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How to Develop a Great Kitchen Manager

In the culinary world, the title of "chef" is typically reserved for individuals who have completed years of training and apprenticeship in the culinary arts.

These highly trained professionals, often referred to as executive chefs, oversee elaborate food preparations and presentations produced by skilled staffs found in fine-dining restaurants and hotels. Not only must they be accomplished in the fine art of food preparation, but they are also required to know how to manage labor and control profit. The origination of the term "chef" is the shortened form of the French phrase chef de cuisine, which means the chief or head of a kitchen. However, the modern-day English language use of the word chef has evolved to imply any professional cook, regardless of rank or training.

Though I am not a trained chef myself, in my opinion, referring to the professional cook as chef tends to minimize the creative arts training and skill necessary to achieve the culinary title as it was originally intended. Nevertheless, the title of chef, or head chef, is often given to those charged with managing high-volume kitchens capable of turning out several hundred meals every day. Kitchen management doesn't necessarily require a degree in culinary arts, but if the restaurant is to be profitable and consistent, it needs a competent kitchen manager dedicated to systems and procedures. No one understands this more than Glenn Cates, kitchen operations and menu development director for A'La Carte Foodservice Consulting Group. Cates began his career more than 30 years ago as a food and beverage director for T.G.I. Friday's. It was there he learned the importance of having solid kitchen management systems and procedures to ensure that, regardless of which unit you visited, every dish served was of the highest quality, consistent and, more importantly, profitable.

The fact is many of today's casual-service chains and independents alike have adopted systems that were created and perfected more than 40 years ago by the likes of Steak and Ale and T.G.I. Friday's. While technology has given our industry better tools to use, the basic formula for running a quality kitchen remains the same. Cates says even though he has adapted to changing technology, he still uses some of the same forms and checklists that he did when he first started in the business. For this article, I asked Cates to assist in creating a checklist of the various kitchen management systems and forms necessary for a kitchen manager to be successful. Whether you are in the start-up phase of a new restaurant or you've been in business for decades, this checklist provides an exhaustive and timeless resource for every restaurant kitchen.

Achieving Quality Control and Consistency

Job descriptions. The first step in getting your restaurant kitchen organized is to create a list of duties and responsibilities for each kitchen job position. Job descriptions help your employees understand the expectations and results you look for from their job performance. It's also a good idea to include the skills, training and qualifications needed to perform each job. Job positions and stations typically differ from one restaurant to another and should be unique to an operation. A typical organizational structure of jobs found in most full-service restaurant kitchens include:

• Kitchen manager
• Line cook
  • Sauté station
  • Grill station
  • Fry station
• Prep cook
• Pantry
• Dishwasher

Training manuals. In addition to drafting job descriptions, you should properly instruct every kitchen staff member on how to perform their job. There should be a training manual for each position and you should have a comprehensive training program that each employee must go through before they are permitted to work a station or job. Effective training techniques include hands-on instruction, observation and testing. In addition to job instruction, the training agenda should include general employee information such as restaurant policies and procedures.

Opening and closing checklists. One of the most basic, yet extremely important tools for creating consistency in your kitchen is to have opening and closing checklists for each station in your kitchen. A properly designed form will include a complete listing of the tasks required to prepare the designated cook station for opening, shift change and closing. One of the best methods for designing a checklist is to have each task listed in the order it should be completed. Next to each task should be a box that can be checked when the task has been completed. The form is then laminated and affixed to a clipboard that is hung close to the station. The employee assigned to that station uses an erasable marker such as a laundry pen or grease pencil to check off each task as it is completed. The marks are then wiped clean for use by the next opening, close or change in shifts.

Station diagrams. For a restaurant to pump out hundreds of meals in timely fashion, it's necessary to have workstations that provide the cook with the correct equipment, utensils and sufficient product close at hand. Having a diagram of how each station should be set up ensures that cooks are properly set up to handle peak meal periods and that everyone is using the same station setup. It's typically best to post station diagrams in clear visibility for each station.

Quality-control line check. One of the most effective tools for ensuring product freshness, sufficient quantities and correct holding temperatures is to use a preshift line check. The kitchen manager, head chef or supervisor should personally inspect and sample every product on the line prior to the commencement of the shift.

