Midnight, a notepad and six different ways to order
Service finishes at ten thirty. The head chef does a walk round the walk-in, the fridges and the dry store with a notepad, checks tomorrow's bookings, and writes a list. Then the ordering starts: a text to the veg supplier, a voicemail for the butcher before his cut-off, an email to the fishmonger, a login to the wholesaler's website, a message to the dairy. It is after midnight by the time it is done.
When something is missing the next day, nobody can be sure whether it was not ordered, or ordered and not sent. The notepad is in the chef's jacket.
Ordering depends on one person's head and phone
Each supplier has its own ordering route and cut-off time. Par levels (how much of each item you like to hold) are in the chef's head. Bookings for the next few days are in the reservations system. The orders themselves are scattered across a phone, an email account and websites. When the head chef is off, someone else has to guess.
- Par levels are not written down, so ordering varies by who does it.
- Bookings and large parties are not always considered.
- Each supplier has a different route and cut-off.
- There is no single record of what was ordered from whom.
A worked example: the sous chef orders on the head chef's day off. She does not know that Friday has a party of twenty-five on the set menu, because it is in the bookings but not on any prep sheet yet. The order is a normal Friday order. On Friday afternoon, someone is sent to the cash and carry.
What the late-night ordering costs
Over-ordering fills the walk-in with stock that may go to waste. Under-ordering means emergency runs to the cash and carry or dishes coming off the menu. Missed cut-offs mean no delivery. And the head chef spends a chunk of every night on admin instead of going home.
Disputes with suppliers about what was ordered are hard to settle when the order was a voicemail.
How we build one ordering screen
- Your regular items are listed by supplier, with pack sizes and a par level for each day of the week, set by the head chef.
- Covers booked for the next few days, and large parties or set menus, are read from your reservations system and shown alongside.
- At the end of service, the chef enters what is on hand, walking round with a phone or tablet, and the screen suggests quantities to bring each item back to par, adjusted for bookings.
- The chef adjusts anything they want and confirms. Each supplier's order is then sent the way it accepts: email, text, supplier portal or a formatted order for a phone call.
- Cut-off times are shown, so an order that will miss a cut-off is flagged before it is too late.
- Every order is recorded, so goods in can check the delivery against what was actually ordered.
| Supplier | Route | Handled by |
|---|---|---|
| Veg and fruit | Text or email | Sent automatically |
| Butcher | Email or phone | Email sent or call sheet prepared |
| Fishmonger | Sent automatically | |
| Wholesaler | Web portal | Order file or portal where it allows |
Par levels and quantities stay the chef's call. The screen does the arithmetic and the sending.
Ordering that takes minutes and leaves a record
The chef finishes ordering in a fraction of the time, from one screen. On days off, whoever orders sees the same par levels and bookings. Deliveries are checked against the recorded order. Disputes are settled by looking at what was sent.
Par levels also become something you can review, which is useful when the menu changes or trade picks up.
Signs your ordering needs one screen
- Orders are placed by text, voicemail, email and website each night.
- Par levels live in the head chef's head.
- Ordering on the chef's day off goes wrong.
- Cut-offs are sometimes missed.
- You have made emergency runs to the cash and carry.