Last week, our community delved into several important conversations. Members explored educational pathways for enhancing menu engineering skills, which sparked a lively debate about the best courses available. Meanwhile, there was significant interest in operational policies, such as the types of jewelry permissible for kitchen staff and the effectiveness of a 15-minute hold policy. Training staff while managing tight schedules and ensuring proper hygiene practices for new employees were also prominent themes. Finally, a spirited discussion about a challenging mirror glaze incident highlighted the intricacies of pastry work.
This Week’s Hot Topics
Courses that sharpen menu engineering
This discussion revolves around selecting the right courses to boost menu planning capabilities. It’s a practical exchange for anyone looking to elevate their menu development skills. Read more here
Only jewelry allowed on the line
A conversation about safety and professionalism in the kitchen, focusing on what jewelry is deemed appropriate while working. This is crucial for maintaining both safety standards and team morale. Read more here
Rethinking our 15-minute hold policy
Members are re-evaluating the 15-minute hold policy to improve service efficiency. This thread offers some innovative approaches to handling orders during peak times. Read more here
Training the team while hitting dates
Balancing training schedules with operational deadlines is always a challenge. The community shares strategies to ensure both effective training and timely service delivery. Read more here
Mirror glaze made a run for it
A tricky situation with a runaway mirror glaze sparked insights into pastry techniques and troubleshooting under pressure. It’s an engaging read for pastry enthusiasts. Read more here
Pre-opening hygiene routine for new staff
This practical thread emphasizes the importance of hygiene protocols for new hires. A must-read for managers looking to set a high standard from day one. Read more here
Looking forward to another week of valuable exchanges. Keep the conversations going and have a productive week ahead!
Skipped the courses and got more mileage exporting 90 days of P-mix, ranking by contribution margin, then moving two puzzles to better spots and A/B testing descriptions for a week. @Riley, if your team’s green, a structured course can help frame the math, but otherwise keep it simple and reprice quarterly. The 15-minute hold only stuck for us on weekends; weekdays we cut it to 10 to turn tables.
Quick win for us was ranking items by contribution per minute on the line, not just margin… It kept fry and grill from tripping the ‘15-minute hold’ while still lifting mix; we tagged items by station in the POS and rotated one anchor price weekly. Courses are fine for frameworks, but sanity-check make times during peak first, @Guide.
I had the best results mapping each item’s cost and prep time into a ‘profit per station hour’ score and nudging menu layout with a decoy price to steer mix — felt like Tetris but it worked. Small caveat: we rerun the sheet anytime vendors move prices, @lucy_fern77, because a brisket bump can flip your winners overnight.
We got traction by tracking ‘waste‑adjusted profit’ per item — margin minus average spoilage from the prep log — and we quietly benched two menu lookers that bled on Sundays; @gregoryjones57, swapping in a cold-build alt during the peak cut queue and lifted side attachments. Courses help with structure, but I’d A/B it for a week before moving tiles — no need to rebuild the road to fix one pothole.
We do a quick “15-minute hold” test every Friday: plate the top five sellers, taste at 5/10/15, and anything that falls apart gets a prep tweak or is flagged no-delivery in the POS. Courses are fine for theory, but this hands-on check moved sales faster for us, with the only tradeoff being an hour and a few portions.
We ditched the course debate and ran a simple “20‑minute ride test”: box the top three, drive them around, and if they’re sad at minute 20, they get new packaging or a no‑delivery tag — , nothing outs a diva dish faster. For jewelry, we lean on FDA Food Code and go silicone‑only in BOH, with a narrow exception for flat bands in pastry under gloves: https://www.fda.gov/food/fda-food-code. Anyone tie hold policy straight to expo board times during pre‑theater rush?