Dish Procedures

1. Monitor Tables and Pre-Clear

We monitor tables and pre-clear as customers finish their plate. That way, the place doesn't look like a typhoon hit it with dirty dishes left all over the place after a rush has ended. So regularly walk through the dining area monitoring for customers who have finished their food. Approach, offering to take their plate. Keep a bus pan handy, and place the plate in it.

2. Final-Clear and Reset Table

As customers leave, final clear the table. Bring a bus pan to the table. Remove all remaining dishes, cups, glasses, and silverware into the bus pan. Put placemats and napkins into the garbage, not the bus pan. After having cleared the table, reset it as follows: a) Grab a clean/sanitized terry towel from the red bucket (bucket explained later), and wipe the table;  b) Set the table with placemat(s) and a table tent between the two placemats; c) Organize the table setups (condiments) as depicted.

3. Bring Bus Pan to Dish Area to Sort, Rinse, and Fill Dish Racks

Place the bus pan full of dishes to one side of the pre-rinse sink. Place an empty dish rack to the other side of the pre-rinse sink. Grab dishes one at a time, dumping any food scraps into the sink, and rinsing the dish as needed with the overhead sprayer. Scrub dishes with the overhead sprayer brush to remove caked on food such has egg yolk. Place dishes into the dish rack. Cup and glasses go into overhead racks. Silverware into the silverware soak tray. Paper and straws into the garbage. Then rinse the bus pan and return it to the area out front

4. Run the Dish Machine

Slide the rack into the dish machine and close the door. The machine will start automatically. The machine goes through a wash cycle and then a rinse cycle. The rinse cycle contains a pre-measured amount of bleach that sanitizes the dishes. When the machine stops, open the door and remove the rack from the other side of the machine. Allow the dishes to cool for a moment, before moving back to storage.

5. Washing Silverware

Allow the silverware to soak in the silverware soak tray. As the tray becomes full, locate the silverware basket as well as a flat dish rack. Place the dirty silverware into the silverware basket and place it on the flat rack. Run the machine. Refill the silverware soak tray from the dispenser on the wall for that purpose.

6. Miscellaneous Items

You will encounter some miscellaneous items like measuring cups, tea pots, steak knives, soup pots, etc. Some pots that contained chili for example, will need to be soaked and then scrubbed with the metal scrubber before putting through the dish machine.

7. Return Dishes to Appropriate Storage Areas

When the dish machine is done running and you remove the rack from it, stack the clean dishes, then return them to appropriate areas in the kitchen and server areas. When running silverware, return the clean silverware to the clean silverware trays out front.

8. Empty and Refill Red and Green Bucket and Silverware Soak Tray

1. Green Bucket at Dish Table:  On the dirty side of the dish table, is a green bucket that is filled with warm water & soap from a dispenser on the wall near the bucket. The green bucket mixture is for washing out soiled terry cloth wiping towels. As the green bucket water gets cold or dirty, empty it and refill it from the hot water/soap dispenser. 


2. Red Bucket at Dish Table:  After swishing out a terry cloth towel in the green bucket, sanitize it in the mixture in the red bucket. The red bucket contains warm water and bleach mixed to 100 ppm (parts per million). Not less than every two hours or as the red bucket water gets cold or dirty, empty it and fill it from the bleach/water dispenser.


3. Red Bucket at Customer Counter: There is a second red bucket with the warm water/bleach mixture that is kept on the bottom shelf of the customer counter. Monitor this red bucket as well, emptying and refilling it every two hours or more as needed.

9. Operating the Garbage Disposal

The pre-rinse sink has a garbage disposal. As you dump food scraps from plates, and scrub and rinse the plates with the overhead sprayer, run the garbage disposal periodically. Water is automatically injected into the disposer as the disposer motor runs. Be careful to not permit any silverware to enter the disposer.

10. Keep Dish Tables Cleared and Wiped Down

Connected to the dish machine, is a dirty side dish table on one side, and a clean side dish table. Clear the dirty side by washing the dishes. Clear the clean side by returning the clean dishes to storage. Wipe down both sides periodically, the dirty side with a wiping towel from the green bucket, the clean side with a sanitized wiping towel from the red bucket.

11. Empty Dish Machine Scrap Tray

There is a food scrap tray under the dish machine. Pull the tray at end of shift and empty the contents into the sink. Return the tray.

12. Chemicals

There are several chemicals in use. Monitor and refill if needed. For the Dish machine, there are solid chemical containers on the top of the machine. Also for the dish machine, there is a five gallon container of bleach located on the floor near the dish machine. It won't likely to go empty but be aware of it.  There also is a one gallon container of bleach mounted to the wall under the dish sink. It feeds the red bucket bleach/water dispenser. If this goes empty, get a new gallon of bleach from back. (Be sure to save and reuse the yellow cap from the empty gallon on the new gallon. It is a special cap that is needed.) There are solid chemical dispensers on the wall for the green bucket water/dispenser and another for the silverware soak tray dispenser.

13. Sweep the Kitchen and Dining Room

Another duty is to sweep up periodically. Monitor the floor in the kitchen and the dining area. As needed, locate the broom and dustpan. Sweep up and collect dirt in the dustpan. Empty the dust pan into the garbage.

14. Empty Garbage Containers

Towards the end of the shift, empty the garbage containers. There is one large container in the dish machine area, and smaller containers in the kitchen and server areas. When you empty the garbage bags, tie the bags and put them where the garbage is stored in the back room. Also get new garbage bags to replace the ones you emptied. Ask where those are kept.