The Pass SOP

The head chef names the chef who runs the pass for the whole service, and the colleague who covers it during a break. One voice calls tickets and plates, so the line and the restaurant always know whom to listen to.

Set up the pass 30 minutes before service: clean cloths in a labelled container, the photo of every dish and special, the signed allergen matrix, the probe thermometer with its wipes, the allergy flags and the plate covers.

Switch on the plate warmers and the heat lamps, and check that the plates for cold dishes are chilled. The lamps keep a finished plate warm; they never finish cooking it or bring it back up to temperature.

Check the probe as the hotel’s HACCP plan sets out, and wipe it with a probe wipe before and after each reading.

At the kitchen briefing, go through the specials, any dish that has changed and the allergies already known from the bookings, with the photo of each new plate.

“Marco, tonight the sea bass comes with fennel instead of spinach. The photo is on the pass. Could you plate the first one with me? Thank you.”

When a ticket prints, read it aloud: the table, the covers, each dish by seat, every change and every allergy. Read the allergy first, with its seat.

“Table 9, four covers. Seat 2, sesame allergy. Two sea bass, seats 1 and 3; one risotto, one lamb.”

Each section answers with the dish and the count. If a section does not answer, call it again by name: a ticket nobody has heard has not been sent.

“Two sea bass, table 9. Heard, chef.”

Fire each course only when the restaurant calls it “away”, as The Pacing SOP sets out, and give each section its time so that every plate of the table finishes together.

Keep the tickets on the rail in the order they were fired, with the time written on each, so the chef at the pass sees at once which table has waited longest.

When a change arrives during service (a new dish, a seat moved, an allergy added), read it aloud in the same way and correct the ticket on the rail in pen, with the time.

When a dish runs out, tell the head waiter at once, before another table orders it, and name the dish that can replace it.

“Anna, the lamb is finished after table 12. Could you let the floor know now? The duck is ready in its place. Thank you.”

Check each plate against the ticket: the right dish for the right seat, every change the guest asked for, and the sauce on the side when the ticket says so.

Check each plate against its photo: the portion, the position of each element, the garnish, the sauce and the colour of the cooking. A plate that differs from its photo is put right before it leaves.

Check the cooking the ticket asks for (meat as ordered, fish just cooked through) by the method the head chef sets, never by cutting into the guest’s portion.

Wipe the rim with a clean, dry cloth, and change the cloth as soon as it is marked. Never use an apron, a hand or the cloth kept for surfaces.

Hold plates by the rim and the underside only, never by the eating surface. Wash your hands after any task that soils them, as The Kitchen Hygiene SOP sets out.

If a plate is not right, send it back to the section with the reason in a few words and the time you will hold the table. Nothing leaves as it is.

“Davide, the sauce on seat 3 has split. Could you make it again? I will hold the table for two minutes. Thank you.”

Hot dishes go on warm plates and cold dishes on chilled plates. The temperature of the plate is the kitchen’s standard of quality; the temperature of the food is a matter of safety.

Hot food leaves the pass at 63 °C or above and cold food at 4 °C or below, or at the stricter values of the hotel’s HACCP plan. Probe the first plate of each hot dish at the start of service and any plate in doubt, and log the reading as The Food Temperature SOP sets out.

The plates of one table finish together. The section that is ready first waits to plate; nothing finished waits under the lamp for a slower dish.

Call each plate for service the moment it is complete. The restaurant collects it within 60 seconds, as The Plate Service SOP sets out.

A plate that has waited at the pass longer than 3 minutes, or the time the head chef sets, is cooked or plated again. The lamp keeps the colour; it does not keep the dish.

Hot food that falls below 63 °C is served or discarded within the time the hotel’s HACCP plan sets, and never reheated twice. At the pass that limit is never reached, because the plate leaves or is made again first.

An allergy plate is cooked by its named chef, as The Kitchen Allergen SOP sets out, and waits covered and flagged on the clean side of the pass, apart from the other plates.

The chef running the pass checks it against the ticket and the allergen matrix: the dish, the seat, the allergen and each component on the plate.

The chef hands the plate in person to the server who took the order, saying the table, the seat and the allergen, then signs the ticket with the time.

“Table 9, seat 2, sea bass with no sesame. Thank you, Giulia.”

An allergy plate never leaves with a runner who did not hear the allergy. If the server is not at the pass, the plate waits for them or for the head waiter, as The Allergy SOP sets out.

If anyone in the chain is unsure, the plate does not go. It is cooked again from the start, and the server hears how many minutes it will take, so the guest hears it first from the table.

Call each plate by table, seat and dish, so the runner knows where every plate goes before leaving the pass.

“Two sea bass for table 9, seats 1 and 3. Thank you, Giulia.”

Hand over every plate of a table at the same moment, with enough hands to carry them. If more hands are needed, ask the head waiter before you call the table.

Thank each server or runner by name as they take the plates. A courteous pass keeps the kitchen calm at its busiest moment.

Tick the course on the ticket with the time it left, and keep the ticket on the rail until the next course is called.

When the restaurant holds a table (a guest away, a speech, a late arrival), hold the whole course and tell each section, as The Pacing SOP sets out. Plates past their time are made again.

When a plate comes back, take it at the pass yourself and ask the server what the guest said, in the guest’s words. Thank the server; the guest’s view of the dish is the starting point.

“Thank you, Giulia. What did Mrs Rossi say about the lamb?”

Make the new plate first and look for the cause after. Tell the server the time the plate will be ready, so the guest hears it from the table.

When the cause is not clear, keep the returned plate aside, covered and labelled, until the head chef has seen it.

At the end of service, clean and sanitise the pass, send the cloths to the laundry, and put the clean probe back in its place.

Before the end of the shift, log every return and remake with its table, dish, cause and the change made. The cause goes to the next kitchen briefing, with a name and a date.

“Davide, the fish was right on every plate tonight, even at nine o’clock. Thank you.”