Recipe 'quick reference.' The fast-paced environment of most restaurant kitchens makes it impractical to use the recipe manual for every menu item. Characteristically, cooks are required to memorize the proper portions and steps for preparing each item on their station. The recipe "quick reference" is used as the name implies, providing the cook with an at-a-glance list of ingredients, portion size and proper portioning utensil for each preparation step. Optionally, recipe references can be accompanied by photos of the finished product. Proper portioning and adherence to recipes, along with a visual reference of the properly prepared menu item help to ensure consistency in both taste and presentation.

Master prep list. Perhaps the single most important system to master in a restaurant is the appropriate use and execution of a prep list. Preparing the proper quantity of food products is a critical function in any kitchen. Waste and food costs go up if you consistently prepare too much; don't make enough and you lose sales opportunities and disappoint your guests. A properly designed prep list should be completed for each station and should include a spot for recording quantities on hand, par levels, amount to be prepared, shelf life and proper storage containers needed for each prepared item. Optimally, prep levels should be checked before each shift to ensure there is sufficient product available. Adjustments must be made when usage is abnormally high or low.

Product rotation and labeling policy. All prepared foods should be properly wrapped, labeled and dated. The best way to ensure proper rotation is to practice first-in first-out product usage. Older dated product should be moved to the front and newer product to the rear. You should never allow unlabeled and undated product to be stored.

Master recipe manual. The only method for ensuring that your staff knows how to make your signature meatballs is to document the recipe and enforce strict adherence practices among your kitchen staff. Recipe pages should be laminated or placed in protective coverings and bound. They should be kept in a secure area and issued to prep cooks as needed to ensure consistency. Cooks should then turn in all recipes prior to ending their shift. Recipe manuals should never be allowed to leave the premises.

Controlling Inventory and Purchasing

Menu and recipe costing forms. For a restaurant to be profitable, not only does it need to achieve specific sales goals but it must also hit certain cost targets as well. However, if you don't know what your target should be, how can you expect to hit it? A well-designed costing form should include a place for listing each ingredient within a recipe, including the cost and quantities need to prepare the recipe or menu item. Prices should be periodically updated to reflect current vendor pricing for more accuracy. The master ingredient list is the basis for tracking the products your restaurant will carry and purchase. For more information, check out some RecipeMapping™ articles.

Yield and shrink test worksheets. Shrinkage, waste and trim are significant factors that can negatively affect your bottom line. If you cut your own steaks, seafood or poultry, or offer cooked meats such as prime rib, smoked brisket, ribs, roast beef or pulled pork, then it is a certainty that the true cost per pound of the finished product will be significantly greater than the original purchase price. By periodically testing your product yield you are positioned to react to conditions that affect yield, such as holding or cooking times or changes in product specifications.

Purchasing policy. You should have a written policy describing what your restaurant should be doing to purchase the best products in the most economical and efficient way. Establishing purchasing procedures lets everyone know the system used in your restaurant for ordering product, the people or positions responsible for placing orders and the frequency in which you order products. The policy should also reflect the vendor bidding process used and product specifications. A good purchasing policy should also address vendor practices with respect to gifts or rebates that are intended to influence the buying decisions made by purchasing personnel. Your purchasing guidelines should also include an approved vendor list containing vendors, current sales representatives and contact information.

Running inventory order guide. An order guide is a set of forms that contain a listing of all the products a restaurant uses. It is usually divided into separate sections such as meat, produce, cleaning supplies and paper. The order guide form is used as a tool for counting and tracking all the products that your restaurant uses and must reorder. When using an order guide, all products are counted at least once a week and some, such as produce or seafood, may be counted as many as five to six times if you receive fresh product daily. The unique layout of the guide allows you to keep running inventory counts on all your products, thus simplifying weekly inventory counts without too much additional effort. For more information, see "How to Avoid Running Out of Product With an Effective Order Guide."

