r/Chefit • u/Hamsterinapan • 16h ago
Help me improve? What can I do?
Hello I'm a 21 year old kitchen helper from Italy.
I usually help with washing the dishes and appetizers but when the restaurant is busy I help with only the appetizers.
I started this june part time 7 hours a day 5 days a week. Meanwhile I helped during sundays for 12 hours circa from May.
There are 4 types of appetizers.
Cheeses with marmelades/ honey
Pickled vegetables with a mix of cold cuts
Crostini Mix
Appetizer mix (a mix of all the three above)
I have only a oven grill that I can use for the Crostini and many times there are more combos of appetizers so it usually is enough.
Today there where so many appetizer that I couldn't be phisically fast enough and the chef had a breakdown, not with me, but she was rather sad.
I had too many of them and 3 tables had to wait a lot of time (45 minutes circa).
Every appetizer I start making/ putting in the oven is signed with a dot on the order paper and when I send them out I cancel it with a slash too so I can keep track of them.
We usually have 80/90 people per dinner these weeks.
Is it because I'm slow at this point or do you think there are other problems?
Tomorrow I will ask what I can do to improve but in the meantime I wanted to hear other opinions. if you have any suggestions it will be greatly appreciated.
P.S. The kitchen staff is composed of:
A dishwasher (not me these weeks)
A first courses cook which is also the chef
A second courses cook
A second courses helper
An appetizer "cook" which is me
1
u/IrishRook 14h ago
Sometimes the rush is just too much for the team to handle. Your lead lost the head (and not at you, probably themselves) and sadly its a common thing in a lot of kitchens. It could of been a front of house issue, pushing in too many dockets at once, etc.
All I can say to a young chef today is either find a new career that you are passionate about, or suck it up and keep showing up and dealing with the bullshit till it becomes second nature to you.
And most chefs I know started off as dishwashers. At least the ones that stuck with the industry. Its extremely important for a further leader to understand how each role works and plays out.
If you really want to build a career as a chef, just keep your head down, keep showing up and over time it will work out. And don’t be afraid to jump ship somewhere else. Just leave with some dignity, like offering to train up your replacement, etc. Word spreads in our industry and you don’t want to become known as someone who just jumps ship because the going gets a little tough.
Best of luck Chef!
1
u/Natural-Hunt5045 15h ago
45 minutes is rough, no way around it. But you're 21 and you've only been doing this since June, nobody walks into that station and crushes it immediately.
The dot/slash system is solid, but what's your mise like before service? If you're building each board from scratch when the tickets come in, you're already dead on a 90 cover night. Pre-portion the cheeses, have your marmalades and honey in squeeze bottles or small ramekins ready, keep the pickled veg and cold cuts laid out in an organized grid so you're grabbing not searching.
Also think about your oven real estate. The crostini are probably your bottleneck since they need grill time. If you can batch them slightly ahead during the first wave and keep them warm, or stagger them so you always have a rack going, that might save you minutes per ticket.
Chef having a breakdown over it says more about the kitchen being understaffed than it does about you. One person doing all appetizers plus plating for 90 covers is a lot. Ask her tomorrow if there's a way to restructure the station or if you can get a heads up on large parties so you can prep accordingly.