How do Line Cooks get in the Weeds?

In this video I go into detail about why a restaurant fails to keep up with an unexpected rush. I also cover how to prevent it or fix it, not just from a leadership perspective, but also what a cook or server can do to help mitigate the effects of an unexpected busy day at a restaurant
#restaurant #leadership #help #help #video #cooking #food #kitchen #cheflife
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My worst night in the cook line
• My First (and worst) L...

[@dylanhall6355]

I’m 20 seconds in and this literally happened (everything single thing you just said) 2 days ago at the restaurant where I work. I’m super new to the industry, just started training on the line after working my way up from a dishwasher, and this is the first time I’ve seen this happen

[@x86ed]

It can be rough, stick with it and it will click eventually!

[@cloudedmind787]

I’ve been a cook for a long time and the situation you described in the beginning was so accurate all I could do was laugh the only part missing is the 1 line cook that has to go into the walk in to decompress before he walks out

[@x86ed]

For sure man guests don’t realize how stressful it can be

[@jackielehnartz7733]

First thing I learned in the industry. Pace the orders. Take an order and enter an order. I will even as a server, tell them I can only take the drink order at seating time, then take app o entree order. To pace the kitchen. Kitchen is the gold.

[@NamelessVoice808]

Sometimes ill take their order but just won’t put it into the pos till I’ve finished delivering their drinks. People don’t realize we have 7-9 table sections and if they insist on giving me their order I’ll take it down. Little to they know, I’ll still follow my step of service. This method does save me trips back to the table.

[@saltyj7651]

There’s always an eerie silence when your line is going down, like being in the eye of the storm. Great video!

[@mario14th]

Nothing but the sound of sizzling and the occasional curse word

[@waterlemon5434]

I recently did a shift where the forecast was expected to be quiet, where only two cooks where to be on the line (monday). Turns out the other cook didnt show up and I was left on my own with a KP. Then a massive rushed occurred from 18:00-21:00 where I ran down the line like a madman doing to many ticket all at the same time, due to all the tickets coming in at the same time. Wait times went from 20 to 30 then 40 then 50. Then the manager of the site called and said to close orders to the kitchen, Until all tickets where done. I felt embarrassed and angry at the fact I couldn't hold the kitchen down. front house where not communicating with me but staying very quiet and where not giving me any information just glum facial expressions. I honestly felt like just leaving out from the back and walking away. Though I stuck out till it died down from about 21:30 kitchen was a mess, tired from running for hours, stressed out of my mind. Ended my shift(clean down+ labels) at 0:30 got home at 2:00 woke at 5:30 to open the Same day. Honestly one of the worst experiences I've had.

[@x86ed]

Dude. I think it was 2 videos ago I talked about my worst experience and this seems like a transcript from that almost exactly. I don’t know why I stuck around maybe I like the punishment in some weird way lol. A lot of managers don’t care enough about these things to really try and understand what’s going on in their community. Did you ever find out what brought people out?

[@swervsplatt9672]

Way to stick it out. 👍

[@nanolathe1193]

that always sucks when you have to close then open the next day. sounds like the root of all of that was poor management. nobody came to help even plate or anything..? they give you that crap schedule. i guarantee you if it was that slow on ticket times there were servers standing around impatiently.

[@CDeeez94]

Fantastic points here. You really encompassed almost all of the common issues that cause a restaurant to give less-than-ideal service.

[@burninsherman1037]

Flashbacks to me and my kitchen bro were deep in the fucking weeds once, one of the girls form front of house tried to come help us out, and our shithead manager bitched at her for it, then ran and hid back in the office when we both started yelling at him to either shut up and let her help or do so himself. Really hated that guy...still do, honestly.

[@x86ed]

We gotta come up with a name for those kind of people lol

[@burninsherman1037]

@@x86ed we all just referred to him as "that pudgy cunt". Shit replaced his name for most of us, and even new people would know exactly who we were referring to within like a day of coming on, tops.

[@robertcarpenter3020]

I’ve always asked the servers to notify new tables that the cook time is lengthy once we get busy. Cook within your means. You can only cook so much especially in small kitchens. If you can only do 5 to six plates focus on that and tell the servers what the ticket time is looking like. Communicate and don’t become a deer in the headlights. Focus on doing the food right the first time and don’t push out so much food that the servers can t keep up. Customers would rather wait and have good food that is hot than sloppy food that is cold.