Purchase orders. Whereas the order guide helps to track and control what is ordered, purchase orders provide an excellent financial control to ensure that all purchases have been authorized and invoiced with correct pricing. A purchase order showing the quantity and price quoted should be completed for every vendor order. Hourly staff receiving deliveries can simply compare the invoice with the purchase order, alerting the manager if there are any discrepancies.

Receiving policy. In addition to a comprehensive purchasing policy, restaurants need to adopt receiving best practices to prevent losses and problems when product is received at the back door. The policy should establish acceptable receiving hours and which personnel are authorized to receive and sign for deliveries. It should include guidelines for inspection of product received, weight verification, such as the use of a scale to check product weights, and the proper use of purchase orders to verify invoiced items.

Conduct weekly inventories. To accurately calculate the cost of sales it is first necessary to calculate the value of inventory on hand. If you are using the running inventory order guide as described earlier, then your staff is already in the habit of conducting cyclical counts of product on hand to facilitate the ordering of replenishments. The best time to take weekly inventories is when the shelves are at their lowest. For most restaurants this would be after close on Sunday and before opening on Monday.

Taking a full inventory on Sunday evening kills two birds with one stone. First, doing so enables you to quickly calculate your food orders to bring the shelves back up to par. Second, you can use the counts recorded on your order guide as the entries into an inventory spreadsheet that has been set up to mirror the products listed in the order guide. Spreadsheets should be configured to record count and purchase price of each product. A column should be added with a formula that multiplies the unit count times the unit purchase price to arrive at the total value of the product on hand. For more information, see "How Better Inventory Management & Weekly Food Costing Can Lower Your Food Cost."

Daily key item inventory. This is one of the most effective cost-saving measures any restaurant can carry out. The objective of this practice is to identify 10-15 high-cost, high-use items that you use every day, then to track the purchases and sales of that item daily. For example, let's say that your restaurant has several items that use 8-ounce chicken breasts. The manager begins the day by counting the number of breasts on hand and records it to the key item tracking sheet. She then enters the number of breasts received from the vendor that day. The number sold for the day is taken from the item sales mix report (includes all items that have an 8-ounce breast). Finally, she counts the actual number of breasts left at the end of the day. Ideally, the actual use should match the calculated usage.

Financial Tracking

Weekly prime cost calculations. Restaurant operators who track their prime cost weekly routinely increase their bottom line 2 percent to 5 percent or more. The large restaurant chains have been doing this for years. If you want to compete with the chains, you should too. Prime cost is a restaurant's total food, beverage and payroll costs for a period of time. In table-service restaurants, the generally accepted rule says that prime cost should run no more than 60-65 percent of total sales. For quick-service restaurants, the goal is to keep prime cost at 55-60 percent of total sales or less.

Purchase log. The first step in calculating the food cost part of prime cost is to keep a record of your daily food and beverages purchases on what some operators call an invoice log. Post or record your food and beverage invoices to the invoice log worksheet each day and indicate what amounts are chargeable to the appropriate food or beverage account categories. A detailed log of your food and beverage purchases will help you identify purchasing inefficiencies or waste.

Daily labor controls. Kitchen managers should be responsible for scheduling and labor cost control for the back of the house. Schedules should be cost-out to determine daily and weekly projected labor cost. The kitchen manager should ensure that actual hours worked conform to scheduled hours to control overtime and meet projections. Maintaining a daily labor log will help in the weekly calculation of prime cost.

Cost-of-sales calculation. Many operators believe that what they spend on food and beverage purchases is their cost of sales. While this may be true in the long run, for weekly prime cost analysis it is inaccurate. The correct formula for calculating the cost of sales portion of prime cost is this:

Operators who take inventories and calculate their cost of sales each week are far more profitable than those who don't -- taking anywhere from 2 percent to 10 percent more profit to the bottom line. The reasons are twofold:

1. By calculating the cost of sales weekly, operators can quickly identify problems, giving them the opportunity to react immediately rather than wait an entire month, and lose even more profit.
2. Maintaining tight control on inventory levels ensures that your cash is in the bank and not on the shelf in the form of excess inventory or, even worse, susceptible to spoilage and waste.

