A case for scratch cooking in chain restaurants?

I have been fortunate over the last year to have had a successful group of clients in the restaurant industry. One constant I continue to notice when working on brands with great longevity is that they have been and are still all about the food they produce. One client has three locations that have been in their family for 70 years, and they still scratch cook everyday. Could they take short cuts, sure but their multiple generations of guests would notice.  At three locations it is much easier to scratch cook than at three hundred but it can be done. What is the key to executing consistently? One thing is straight forward recipes that are easy to make and deliver amazing quality and taste. The other secret ingredient is the long tenure of the employees. When you have kitchen managers that have been there 22 years it makes a huge difference in the ability to deliver great food. People and the culture of hospitality and “real” cooking continue to be the most important difference I see between brands that are winning right now and those that are struggling to survive. I have another client with over 100 locations and their brand again is over 50 years old. They scratch cook both in restaurant as well as at their own central kitchen. They have the ability to deliver consistent quality food from both points but the people are still the key. In the central kitchen they have employees that have been there for over 20 years making the soups and dressings day-in and day-out. These folks take great pride in knowing they are delivering amazing food to the restaurants and ultimately the guests. The in restaurant team continues to cook, really cook at least 80% of the menu from scratch. These same people also are long tenured in the brand’s back of the house. I think one formula for success in this current economic environment is the following

Culture + skills + desire = A quality experience that creates an emotional connect with the consumer

Anyone that is able to consistently execute against this formula will win in the long run. There has to be some magic in this formula based on what I continue to see and experience in our industry. It is less about scratch cooking and more about creating a caring culture that embraces teaching a group of employees that will continue to attract the right talent in a tightening labor market. When people are cared for and provided the chance to grow and gain skills we all benefit.  People are the magic and I think this is how we shift and evolve the restaurant industry for the future.

www.jwd-consultancy.com

BOH - Back of the house series - Walking the kitchen – an active observers guide to better operations

Over the next few blog entries I will share back of the house tips for improving kitchen operation performance. Each of these lessons can be used in part or whole to make an impact in your restaurant. I hope you enjoy them and use them to teach the next generation of managers that may have not benefited from these experiences.

Walking the kitchen – an active observers guide

Have you every really thought about how to walk your kitchen. It seems silly but sometimes we get into a rut and have blinders on when it comes to walking our kitchen and restaurant. With a few simple changes to your daily routine you can re-teach yourself to see what is there and needs to be corrected. Remember when an  internal inspector or health department official drops by to tour your facility they have one advantage you don’t, “fresh eyes”. So if you follow this simple exercise over a few weeks it will start to help you change the way you see your kitchen and restaurant.

First I like to start with the idea that there are three distinct zones of view: floor level, eye level and ceiling level. You will find different things to look for in each of these zones.

We will start with floor level first, probably should do this walk at least 2 times a day – it is your safety walk.

Floor level – what to look for from the floor to about 12 inches up.

·      Standing water on the floor, is something leaking?

·      Cracked or broken tiles, is there a hazard on the line, in prep, coolers, dry storage?

·      Spills – oil, food, seasoning, etc, is there some reason something is on the floor and could be a hazard?

·      Splash up – is there soap, cleaning fluids or water splashed up from hosing down the kitchen on lower shelves, plateware, uncovered food items stored on the lowest shelf?

·      How do the floor drain/ sinks look, clean and clear?

·      Un-wanted friends – do you see signs of pests in your kitchen or restaurant?

·      Extend this walk to the front of the house – what do you see that the guest or your team sees?

Eye Level – maybe the most telling walk and one you should do about 4 to 6 times a day – it lets you know what is going on in the kitchen.

·      First and foremost – look at your kitchen team, greet them, make sure everyone is healthy to work and handle food

·      Take a look around is there any snacking or drinking going on in food production areas?

·      Are the hand washing sinks, stocked, functioning and useable?

·      Is the dish machine running at proper temperature, is the dirty dish table organized to facilitate easy clean as you go.

·      Walk down the line – proper utensil storage and handling being executed?

·      Right size portion devices in the right sauces, ingredients, any visible product issues or concerns?

·      Look at the equipment on the line, is it clean, working, and maintained? If not what can you correct immediately?

·      Temperatures on all refrigerated equipment look right? Anything not function at a safe food holding level?

·      Round the corner and move through your prep production area – what do you see – any cross contamination occurring during prep/ production?

·      Gloves being used properly? In prep, on line, no bare hand contact with ready to eat foods.

·      Handling of proteins your most expensive ingredient, is it being treated with care or compromised at prolonged room temperature?

·      Inbound produce or  food order is arriving – how do the cases look? What about temp, is everything with in your standard operating guidelines?

·      Lets move into your storage areas – dry goods, cooler and freezer – are the all organized?

·      Dry store – everything covered, labeled, dated – rotated? Stored in proper hierarchy?

·      Cooler – are items organized by prepared and raw goods, floor clear, -packages properly labeled? Pull thaw – everything in proper containers, dated? Is the food hierarchy of raw on bottom with cooked on top being followed? Covered, covered and covered - ?

·      What about the freezer? Organized? FIFO?

Ceiling level – do this at least once a day both in back of house and the front of house as well.

·      How do the tiles look, clean or dirty?

·      What about the air vents – are the clean or need a wipe down

·      And the number one thing – any burned out bulbs, uncovered fluorescent tubes or bad ceiling fans? And so on………..you will see something that may need attention.

So you get the idea of the impact and importance of really being engaged when walking your kitchen – you should see everything at some point in the day. Also focus on those things that have been your hot button issues in the past. Remember teach and coach so everyone sees what you see and you will elevate the level of care and performance of your restaurant.