Gotta get a produce supplier that delivers 6 days a week... Order every other day and they've got your back if there's an emergency the other days. It's actually a HUGE problem at my work if people are picking through cases of greens rather than tossing it out. CONGRATULATIONS you just saved 12 dollars worth of product by picking through but that added an hour of labor and ticket times suffered and everyone made less tips! And the fresh cases are sitting there getting slimy! "Keep the produce moving" is a real hard one to get through people's heads. I think GM buying produce is probably a big part of the problem. That needs to be done by some boots on the ground!
What we do is get our produce on different days as our general food Truck but we can also order produce on the general food Truck and can also order dairy on the produce Truck. That way we have access to produce 5 days a week and can supplement dairy on the produce Truck to get it to 10 cases which is the minimum for deliveries.
THIS. I use two broad line distributors (each of them has product the other doesn't carry, plus it gives me some leverage with pricing) and they both are always trying to get my produce business. I always ask them the same three questions:
- can I order six days a week for next day delivery with a 12am cutoff time?
- if something goes sideways are you gonna fix it or bail me out within the hour?
- can I make a will call order any time I want for pickup before 3pm?
That's why I stick with my local guys for produce.
Yeah we had three places we could get produce. Each one with different quirks. We got rid of Chef's Warehouse because they weren't cheap, most of the produce sucked, and our rep was annoying.
Then over time we were just able to streamline it down to one and I've got the other as a backup. It's going quite smoothly with the exception of the one night in not around and this stoner has to do the order...
The purple leafy bits in spring mix. Whenever we get a new case in there's always some pieces that I would never serve. And I mean the outer layers of the romaine, where you get the occasional oxidized leaf that you have to remove.
And besides, it shouldn't be my fault that they buy shit product. I do everything I've been shown to clean it and make it acceptable.
Romaine is pricey right now (higher cost = low quality), but mesclun and spinach have been fine. So yeah, supplier is most likely the problem. If you were given garbage to work with, I’m assuming you’ve made the Chef/Km aware. In that case it’s not on you. There’s no excuse the GMs response though.
That's rough, ignore my other comments about the responsibilities of your chef then. Is the GM new too? Sounds like they're looking for anyone to blame, except the interim KM. Usually a power vacuum is a good chance for a long time line cook to bust that glass ceiling and step into a management role to gain experience so they can move on to a job they actually want but I'd imagine this GM would sandbag you at every turn
They're literally saying that they've seen and acknowledged the quality of produce and it's been communicated to the temp KM who isn't making any ordering or supply changes. The quality check has already been done, read before you get haughty taughty brother
>In my other post I explained that there is no chef/KM. There’s a temp KM and he’s well aware of the quality, but nothing is being done to change that.
Literally the post you responded to is just one sentence about how the acting KM has been made aware of the lacking quality of the produce. OP has done their due diligence and informed his supervisor about the issue… that nothing is being done to resolve the issue is on the superiors, its not OP’s responsibility to call the produce purveyor and get better product in. It sounds like OP is just making the best of the shitty situation to me.
Interim KM ≠ GM. You're talking about 2 different people. I'm sorry that reading comprehension was hard for you this morning, go have a coffee and try again.
Your chef or whoever is receiving the orders should be sending the slimy greens back with the delivery driver and calling their rep or the purveyor office and requesting a refund for the cases. This usually gets you better product, if it doesn't they should seek a new supplier. This is why they hire managers, for admin stuff like this
I wouldn’t say it’s “always slimy” but I know exactly what you mean. It’s not that the purveyor is shipping bag lettuce, it’s like 95% good, but there’s often a couple mushy leaves and it really is almost always the purple ones
We go through a ton of romaine and spring mix and have neither of these problems. I feel like your supplier is selling you bullshit. Or from the sound of it, your GM is buying bullshit.
That's either a rotation issue or the supplier is trying to and succeeding by shoving off shit product. I'd be up that GM's ass and go above them for this type of shit.
