What is a stop list in a restaurant: description, rules for compiling, purpose

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

Surely everyone had a situation when, having come to a restaurant, he could not order the chosen dish. And the reason is very simple: today it was present on the menu only on paper. Most often, the waiter apologizes and offers an alternative option. The reasons are different: the cook fell ill, the necessary ingredient was not delivered. It also happens that the delivery turned out to be of inadequate quality, which is why it is impossible to cook a decent dish from it. And replacement takes time.

Of course, no one will rewrite the menu every time. These are circumstances that can change throughout the day. And so that the waiter does not have to justify himself to customers, the menu simply contains information that some of the dishes are not available today.

What is a stop list in a restaurant

Let's make a reservation right away, sometimes he is far awaynot in all establishments. Even reputable restaurants sometimes prefer to let waiters convey this information and apologies to guests. But there are hundreds of dishes on the menu, and the fact that one or more will not be cooked today, the waiter sometimes finds out only after he has accepted the order. At the same time, if the owners got acquainted with what a stop list is in a restaurant and how to use it correctly, then such situations could be avoided. The customer would immediately see that the dish is out of stock today.

Design requirements

Menu is an important document that determines the attitude of the institution to its customers. It requires daily attention, for this there is a manager and administrator. So, it is already clear what a stop list is in a restaurant. This is a list of dishes that are relevant for a certain period of time, which customers cannot choose and order. It will help save the nerves and time of visitors. They do not have to wait in vain for their order and frantically look for a replacement. Therefore, place it in a conspicuous place. Sometimes a menu title cover is used for this, behind which there is a small transparent insert. Of course, it should be short and concise. If the stop list includes a dozen positions, then the question arises as to why the menu has not been redesigned. Force majeure is one thing, outdated information is another.

Easy to make changes

Considering what a stop list is in a restaurant, this point is worth noting. It is not always possible to foresee all the nuances when it comes toa large establishment with good traffic. Here in the kitchen, work is constantly in full swing, everyone is in a hurry, in a hurry. Delivery, as well as the cost of products, is inevitable throughout the day. It may happen that changes to the stop list also have to be made constantly. This should be done by the administrator, who connects the kitchen and the waiters.

Agree, quite difficult. Indeed, in a large restaurant there are dozens of refrigerators, from which cooks constantly take away food, and warehouse managers replenish stocks. It is possible to plan the process in such a way that at any time everything that is needed to prepare a complete assortment is available, but there are also overlays. Therefore, today automated systems have been developed that calculate the remaining products in the warehouse, and at the moment when they become insufficient for preparing a dish, they issue a message to the administrator. Moreover, these systems can form a stop list, which is attached directly to the menu. Then you can make adjustments very quickly, and customers will always be aware of what is available now.

For the highest category

Indeed, today only some elite establishments have a rule to regularly form a stop list. The sample in the restaurant is developed individually, in accordance with the style followed in this cafe or restaurant. This suggests that customers are valued here, and they also value their reputation.

If there is no automated system, then the procedure is as follows. Kitchen workers (usually chefs) conduct a morning audit, draw up a stop listand pass it on to the staff of the hall. Now they can convey to the client information about what is not available today, as well as offer an alternative. During the day, the stop-list form in the restaurant does not change. Even if the supply of the necessary ingredients has been made, there are usually simply not enough human resources to do the reconciliation of available and consumable goods all day long.

Customer convenience

We all love clarity and precision, especially when it comes to the service industry. Sometimes you can find reviews of visitors to various catering establishments who are extremely outraged by the current situation. They spend a lot of time looking at the menu and making their choice, but the waiter, after taking the order and leaving for the kitchen, soon returns and announces that the dish is out of stock. Now imagine that this happened two or three times in a row. You have already spent a significant amount of time choosing another dish, then you had to look for an alternative to it. Now it becomes clear what a stop list means in a restaurant. If it were, the client would only need to familiarize himself with its content.

