# plates/meals/dinners per hour



## mikerocks (Aug 18, 2008)

Awesome forum! Great, knowledgeable, friendly people!

Two of my old friend recently bought a small restaurant.
We all worked together 20 some years ago.
I been working a couple of nights a week for them, part time.
I do have a full time, day job. And I have not cooked pro in years.
It has been a lot of FUN!!! 

Question:
How many plates per hour should a good (1) cook be able to put out?

I know that it depends on a lot of factors.
It there any rule of thumb?
This may even be a meaningless question.

Stats:
50 seats
Dinner goes from standard American lunch fare
to a roast beef w/ mash potatos and gravy to Chicken French.
Some broiled seafood. 

I can give more info.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!!!!


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## ed buchanan (May 29, 2006)

Can only go by what I do, country club setting prix fix 6 items 1 of which usually a goulash or newburg in steam table and some kind of pasta to order.A fish, chicken, steak,Lamb broiled, baked, fried, sauteed, it varies 150-160 covers in 2 hour time span 2 of us plus expediter and pantry person


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## psycho chef (Feb 1, 2007)

If everything is an easy pick-up and the station has no more than 10 different dishes coming from it, one good efficient cook should be able to do 40 to 50 dishes an hour. Our salad station, where no cooking is involved can churn out 100 salads in an hour. I worked in a two man kitchen that would churn out 200 dinners in 2 hours. So you see, the number really has no meaning outside the specific parameters of that restaurant. At Houston's we did 500 dinners in 4 hours with 4 guys. Where I am now we do 250 with 4. Are we less efficient cooks? No. We have a much larger menu with much harder "pick-ups" compared to Houston's which had NO saute. From what you said, 50 seats if turned 3 times in 4 hours(not an easy feat) puts you at 150 dinners. Two good cooks should be able to knock it out no problem.


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## oldschool1982 (Jun 27, 2006)

Figuring that you run the standard American style line up of a Grill/Broiler, Fry, Sauté and Cold station (garde manger) should be able to handle at the least 100-150 per hour at peak. I know from experience that 5 of us have put out as many as 1300 in a shift. That's on a Friday or Saturday night. Dish added another 2 and there was always the Chef and a Manager running the pass, inside and out. I understand that your operation is not near the size to do that but as Psycho mentioned 2 should be able to handle 50 seats without issue. If their not then.............

I will mention that there is a point where the complexity of stations and menu will inhibit even the best of cooks from performing to their potential. Timing, complexity of menu, layout of kitchen, seating patterns are just a couple things that will dictate the flow and performance of the kitchen. I've always felt more confident in having a 3rd act as a floater in small place (under 70 seats). This keeps you as the Chef focusing on food, quality and the kitchen instead of being tied to a station or tied down behind the line.


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## bundens (Jul 5, 2008)

Yeh,
it really depends on what you're doing. If you're working at one station with not much variance it's obviously easier to move faster and work more accurately. I work at a 24 hour denny's and their standard is 31 plates per hour (for a good efficient cook). I can do in between 40 or 50...anything after that involves almost crying. But even that is only limited by what I'm cooking and how many checks I get in at one time. In a perfect world and a perfect day I would get a consistent flow of breakfast, or burgers or even dinners but this never happens. Usually what happens is, I'll get bombed with a plate from every portion of the menu from 8 different tables..some with 2 people in a party..other's with 6 or 7. Somebody at that same table may want a Build your own slam that would take literally seconds to produce while on that same menu somebody else wants a t-bone steak and mashed potatoes. 
They usually have 4 servers to one cook ratio. Actually I did saturday night dinner all by myself the other day with 5 servers on. It wasn't very pretty. We also don't have a designated prep cook so I may be cutting tomatoes and portioning in the middle of cooking. 
Throw that into the mix of how many plates you need to produce and you all of a sudden become a magician.


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## mikerocks (Aug 18, 2008)

Great insight all.
Thanks much for your time!!!


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## ronin67 (Jun 11, 2008)

Kind of hard to say without knowing how you kitchen is set up.

50 covers for my line would be boring.


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## psycho chef (Feb 1, 2007)

Welcome to ChefTalk ronin67 This is the greatest community of chefs online to be a part of, every time I log on I get new insight into what we do from so many different perspectives. Hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

Don't forget to post some work in the photo gallery


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