In the last 3 or 4 years, Father's Day has become as big as Mother's Day, usually with a more adult crowd. Yes, we have some well behaved little ones, but mostly grown children taking their dad out. I guess they just can't find anymore ties that he doesn't already have.
My crew started at 6:00 with my am sous coming in for prep and brunch set up. Then the grill girl at 8:00. Me at 8:30 to make muffins and scones and then help everyone else. Bartender in at 9:00 (half hour early) to set up the bar, make juices and bloody mary mix, punch mix. Manager in at 9:00(half hour early) to answer the phones, set the floor plan, organizing turns for large parties. Dishwasher in at 9:00 to clean bathrooms and behind the bar, start on pots and pans. Salad guy in at 9:00 to set up his station. Early servers in at 9:30 to set up coffee, butters, teas, lemons, sweep and set up back deck. Valets in at 10:00am to set up signs, park the cars of the early guests. Late waiters in at 10:15 to check their stations and help finish opening duties. Busser in at 10:15 to polish silver, fold 300 napkins, set up his work space.
And we're off!
Chef de Cuisine comes in at noon to take over expediting, so I can float. He stays until dinner closes.
We do it all again for dinner service beginning at 3:00pm.
Our gang was there last Saturday night. Delightful dinner. And you "float" better than anyone I know!
Posted by: Michael Garbutt | June 23, 2011 at 08:24 AM
I'm constantly amazed at the amount of work that goes in to running your restaurant, and I'm consistently delighted with the result! See you Thursday.
Posted by: Bill Jones | June 28, 2011 at 12:53 PM
I love reading your posts. I am almost 2 years into my own restaurant and its great to hear what you go through day in and day out. It makes me feel better knowing that you can get through things with a little perseverance. I have even started my own blog to document my experiences. Thank you so much.
Posted by: Brendan Wu | June 28, 2011 at 05:10 PM
thanks for the info on discount opportunities like that. Most happy patrons certainly don't want to see you lose money, and some may even feel bad tendering any coupon at all! (I know I do. Once I learned that those discounts from my hair salon came right out of the hairdresser's pocket, I stopped redeeming!). Hmmm, sort of yearning for those mussels. Time for Babette's fix.
Posted by: The Busbys | July 06, 2011 at 06:01 PM