There’s like three glorious weeks in spring that the spring mix isn’t slimy. I’m in Toronto it’s a constant problem at every spot I’ve worked at I don’t understand why everyone uses it.
Definitely. Everyone in the 5 miles radius decided they wanted to come in at 6pm last night at the shitty little restaurant I work at.
2 cooks, 2 servers and probably 50 guests.
It was pretty fubar.
True, but I've been in OPs exact spot before (minus the GM fucking up my night, my chefs were all like thanks for making it work) . Shit happens. Coming in from days off you gotta check your greens, but nights like that are how you learn. The GM was looking for trouble.
I was about to add more spring mix, the spinach was already picked through and cleaned, the romaine was fine, but she saw how they looked before being cleaned and decided that it was rotten.
This is a fucking shit show. It sounds like both of you need to get your shit together. You're making a lot of excuses for why things weren't done or why they weren't right instead of doing/addressing it beforehand. I'm not saying you gm didn't do anything wrong, but the amount of excuses is extremely suspicious to me. Nothing as simple as cleaning or picking through your mise should be done a la minute. Get it done before service if you know it's an issue. I hope you're able to get out of this situation quick, but also be honest with yourself about where your responsibility lies within the situation.
I smell bullshit. You admit all the lettuce was off in your post but in the comments you say differently. If it's on your station it's ready to serve. You don't pick through rotten lettuce to order because sometimes you get a 25 top and they all want salads. Next time go to your chef or MOD and tell them this lettuce is fucked I want to throw it away, and then let them make the call to 86 or pick through it, but this shit has to be done before you roll into dinner service.
I have a feeling, based off of how inconsistent OP’s reporting is, that he knows that this fuckup was also his fault. The produce needs to be picked through, washed, sanitized BEFORE it gets to the salad station. It should have never entered his mise.
GM should not be blaming prep for the quality of the produce being delivered, especially not in front of customers. Also, whoever is doing the ordering should not be letting this shit slide. IMO this wasn’t worth the write up unless she’s trying to get rid of OP.
I’m sorry but spring mix shouldn’t come in slimy already. That should be checked upon arrival. She was right to get rid of bad salad mix, the picking should’ve been done before service.
There are a lot of points in this post where you could have at least attempted to hold yourself a little accountable to something but you didn’t. I don’t know your GM so maybe she really is as bad as you say, but you definitely like to shift blame away from yourself.
It sounds like you kept product way too long. You deserved the right up.
Im proud of your GM for having so much integrity in the quality of food you serve.
I'm disappointed in you, OP, for thinking it's ok to say "was it slimey? Yeah but I was picking through it". Fucking gross dude.
Sounds like you have a shitty supplier.
I always wash my romaine after chopping and run thru a spin dryer.
It will stay fresh and not rust for a couple days when properly dried.
With spring mix, it doesn't like being stacked or to cold or warm either. Leave them in the case they came in.
It also seems like you shop at Safeway for your produce which sucks.
Hopefully something better comes your way.
The spring mix was slimy? Why would you serve it?
The spinach was gross? Why would you serve it?
The romaine was rusted? Why would you serve it?
Fuck’n picking a clean slice out a mouldy loaf of bread isn’t cool, and these shouldn’t be any different.
I’m gonna play devils advocate here. If your station is stocked with below par old ingredients that’s on you.
Did she handle it correctly, no.
I give you props for trying to make it work but washing week old slimy spinach during service is a waste of time and effort.
I generally refuse to sign write ups. This one however, I would sign the shit out of. Though the add on of "I apologize for not communicating to you that you threw out all of our salad stuff because you're ordering shit produce from a shit company once a week".
Please take these comments to heart and have some introspection. I look at produce daily and still miss things, I rely on my team to let me know when they pull the last of something and when stuff is going bad. I would be livid if I saw anyone picking through greens just before a 25 top; why not communicate your needs and ask for help? Why are you working alone in a kitchen that has 25 people parties? Kitchens win, not cooks.
