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Dinner rush last Friday when my steam table went down...
I'm still kicking myself over this. We had 40 covers on the books for Friday night and my main steam table just quit at 6pm. I run a small place in Austin, just me and one line cook. Mashed potatoes, gravy, and veg were all sitting there going cold fast. I ended up dumping everything into hotel pans and stacking them over a pot of boiling water on the back burner. It worked okay but the mashed potatoes got a little gluey from sitting too long. Meanwhile I was burning through tickets and my line cook kept asking me if the food was still hot enough. I told her to just keep firing but I could see her stressing. We got through service but I had to comp two tables that waited 25 minutes for their entrees. Lost about $120 in product and comps that night. Has anyone else had a piece of equipment die right in the middle of a rush and just had to improvise?
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the_max16d ago
Read a post from a chef in Portland who had his ice machine die on a hot Saturday night. He ended up running to the store for bagged ice every hour just to keep drinks cold. Said it taught him to always keep a backup plan for every piece of equipment.
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jenny58016d ago
Backup everything, even the ice maker.
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