Best Practices
Don't Let Slow Ticket Times Hurt Your Guest Experience
Your guests expect their food to be served within a "reasonable" amount of time. What's reasonable can depend on the meal period, occasion, type of concept, individual guest needs, and other factors.
When actual service times fall short of guest expectations, people tend to get restless, the table’s mood declines, and the overall experience suffers—especially when guests are pressed for time, like during lunch.
For operators, longer than expected ticket times means fewer table turns, lower sales potential, less repeat business and the risk of earning a reputation for slow service.
This is often a topic on the RO.com Discussion Forum. Below are a few ideas our members have mentioned that might help with improving your ticket times:
- Examine your menu mix. Can any of the top sellers be pre-set and/or pre-portioned to reduce final prep steps?
- Look at the kitchen layout and set up. Are there too many hands touching the same plate? Could a few changes improve production flow and efficiency?
- Observe your expeditor(s). As you know, the expo can make or break your ticket times.
- Too many menu items. More menu options mean more hands and pans going at once. Is it time to streamline some sections of your menu?
- Overburdened station/equipment. Do some stations/equipment tend to get backed up with too many orders at once? Create a menu matrix showing each item and the station/equipment needed for production. Could a change in the kitchen layout, production flow or steps help alleviate the bottleneck?
- Add some items (lunch specials) that can be produced very quickly. Products that can be prepared ahead of time and held hot can become 'grab and go' or 'scoop and go' dishes that take minimal final prep time.
Respect for people’s time shows respect for their lives.
– Unknown
Even if you're doing everything else right, it's hard to overcome the negative impact of slow ticket times on your guests' experience. Consistently monitor your ticket times, and if they’re inconsistent or too long, take a closer look at your menu, sales mix, and operational procedures.
Shaving a few minutes may give you the opportunity to turn more tables and result in guests coming back more often for a quick or more leisurely bite.
Visit RestaurantOwner.com for valuable resources to help optimize your ticket times and deliver a positive guest experience:
Restaurant Kitchen Management Systems: A holistic overview of the essential systems and processes needed to effectively manage a restaurant kitchen. It covers key areas such as inventory management, food cost control, staff scheduling, and workflow optimization.
Kitchen Management 101: 6 Essential Kitchen Management Systems: Six crucial management systems that every successful restaurant kitchen should implement. These include systems for inventory management, purchasing, production, food safety, personnel management, and maintenance that help boost operational efficiency, reduce waste, and improve the overall quality of service.
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System
Restaurant Kitchen Management Systems
This directory contains over 50 categorized kitchen management resources to help you get started implementing the six main kitchen management systems to keep your restaurant operating profitably and consistently.
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Webinar/Podcast
Kitchen Management 101: 6 Essential Kitchen Management Systems
In this webinar, we'll discuss the six essential kitchen systems every restaurant should have to control food cost and promote consistency. Kitchen management doesn't always require a degree in culinary arts, but if the restaurant is to be profitable and consistent, it needs a competent kitchen manager ...
