Gulf Coast breeze. [volume] (Crawfordville, Fla.) 1897-19??, 1900-06-08
RESTAURANT RUNNING.
SUCCESS FOUND 6Y ECONOMY IN
THE LITTLE THINGS.

| for Every Pound of Suppiies-Whsre the
| Customsr's Order Goes-what Boccmes
OF Recommendations tho Employees.
The organization OF the working
force In modern metropolitan restau.
rant Is as systematic and uncompro.
missing as that OF an army In the fed.
The aggregate OF profit from the bust
ness, however many tens OF thousands
OF dollars II may be in a year, Is made
q few cents at time hence, aside
from the general aud obvious neces.
sity Of providing the public with what
IL wants, the secret Of success lies In
ECONOMY In little things, which can
only be accomplished by severe disci-
pline, close surveillance OF employees,
and the minutest oversight Of all the
details. This makes necessary the
employment OF small army Of work
ers whom the patrons never see nor
even think about, save when there Is
cause for complaint.
The steward and the chef are the
important personages Broadly speak.
ing. IT Is the duty OF the steward to
suggest and provide consequently,
he must be rich in ideas and familiar
with the daily possibilities Of the
produce market at home and In all the
markets in the country. Some stew.
ards go abroad once year to keep
themselves cup to date " in their
| work.
The stewards daily problem Is no
easy one. He must attend to II that
there is no lack OF anything /; aud II
Is quite as important that there should
be no surplus, and, therefore, no
waste. Since the patronage OF a res.
taurans varies with the seasons and
with the weather, and the city attrac.
tions, only long experience and moth
| ing less than intuition will enable him
to gauge the demand correctly at the
best, the quantity Of food with which
he is stocked Is little more than q
guess at what will be required. He
Is accountable for all the food con.
sumed therefore he has staff OF as
sistapts aud clerks. Everything is
weighed and recorded when II leaves
the storeroom ; the clerks must have
orders from the constituted author.
tiles; In some restaurants receipts
from the chefs department arc given.
This system makes the keeping OF q
set OF books imperative -
The chsl has bis assistants, also =
assistant chefs, under.cooks, men who
make the vegetables ready, the dish.
washers, gafhishefs and 30 forth down
to the meanest scullion, all Of whom
are within the chefs responsibility.
The chef does no cooking with his
\ own nanusS n. rrs~~~5 ~tA sas.@~As ~~x
ovefssss In many Restaurants he,
too, keeps q set Of books. In which the
use made OF the supplies furnished by
the steward is recorded. Thus. he
| can tell to the fraction OF cent what
IL costs the proprietor to lay steak
on the table before the patron mot
only the cost OF the raw material, but
OF the cooking and the sauce and the
leaves Of parsley with which tho dish
is garnished. ass~ y
The domain OF the head waiter il
the dining room, and he Is responsible
neither to the chef nor the steward,
but only to tho manager. He has his
own responsibilities, with which most
people Ore familiar. 1t is for him to
see that the patron leaves the restau.
rant pleased; In the event ola dispute
between waiter and a guest, there.
fore, he takes the part OF the guest
whether the waiter Is right or wong
There Is an assistant head waiter
usually, and number OF minor Gu.
thorities under him. Where the staff
Is large, the men are usually divided
into squads, each one OF which Is cap
tanned by one OF their number who 10
responsible to one OF the assistant
head walters. The hours are divided
into "shiits;" the first may be from @
o'clock a m. to noon, the second from
noon TO s O'Clock, the third from 8
O'Clock to midnight. The men do two
shifts on one day and oneon the next;
thus man who breakfasts at 7 o'clock
in the morning and sups ct the same
table at midnight may be surprised to
find the same waiter at his elbow, as
though he had been there all dsy
long
The customers check usually goes
through a rontine such as would sur.
prise him. First, il il taken to the
Checkers" desk, where IL is copied
and endorsed, the walters number
being noted, meantime; then 1t is
taken to tho kitchen, where the
checkers endorsement is looked for
carefully, and the whole thing is again
recorded; when the food is prepared
it is inspected as the waiter passes to
the dining room. When the bill is
paid the check goes to the cashier,
who audits and records it; then il
goes TO the auditors department
Finally all the checks for the day are
compared with the storeroom and
kitchen records, and il there is dis.
crepancy the fault is soon located.
The food that is carried away from the
table is also inspected as IT goes back
IN the kitchen md NOTHING Ia vastad |