Analysis tool

And not only for the responsible manager, but also for the visitor, the presence or absence of a start-stop list in a restaurant is also indicative. After analyzing its content, you can evaluate the work. And both the kitchen and the administration.

The best establishments will have either no stop list or a very short one. But if you see a long list of inaccessible dishes, then it gets upthe question of why it was not possible to work on the menu. In any case, the impression will be greatly spoiled. Similarly, if you start placing an order and hear back that most of the selected dishes are not available today. Next time, you will most likely try to choose another institution, and you will not advise your friends to come here.

Recommendations for restaurant managers

If you want customers to leave satisfied and come back, you need to create the most attractive conditions for them, surround them with care. In light of this, you need to think about whether a stop list is needed in a restaurant. What is it, has already been dismantled above. Extra red tape, you say? Not at all. Let's see how it can be put into practice.

The first option is informing along the chain or in the old fashioned way. That is, from the starting point (from the chef), information that the dish is ending or has already ended should go further, to the staff of the hall. It seems nothing complicated, this scheme was used (and still is used) by many people.

But in practice, everything is not so smooth. Of course, the cook cannot walk around and inform every waiter that, for example, the fish is running out. For this, a bulletin board is used, on which he must attach a note. The stand is located in the kitchen or at the cash register. But here the human factor intervenes. What if a busy chef doesn't have time to post a note? Or will the hall staff not read it? And it also happens that the note is lost, torn off the stand and fell to the floor. Now let's remember rush hour in a restaurant. It's easy to imagine the confusion these notes might cause.

Moreover, photos of a restaurant's stop lists make it clear that this is an important tool for a manager. Notes on leaflets do not provide an opportunity to collect analytical data on stop positions. And that means you lose the chance to correct mistakes, grow and improve.

Modern solution

Digital technologies come to the rescue today. If the institution is equipped with an automation system, then this situation can be easily avoided. Today, there are many types of software that makes it easy to solve the problem, that is, to automate the "stop list" mechanism in a restaurant. What it is, you do not even have to think. The program itself counts the rest of the products and the issuance of the number of servings that can be prepared from this. If the release of dishes passes through it, then the program simply will not allow the waiter to return the order, for which there are no necessary ingredients at the moment.

If the reasons lie elsewhere (the chef who prepares exclusive dishes is on vacation today, on sick leave), then just change the settings, and the program will take into account the division of labor in the kitchen and take into account whether all employees left today to work. That is, you can solve the following tasks at any time:

• Quick access to information about the availability of certain items in the menu.
• Displaying change messages to all system terminals.
• Sending to personal devices of waiters.
• The ability to control the remnants of a dish or products.

Advantages of automated systems

This is a simple and reliable way to keep employees informed. What is convenient, the administrator can always prescribe the rights of each user. For example, the waiter does not need to have the right to make changes at all, this will only increase the likelihood of errors and confusion. But at the same time, they can quickly view the data. On the other hand, they do not have the rights to add positions to this list, due to which they are protected from errors. This avoids unpleasant situations that can annoy guests.

Length of stay

This is another important detail that a thoughtful manager should analyze. A universal sample of filling out (form) a stop list in a restaurant is given in the article, but it can be upgraded at your discretion. First of all, they enable the manager to debug deliveries. But on closer examination, it turns out that there is additional information that is also important.

If you use specialized software, the reports will also show the number of times the stop list hits and the duration of the stay of a particular dish there. But this is the time when it could be ordered. Hence, lost money. That is, the manager gets an additional opportunity to work with suppliers and chefs.

Instead of a conclusion

The restaurant business is very complex and multifaceted. In order not to lose regular customers, you have to constantly improve the system, find shortcomings and quickly eliminate them. A stop list is an excellent tool that allows you to mitigate force majeure circumstances, preventing a situation where the client is dissatisfied. In addition, it is an analytical tool. Your business will only benefit if you decide to take advantage of the idea and take it into service. Otherwise, dissatisfied customers and negative reviews cannot be avoided.