Leading a Line Shift as a Lead Cook

A lead cook is the person other cooks look to when the chef isn't standing there. You might be called lead, sous chef or shift lead, depending on the kitchen. You still cook. You're also now responsible for how the whole line runs, which is a different job from running your own station well.

The hardest change is in how you think. A strong cook asks, "Is my station ready?" A lead asks, "What's going to go wrong tonight, and where?"

What You Will Be Able to Do

• Run a line check before service, and fix what fails.
• Give a short pre-shift meeting that actually helps.
• Place cooks where they'll do the most good.
• Spot a slowdown from ticket times, and respond to it.
• Correct people during a rush without breaking the team.
• Leave the next shift a clear handoff.

Know What You Own

Before your first shift as lead, get clear answers to these questions:

• Who is the person in charge on this shift? Under the FDA Food Code, one must be present during all hours of operation. It may be you, or it may be a manager. The Food Code calls for that person to be a certified food protection manager, but state and county rules on this vary.
• What can you decide alone? Can you take an item off the menu, give away a dish, send someone home or change a station?
• Who do you call when the chef is off?
• What are the written standards? Know where to find the recipes, plate specs, temperature logs and the employee illness policy.

Not knowing these things is how a lead ends up guessing at the worst possible time.

The Line Check

A line check is a walk through every station before service, with a thermometer and a checklist. Plan on doing it about 30 minutes before doors open, so there's still time to fix things.

Use your kitchen's standards. Your code, sanitizer label or chef may set different numbers. Write the temperatures on the log as you take them, not at the end of the shift. A log that's filled in later is worse than useless, because it hides real problems and destroys trust.

The Pre-Shift Meeting

Five minutes is enough. Hold it in the same place at the same time, and keep it short:

1. Tonight's numbers: covers, big parties and anything unusual.
2. Specials and changes: what's new, how it's plated and what's in it.
3. 86 list: what's out, and what's running low.
4. Allergens: anything new in a dish, plus any known guest allergies.
5. Stations: who's where and who's helping whom.
6. One thing to work on: the single most important fix from last night.

Have the cooks taste the special. Front-of-house staff can't sell or explain a dish they've never tasted, so include them if your restaurant allows it.

Placing Your Cooks

Your people are your best tool for the night. Put them where the pressure will be.

1. Look at the forecast and the menu mix. Find the station that will take the most tickets.
2. Put your strongest cook there. That station will be the bottleneck, and it's where a weak spot hurts most.
3. Pair a newer cook with someone who can help, on a station that isn't the busiest.
4. Decide in advance who moves when the rush hits, and to where.
5. Keep yourself free to float when you can, so you can jump in where the line is starting to sink.

Worked example. Friday's forecast is 180 covers, and you have four cooks. Last Friday, the grill took 45 percent of all entree orders. Your strongest cook goes on grill. Your newest cook goes on salads with the pantry station's help. You take saute, because it's the station closest to the pass, and you can see the rail and help expo from there.

If you're short a cook, simplify first. Ask the chef whether to cut a special or take one slow item off the menu. Running a shorter menu well is better than running a full menu badly.

Watching the Flow

During service, watch ticket times, not just the rail. Ticket time is the minutes from when an order is entered until the food leaves the window. Most kitchen screens track this. On paper, the time is printed on the ticket.

Learn your kitchen's normal time for a course, and what counts as a problem. Then respond in stages.

Worked example. Your target for entrees is 14 minutes. At 7:40 p.m., the screen shows the average has climbed to 22 minutes, and the grill has nine open tickets.

1. Find the real cause. Go and look. Is the grill full, or is the cook stuck plating?
2. Shift help. Move your float cook, or a prep cook, to plate for the grill.
3. Protect the fast food. Keep salads and appetizers moving, so guests have something to eat.
4. Tell the manager. Say, "We're at 22 minutes on entrees, and we should be back to normal in 15." Then they can slow seating or warn guests.
5. Shrink the problem. If one slow dish is the cause, ask the chef whether to 86 it for 30 minutes.

If you keep going without saying anything, the dining room keeps seating guests and sends you more food to cook. Telling them early is often the most useful thing you can do.

Checking Quality

Nobody can check every plate, but someone has to keep the standard. If your kitchen has no expo, that's you.

• Taste sauces during service, not only before it. They reduce and change on the heat.
• Check portions against the spec. A cook who's rushing tends to over-portion.
• Glance at each plate against the photo or the spec.
• Send it back if it's wrong, and keep your voice calm. If a plate isn't right, it isn't going out, whatever the wait.

Decide ahead of time how to handle a plate that's close to the standard but not quite there. Your kitchen sets that line. The cooks will look at what you let through, not at what the chef's spec says.

