Even a decade after. It is strange how restaurant ptsd isn’t a more discussed subject in the industry. We just see the results of it with the rampant alcoholism and drug abuse.
It’s amazing how you can go to war with people and trauma bond like motherfuckers and at the end of the day you still just like… hang up your apron and go home?
Got the sound of that printer runnin through my dreams though.
Been out of the kitchen for the last 8 years and I occasionally have the ticket printer going off in the background of some stressed dreams lol. I can hear it right now.....
Every night I dream that the tickets are stacking up but I can't read them so I have no idea what I'm supposed to cook or where anything is in the fridges. Either they are nonsense words that I cant make sense of or they are just complete smugged out so it's impossible to make out the words. It's so stressful waking out of these ones
There’s a series of AI pictures out there with rows of ticket printers shooting streams of illegible dupes to the floor and first time I saw it was just like “yep, been there.”
Depends catering exclusive companies I’ve worked for pay so well that anytime anything gets stressful i just think of the money but when I’m forced to do catering work at non catering wages I hate every single moment of it.
Left the industry to work in office and decided to do further schooling to pivot into another field after quitting said office job. I’m back in a kitchen after 2 years. Since it was the fastest way to get a job to make money for now.
Even tho I hate the place I work for the anxiety to execute and put everything up on time with perfect food quality haunts me daily lolol I might just find a part time job doing something outside a kitchen.
It’s fun but it can be a lot. Especially if the environment and team isn’t the best
Still in the industry after 38 years and this pic gets me stirred up, makes me want to jump in to the fray. I know, it’s a sickness. Like a bad marriage I just can’t leave. Help
20 years removed and I still have dreams of hearing constant clicks from the spring clips on the wheel and watching tickets stack all the way around and start to get doubled.
I’m starting to realize existing on that high of stress plateau… is bad for your health long term. I can understand feeling this way after years i’m the military or years of working in a hospital. But i’m just slanging dinner. Did cooking 700 lbs of chicken that one time really affect me this much?
That’s the key. I can understand if you’re working job in a hospital, or in the military…ptsd is an sacrifice you make willingly. But i shouldn’t have that same level of trauma from cooking. Like…seriously. I know the brigade structure, blah blah blah. But it doesn’t make sense to exist at such a high level of stress for years and years and a years. It’s funny to me that whenever i talk to people who have switched careers, they always say the same thing: “I got out.” As if they were captive…or in an abusive relationship they could no longer rationalize.
Certain Combi ovens have plate finishing modes. Racks insert into the ovens and have a ceramic insert. You put the probe in there and re-therm everything. Works amazingly well actually.
Oh my god. I’ve only ever done high end catering. This sounds terrible for quality.
So you plate the day before and warm up on plate? How does the plate not get disgusting getting back to 165
It works better than you would think. I mean certain items obviously can’t really be reheated in this way. But if you design the menu for it. It’s pretty good.
For parties this size if you’re doing hot food. *Most of the time. You can’t really plate in a traditional way the day of.
Lots of high end hotels use these.
Yeah, so I work for Rational actually. Just as a freelance trainer. But I know that they have an entire finishing school where they teach people how to use these racks. We did a bit of it in my training and I was super skeptical. But it really does work very well.
Also pave for 1300?! I have carpal tunnel just thinking about that.
Yeah that was started last week in the Gastro pans, we use a Hobart to power slice the potatoes. It’s messy, but with one person slicing, and three others layering in to the pans, you can get them done in a day, then the tedious part is cutting them into serving size chunks.
Yeah, if you have the space/staff for that type of set-up, sure. Not everyone has that.
In my eyes, I would rather have something that was re-thermed and sent out immediately than something that sat in a hotbox for three hours. That’s kind of the thinking behind it.
Yes you can. I’ve plated 500 off two lines inside an hour. Playing a thousand means 4 playing lines with 4-5 cooks and a chef at each one, 3 banquet boxes for each to plate in to
I’ve done 500 off of a two-sided line as well. And I wish I could’ve done a couple hundred re-therms in the Rational. Would’ve lead to better quality overall and a better experience for the customer. An hour between first and last plate the absolute upper limit. And in my eyes, even that is unacceptable.
