Skip to Chapter 2 for the actual story!

Kitchen lingo to know:

Hands - calling for food runners or servers (read any FOH staff) to the pass

The Pass- the expo line where Chef or the Expeditor lives; i.e. where the completed dishes are placed and garnished and deemed acceptable by Chef

Hot behind- literally there's someone coming down the aisle with hot food or items

Sharp! - literally someone walking around with a knife or kitchen utensil that's sharp and deadly

On the fly- as quick as possible and most of the time this item cuts in front of any item because either the customer requested something special, an allergy mistake was made, server made a mistake, or customer failed to announce an allergy or specific customization to the dish.

All Day- how many orders of a specific item that's left to sell that day

86'd- out of or no more

Drop- start cooking the next dish

Dragging- something is slow and holding up production

Dying- food sitting on the pass for too long; can either be getting cold/soggy/old etc

FIRE- the start of a new ticket or to start a specific ticket that's hanging in the window

RE-FIRE: remake the item and remake it fast or else die.

HEARD- the equivalent of YES CHEF

The Window- the place where the tickets are placed on the pass and where the food is placed once it's done

Comp- literally shortened version of complimentary; freebies given out by managers or by Chef

Void- to take something off of the ticket without any expense to the restaurant. Usually a mistake on the server's part i.e. "we're voiding table 82's fries. Jenna punched in two orders but only needs one"

The Floor- the dining area where customers sit and eat

Covers- the amount of reservations we have that night

Double- when an employee works two shifts in one day/night

Walk-in: customers who don't have reservations or when the Expo yells it it can mean the same thing as "Fire"

Mise En Place- the French means "everything in its place" in the kitchen it basically means to have everything prepped and ready to go for service or for cooking

Sani + ANYTHING: sanitizer; i.e. "sani-bucket" "sani-rag" etc

FOH - Front Of The House refers to all staff members that make up the "face" of the restaurant. This includes servers, food runners, restaurant managers, supervisors, bartenders, bus boys, etc.

BOH- Back Of The House refers to all kitchen staff. This includes the head chef, sous chefs, line cooks, dish washers, prep cooks, and interns

CUT- telling servers and waitstaff to go home early. On slow nights we cut some employees who are scheduled to make sure we aren't overstaffed for the night

In The Weeds- the kitchen is backed up with orders / this happens when the restaurant is over booked or if the restaurant manager or host that night allows too many customers to come in within every 30 min.

Family meal- the meal made either before or after service for all FOH and BOH by prep cooks or the Sous Chefs

No Call No Show- the worst employees possible because they choose not to show up to work that day and don't call in to let Chef know

This should be plenty to get you ready to enter a kitchen environment! Let's go!