Kitchen Prep and Production
How do you build a daily prep list from par levels the right way?
Turn target pars and an on-hand count into an exact prep list every morning.
PrepDeckr blog
Guides on kitchen prep and production
Practical, honest advice from the team behind PrepDeckr, written to help you do this well.
Kitchen Prep and Production
What causes over prep and under prep, and how do you stop both?
Attack the two most expensive prep mistakes at their shared root.
Kitchen Prep and Production
How should you assign prep tasks across stations so nothing gets missed?
Balance the morning workload so every item is ready before doors open.
Kitchen Prep and Production
Why should prep par levels change by day of the week for a kitchen?
Match your prep to how covers actually swing across the week.
Kitchen Prep and Production
How do you make a prep list any lead can run when you are out?
Get the day's prep out of one person's head and onto a shared system.
Kitchen Prep and Production
How do recipe yields turn a prep par into the right batch size?
Bridge the gap between portions on the menu and pans in the kitchen.
Kitchen Prep and Production
What is the fastest way to count prep on hand and stay accurate?
Make the morning count quick enough to actually do every day.
Kitchen Prep and Production
How can prep history help you tighten par levels over each season?
Use what you actually prepped and used to sharpen your pars.
Kitchen Prep and Production
Why do prep sheets on paper and spreadsheets fail a growing kitchen?
See where old prep tools break down as volume and staff grow.
Kitchen Prep and Production
How should shelf life cap how much of each item a kitchen preps at once?
A par tells you how much to have on hand. Shelf life tells you how much of that you are allowed to make in one batch. Here is how to make the two numbers agree on the sheet.
Kitchen Prep and Production
What should a kitchen do when a large party books on top of normal prep?
A sixty-top on a Tuesday does not replace your regular prep, it stacks on it. Here is how to add the party without breaking the line or over-prepping for the dining room.
Kitchen Prep and Production
Which prep tasks should start first so every station is ready before service?
The order you prep in matters as much as the list itself. Long cooks, cool-down time, and shared equipment decide the sequence, not the order items happen to appear on the sheet.
Kitchen Prep and Production
How much prep labor does a restaurant kitchen really need on a given day?
Most kitchens schedule prep by habit rather than by workload. Timing your tasks and tying hours to the day's list gives you a number you can defend to an owner and adjust as volume shifts.
Kitchen Prep and Production
How do you keep prep consistent across several locations and a central commissary?
Once a second location opens, prep stops being one kitchen's problem. Shared recipes, location-specific pars, and a clear split between what the commissary makes and what each store finishes are what keep the product the same.
Kitchen Prep and Production
How do you train a new prep cook to run a prep sheet in one week?
A new prep cook does not need to memorize your menu in a week. They need to learn how your sheet works, where things live, and what done looks like for each item. Here is a day-by-day approach.
Kitchen Prep and Production
When should a kitchen set par levels for a brand new menu item?
A new dish has no history, so the first par is always a guess. The trick is to make a small, deliberate guess before launch, then correct it quickly using the first two weeks of counts.
Kitchen Prep and Production
Why does the end of night prep closeout matter as much as the morning list?
The morning list is only as good as the numbers it starts from. A ten-minute closeout at the end of service is what keeps tomorrow's prep honest, the walk-in clean, and the opening cook from starting blind.
Kitchen Prep and Production
What should a kitchen do when a delivery is short and prep is already planned?
The truck arrives, a case is missing, and the prep sheet was written assuming it would be there. Here is how to adjust the day in minutes rather than letting the shortage ripple into service.
Kitchen Prep and Production
How do you set a par level for one prep item that feeds several different menu dishes?
Shared components like caramelized onions, house sauce or braised mushrooms are the items most likely to run out and to get over prepped in the same week. Here is how to build one honest par from every dish that pulls from them.
Kitchen Prep and Production
How should a kitchen label and rotate prepped items so older batches never sit behind new ones?
Labeling and rotation are one system, not two chores. Here is what a label has to say, how to arrange a shelf so the oldest container is the easy one to grab, and how to keep the habit alive on a busy Saturday.