Decreasing production time tips

I would like to invite everyone to post their best tips for developing a menu that promotes quick production and short ticket times.

For years, American society has been pushing to move faster and faster. Our great advances in communication keep people plugged in and sharing information at an ever increasing pace. Life is moving faster, and most diners expect restaurants to move faster.

Speed of service has overtaken food quality in importance to diners in recent years, and it's up to savvy restaurant owners to change with the times.

Help us create a list of menu development tips to reduce production times without sacrificing customer satisfaction.

I'll start.


1. Spread the workload. Create menu selections that balance production between work stations. Avoid overloading any piece of equipment or work station by creating a menu with too many items that come from that station.

2. Limit your menu to your equipments capabities. If you only have a four burner stove top, you can't have a menu offering many saute items without overloading that piece of equipment and bringing production down to a crawl.


List your best practices next.