“So, how was your kitchen going last night?”, I asked Sam, one of my buddies.

“It was crazy man!” Sam replied.

‘ Order in!’ , this is what I was hearing the whole evening. We did a lot of 8 tops. The FOH was understaffed and the BOH was a real mess. I big order came in with 9 cod fish fillet all day even I announced this item as 86. The chef needed many things on the fly, many guests probably changed their minds last minute. Even one of our kitchen stewards needed to give us a hand on the line most of the evening. We were really in the shit!”

“I was happy when the chef finally yelled:”

“Fire table 7!”, because this was the last one to serve. After that we cleaned and went home”, Sam told me.

 

I am not sure if you are able to decipher the above paragraph. Don’t feel guilty if you can’t. Like all occupations, the professional kitchen has developed its own vocabulary and slang. Many terms are widespread in the industry where English is spoken, yet every country and region might have their own kitchen slang.

 

Here are 10 typical expressions you most likely are going to overhear in case you have the chance to visit the back of the house of any restaurant.

 

Order in – A command to start preparing to make a dish, but not to start plating it yet.

 

8 top – An “8 top” refers to a table with 8 guests. A “4 top” has four people.

 

FOH – Front of House, this term refers to the dining room, or any area where you deal with customers. It also refers to the group of people who work there (servers, hostess, bartenders etc.)

 

BOH – Back of House, this term refers to the kitchen and any area where you don’t deal with customers. It also refers to the group of people who work there (chef, cooks, dishwashers, etc.)

 

All day – This refers to the total amount of dishes a cook is cooking for a specific order.

 

86 – When the kitchen runs out of a dish, it’s “86’d.”

 

On the fly! – Make it fast, ASAP! The guest can’t wait!

 

On the line – The “line” is the kitchen area where the cooking and plating  is done. Working “on the line” means you are a “line cook”.

 

In the shit – Really, seriously in the weeds. You are in big trouble because there are too many orders to cope with. You are running out of time.

 

Fire! – When a chef calls out “fire”, then the cook will start cooking that particular dish. For example he would finish grilling the steak or start plating the Caesar Salad.

 

 

Thanks for reading this post!

Photo by  Nishant Aneja  from  Pexels

 

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