In today’s video, I'm going to teach you the difference between a restaurant checklist
and a restaurant prep sheet or prep list.
Hey, everybody. Ryan Gromfin - author, speaker, chef, restaurateur,
founder of TheRestaurantBoss.com,
as well as ClickBacon.com and ScaleMyRestaurant.com
Now, that's right.
Today is the second part of a four or five-part video series
all about checklists.
If you're an owner or a manager or an operator of a restaurant,
you've probably experimented with checklist,
maybe you're a checklist ninja and you use them all the time.
There's still something for you here to learn, or maybe you've tried checklists and they don't work,
but that's what we're trying to do here in this video series,
is prove to you that they work and that you should love checklist and they're awesome.
But if they're not working, it's for a couple of simple reasons.
Now in the previous video,
I showed you step-by-step how to build an effective
restaurant checklist.
Today, I want to talk about the difference between a checklist and a prep sheet.
And probably the second biggest
complaint that I hear or reason that I hear restaurant
checklists are not working is because
restaurant owners don't fully understand the difference between a checklist and a prep sheet.
The first reason why they don't work,
we're going to explain in the next video.
It's about managing your checklist properly,
but today, let's focus on the difference between a checklist and a prep sheet.
So, if you remember, we talked about how a checklist assigns things,
assign stuff, assigns tasks to an individual person or station
that tells them anything and everything they need
in the correct quantity and quality for an effective service,
or for a successful service or a successful shift.
Prep sheets are a little different.
It's still assigned to a specific person or a station,
but instead of what they need to get through that shift,
it's what they need to prep to keep this big machine,
to keep your restaurant moving properly.
Let me break this down even further for you.
It's basically what needs to get prepped.
Now, how do we define what needs to get prepped?
Let's say that you operate a pizza restaurant
and let's say that you buy your pizza cheese already grated.
Well, if I'm opening up the pizza station in the morning and I pull out my checklist
and it says pepperoni, bell peppers,
mushrooms, onions, tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese.
All I have to do is check my station to see if I have all of that.
And if I am neither out or low on mozzarella cheese,
I can go to the walk-in, grab the cheese I need,
fill up my container and now I'm ready for service.
But what if you don't buy it already grated?
What if you need to grate that cheese?
Well then, it needs to go on a prep sheet.
The difference is with the checklist;
we're going to do that now before our shift starts to get ready for the shift.
The prep sheet is basically refilling the refrigerator
or restocking the shelves,
the big storage quantities for later this evening, or tomorrow.
I'm going to share with you a really simple tip on how we turn a checklist
into a prep sheet,
but first, I want to talk to you about the soap you're using to wash dishes.
This is Dawn Professional,
and it's the same dish soap brand we use at home.
It's also the number one dish brand in the United States.
This is spic-and-span and it's made
by the same people that make Dawn Professional.
These are brands that you're likely familiar with,
as well as Swiffer, Mr. Clean, Febreze,
and many, many others.
The reason I'm telling you this is, you may not be familiar with the fact that
Procter & Gamble professional makes versions of these brands
and many others for use in your restaurant.
Now whether you have one restaurant, ten restaurants or a hundred restaurants;
you know the importance of keeping your restaurant
clean and safe for your guests and your employees,
but with everything you have going on,
it's easy to just buy cleaning products
that are either the cheapest or private-label
because your sales rep recommended them.
The challenge is, you don't know if their best interest matches
your best interest.
You don't know if they're recommending and giving you the products
that you actually need,
or if they're giving you the products that help them meet
their profits and their sales quota.
Cleaning and disinfection are more important now than ever before.
Don't take shortcuts, don't sell yourself short.
I've chosen to partner with P&G Professional
because they provide products for an exceptional clean.
What's easier and more simple
than using products that you already know and trust?
The only thing better than that is products that your employees already know,
use, and trust.
Keeping your guests and employees safe and free from outbreaks
is more important now than ever.
P&G Professional has a line of products that are easy
to use and available to you to help you keep
every surface in your restaurant clean and safe.
I want to encourage you to go ahead and click on the link that we've provided for you,
either in the video, below it to the right or to the left,
and sign up for some exclusive restaurant savings
on products you and your team already know and trust.
We'll keep your restaurant clean and safe.
This is more important now than ever.
Plus, if you have any questions, you could hop on the phone or chat with a
professional, a representative at P&G Professional to make sure that
your needs are currently being met,
and here are some of their recommendations.
So go ahead, click on that, link sign up for those savings.
Get on the phone with someone at P&G Professional and what do you say,
let's get back to the rest of that video.
Okay, so I promised you a quick and simple way to turn your checklist into
a prep sheet, and here it is.
Ask yourself this question -
does an item on a checklist take more than 30 seconds to prepare?
If it takes more than 30 seconds to prepare,
it has to go on a prep sheet. It stays on the checklist,
but it also goes on a prep sheet.
So step one is to build a checklist for every station -
in front of the house, back to the house, managers.
Build a checklist. So, the pizza station - like I said,
it's got cheese, it's got tomato sauce, it's got mushrooms,
it's got onions, it's got bell peppers it's got all this stuff on it.
Then, after your checklist that has anything and everything
needed for a successful shift,
go back through and ask yourself - does this take more than 30 seconds to prepare?
Even something as simple as let's say can pineapple for a pizza station.
You can argue that it takes less than 30 seconds,
it's already chopped up and in the can, but in reality,
on a busy Saturday night,
it takes more than 30 seconds, you know it does.
By the time someone leaves their station, goes to the back,
grabs a can, messes with that terrible can opener,
drains it out, and puts it in the proper container;
you've wasted three to five minutes of very,
very precious time during service.
So, even something as simple as draining pineapple
and putting it in the proper container and labeling and dating and putting it
either in backup for the pizza fridge or in the walk-in
should be in my opinion on a prep list and a checklist,
but it's totally different lists.
They can be assigned to different people and one of the biggest
challenges I see is that restaurant owners
and managers don't take the time to build prep sheets,
just checklist and then their people are
busy prepping
while they're getting their station ready, when in reality,
they should just be getting what they need to get their station ready,
then go do the prep.
I hope that differentiates the difference for you a little bit better. I hope that.
I should say I clarifies the difference for you.
In reality, you need a checklist and a prep sheet for
every single person, every single station in your restaurant,
even if you don't have a prep person or a prep station,
all of your cooks and all of your servers need a prep list.
Now, the one thing is, you might not actually call it
a prep list for your front of the house,
you probably call it side work, but it's the same thing.
I hope you enjoyed today's video and I look forward to bringing you
another one just like this next week. Have a wonderful day.
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Remember, systems create freedom, freedom creates value,
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Manage systems, develop people, and be awesome.