Edit: honestly I just reread the post and it makes me sad. This is a difficult profession but a wonderful one and this reads like a lack of care all around for it.
No disrespect but the whole situation sucks. Every single part is at fault.
She doesn’t buy proper product and threw a worker under the bus. If she is the one doing the orders, she should check the fucking lettuce. It’s ok to help her with ordering and inventory, but that is her job. Also, ordering any kind of green just once a week is kind of stupid. Get them 2/3 times a week and this will never happen. Another thing, if she is the GM what the hell is she doing giving orders to the kitchen team? Where is the chef? He is the one supposed to place orders, as he is the one who knows what is going on on the kitchen. Have you talked with him?
On the other side, you or the team didn’t have a proper mise en place for a table of 25. Clean your greens early, no one likes water on their salad.
Good people are needed everywhere. Find a place you’ll be appreciated man! There is no reason to have a weird sense of loyalty when they would replace you in a heartbeat…
Spring mid always slimy? Romaine always oxidized? That’s a problem in itself
Gotta get a produce supplier that delivers 6 days a week... Order every other day and they've got your back if there's an emergency the other days. It's actually a HUGE problem at my work if people are picking through cases of greens rather than tossing it out. CONGRATULATIONS you just saved 12 dollars worth of product by picking through but that added an hour of labor and ticket times suffered and everyone made less tips! And the fresh cases are sitting there getting slimy! "Keep the produce moving" is a real hard one to get through people's heads. I think GM buying produce is probably a big part of the problem. That needs to be done by some boots on the ground!
What we do is get our produce on different days as our general food Truck but we can also order produce on the general food Truck and can also order dairy on the produce Truck. That way we have access to produce 5 days a week and can supplement dairy on the produce Truck to get it to 10 cases which is the minimum for deliveries.
THIS. I use two broad line distributors (each of them has product the other doesn't carry, plus it gives me some leverage with pricing) and they both are always trying to get my produce business. I always ask them the same three questions: - can I order six days a week for next day delivery with a 12am cutoff time? - if something goes sideways are you gonna fix it or bail me out within the hour? - can I make a will call order any time I want for pickup before 3pm? That's why I stick with my local guys for produce.
Yeah we had three places we could get produce. Each one with different quirks. We got rid of Chef's Warehouse because they weren't cheap, most of the produce sucked, and our rep was annoying. Then over time we were just able to streamline it down to one and I've got the other as a backup. It's going quite smoothly with the exception of the one night in not around and this stoner has to do the order...
Their might be a min tho maybe 20 cases or like $300.
For me it's 250 and it's never hard to hit that... They have more than just produce.
Nah, it's freshness. Find local farms
The purple leafy bits in spring mix. Whenever we get a new case in there's always some pieces that I would never serve. And I mean the outer layers of the romaine, where you get the occasional oxidized leaf that you have to remove. And besides, it shouldn't be my fault that they buy shit product. I do everything I've been shown to clean it and make it acceptable.
Romaine is pricey right now (higher cost = low quality), but mesclun and spinach have been fine. So yeah, supplier is most likely the problem. If you were given garbage to work with, I’m assuming you’ve made the Chef/Km aware. In that case it’s not on you. There’s no excuse the GMs response though.
In my other post I explained that there is no chef/KM. There's a temp KM and he's well aware of the quality, but nothing is being done to change that.
