Reference
Kitchen Operations Glossary
Plain definitions of the back-of-house, stewarding and banquet vocabulary used in real kitchens — what each term means, who uses it, and how it affects the way a shift is staffed. Each term has its own page.
Stewarding & dish pit
Kitchen steward
A kitchen steward is the back-of-house worker responsible for warewashing, kitchen sanitation, and equipment care in a hotel or high-volume food service operation. The role covers dish and pot washing, cleaning the kitchen and dish areas, and moving, cleaning and tracking service equipment for restaurants, banquets and events.
Warewashing
Warewashing is the commercial process of cleaning and sanitising the items a food operation serves and cooks with — dishes, glassware, flatware, utensils and cookware. It is done either by machine or in a three-compartment sink, and both methods must reach a defined sanitising standard, not merely look clean.
Dish pit
The dish pit is the kitchen station where dirty dishes, glassware and cookware are scraped, washed, sanitised and returned to service. The name is kitchen slang for the physical area — typically the soiled landing table, spray sink, dish machine, clean landing and drying racks — not a formal job title.
Pot wash
Pot wash is the hand-washing of cookware — stock pots, sauté pans, hotel pans, mixing bowls and small equipment — that is too large, too soiled or too delicate for a dish machine. The term names both the sink station where that work happens and, in some operations, the person who works it.
Kitchen operations
86'd
In a restaurant, to 86 something is to declare it unavailable. The kitchen calls "86 the halibut" when the last portion sells, and every server, bartender and point-of-sale terminal has to stop selling it from that moment. The term is also used for a person who is barred from the venue.
On the fly
"On the fly" means a dish is needed immediately and jumps ahead of everything already in the queue. It is called when something was missed, dropped, sent back or forgotten, and the table is already waiting — so the line drops what it can and fires that item first.
The pass
The pass is the counter, usually heated, where finished plates hand off from the kitchen to the service team. It is the last point at which a dish can be corrected, and the person working it controls the order in which tickets fire and the moment each table's food leaves the kitchen.
Covers
A cover is one guest served. A table of four is four covers, not one. Restaurants count covers per service to measure volume, and the number drives prep quantities, staffing levels, and per-guest metrics such as average spend — which is why it is tracked separately from tables and checks.
The line
The line is the row of cooking stations where food is fired to order during service — typically grill, sauté, fry, and garde manger, ending at the pass. Working the line means cooking to tickets in real time at one of those stations, as opposed to prep work done before service.
Turn and burn
"Turn and burn" means running a dining room for maximum table turns — seating, serving and clearing as quickly as service allows so the same table can be sold again. It describes a deliberate high-volume operating style, not a mistake, and it puts sustained pressure on the kitchen and the dish station.
Prep list
A prep list is the written list of components a kitchen must produce before service — stocks, sauces, portioned proteins, cut vegetables, batters and garnishes — with a target quantity for each. It is built by comparing what is on hand against par levels set for the forecast volume.
Fire
To fire an order is to start cooking it now. The call comes from the pass and is timed so that every plate for a table finishes together and each course arrives when the table is ready for it — which is why a ticket can sit on the board for several minutes before it is fired.