Question
JORGE MUNOZ
With my new position as a sous chef, what advice would you give me to help with organization with cooking, ordering products and doing inventory?
Answer
Wow. Okay. So that's a, that's a course all on its own, okay? And, uh, you know, I used to teach a course on kitchen management, uh, where, where we spent an academic, uh, quarter, so about, you know, 10 or 11 weeks at least, uh, looking at these issues, uh, in more, in more depth. But, uh, you know, when it comes to, I'll try to, I'll try to summarize this for you, Jorge. Okay. So when it comes to doing inventory, job number one is to create an inventory list of everything in your inventory. And the way we do this is in the order that you would walk through your store room or food storage area to look at the inventory. Okay? So if you walk in the door and start to the left, then your list is gonna start with this first shelf, and it's gonna continue with this next shelf, and then so on and so forth, along wall number one, wall number two, wall number three, wall number four. And, um, I, uh, again, list every item with enough detail or product specification that you, as well as your teammates, will know what is being referenced specifically, because you might have four different types of tomatoes in your inventory. So you need to be very clear about how you, uh, how you list those on your inventory list. It could be a fresh tomato that's a six by seven size. It could be a number 10 can of diced tomatoes. It could be a number 10 can of, uh, tomato puree. It could be a number 10 can of, um, you know, tomato, um, uh, paste. And, uh, so label those things clearly. And that also helps in the ordering process. You can use, uh, essentially the same lists and on a, whatever your ordering frequency is, twice a week, once a week, whatever, walk through with your lists, and you can very quickly check the inventory, uh, actual inventory levels against your list, take notes on your clipboard as to how much you need to order based upon a par level. And a par level is the minimum level that you want to maintain in your inventory, okay? To make sure that you don't ever run out of that product. All right? And, uh, then your first part of this question is about organization with cooking. So, you know, I think organization of cooking, uh, comes down to a number of things. One is gonna be inventory, and we just talked about that. Uh, next is gonna be setting up your station, and we need to set that up in a way that makes sense, um, and corresponds with the menu items that you're cooking, right? So if you've got, you know, sauces over here and you've got cold items for a salad, you know, over here, or as a couple of examples, they, they just need to mirror, of course, what it is that's gonna be on your menu. They should be, you know, within reach or within about one step, ideally, um, maybe you turn around to grab something, but, uh, you don't have to stray very far. So, you know, this sort of, um, organization, uh, is gonna be key to efficiency, right in your kitchen. You need to step into that role as the sous-chef, even though you have a line cook that might actually do the work, you need to step in and experience it yourself, and then also work with your line cook to make sure that it works for that person as well. Okay? Even though you're the sous-chef and you're the boss, uh, the line needs to be organized in a way that makes sense for the person actually doing the job, okay? So, uh, you know, work very closely with your teammates as well. All right? So that, try that on for size, and then hopefully, um, that'll, uh, provide some positive results for you.