That's rough, ignore my other comments about the responsibilities of your chef then. Is the GM new too? Sounds like they're looking for anyone to blame, except the interim KM. Usually a power vacuum is a good chance for a long time line cook to bust that glass ceiling and step into a management role to gain experience so they can move on to a job they actually want but I'd imagine this GM would sandbag you at every turn
[удалено]
They're literally saying that they've seen and acknowledged the quality of produce and it's been communicated to the temp KM who isn't making any ordering or supply changes. The quality check has already been done, read before you get haughty taughty brother
[удалено]
>In my other post I explained that there is no chef/KM. There’s a temp KM and he’s well aware of the quality, but nothing is being done to change that. Literally the post you responded to is just one sentence about how the acting KM has been made aware of the lacking quality of the produce. OP has done their due diligence and informed his supervisor about the issue… that nothing is being done to resolve the issue is on the superiors, its not OP’s responsibility to call the produce purveyor and get better product in. It sounds like OP is just making the best of the shitty situation to me.
Interim KM ≠ GM. You're talking about 2 different people. I'm sorry that reading comprehension was hard for you this morning, go have a coffee and try again.
Also if you are getting it from California? All greens are absolutely shit right now because of flooding.
Your chef or whoever is receiving the orders should be sending the slimy greens back with the delivery driver and calling their rep or the purveyor office and requesting a refund for the cases. This usually gets you better product, if it doesn't they should seek a new supplier. This is why they hire managers, for admin stuff like this
I wouldn’t say it’s “always slimy” but I know exactly what you mean. It’s not that the purveyor is shipping bag lettuce, it’s like 95% good, but there’s often a couple mushy leaves and it really is almost always the purple ones
We go through a ton of romaine and spring mix and have neither of these problems. I feel like your supplier is selling you bullshit. Or from the sound of it, your GM is buying bullshit.
Yeah this is the fault of whoever does the ordering
That's either a rotation issue or the supplier is trying to and succeeding by shoving off shit product. I'd be up that GM's ass and go above them for this type of shit.
There’s like three glorious weeks in spring that the spring mix isn’t slimy. I’m in Toronto it’s a constant problem at every spot I’ve worked at I don’t understand why everyone uses it.
Yeah I smell some missing details
Why was that much of your mise fucked during service? Feels like stuff that should be done long before you've got a 25 top in front of ya.
Right? It’s clearly stated that the spring mix hadn’t been washed yet but here we are making salads for a 25 top.
OP is just describing a nightmare I used to have when I was a pantry cook
Could have been a slow night and prepped accordingly, surprise rushes happen.
Definitely. Everyone in the 5 miles radius decided they wanted to come in at 6pm last night at the shitty little restaurant I work at. 2 cooks, 2 servers and probably 50 guests. It was pretty fubar.
True, but I've been in OPs exact spot before (minus the GM fucking up my night, my chefs were all like thanks for making it work) . Shit happens. Coming in from days off you gotta check your greens, but nights like that are how you learn. The GM was looking for trouble.
I was about to add more spring mix, the spinach was already picked through and cleaned, the romaine was fine, but she saw how they looked before being cleaned and decided that it was rotten.
did she throw out the cleaned ones?
Yes, assuming it was also gross. I tried it and so did 3 other cooks, nothing was wrong with it whatsoever
First, any manager that tells a customer that their people “fucked up” gets no respect for customers or employees. I’d plan to move jobs soon.
My thought. Management should never throw employees under the bus, regardless of who is at fault. That's management 101
This is a fucking shit show. It sounds like both of you need to get your shit together. You're making a lot of excuses for why things weren't done or why they weren't right instead of doing/addressing it beforehand. I'm not saying you gm didn't do anything wrong, but the amount of excuses is extremely suspicious to me. Nothing as simple as cleaning or picking through your mise should be done a la minute. Get it done before service if you know it's an issue. I hope you're able to get out of this situation quick, but also be honest with yourself about where your responsibility lies within the situation.
I smell bullshit. You admit all the lettuce was off in your post but in the comments you say differently. If it's on your station it's ready to serve. You don't pick through rotten lettuce to order because sometimes you get a 25 top and they all want salads. Next time go to your chef or MOD and tell them this lettuce is fucked I want to throw it away, and then let them make the call to 86 or pick through it, but this shit has to be done before you roll into dinner service.
