's your job as the leader, as the
owner, is to figure out what the pars are, figure out what. What you need for inventory, figure out what our quantity is. We need every day. And then the team just needs to focus on just executing. Exactly.
Yeah. Because, like, I especially, like, years ago, man, when. When there was no, like, process in place. Oh, my God, I. We would run out of stuff, and, like, we're not even a restaurant. We're like, we have all the orders ready to go, so it should have been easier for us, but, you know, just lack of knowledge, like, you know, not really understanding, like, what we needed to cook. You know, let's say someone burned something or, you know, we had to throw something out. We'd have, like, little, you know, reserves. So it was just. It was a mess. And.
Oh, yeah,
it was definitely, definitely difficult. But, you know, as you kind of get experience and you things up, it's. It's much easier.
If your restaurant only works because you work 80 hours a week, it doesn't work.