Health and safety policy. There are several federal and state safety and health regulations that need to be adhered to in all foodservice kitchens. For instance, restaurants need to pay particular attention to the "Hazard Communication Standard" of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. This rule requires employers who have any potentially hazardous chemicals in the workplace (often referred to as HAZMAT) -- certain cleaning solvents and pesticides would qualify in restaurants, for example -- to transmit information about these chemicals to employees through labels on containers, "material safety data sheets," (a manufacturer-provided data sheet) and training programs. Additionally, your restaurant should have emergency and accident response procedures in place for handling cuts, slips or falls and other unforeseen accidents in the workplace.

Posters and displays. State, local and federal ordinances require that signs be posted throughout the kitchen and storage areas that inform workers of health and safety standards.

Repair and maintenance procedures. According to the National Restaurant Association's Restaurant Industry Operations Report, most restaurants spend anywhere from just below 1 percent to upward of 2.5 percent of sales annually for repair and maintenance of equipment, building and grounds. Systems should be in place to ensure proper cleaning and care of kitchen equipment as well as periodic maintenance to keep it working. It's also a good idea to keep equipment warranties and operating instructions in a designated, easy-to-find place in the office.

Q&A: Hiring the Right Kitchen Manager

Finding the right manager to guide your restaurant kitchen is an essential component to building your management team. After all, your guests are coming for the food, so having a competent and capable kitchen manager is a must. To help our readers understand how to go about finding a kitchen manager, I asked Gary Turner, president of Hospitality Pro Search (www.hprosearch.com), a management-recruiting firm based in Houston, to provide answers to some commonly asked questions.

I am going to hire a kitchen manager (KM); what are the steps?

• Write a detailed job description of duties and responsibilities.
• Check the market for salary ranges for the position.
• Write down exactly what you are looking for, such as the skills, experience, background, education and formal training -- what "intangibles" are you looking for in a KM? This is a very important step in the process. Remember, you will trust this person with your livelihood.
• Write a list of questions that you will ask each candidate based on the answers you come up with from the aforementioned exercises.

What training, skills and experience should I look for in a KM?

Training and experience will depend on your concept. Are you fine dining, fast casual, upscale? Does your kitchen prepare everything "from scratch"? Do you have a set menu for each day part, or is the KM responsible for creating the menu? The answers to these questions will help determine the "profile" of the perfect candidate.

Should I hire a KM or a chef?

Both titles are able to perform all duties in a kitchen and the differences are minute. Both titles should focus on execution, training and development, labor, food cost, etc. The formally trained chef will tend to bring creativity to the business whereas the KM may be creative, but will focus on the "business" of executing the set menu.

Where should I look to find the most qualified KM?

• Look in your own kitchen. There might be a diamond in the rough on the line right now. Promoting from within is healthy in many ways.
• Local culinary schools have outplacement programs.
• Local and national job boards (e.g., Monster.com).
• Competitors. Hospitality industry workers are always looking for new opportunities, or may know someone who is looking.

What should I expect to pay -- salary, bonus and benefits?

• Health benefits will always attract good candidates.
• Conduct a study on the Internet and in your local market to compare what similar businesses are offering for the same position.
• Modify your current bonus program to include the KM position.

What is the most effective way to interview?

• Conduct a first "phone screen" or face-to-face interview to see if the salary is acceptable and the skills and experience match your profile.
• The second interview should be a "working" interview. The candidate should dress in his/her whites and spend a few hours in the kitchen observing. This action helps you, the hiring manager, get an idea of how the candidate interacts in the kitchen. Always spend time reviewing his or her experience after the shift.
• Some owners will have the candidates "cook" for the owners or managers. Maybe an appetizer, an entrée and a dessert. You can tell a lot about organizational skills, comfort level in the kitchen, talent and cleanliness.
• The final interview (the offer) could be over lunch at a competitor's restaurant. Observe, sample and discuss.

Is there testing for culinary positions?

There are several tests that may apply when hiring a KM. You should interview several companies to see which test will help you determine if the candidate is a fit. Speak with other restaurant owners to see what tests or assessments they use. There are tests to determine honesty, cultural fit and math skills. You can view and sample the assessments online. Your local restaurant association might be affiliated with companies that offer assessment tests.