Commercial Kitchen Crises: Damage Control

Problems in Restaurants: Short Staff

One frequent occurrence that literally wakes business owners in the middle of the night is short staffing. The most effective way to avoid this issue to begin with is to hire timely, reliable employees. Emphasize the importance of these traits and verify them with references when hiring. Make a list of subs and provide reminders to back-ups regarding when they are on call. It might even be possible to hire a few staff members for just such situations, considering the fact that many people need occasional extra money or a second part-time job. At times, an employee's absence may be unavoidable, and there is no complete assurance that the substitute will not have an emergency to attend to during the same shift. In these cases, you will need to work with what you have, particularly if you are already planning to be present during the time period in question and cannot solve the problem by devoting extra time.

Insufficient Product Inventory

Every restaurant owner dreads the news that his commercial kitchen supply of any necessary product has been used up. To keep this event from happening in your establishment, keep a precise inventory and check it frequently. Note when a certain dish gains popularity to prevent the dismal surprise of a future shortage of ingredients. Freeze any products that freeze well, like herbs, even if this means stocking ice cube trays filled with sauces. For an in-the-moment fix, insert a card into the menu or instruct your servers to inform clients of a specific dish's unavailability before handing them the menu. Meanwhile, improvise an intriguing replacement dish using the ingredients that you do have in stock. This way, you will usually avoid customer disappointment. Be smart with your phrasing. Instead of calling undue attention to the fact that you are unable to serve the usual platter, the server or notice should word the announcement in a positive way. Explain that rather than the affected menu item, you are serving a limited-time special. Play your cards right, and your customers will receive the replacement dish so well that it will soon earn a place on your regular menu.

In the food service business, a well thought out back-up plan for potential crises can help you keep an efficient pace and a cool head. Having insufficient product supplies or too few staff on duty makes other unpleasant circumstances more likely to occur. Prevent yourself and your staff from being so concerned with a major obstacle that no one notices the pot boiling over on the heavy duty range until it's too late. Take the appropriate action to deal with one of these situations and you can concentrate on the parts of your job that you love: serving your customers with professionalism and creating culinary masterpieces.

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