Restaurant Kitchen Management Systems

Article

How to Avoid Running Out of Product With an Effective Order Guide

An effective ordering system has added benefits that go beyond the simple goal of maintaining sufficient product to serve your guests. Proper ordering procedures also help to keep fresh product in stock and free your cash from being tied up in excessive ...

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Restaurant Order Guide Form

An effective ordering system has added benefits that go beyond the simple goal of maintaining sufficient product to serve your guests. Proper ordering procedures also help to keep fresh product in stock and serves as a backup just in case the person ...

System

Running Inventory Order Guide

The Running Inventory Order Guide is a multi-purpose system that serves as both an ordering tool and a perpetual inventory control for every product in your restaurant or bar. It is ideal for tracking key food items, liquor storage rooms, uniforms, linens, ...

Training Video

Avoiding the Temperature Danger Zone Is Everyone's Job

Food should be hot or cold. Your customers want their food served fresh, not lukewarm, but this issue is much more important than your guests getting their food hot from the oven. It is a matter of safety. The FDA says that when food is between 40 and ...

Training Video

Food Safety: Practical Steps to Prevent Cross-Contamination

Cross-contamination in the kitchen is a serious topic. Nothing will hurt the guest experience and damage your restaurant's reputation like food poisoning. As Chef Omar likes to say, We are in the food safety business, and a safe, clean kitchen is the ...

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Purchase Order Form

Don't get quoted one price and end up a higher price on the invoice. This can & does happen unless you check. Use this form to ensure that all purchases have been ordered and you're being charged the correct, quoted prices.

Webinar/Podcast

Kitchen Management 101: Reduce Work, Theft and Chaos with an Easy to Use Order Guide

Fast food or fine dining. Mediterranean seafood or Mexican fare. Today's independent restaurants differ vastly in service style and cuisine. Nevertheless, when it comes to the ordering product or keeping it in stock, all restaurants are pretty much alike. ...

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Restaurant Receiving Checklist

Receiving is an area where the lethal combination of poor systems, carelessness and greed can add up to big losses in any restaurant. Use this checklist to reveal and correct your weaknesses so you stop risking your hard earned profit whenever a delivery ...

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Purchasing Checklist

Use the Purchasing Checklist as a guide for deciding what your restaurant should be doing to purchase the best products in the most economical and efficient way. It should help you quickly become aware of basic purchasing procedures and policies. Use ...

Article

Purchasing Power: 6 Things You Should Know to Have a More Effective Purchasing Program

Your vendors are vital to your success. Knowing how to effectively order and negotiate prices will strengthen this relationship -- and your profitability.

Article

How Bad Receiving Practices Can Kill Your Food Cost & What You Can Do About It

Receiving is an area where the combination of poor systems, carelessness, mistakes and good old fashioned greed adds up to big losses for many restaurants. If you have solid controls everywhere else, but are lax about what happens at your back door, ...

Article

Food Dating Labeling Systems: How Little Stickers Can Save You Big Money

No matter what size of restaurant, you need a food labeling system to avoid inventory waste that will drive profits into the ground. Learn how proper dating and labeling not only prevents waste but ensures that guests get your best quality as well.

System

Daily Prep

This system provides a method for keeping the proper amount of prepared product while ensuring proper dating and product rotation

Kitchen Scales - An Essential Tool for Everyone in The Kitchen - Spanish & English

Without consistent execution in the kitchen, you'll never deliver what your guests want more than anything else, the same high-quality food and experience every time they visit. Kitchen scales are an essential part of making sure every menu item comes ...

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Prep Count Sheet

Preparing the proper quantity of food products is a critical function in any kitchen. Prep too much & you have spoilage & waste. Don't make enough and you lose sales opportunities and disappoint your guests. This tool will help your people plan ...

Training Video

Food Safety: Practical Steps to Prevent Cross-Contamination

Cross-contamination in the kitchen is a serious topic. Nothing will hurt the guest experience and damage your restaurant's reputation like food poisoning. As Chef Omar likes to say, We are in the food safety business, and a safe, clean kitchen is the ...