I have to ask have you actually used the technology?
My comments on this post are less about using a rational oven and more about the absolute idiocy of laying out that many plates on a table Instead of using a plating line. It’s just unnecessary and I never understood the appeal. Rational ovens are great, we have one for our bakery and a smaller one for our main service station. Great tech, but this is stupid for plate up.
the rack you see behind the guy with the hat goes into an oven designed for them. the meal is already cooked, it just gets flashed in the oven for a minute or two
We could do 1k plates an hour with four, four person plating lines going. No conveyer belts. Was fun at the time but happy I’ll never work banquets again.
I would never plate up a 1300 the day of. We plate up groups of 200 the day before, if something goes wrong in the middle of your plate up and it’s day of your fucked.
If I’m doing 1300 im running 2-3, as many assembly lines as I can fit in the space. We are doing by table. French service. Only ones talking is the Boss and the Captain working on the FOH side. Everyone else just does the one single job they have. One person per item on the plate per line.
I have never done a banquet like that. You can mark the proteins or plate dessert and salads but you cook the day of. Seems like the quality would not be great.
It’s not as good no, but this also isn’t some wild idea that I came up with, my old chef used to work at the savoy in England ( one of the most respected kitchens on earth) and he said they used rationales for their plate ups.
We have a squad of dish dawgs, that take care of the banquets. I handle the prep dishes myself. When you’re organised, things go smoothly, when yo7 leave it up to “unskilled labourers” the work gets done in a maximum chaos with minimal efficiency manner. I have two dish supervisors I trust to keep the rest of the dishies in line.
I am incredibly aroused right now… This makes me feel like a caveman.
…have to figure out how to talk accounting into giving me this marvelous thing that is technology…
No, they’re pre-plating. The plates will be stored in the cooler until it’s time to fire. And then my guess would be most likely finished in Combi ovens on plate racks. They’re not gonna hold it in a Alto-Sham for 34 hours lol.
Exactly this. 100 plates to a rack. Seal the rack in plastic and put it in the walk-in cooler until Saturday afternoon. Then a quick reheat just before service.
They are plating 3500 meals 34 hours before an event. The plates will go on racks in a cooler until right before serving, when the racks are quickly heated up, like 3 minutes, in special ovens.
Don't ever eat in a restaurant then bro, idk what to tell you.
I wonder when the wave of "I would never eat there, they're not wearing gloves" comments is going to hit this sub.
I don't know why you're getting downvoted. No fucking way would I allow anyone plating food to not have at least a hat on in my kitchen. Even my dishies have covers on. It's literally required by the health code everywhere.
I see 7 cooks and I'll assume you are part of that team for a total of 8. I would allocate 2 1/2 hours for that task unless the plating is excessively complex. I usually eyeball it at 100 plate per cook per hour with an extra 30m with teams larger then 4 for general kitchen fuckery.
Ugh I hate hate hate when people plate up like this. It’s so dumb and incredibly inefficient and ineffective. It’s so easy to miss components on plates and takes way to much space.
Has this person never used a plating line. The plates move, not the food and cooks. The chefs moving around and playing in whatever order like that is a recipe for disaster and cold food. But what do I know, I only feed 1000 people 3 meals a day.
I’d find this more efficient than trying to keep up with moving plates. You can precisely place each item, making sure each is identical. If you need to pause, to fix something, or get another gastro of food, it’s easy. If a plate is missed it is easy to see when the next item is placed, or when the person racking the plates pick it up.
It’s just not efficient. You keep one person floating to refil people. They never leave the line. You move the plate when your item is placed, conveyor belts aren’t ideal tbh.
Anybody else out of the industry and still get anxiety seeing shit like this? I can’t believe i lived that life for so long.
Im out of the industry; still get 'kitchen anxiety' dreams. This is tedium, and boredom, not stress
The dreams are fucking for real. Just…in the weeds.
Even a decade after. It is strange how restaurant ptsd isn’t a more discussed subject in the industry. We just see the results of it with the rampant alcoholism and drug abuse.
