Can a busy dining establishment survive without a warm window to put plated food on? The new bistro, which is housed into an old pizzeria place, has no kitchen window and therefore no heat lamp above, only a ledge where cooks will place the food to be picked up by servers. If the server is not quick to pick-up, the food will get cold. Also, if there are large tables to cook for and the cooks do not have all the food up at the same time (which is very difficult, if not impossible to do at times), the food will have to sit on the ledge and get cold. Can the lack of a heat source to place food under bury a fledgling bistro? Chef doesn't want to keep plated food in a warm oven so we'll have to do our best.
We expect to be busier next week as the girls start their advertising campaign. Any kinks we need to work out will need to be worked out by then.
Today was steady. We normally open for business at 4 pm but so far we haven't been getting tables until around 5:30. The next two hours we put out food and it slows down around 8 pm. For a Thursday, I'd say it's pretty good. Real test likely to come this weekend. I cooked the hot side today, not much action though. I learned a couple of pasta dishes, both cooking and presentation, as well as the shrimp plate. I should write this stuff down so I remember it. Now if I could only locate my notebook that was in my car before Jen cleaned it (the car, not the notebook!)
How expensive can it be to set up a temporary heat lamp until a more permanent fixture can be installed? This heat lamp business seems pretty vital to make a good impression to get return customers.
ReplyDeleteNot sure if it's a cost thing or a lack of space thing, or a "it would look ugly" thing. Either way, we're not getting one until my Chef is really bothered by its absence. So far his answer was "we'll have to work with what we have."
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