Download

Daily Prep Sheet

Preparing the proper quantity of food products is a critical function in any kitchen. Prep too much & you have spoilage & waste. Don't make enough and you lose sales opportunities and disappoint your guests. This tool will help your people plan ...

Download

Weekly Prep Checklist

Preparing the proper quantity of food products is a critical function in any kitchen. Prep too much & you have spoilage & waste. Don't make enough and you lose sales opportunities and disappoint your guests. This tool will help your people plan ...

Download

Production Log

The Production Log is a flexible Microsoft Excel® spreadsheet designed to keep track of high-cost items purchased in bulk and then processed into portions.

Training Video

Avoiding the Temperature Danger Zone Is Everyone's Job

Food should be hot or cold. Your customers want their food served fresh, not lukewarm, but this issue is much more important than your guests getting their food hot from the oven. It is a matter of safety. The FDA says that when food is between 40 and ...

Download

Prep Labor Cost Calculator

Use the Prep Labor Cost Calculator to evaluate the average labor cost for preparing batch recipes.

Training Video

Kitchen Scales - An Essential Tool for Everyone in The Kitchen

Without consistent execution in the kitchen, you'll never deliver what your guests want more than anything else, the same high-quality food and experience every time they visit. Kitchen scales are an essential part of making sure every menu item comes ...

Training Video

The Basics of Portion Control... What Everyone in the Kitchen Should Know!

Keeping good portion control practices is a key to controlling food cost, ensuring a consistent and excellent guest experience, and making sure you're fast and efficient in the kitchen.

Article

The Five Points of Proper Portion Control

Your managers should be ever-vigilant about noticing any deviation from your standard portioning (and everything else) and correct, encourage or cajole as needed.

Article

Food Dating Labeling Systems: How Little Stickers Can Save You Big Money

No matter what size of restaurant, you need a food labeling system to avoid inventory waste that will drive profits into the ground. Learn how proper dating and labeling not only prevents waste but ensures that guests get your best quality as well.

Download

Restaurant Line Check Template

Smart kitchen managers and chefs know that advance preparation is the key to a smooth shift. This completely customizable restaurant line check template can be tailored to reflect your unique cook line, enabling chefs and managers to quickly perform ...

Download

Recipe Build Chart Template

Use this tool to provide your kitchen staff with a build chart of the proper portion sizes and ingredients for each of your menu items. Display the build charts at each cooking station so that cooks can quickly verify the correct recipe portions.

The Basics of Portion Control... What Everyone in the Kitchen Should Know! - Spanish

Keeping good portion control practices is a key to controlling food cost, ensuring a consistent and excellent guest experience, and making sure you're fast and efficient in the kitchen.

Training Video

Food Safety: Practical Steps to Prevent Cross-Contamination

Cross-contamination in the kitchen is a serious topic. Nothing will hurt the guest experience and damage your restaurant's reputation like food poisoning. As Chef Omar likes to say, We are in the food safety business, and a safe, clean kitchen is the ...

Article

Food Dating Labeling Systems: How Little Stickers Can Save You Big Money

No matter what size of restaurant, you need a food labeling system to avoid inventory waste that will drive profits into the ground. Learn how proper dating and labeling not only prevents waste but ensures that guests get your best quality as well.

Training Video

Kitchen Scales - An Essential Tool for Everyone in The Kitchen

Without consistent execution in the kitchen, you'll never deliver what your guests want more than anything else, the same high-quality food and experience every time they visit. Kitchen scales are an essential part of making sure every menu item comes ...

System

Preshift Line Check

This Line Check form can be used to help managers verify that food products for the cook line are properly stocked and at the correct temperature. Use the Line Check to verify that each shift is ready for customers. You can create a unique, customized ...

