Working BOH and FOH

[Fledgling]

So, as recently as a few weeks ago, I decided that I would start training as a server to serve lunch in the afternoons and then work as a cook at night. What I've learned so far is that not only does it make me an extremely valuable employee (as I'm certain in what can be done in both houses and what can't), but it makes me so much more intuitive in what *should* be done. It's enhanced my experiences as a cook because I've learned what people actually *like*. Sometimes, what the customer likes is hardly ever what the chef wants to serve. I can relay this back to the cooks, and we can make adjustments as needed.

We have four stations in a small kitchen, sometimes six on the weekends (depending on who's on the books), and I've been cross-trained in all of them. It's very easy for me to work as server as I am intimately familiar with the food and can be very specific when need be, and can cater to almost any need in regards to food allergies and general likes and dislikes. I rarely ever tell my tables that I am a night cook, and I NEVER tell them I'm the one that prepared that special..... or created that one little menu item... However, I always make it clear I'm greatly interested in their opinion.

I don't find it necessarily reasonable to attempt to make an entire staff trained in both FOH and BOH and actually perform both shifts when need be, however it's been rewarding for me. There are downsides, as I experience the horrors of being a server and a cook (and we all know what *those* are), yet the idea that I'm really, really great at my job is the only incentive I have at showing up everyday, eager to learn and perform well.

I would hope that others find this helpful, and if anyone in the industry has the ability to be trained in both fields, I recommend doing so. Sure, I work from 10am to 11pm five days a week, but I'm young, and on the road to success!

[RAS1187]

I will slowly be making a similar transition by this time next year for my externship, good luck!

[shroomgirl]

Good for you fledgling! I started out waiting tables, hoping for the chance to work in the kitchen.......then one day 3-4 months after the opening the young chef made his last huge mistake, well-done lamb with coffee sauce for a group from Chein (dog?.....nope, the wine/food group). Owner took over the stove and I started showing up early to help....then stayed in the kitchen.
Usually there are definate personality traits for FOH & BOH, it's great that you can cross the divide.....and yes it would an asset to have someone able to translate as well as work wherever their needed.

[DMT]

Versatility is golden.

Knowing (or at least having an understanding) how things operate throughout the restaurant will give you an insight as to what the other players are experiencing on any given night.

Have you spent a week in the dish pit yet??

It wouldn't hurt...

The reason I say that is after spending some time (long ago) as a dishwasher, I came to the conclusion that the bussers, waitresses and cooks just couldn't give a sh!+ about the person on the wash rack.

But that's a whole story in itself...

[shel]

Originally Posted by DMT

... after spending some time (long ago) as a dishwasher, I came to the conclusion that the bussers, waitresses and cooks just couldn't give a sh!+ about the person on the wash rack.

I'm curious about why you say that. How did the other staff treat you (the dishwasher)? What were you expecting?

Shel

[DMT]

Originally Posted by shel

I'm curious about why you say that. How did the other staff treat you (the dishwasher)? What were you expecting?

Shel

What I got...

1) No courtesy.

This place was "famous" for their "All You Can Eat" spaghetti.

Many patrons' eyes were bigger than their stomachs.

The bussers/waitresses would clear a table and stack the 1/2 eaten plates on top of each other, effectively doubling the surface area that had to be scrubbed to get the crusted up sauce off.

A simple request to put the dishes on edge in the tub was repeatedly ignored.

There was other stuff that left me feeling "invisible", but it was long ago, and I've dismissed the reasons for it.

2) No communication.

They FOH staff apparently thought that the dishwasher had x-ray vision which enabled him to see when bus tubs were beginning to get full. A comment by a passing staff member that station six was loading up would have been handy, rather than stacking a second tub on top of the full first one. And I wasn't smart enough at the time to ask why the bus boys weren't bringing the tubs back to the wash rack.

As I said, this was a long time ago, but I recall the way the staff dismissed the presence of the dishwasher.

We have a custodial crew where I work, and I don't know of anyone else in the building that knows the name of the woman who cleans our conference rooms, and empties our trash.

I do.

Her name is Maria.

And she will say "Hello", or "Good Morning", or "Good Evening" when her presence is acknowledged by something as simple as eye contact, a nod, and a smile.

[shroomgirl]

I cannot fathum being invisable, what a marginal type of existance.