Your prep list might still think it’s September

The clocks have gone back in New York and London, it’s dark before 5pm, and for many restaurants weeknights get quieter in November. The prep list often doesn’t notice.

Par levels are the amounts the kitchen preps each day to get through service. They’re usually set when things are busy and then left alone. If yours were last updated in September, the kitchen may still be prepping for a busier Tuesday than the one coming.

The cost doesn’t show up on the night. It shows up on Thursday, in the bin: sauce past its date, portioned fish that didn’t sell, herbs gone dark. Nobody links it back to the list, because the list was “right” a few weeks ago.

A 15-minute check you can do this week

• Pull last week’s sales by day. Your till already has them. Note the covers for each night.
• Pick your five most-prepped items. The ones the kitchen makes in batches every day.
• Compare prep with what sold. For each item, how much was made and how much was used, night by night?
• Look at the waste log. If you don’t keep one, ask the closing team what they threw away. They usually know exactly.
• Set a quiet-night par. Keep your busy numbers for Friday and Saturday, and use a lower set for Monday to Wednesday.

Small changes add up here. Prep that doesn’t get made is food you didn’t buy and labour you didn’t spend.

Why we think about this

The information to get pars right already exists in most restaurants, across sales, recipes and invoices. It just lives in different places.

Part of what we’re building at Dynamic.ly is a way to put those side by side, so a prep change can be suggested before service, not discovered in the bin a few days later.