Article

How to Fine Tune Your Kitchen Stations for Maximum Efficiency & Output

A busy kitchen can be chaos or a beautiful performance. This article looks at the basics of organizing your kitchen for maximum efficiency that will help each member of your team achieve high-performance and get food to your guests as intended.

Training Video

The Basics of Portion Control... What Everyone in the Kitchen Should Know!

Keeping good portion control practices is a key to controlling food cost, ensuring a consistent and excellent guest experience, and making sure you're fast and efficient in the kitchen.

Download

Line Cook Training Manual

Use this training manual template as a guide to create your own detailed training manual for this position. Having a complete and thorough training manual for every position is critical to ensure consistent training when people are hired and for correct, ...

Daily Line Checks and Preshift Meetings

Every morning, in restaurant kitchens everywhere, managers and staff begin their day by following a variety of procedures and checklists. They have an opening checklist that lists important things to do, equipment items to check, orders to place and ...

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Recipe Manual Template

Use this Microsoft Word template to document all of your recipes to ensure consistency and control cost. This is a great tool for creating your own recipe manual and printing it to PDF for viewing on tablets and other portable devices.

System

Recipe Management

In order to serve great food you must first have great recipes and people that know how to follow them. The Recipe Manual is the cornerstone of every restaurant kitchen and provides a method for achieving consistency in every meal served. Use this system ...

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Recipe Build Chart Template

Use this tool to provide your kitchen staff with a build chart of the proper portion sizes and ingredients for each of your menu items. Display the build charts at each cooking station so that cooks can quickly verify the correct recipe portions.

Online Course

Menu Costing Basics

Knowing what each of your menu items costs to prepare is one of the most basic yet overlooked aspects of running a profitable restaurant. Costing out your menu can be an arduous task, but you must know your menu cost before you can make intelligent decisions ...

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Menu & Recipe Cost Spreadsheet Template

Knowing what each of your menu items costs to prepare is one of the most basic yet overlooked aspects of running a profitable restaurant. This comprehensive spreadsheet template will give you an easy-to-use tool to calculate and maintain the current ...

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Inventory Count Sheet

This Excel spreadsheet contains two worksheets, one for calculating food inventory and the other for bar inventory. The food inventory in broken down into categories for Meat, Seafood, Poultry, Produce, Bakery, Grocery and Non-Alcoholic Beverages. The ...

Online Course

Key Item Running Inventory

Key Item Running Inventory Control is one of the most effective systems for controlling food cost in any type of restaurant. That's because it's highly likely that 60-70% or more of your total food cost is attributable to just 10-15 key products. This ...

Essential Food Labeling Practices for Everyone in the Back-Of-House - Spanish

Are you putting out the safest, highest quality product possible for your guests? Fresh food is a crucial part of ensuring your guests' safety and delivering a great dining experience. Plus, limiting food waste and spoilage is essential for controlling ...

Webinar/Podcast

Kitchen Management 101: Reduce the Hassle and Build a Better Weekly Inventory Control System

Some kitchen managers and chefs dread counting inventory, complaining they just don't have enough time to take weekly inventories. Likewise, others accept it as just another routine task of good kitchen management. We encourage you and your kitchen manager ...

System

Key Item Running Inventory

One of the primary reasons for food and beverage losses is the lack of meaningful measurement of the use or loss of key products on a regular and frequent basis. This system provides an easy, yet effective way to alert management of theft, improper portioning ...

First In, First Out (FIFO): An Inventory Practice EVERYONE in Your Kitchen Should Know - Spanish

Everyone on your kitchen team should understand the importance of effective inventory rotation. First In, First Out is an essential and easy-to-follow inventory practice that will prevent unnecessary food waste, save money, and ensure that your guests ...

Shelf To Sheet: Know Exactly What Is In Your Inventory - Spanish

In a restaurant, counting inventory is crucial to controlling your costs and having a profitable operation. Make your restaurant's product counts easier, more efficient, and more accurate, by using the shelf-to-sheet method. It will streamline the process, ...

