Saw a line cook brag about 15 second plating, then got crushed by one ticket

We had a quieter Tuesday and this kid on saute starts telling everyone he can plate a salmon dish in 15 seconds flat, rail clean, sauce dots perfect. I watched him do it twice and yeah it was fast. But at 7pm we got a 14 top walk in plus three tables with allergies and modifications and his station just folded. He was moving fast but wrong, dropping garnish, sending out lukewarm fish, remaking three plates. Took the chef 20 minutes to sort the mess while the kid stood there with his towel over his shoulder. Speed matters but I learned that chasing seconds on single plates means nothing if you cant hold pace when the whole board lights up. How do you guys train for the chaos rush instead of just practicing the perfect single order?

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miles5413d ago

Is the "folding" really the kid's fault though? You said he was fast on a single plate and it looked good twice, so the skill was there. The thing that broke him was the 14 top plus allergy tickets, and that's not something you fix by practicing single orders harder. In my experience the rush falls apart because of setup and timing, not hand speed. Did he have his mise ready for mods, or was he running to the walk-in every time a ticket needed something swapped? A lot of kitchens throw a new cook on saute and never teach them how to read the whole board and work in waves. He needs to learn pace and prep more than he needs to be faster.

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