ottawa foodies

Four of you have come over from Tunney’s Pasture to The Flying Banzini for lunch (a ten minute walk). You work together. You have to be back to work at 1 pm. It is 12:15 pm and you have just placed your order. One of you ordered a soft bun Porchetta sandwich. Two of you ordered paninis. And, one of you ordered an artisan pizza. You collect your beverages and your cheesecake ticket and you seat yourselves.

How would you like your meals to arrive?

You have two options:

(1) As soon as they are ready. This will mean that the soft bun Porchetta sandwich will arrive first. About three minutes later the paninis will arrive. And, about one minute after that that pizza will arrive.

(2) Everything arrives together. This will mean that there is a brief period where the meals are staged under the heat lamps until all of the meals are ready and can all be brought out at once.

Which do you prefer, as fast as possible or altogether?

I prefer (3) Everything arrives together and the cook made sure everything finished at the same time so that nothing sat under heat lamps

If that's not possible, then (2)

What about starting on the porchetta four minutes later and the paninis one minute later, so everything is ready at the same time as the pizza? Is that an option? (the only kitchen I've ever worked is my own)

Edit: tongsy ninja!

Tough call - I was always used to 2 (or 3). However many years ago I got quite used to 1 - however this was at my favorite Cambodian place in Kingston, where there was about 10 seats if you squished in, an open kitchen and things went straight from wok to plate. I think most people would have a hard time with this option for a more mainstream place.

I'm always a (1) person hands down especially when you are talking about a quick work lunch. No need to hold up everyone for silly formalities and niceties, when someone could be getting out the door sooner. Maybe that person is in more of rush than the others.

I would prefer all together. Bringing it at various times leads to awkward conversations and cold food: "You guys go ahead... No, really, dig in... I insist.... It's my own fault for ordering the pizza..." etc.

By the time the conversation is over, the pizza has arrived and the sandwiches have been sitting there for 4 minutes anyway. At least in the other scenario they have the luxury of a heatlamp.

My instinct is that everything should arrive at once but we are a fast casual restaurant so, maybe, we should just get it out as quickly as we can.

My kitchen design (for the sake of speed) has two production lines. Try as we will, I doubt that perfect timing will be possible and so, inevitably, food will at least briefly wind up under the warming lamps.

Should be able to limit this event but I am sure that it will happen.

I wonder too how much of a difference it will make if the staff are trained to tell the customer, "We bring everything out as soon as it's ready. Just to warn you that there is sometimes a gap of one or two minutes between meals." At least then the customers know what to expect.

In my experience, the wait staff just asks our table what we want. Sometimes people order an appetizer as the main lunch, while others want a big meal. Why not give the table the option if both scenarios are possible.

Giving the option will be difficult since you order at the Point of Sale and then take your seat. Giving choice will cause another aspect of control that is in the hands of the cooks/runners as they will now have to check what each table wants. Not impossible but more suited, I think, to restos in which waiters serve specific tables and can, thus, personalize service.

The way Art-is-In does it, you order & pay at the cash. You get a number on a stand, then you go sit at a table with your number and they bring your food when it is ready.

If you pay as a group, your table gets one number and all the food is brought when it is ready - so some sandwiches sit under the warming light. If you pay individually, you get individual numbers and your food comes when it is each order is ready. People are happy with this scenario and it is a very (very) popular spot.

Why not go for lunch and brunch and research how they do it (while eating delicious food at the same time).

You just bet me to it hipfunkyfun. I like the Art-is-In approach.

It may help maximize throughput/turnover ... thus be beneficial for FlyingBanzi, as well.

I hate to be a Debbie downer ... should reface what I say by pointing out that I work downtown and often grab something quick and then take it somewhere else to eat. If Tunney's pasture folks have to walk 10 minutes for lunch, maybe they'll grab something quick and then go back to work or eat it outside. If I had 10 minutes to walk and enough time to wait 5 minutes for the food to come out and then time to eat at your establishment then I could wait for every thing to come out at one but this would be a special outing for me not a usual/daily occurence at lunch time. On the other hand, if the timing on the orders is "staged" so everything comes out the same time, I can imagine there is the possibility of the orders getting mixed up etc.

I polled my co-workers. Most would prefer that food arrives as close together as possible. If they all arrived within 3-4 minutes of each other that would be ok. That's what happens at Pho Van Van.

It's not good if most of the food arrives and then 1 or 2 people do not get their food. Which has happened many times at one of your neighbors, so much that we don't go there anymore.

So thinking over your original question, are you assuming everyone is on the same bill? I doubt that would be the case. You should assume each person would pay separately. They may sit at the same table, or the may move around since they picked their own table and presumably could change their mind and go eat at a different table. In that case, you can't possibly bring everyone's meal at the same time, can you? Wouldn't the meal delivery be entirely dependent on what meals are on individual bills - regardless of where people sit?

This brings me back to the Art-is-In method. 1 Order = 1 Number. You take your number stand with you. It does not matter where you sit (or move to). No one has to keep track of how many were in the original group since it could fluctuate between the time the order was placed and when it was delivered.

Sounds like you are golden with the Art-is-In model. As long as you advertise it people will walk in knowing what to expect. And it certainly does not seem to be hurting business over there ...

pressed cafe does it the same way as art-is-in as well. the number system. i think everything should come out at the same time

They have the same system at the Ottawa Bagelshop, I think. It works, it feels very casual though. If you are going for a casual pop-in-and-out kind of place, fantastic. Otherwise, I would expect all food to arrive at the same time. Kitchen staff should know when to fire orders in order to serve entire tables & coordinate that with the floor staff... this is all part of expediting.

Art-in-In is exactly the model I intend. Namely, each order arrives at the same time. If four are on the same bill, then four meals arrive together. If you have seperate bill, there may be a slight gap between meals.

Glad to know that this seems acceptable.

Now to make a kitchen design and flow that will make this work as efficiently as possible.