Why it is important to know and understand by the waiter or server the establishment guidelines in operating ordering system?
essay: Every establishment has a specific protocol for taking orders from the table and giving them to the kitchen and assembly areas. A new server needs to learn this protocol as quickly as possible in order to be an efficient team member. Asking for your order to be a "rush" order is not a good idea, unless there is a really good reason for it. Servers who are always "rush" orders will find themselves placed at the back of the queue, more often than not.
Orders can be written on checks, the duplicate of which is given to the kitchen. If handwriting orders, your handwriting must be legible and easy to understand. Always use the appropriate abbreviations; do not make up your own -- the kitchen will not understand them. Keep your original check or ticket as this is your record of the food that you have ordered from the kitchen, and from which the final bill will be prepared. Never throw these away. If a mistake has been made, run a line through the mistake, and, if necessary, have the manager initial it.
More and more restaurants are using a Point of Service computer where you will enter the order from your table and it is automatically delivered via the computer to the kitchen.
Your biggest job will be the timing of your orders. Make a point of learning how long it takes to prepare any given dish, then put in the order for the one that takes the longest to prepare first. That way, all dinners for a given table should come out at the same time. Nothing is more uncomfortable for your guests than to serve three guests at a table, only to find out that the fourth guest's meal has not yet been started.
The next point that requires your attention is to keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold. Not only is this necessary for food safety, it also helps to preserve the beauty of the prepared food.There is nothing more unappetizing than to have a cold pat of butter melting on the bread and butter plate because it was served hot. It is your job to ensure that the food arrives at the table in the condition in which it was served from the kitchen.