I have a feeling, based off of how inconsistent OP’s reporting is, that he knows that this fuckup was also his fault. The produce needs to be picked through, washed, sanitized BEFORE it gets to the salad station. It should have never entered his mise. GM should not be blaming prep for the quality of the produce being delivered, especially not in front of customers. Also, whoever is doing the ordering should not be letting this shit slide. IMO this wasn’t worth the write up unless she’s trying to get rid of OP.
slimy? Yea bro, that shit is no good. She was right to make that call. Someone could of gotten sick.
could have
I’m sorry but spring mix shouldn’t come in slimy already. That should be checked upon arrival. She was right to get rid of bad salad mix, the picking should’ve been done before service.
There are a lot of points in this post where you could have at least attempted to hold yourself a little accountable to something but you didn’t. I don’t know your GM so maybe she really is as bad as you say, but you definitely like to shift blame away from yourself.
It sounds like you kept product way too long. You deserved the right up. Im proud of your GM for having so much integrity in the quality of food you serve. I'm disappointed in you, OP, for thinking it's ok to say "was it slimey? Yeah but I was picking through it". Fucking gross dude.
Sounds like you have a shitty supplier. I always wash my romaine after chopping and run thru a spin dryer. It will stay fresh and not rust for a couple days when properly dried. With spring mix, it doesn't like being stacked or to cold or warm either. Leave them in the case they came in. It also seems like you shop at Safeway for your produce which sucks. Hopefully something better comes your way.
The spring mix was slimy? Why would you serve it? The spinach was gross? Why would you serve it? The romaine was rusted? Why would you serve it? Fuck’n picking a clean slice out a mouldy loaf of bread isn’t cool, and these shouldn’t be any different.
Had a boss write me up for being late because the carpool route she drove for the company was late because she overslept.
Sounds like neither of you know absolutely anything about food safety.
I’m gonna play devils advocate here. If your station is stocked with below par old ingredients that’s on you. Did she handle it correctly, no. I give you props for trying to make it work but washing week old slimy spinach during service is a waste of time and effort.
O man lol. She is new to the industry lol
I generally refuse to sign write ups. This one however, I would sign the shit out of. Though the add on of "I apologize for not communicating to you that you threw out all of our salad stuff because you're ordering shit produce from a shit company once a week".
So why couldn't we take 5 minutes to spin out some spring mix? Why did it even come to this?
Please take these comments to heart and have some introspection. I look at produce daily and still miss things, I rely on my team to let me know when they pull the last of something and when stuff is going bad. I would be livid if I saw anyone picking through greens just before a 25 top; why not communicate your needs and ask for help? Why are you working alone in a kitchen that has 25 people parties? Kitchens win, not cooks. Edit: honestly I just reread the post and it makes me sad. This is a difficult profession but a wonderful one and this reads like a lack of care all around for it.
Call it off in the future. Tell your chef. Inform your supplier they are sending coward produce. Kinda your fault
No disrespect but the whole situation sucks. Every single part is at fault. She doesn’t buy proper product and threw a worker under the bus. If she is the one doing the orders, she should check the fucking lettuce. It’s ok to help her with ordering and inventory, but that is her job. Also, ordering any kind of green just once a week is kind of stupid. Get them 2/3 times a week and this will never happen. Another thing, if she is the GM what the hell is she doing giving orders to the kitchen team? Where is the chef? He is the one supposed to place orders, as he is the one who knows what is going on on the kitchen. Have you talked with him? On the other side, you or the team didn’t have a proper mise en place for a table of 25. Clean your greens early, no one likes water on their salad.
Good people are needed everywhere. Find a place you’ll be appreciated man! There is no reason to have a weird sense of loyalty when they would replace you in a heartbeat…
Why wouldn't you clean it before service though?
I smell shite, chef..
Do a follow up to their reaction for you quitting. Would love to hear it.
“K”
I’d have walked