Hit 1000 covers on a Saturday night and it broke something in me

Last Saturday we did 1000 covers at the restaurant downtown. I've been a chef for 12 years and never seen numbers like that. We ran out of the braised short rib by 8 PM and had to comp 15 tickets. Has anyone else had a shift where the volume just felt broken?

3 comments

3 Comments

torres.grant1mo ago

Bro that's just called being understaffed and unprepared.

the_thea1mo ago

Start seeing this kind of thing everywhere now, not just in kitchens. I notice it at grocery stores during holidays where they run out of basics by noon, or at the post office when they just give up and close early. Feels like places hit a ceiling and the system just fails, no backup plan. 1000 covers is insane and no way you could have prepped for that chaos.

casey_wood21mo ago

1000 covers is a lot but comping 15 tickets on a sold out short rib doesn't sound like a system failure to me. Sounds like you guys just didn't guess right on how much to prep, which happens every Saturday somewhere. Thea comparing it to grocery stores running out of basics feels like a stretch too, those are different problems with different solutions. Kitchens have been hitting crazy numbers since people started going out again, this is just the new normal, not something broken.