[@969typO]

Great video of breaking down how bad management breaks down. You're right about spreading out orders. But another method is using false waits, which historically to me have always been a life saver.

[@969typO]

I guess i should be more specific--if there is little to no management in FOH planning for events, false waits can be done more often and tastefully as long as the host is trained in explaining the obvious. "We have only a handful of servers on hand today, that is why were not filling every seat." In my experience, being transparent with the customers is best practice in service. People will understand your being shorthanded and extend more patience. Then they can make a choice to get something quicker if thats their goal, say if its lunchtime. Those that leave upset were probably going to complain about the food and stiff your servers anyway.

[@jackielehnartz7733]

I've done it as a server. "Sorry ,can't take your order yet... 4 tables ahead of you" I got them drinks, annnd ....never a complaint. Communication

[@Missnips24]

I was a line cook for 1 year after being a dishwasher for 6 months. I left work to go to college. I just came back to work after 1 1/2 years, at a different restaurant and just finished my first shift. I never seen this channel before until today and it is really informative and spot on. Love the content!

[@x86ed]

Thanks so much! I’ve been taking a break the last few weeks but should have some new content next week, has there been anything you’ve been having with?

[@victorankudinov2091]

Well... You describe the problem very well. I worked at chain coffehouse (small kitchen but relatively big menu, closer to restaurants) mainly as a server and barista, however also was 2 months in the kitchen (moved out because of the toxic atmosphere and very mean lead cook who bullied me all the time). The rule amongst all of the managers and supervisors was "the most important thing is taking orders from the guests". Server has to leave everything IMMEDIATELY, even if he's in the middle of something, as long as some table wants to order. The results were: ready but cold food and coffee because the servers don't pick it in time, cooks and baristas are angry at servers, servers are passive aggressive towards the cooks, the cooks are lost in the weeds during the rush and all the time mad at themselves, the servers, the manager and the guests. Nervous breakdowns in the kitchen, unsatisfied clients. The cooks were talented, the servers were patient and the managers usually knew to deal with the annoyed guests, so the place worked somehow and even had good reputation. But dammit, many of those problems could be avoided from the start.

[@animeLinagirl]

As a kitchen Manager I believe the false wait can be the tactic that saves everything if used properly. like he said customers can see that tables are ready for seating. so instead of making them wait that 5 minutes to be seated, have them wait those 5 minutes at the table they will eventually be seated at with some water while they wait at inform the server of that section the wait time of the table. customers are seated knowing it will be 5 min till they are officially seated and the server has some time to gameplan and get organized. This can also be done with two tables at a time for efficiency. thoughts?

[@reggiemids6760]

Great vids. You tell it like it is

[@serenityskydancer]

Made me have nightmares from my server days!! 😝😝 Oh boy!! Typically, we would have some notice, so we were able to schedule enough people. On occasion, we would get those rushes, and could only pray that we had a talented, skilled enough staff be able to handle the situation. Along with the staff being willing to pick up the slack wherever needed. They had to be willing to run food, or drinks, or condiments, tickets, whatever, to keep up with the over all efficiency of the restaurant.

[@x86ed]

Right the staff pulls the weight lol

[@thinkerly1]

Had to witness the ad by Don Junior. What a whimp.

[@x86ed]

I’m annoyed I can’t figure out how to turn political ads off, I’d really rather hi Not be in my videos 🤣

[@michaelschwarz895]

really good insights, thanks for the videos..

[@gabrieljones6479]

My servers do this to me everyday.

[@burninsherman1037]

You poor bastard.

[@riverd537]

bro..im so sorry

[@BigBop.]

Thanks dude, I’ve been looking for online advice on how to deal with learning the sauté station. My head chef and Sous have the same days off and now has fallen on my to hold down Sundays and Mondays, with no real training from either of them lmao

[@x86ed]

If you have anything specific lmk I can do a vid on it!

[@BigBop.]

@@x86ed Id love to hear your thoughts on how unprofessional back of the house training can be. Specifically how the newish people are typically left to train even newer people.

[@x86ed]

@@BigBop. ohhh good one. I did one an training generally and talked a bit about “sink or swim” trainers but didn’t dedicate a video specifically to that

[@BigBop.]