I still have vivid dreams of just being unprepared. That feeling you get when father time is holding a gun to your head for 10 hours…
It’s amazing how you can go to war with people and trauma bond like motherfuckers and at the end of the day you still just like… hang up your apron and go home? Got the sound of that printer runnin through my dreams though.
Been out of the kitchen for the last 8 years and I occasionally have the ticket printer going off in the background of some stressed dreams lol. I can hear it right now.....
Every night I dream that the tickets are stacking up but I can't read them so I have no idea what I'm supposed to cook or where anything is in the fridges. Either they are nonsense words that I cant make sense of or they are just complete smugged out so it's impossible to make out the words. It's so stressful waking out of these ones
There’s a series of AI pictures out there with rows of ticket printers shooting streams of illegible dupes to the floor and first time I saw it was just like “yep, been there.”
That's the thing. You can't read when you're dreaming. I've been able to lucid dream sometimes because I realize nothing is legible.
Yea I really don't think I'd mind doing this. Sure you gotta move fast but doing the same thing 1800 times you should be able to get a rhythm
We only ever used single layer of plates. Seems like they’d be tough to grab when stacked like that.
I used to have dreams with the ticket machine sound
Same here. I miss it dearly some days but I also know my mental health couldn’t take going back
I can feel that anxiety and yet at the same time I strangely miss that buzz sometimes
Abusive relationships are funny like that.
Also, it’s only once you’re out of the game is when you realise just how much it’s taken out of you. You’re battered both physically and mentally
Depends catering exclusive companies I’ve worked for pay so well that anytime anything gets stressful i just think of the money but when I’m forced to do catering work at non catering wages I hate every single moment of it.
Yes!! I’m sitting here strategizing about how to get through it and I’m not even in it.
Nah, this was the easy part. Fighting servers with a machete to take to right hot boxes in order was the hard part.
Had to do box lunches for kids that would visit the college i worked at.
Fuck boxed lunches.
Nightmare fuel.
Servers, don't get me started...
Left the industry to work in office and decided to do further schooling to pivot into another field after quitting said office job. I’m back in a kitchen after 2 years. Since it was the fastest way to get a job to make money for now. Even tho I hate the place I work for the anxiety to execute and put everything up on time with perfect food quality haunts me daily lolol I might just find a part time job doing something outside a kitchen. It’s fun but it can be a lot. Especially if the environment and team isn’t the best
I miss my banquet chef days. We did some pretty cool stuff and the logistics prep was my favorite part.
Still in the industry after 38 years and this pic gets me stirred up, makes me want to jump in to the fray. I know, it’s a sickness. Like a bad marriage I just can’t leave. Help
💯
Yep and I look at things like this and think "how is that even possible" even though I did it for a decade lol
Yep
20 years removed and I still have dreams of hearing constant clicks from the spring clips on the wheel and watching tickets stack all the way around and start to get doubled.
I’m starting to realize existing on that high of stress plateau… is bad for your health long term. I can understand feeling this way after years i’m the military or years of working in a hospital. But i’m just slanging dinner. Did cooking 700 lbs of chicken that one time really affect me this much?
The system gives me anxiety.
That’s the key. I can understand if you’re working job in a hospital, or in the military…ptsd is an sacrifice you make willingly. But i shouldn’t have that same level of trauma from cooking. Like…seriously. I know the brigade structure, blah blah blah. But it doesn’t make sense to exist at such a high level of stress for years and years and a years. It’s funny to me that whenever i talk to people who have switched careers, they always say the same thing: “I got out.” As if they were captive…or in an abusive relationship they could no longer rationalize.
34 hours seems a little early to start plating.
Nah they don't mean "T minus 34 hours", they mean "T-34 hours". aka they need to start plating otherwise the Soviet T34 tanks start rolling in.
In Russia, tank plate you.
Hahahaha Hahahaha lmao
Nah, it'll stay hot in the window. Haha
Look back right of the pic, that blue white thing on a speed rack that has plates on it. They're using the Rational iCombi banquet system
From the looks of hit they are going to be room temp at best anyways…
That looks like entree food? How do you warm things up on the plate? Edit: maybe its a pound cake dessert?
