A kitchen can look like a swirling black hole located on the other side of the double revolving doors in the back of your establishment. People, food, and orders are sucked in and disappear in the form of soaring wages and below-average food costs. Finding effective kitchen managers with the skills, experience, and attitudes to make that void the centre of efficiency and drive customer satisfaction is critical to this success. Your financial well-being can provide a significant competitive advantage to your competitors.
Unfortunately, it’s hard to find a single person with all of the distinct and different qualities needed to be a good kitchen manager. Even more problematically, you could not actually understand what they are.
Why Do You Need a Kitchen Manager?
The kitchen manager is a crucial member of the kitchen team. They plan, manage, and oversee kitchen operations to ensure that meals are prepared and served quickly and efficiently. They manage menu development, kitchen inventory, and ordering supplies. They can also plan special menus for holidays or other occasions and always maintain a safe work environment in the kitchen. A kitchen manager should understand all aspects of kitchen work, have excellent organizational skills, the ability to multitask, good problem-solving skills, and good customer service etiquette. In short, kitchen managers ensure that food safety standards are met while providing a great dining experience for every customer.
How To Manage The Kitchen Efficiently
Running a kitchen requires someone with many skills that, unfortunately, often don’t co-exist. To be good at this, kitchen manager should:
Be an effective and willing administrator.
This feature is the most important and the hardest to find. Good kitchen managers understand that their duties include purchasing, inventorying, planning, hiring, and firing — for better or worse, mundane tasks tied to responsibilities.
Be creative.
This is a trait that is hard to find in a person who possesses this trait. But a creative personality can spur the kind of original thinking that leads to catering services that wow your customers and keep them coming back.
Stay calm under pressure.
If you’ve ever met a running manager, you might be wondering how important this trait really is – or how likely it is for one of them to have it. It’s like cursing. It’s better not to scream, but losing him is not an option.
Be a perfectionist in every detail.
Mistakes happen, and no one is perfect. Good kitchen managers try anyway. Great people are individuals in everything that comes out of their kitchen.
Be experienced in your cooking style.
I am repeatedly surprised that even industry professionals fail to distinguish between the different types of kitchen operations and the specific skills required of their employees. Cooking a party, a large batch or a delicious dish develops unique skills in practitioners. These skill sets are not always easy to transfer to other styles. I have attended small parties at very fancy restaurants, but it was a disaster. Be careful not to fall in love with candidates from very popular establishments.
Be a good teacher.
The kitchen managers take care of their posts on the line. They prepare their own ingredients and cook what they are responsible for. They have to rely on their team to produce what they are responsible for (everything). This team must be able to do what they are responsible for and be as consistent as your chef will be. They need someone to show them how.
Be a hard worker.
This goes without saying, and I think to some extent, it is. When hired as a chef, a kitchen professional must understand the type of hours it takes to do the job. Beware of managers, especially new ones, who have the first chance to set schedules and organize employees so they can take time off. Remind them, if you must, that a leader’s responsibilities far outweigh the benefits.
Make your kitchen tidy with these skills. SIT40521 Certificate IV in Kitchen Management will teach you all the techniques you need to boost your skills. For more insight and updated skills, stay with Swiss Institute. Our experts are here to assist you in every step. Contact us and book your seat today.