@@x86ed oh sweet thanks my dude I’ll definitely go back and watch that!

[@sentlove]

Man it always starts with being out of one product or ingredient

[@melvinatkins998]

Table Hoppers magically get tickets lost!…. I know it’s not the ‘meta!’…. But I actually give permission to the cooks to lose tickets of, ‘Table Hoppers!’…. Am I wrong????

[@melvinatkins998]

Honestly!…. Your funny videos are the only thing at this moment that are keeping me from burnout!…. Keep up the good work, Chef!….. 😘

[@ryanmcalister6641]

I jumped out of my seat and had ptsd at 4:55

[@will_mcdermott]

How do they all sound the same

[@rudyvasquez9343]

Man I remember one day that printer would not stop bro. We had a full rail and tickets hanging while I was dropping sides and seafood on the grill and the other guy was pushing out the food. That thing stopped for 30 whole seconds, then proceeded to go off again nonstop 😭

[@x86ed]

Man that thing gave me nightmares once upon a time lol

[@rudyvasquez9343]

@@x86ed I was over there like “Bro chill” 🤣😮‍💨

[@King_Showtime]

The nuclear option has happened to me as a customer way too many times, i feel like a lot of places go to this as the first option instead of the last option and it is def frustrating.

[@x86ed]

I honestly wouldn’t doubt that

[@rocktamuya8991]

6:11 don't you think that taking those orders together may make easier for cook's as same orders could be ordered by different guests as result we can cook those orders together. But in the case of taking orders one by one makes the situation like cooking same dish twice which consumes more time ?

[@x86ed]

I’m going to do a video on this actually. In principal it sounds like that would be the case but there’s a lot of nuance and issues with guest perception. Great question for sure

[@Beast9894]

I would just tell guests to come back later or another day

[@datstovey]

Whats that mean in the weeds?

[@x86ed]

It actually originated as a golf term! The good shots are on the fairway, but if you mess the shot up it can end up in the unkempt areas, the ball falls “in the weeds” and it’s really hard to get the ball out when that happens.

[@soldierofmankind]

Cooks/Chefs that has big egos and fire all the food at the same time and makes more mistakes are annoying to me. I agree, my mindset is always on rush mode especially on dinner service. Top up & back up everything. Like the saying "two is one, one is none".

[@swervsplatt9672]

🤣🤠👍

[@aaronscalabrini8725]

Great advice for a learner in a kitchen but the customer is always right just bust a out a new plate of food and move….on …Bro …!!!

[@FuttBucker420]

I worked my way up at a Red Robin from dishwasher to line cook. I knew the place was struggling a bit, going through cooks almost as fast as they hired them. Only managed 3 months there before I had to quit. Abusive managers, some of the cooks were idiots, and nobody informed the cooks if it was going to be busy, so every night was a tossup between a shitshow and a soup sandwich. Also, a question for any experienced line cooks. I think I might have General Anxiety Disorder. Should I still try to be a line cook? I'm starting culinary school next month.

[@x86ed]

I’m not a doctor but speaking from a cooks perspective it would honestly depend on what you believe you can handle. What I could recommend if you get to feeling like your anxiety issues are too much but don’t want to switch careers you can look into cooking for a university. A lot less stress, the catering side allows for a a lot of creativity, but in the end how much you can take is up to you and just being real with yourself. A good friend of mine that was my exec has GAD and he ended up leaving and went to graphic design and music. Best of luck!

[@FuttBucker420]

@@x86ed Thanks for the advice, friend.

[@_thegirlwithacoloredmind]

Idk if you should just quit that easy lmao I have ADHD n I'm autistic n I work as a line cook at a busy place well I cook other places before so maybe that helped me but this place is a fuckin nightmare 😑😑😑🤦‍♀️you can do things to help you make it easier to cope I can't really explain what I mean by that not at this place but other places it's worked like set your station up a certain way Do things so it's hopefully brings you less anxiety one good thing is unless you work in an open kitchen the only people you deal with are the other people you work with the customers cant see you.

[@ryanmcalister6641]

I jumped out of my seat and had ptsd at 4:55

[@x86ed]

Yeah that was a hard one to edit 🤣

[@threefoldcrossroads]

I gritted my teeth and looked for my pocket towel, ready to clean the station and get to it! Line cook PTSD is real lmao