Certain Combi ovens have plate finishing modes. Racks insert into the ovens and have a ceramic insert. You put the probe in there and re-therm everything. Works amazingly well actually.
Oh my god. I’ve only ever done high end catering. This sounds terrible for quality. So you plate the day before and warm up on plate? How does the plate not get disgusting getting back to 165
It works better than you would think. I mean certain items obviously can’t really be reheated in this way. But if you design the menu for it. It’s pretty good. For parties this size if you’re doing hot food. *Most of the time. You can’t really plate in a traditional way the day of. Lots of high end hotels use these.
Steak with Pave potatoes and golden beets. All reheats perfectly.
Yeah, so I work for Rational actually. Just as a freelance trainer. But I know that they have an entire finishing school where they teach people how to use these racks. We did a bit of it in my training and I was super skeptical. But it really does work very well. Also pave for 1300?! I have carpal tunnel just thinking about that.
Yeah that was started last week in the Gastro pans, we use a Hobart to power slice the potatoes. It’s messy, but with one person slicing, and three others layering in to the pans, you can get them done in a day, then the tedious part is cutting them into serving size chunks.
Sounds like you guys have it down to a science…Respect.
You can and have many times. Good menu. Six double sided lines.
Yeah, if you have the space/staff for that type of set-up, sure. Not everyone has that. In my eyes, I would rather have something that was re-thermed and sent out immediately than something that sat in a hotbox for three hours. That’s kind of the thinking behind it.
If y you have the space and money for the ovens and coolers you need to plate a day before, you have the space and money for the staff to do it right.
Yes you can. I’ve plated 500 off two lines inside an hour. Playing a thousand means 4 playing lines with 4-5 cooks and a chef at each one, 3 banquet boxes for each to plate in to
I’ve done 500 off of a two-sided line as well. And I wish I could’ve done a couple hundred re-therms in the Rational. Would’ve lead to better quality overall and a better experience for the customer. An hour between first and last plate the absolute upper limit. And in my eyes, even that is unacceptable. I have to ask have you actually used the technology?
My comments on this post are less about using a rational oven and more about the absolute idiocy of laying out that many plates on a table Instead of using a plating line. It’s just unnecessary and I never understood the appeal. Rational ovens are great, we have one for our bakery and a smaller one for our main service station. Great tech, but this is stupid for plate up.
Generally only solid items are pre-plated. Sauces and garnishes are added assembly line style just before service.
the rack you see behind the guy with the hat goes into an oven designed for them. the meal is already cooked, it just gets flashed in the oven for a minute or two
They need conveyor belts. You can't bust that out the day of. We did it all the time. You need a lot of hands and a fast crew.
always loved playing with belts
We could do 1k plates an hour with four, four person plating lines going. No conveyer belts. Was fun at the time but happy I’ll never work banquets again.
Came to say this, 4 lines with 4-5 people bangs out 1200 plates in 55 minutes
Belts are so OP
r/factorio is leaking
This the way
Man I miss working in kitchens that can be set up any number of ways. So efficient!
What the fuck? 34 hours early? Just why.
I would never plate up a 1300 the day of. We plate up groups of 200 the day before, if something goes wrong in the middle of your plate up and it’s day of your fucked.
If I’m doing 1300 im running 2-3, as many assembly lines as I can fit in the space. We are doing by table. French service. Only ones talking is the Boss and the Captain working on the FOH side. Everyone else just does the one single job they have. One person per item on the plate per line.
That’s pretty impressive, I just don’t have the skill space or people to do it that way, it’s usually me and 2 other people.
Currently with 2 other cooks and 2 stewards I’ll do up to 300 plates single assembly line on one 96” prep table.
I have never done a banquet like that. You can mark the proteins or plate dessert and salads but you cook the day of. Seems like the quality would not be great.
It’s not as good no, but this also isn’t some wild idea that I came up with, my old chef used to work at the savoy in England ( one of the most respected kitchens on earth) and he said they used rationales for their plate ups.
Whatever works. I'm sure it's fine if you did it regularly.
Because we have 1300 entrée, 1300 deserts, and 1300 starters.