Coaching During a Rush

You've got two goals during a shift: keep the food moving, and keep people working together. Yelling doesn't help with either. It may get a fast response, but cooks stop telling you when they're behind, and that's when things go wrong.

• Correct in a few words, and be specific. "Pull the steaks five degrees earlier," not "These are terrible."
• Fix the plate first, then the habit. In a rush, solve the problem in front of you. Talk about why later.
• Save longer talks for after service. Do them in private. Nobody learns much with the whole line watching.
• Praise out loud and name the action. "Good call on the salmon count. That saved us."
• Show, then watch. Do it once with them, then stand by while they do it.

After service, take five minutes to ask: What went well? What broke? What do we change tomorrow? Write it down, and start the next pre-shift meeting with it.

Some things can't wait for the end of the shift. Harassment, threats, physical contact, or a cook who seems impaired needs to go straight to a manager. As a lead, you don't get to ignore these things because the kitchen is busy. Follow your employer's policy.

Keeping the Line Safe

As a lead, you keep watch over others as well as yourself. The person in charge has a duty under the Food Code to see that people are washing their hands, cooking and cooling food correctly, and reporting illness. A lead often does this work during a shift, even if someone else holds the title.

• Watch handwashing, especially after raw meat, after a break and after touching the face.
• Spot-check cooling logs, not only during the morning.
• Probe the first item in a batch of chicken or ground meat when you're passing by.
• Check that allergy tickets are being handled apart from the rest of the line.

Warning: A cook with vomiting or diarrhea can't work with food, no matter how short you are. Under the Food Code, that person is sent home and can't return until free of symptoms for at least 24 hours, or until a health practitioner confirms in writing that the cause isn't infectious. Some diagnosed illnesses have stricter rules. Tell the person in charge right away. Never talk someone into staying.

If someone is hurt, stop and deal with it. Give first aid or call 911 if needed, and tell the person in charge. Fill out your employer's injury report, even for a burn that seems minor. A burn that looks small at 7 p.m. can look very different tomorrow.

Heat, long shifts and no water take a toll too. Make sure people drink water and take the breaks they're owed. State rules on meal and rest breaks vary, so know what yours are.

Closing and Handing Off

A shift isn't over until the next person knows what they're walking into.

1. Check that every station is broken down, labeled, dated and clean.
2. Check that all food that was cooling has reached its temperature, and that the log is complete.
3. Update counts and write down what's low.
4. Write the handoff note.
5. Do a final walk: fryers off and burners off, walk-in door shut, and the floors, drains and trash dealt with.

A good handoff note is short and specific. Keep it wherever your kitchen keeps its log or notebook.

Example note. Friday close, 186 covers. We 86'd salmon at 8:40 and need 20 more portions for Saturday. Reach-in 3 ran at 43°F around 9 p.m. Food was moved, and a service call is logged. Stock cooling in the walk-in hit 41°F at 10:15, and the log is on the clipboard. The new cook on pantry needs more work on portioning dressings.

Common Mistakes

Check Your Understanding

1. It's 30 minutes before service. Your cold well reads 47°F, and the tray of sliced tomatoes in it reads 46°F. What do you do first?

Find out how long the food has been warm, and move it to a working cooler if it's safe to keep. Cut tomatoes are TCS food. If you can't show it's been out of temperature for less than your allowed time, throw it out. Then get the unit fixed, and record what happened.

2. Your best cook usually works saute, but tonight's menu mix and a 40-person party will load up the grill. Where do you put her?

On the grill. Put your strongest cook where the pressure will be, and tell her why. Then decide who covers saute, and who floats.

3. Ticket times have gone from 14 to 20 minutes. All stations are about equally behind, and no one has made a mistake. What's the likely cause, and what do you do?

Seating is probably outrunning the kitchen, or a big party hit all at once. Tell the manager now, with numbers, so they can slow seating and warn guests. Keep appetizers moving.

4. A cook is over-portioning fries on every plate. It's the middle of a rush. How do you handle it?

Say it in a few words, right then: "Six ounces on the fries, use the scoop." Check back after the shift to see why it happened, and show them the spec in private. Don't make a speech during service.

5. A cook tells you that he threw up before his shift but feels fine now. You're down one cook already. What do you do?

Send him home and tell the person in charge. Under the Food Code, he can't work until he's been free of symptoms for at least 24 hours, or has written proof the cause isn't infectious. Shrink the menu or move your people instead.

Key Takeaways

• Before your first shift, know who the person in charge is, and what you can decide alone.
• Run a line check early enough to fix what fails, and log readings as you take them.
• Keep pre-shift meetings to about five minutes, and always cover allergens.
• Put your strongest cook where the pressure will be.
• Watch ticket times, and tell the manager early.
• Correct people briefly and specifically, and save longer talks for after service.
• Leave a handoff note that says what the next shift needs to know.