5 Slang Terms All Kitchen Employees Know That You Don’t

Anyone who’s worked in a restaurant understands just how stressful it gets during the breakfast, lunch, and dinner rushes. Wave after wave of hungry patrons storm the front doors expecting a delicious meal, and some of them even have time constraints they’re working under, so they expect their dishes to come out in a reasonable amount of time. It takes a well-oiled machine in the back and front of the house to manage the chaos in an orderly fashion. 

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One of the first things restaurant employees learn when they step into the kitchen is a special lingo spoken by every single person wearing an apron. This lingo ensures accidents don’t happen and certain types of information is conveyed quickly, because time is always of the essence when you have 30 meal tickets hanging above the chef’s station waiting to be filled. New hires need to learn this special language quickly, or they’ll instantly find themselves on the wrong end of the chef’s patience. Here are five common words and phrases you need to commit to memory if you’re thinking of entering the hustle and bustle of restaurant life. 

86

What could the number 86 possibly have to do with restaurants? It’s just a random number, right? You couldn’t be more wrong, and when this number is shouted in the kitchen, it can mean huge changes need to occur asap. When an item is “86’d” (yes, it’s used as a verb), it means the item is no longer available to guests. Not only is this important to the chef and line cooks, but servers need to know this as well to prevent guests from trying to order it.

All Day

During those wild rushes, chefs and line cooks need to quickly know the correct number of ingredients to prepare for waiting guests. Saying something like, “I need five pork chops all day,” means a total of three pork chops are needed for open meal tickets. “All day” is a quick way to let everyone on the line know what they’re cooking.  

Behind

If you’re starting a restaurant job, get ready to start saying “behind” a lot. This is a kitchen safety must. Whenever you’re walking behind someone, shout out “behind!” so they’re aware of you. People are always carrying hot dishes or platters of liquids, and shouting “behind” avoids unnecessary collisions resulting in huge messes, angry employees, and even angrier customers who now have to wait longer for their food.

Covers

It’s important to know the total number of customers a restaurant has reservations for so line cooks can prepare accordingly. Obviously, you can’t anticipate how many walk-ins you’ll have, but you can still create a culinary battle plan before service starts. “Covers” refers to the total number of guests eating in the restaurant. “We have 60 covers on the books,” or “We did 120 covers tonight,” lets everyone know how many people were served.

Dead Plate

Dead plates are the bane of a chef’s existence. When serving a group, it’s the kitchen’s job to cook all the food so it’s ready at roughly the same time. But, if one entree is finished several minutes before the rest, it sits under the heat lamps and dries out. This leads to a “dead plate,” or a dish that needs to be remade so it arrives at the table fresh.