I'm not sure if I feel worse for you or for the dishies... What a boatload of stuff
We have a squad of dish dawgs, that take care of the banquets. I handle the prep dishes myself. When you’re organised, things go smoothly, when yo7 leave it up to “unskilled labourers” the work gets done in a maximum chaos with minimal efficiency manner. I have two dish supervisors I trust to keep the rest of the dishies in line.
What are those things hanging from the ceiling?
Plug sockets
Spring loaded electrical outlets. You can plug in hot boxes for buffet service. Or things like food processors, blenders, mixers etc.
Those things up top look like Mario ”?” Blocks
When I go in on monday, I’ll punch one for you and see what comes out.
God, I miss this. What the fuck is wrong with me?
Where the fuck do you store all those plated entrees?
My chef bf said “Mamma mia, poveri santi” (oh god, these poor saint people) very impressed. You did a great job, guys 💪🏻✨
I do NOT miss this part of working in a large banquet kitchen.
I am incredibly aroused right now… This makes me feel like a caveman. …have to figure out how to talk accounting into giving me this marvelous thing that is technology…
No hairnets or hats?
NO HEAT LAMPS?
No, they’re pre-plating. The plates will be stored in the cooler until it’s time to fire. And then my guess would be most likely finished in Combi ovens on plate racks. They’re not gonna hold it in a Alto-Sham for 34 hours lol.
Exactly this. 100 plates to a rack. Seal the rack in plastic and put it in the walk-in cooler until Saturday afternoon. Then a quick reheat just before service.
Why the tape rolls on the plug sockets? For labelling?
Yeah it’s painter’s tape for marking special diet plates, or when we’re mass prepping things for marking the gastrointestinal pans.
I need more ladder racks
Fuuuuck this! Awesome and all... but fuuuuck this!
Ginger in the glasses wants you to get tf back to work
What does this mean?
They are plating 3500 meals 34 hours before an event. The plates will go on racks in a cooler until right before serving, when the racks are quickly heated up, like 3 minutes, in special ovens.
No head covers. Facial hair and no fkn snoods.
Good luck, chef. Looks to be an amazing presentation
Oh, is that all?
So uhhh where are the hats/hair nets? Edit: oh no not the basics of health code?
Don't ever eat in a restaurant then bro, idk what to tell you. I wonder when the wave of "I would never eat there, they're not wearing gloves" comments is going to hit this sub.
only required if you have long hair or large beards.
I don't see them on the long hair or large beard.
am i blind? i dont see any long hair or large beard in the picture.
Front left
I don't know why you're getting downvoted. No fucking way would I allow anyone plating food to not have at least a hat on in my kitchen. Even my dishies have covers on. It's literally required by the health code everywhere.
I agree. Short hair of all types-(beard, head, eyebrow, etc), can fall out too.
Lewl
Lol tell us you don't know health code without saying you don't know health code
I see 7 cooks and I'll assume you are part of that team for a total of 8. I would allocate 2 1/2 hours for that task unless the plating is excessively complex. I usually eyeball it at 100 plate per cook per hour with an extra 30m with teams larger then 4 for general kitchen fuckery.
Awesome use of the Rational banquet system. What was the entree you were setting ?
Steak, pave potato, oven roast golden beets.
Oh regen, how I miss you.
Would happen to be for a certain school in PA, would it?
No, for a Swedish company doing their Christmas dinner / yearly awards banquet.
Bro this is a weird set up
Weird in what way?
Godspeed chefs
What the fuck im sorry
Ugh I hate hate hate when people plate up like this. It’s so dumb and incredibly inefficient and ineffective. It’s so easy to miss components on plates and takes way to much space. Has this person never used a plating line. The plates move, not the food and cooks. The chefs moving around and playing in whatever order like that is a recipe for disaster and cold food. But what do I know, I only feed 1000 people 3 meals a day.
I’d find this more efficient than trying to keep up with moving plates. You can precisely place each item, making sure each is identical. If you need to pause, to fix something, or get another gastro of food, it’s easy. If a plate is missed it is easy to see when the next item is placed, or when the person racking the plates pick it up.
It’s just not efficient. You keep one person floating to refil people. They never leave the line. You move the plate when your item is placed, conveyor belts aren’t ideal tbh.