The Basics of Portion Control... What Everyone in the Kitchen Should Know! - Spanish

Keeping good portion control practices is a key to controlling food cost, ensuring a consistent and excellent guest experience, and making sure you're fast and efficient in the kitchen.

Training Video

First In, First Out (FIFO): An Inventory Practice EVERYONE in Your Kitchen Should Know

Everyone on your kitchen team should understand the importance of effective inventory rotation. First In, First Out is an essential and easy-to-follow inventory practice that will prevent unnecessary food waste, save money, and ensure that your guests ...

Training Video

Essential Food Labeling Practices for Everyone in the Back-Of-House

Are you putting out the safest, highest quality product possible for your guests? Fresh food is a crucial part of ensuring your guests' safety and delivering a great dining experience. Plus, limiting food waste and spoilage is essential for controlling ...

Download

Key Item Running Inventory Worksheet

Is someone stealing your food? How would you know? Tracking the use of your top 10-12 products is a powerful theft deterrent. Employees notice when you count things and it affects what they think they can get away with. Download this worksheet to help ...

Article

How to Streamline Weekly Inventory Counts

Most independent restaurants calculate their food cost only once a month. Yet, virtually all the major chain restaurants calculate their food cost each week. According to industry averages, chain restaurants (before corporate expenses) are two to three ...

Article

Inventory Control Basics: A Systematic Guide for Controlling Inventory in Your Restaurant

One of the reasons the restaurant business is difficult is due to its approach to inventory control. Restaurants are both retailers and manufacturers, yet many of the principles for controlling inventory in retailing and manufacturing simply don't apply ...

Article

Increase Inventory Turnover, Lower Food Cost

Although there are very few "absolutes" in the restaurant business, if there is one this it is. Increasing inventory turnover means lower food cost. Period. Every time we've seen operators reduce their inventory levels, thereby increasing inventory ...

Keep a Running Inventory on Your Key Products

Keeping a running inventory on some of your key products is one of the most fundamental and effective of all inventory controls, yet many operators don't do it. If you are one of those who doesn't, chances are you have an opportunity to cut your food ...

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Waste/Spill Tracking Sheet

This form provides the means to track food and bar waste as it occurs. Designed for clipboards, this form can be placed in the kitchen or bar so that re-cooks, spills, and wrong orders can be accounted for.

System

Manager's Opening/Closing Checklist System

The Manager's Opening/Closing system is your own unique, comprehensive list of the opening and closing tasks your managers should check, verify and follow up on - everyday. Using checklists will help your managers stay organized and ensure that your ...

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Restaurant Line Check Template

Smart kitchen managers and chefs know that advance preparation is the key to a smooth shift. This completely customizable restaurant line check template can be tailored to reflect your unique cook line, enabling chefs and managers to quickly perform ...

Article

Preventing Accidents Using a Kitchen Safety Checklist

Show you're serious about workplace safety and accident prevention by providing your employees with a kitchen safety checklist. Follow these steps to develop this important document and implement this beneficial plan.

System

Preshift Line Check

This Line Check form can be used to help managers verify that food products for the cook line are properly stocked and at the correct temperature. Use the Line Check to verify that each shift is ready for customers. You can create a unique, customized ...

System

Checklist Generator

The Checklist Generator is a web tool enabling restaurant operators to create and store checklists of all types in the RestaurantOwner.com cloud. It has been designed for restaurant operators who want their staff to complete checklists using IPads, tablets ...

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Restaurant Checklists

Use the restaurant checklists as a guide for deciding what should be happening in every area of your restaurant to create the quality products, dining experience and operating results you expect. They will help you get organized and become aware of the ...

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Cleaning Checklist  (Kitchen & Storage)

To keep your restaurant consistently clean you need a documented cleaning system and checklist so you know that what needs to be done, gets done every time it should.

Daily Line Checks and Preshift Meetings

Every morning, in restaurant kitchens everywhere, managers and staff begin their day by following a variety of procedures and checklists. They have an opening checklist that lists important things to do, equipment items to check, orders to place and ...