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Sandwich Anarchist posted:All of that poo poo is tied down, including wine corkscrews. Peelers aren't, but that's it. We have an entire secondary prep kitchen down in the secure area of the terminal that let's us have loose knives though, so that's where we do the majority of the heavy knife work. If wine corkscrews are tied down, does that mean you basically can't do wine service at the table? Does it affect your choice of wines at all? I'd imagine there are more than enough decent wines with screwtops that would allow you to avoid that issue entirely.
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Dec 21, 2019 21:58
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JacquelineDempsey posted:Interesting, thanks! Yeah absolutely. They don't give a poo poo what you bring with you on the plane as long as you get it after security.
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Dec 21, 2019 22:08
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PT6A posted:If wine corkscrews are tied down, does that mean you basically can't do wine service at the table? Does it affect your choice of wines at all? I'd imagine there are more than enough decent wines with screwtops that would allow you to avoid that issue entirely. Nah, they just pop the bottle at the bar before taking it to the table. It doesn't end up being a big issue though, since whole bottles being purchased is not very common in this setting.
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Dec 21, 2019 22:09
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What is your actual job at your restaurant? Some sort of chef? Owner? Middle man for whatever holding company you are a part of?
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Dec 22, 2019 00:51
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Nissin Cup Nudist posted:What is your actual job at your restaurant? Some sort of chef? Owner? Middle man for whatever holding company you are a part of? First line of the OP: Sandwich Anarchist posted:I'm the executive chef of an upper casual dining restaurant in an international airport.
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Dec 22, 2019 01:30
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Everyone in the industry thread has at least one idiot customer request story. Got anything you can share that would be specific to an airport restaurant? Or just good anecdotes of running an airport restaurant in general?
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Dec 22, 2019 13:07
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Is your restaurant still making your own beer?
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Dec 22, 2019 15:10
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Has anyone ever blamed your place for making them miss their flight?
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Dec 22, 2019 15:22
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Cacafuego posted:Is your restaurant still making your own beer? Yep!
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Dec 22, 2019 16:16
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Canuckistan posted:Has anyone ever blamed your place for making them miss their flight? Here and there yeah, we don't humor them though. More often someone will come in, sit down, shriek that they have a flight to catch and need faster service, and promptly get served the same speed as everyone else who also has a flight to catch.
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Dec 22, 2019 16:18
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Shooting Blanks posted:Everyone in the industry thread has at least one idiot customer request story. Got anything you can share that would be specific to an airport restaurant? Or just good anecdotes of running an airport restaurant in general? We get a disproportionate amount of negative reviews on Yelp. Just Yelp; TripAdvisor and such fine. The common thread is "worst service I've ever had in my life, worst burger I've ever had in my life, lies about our prices, suggestions to eat at McDonald's next door". I remember almost all of these people, and without fail they were nightmares; nasty, rude, "well done no toppings" burger eaters, etc. We only serve travelers about to board an economy airline, and they use us a punching bag for their stress and frustration constantly. I've gotten really good at identifying when a review is legitimate so I can use it for improvement.
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Dec 22, 2019 16:23
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iospace posted:This is a problem? For some people. For others it’s a selling point. In case PT6A is one of those “I find black pepper too spicy” people I thought I’d warn him.
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Dec 22, 2019 16:24
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We also got review bombed by all the friends of a man who got kicked out of our establishment for gropping a server, because he told them all that we kicked him out for having a disability (that he never told us he had). Take the worst restaurant patron you can imagine, and give them the power of knowing we will never see them again, and you have Airport Nightmare Bitches.
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Dec 22, 2019 16:25
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Sandwich Anarchist posted:All of that poo poo is tied down, including wine corkscrews. Peelers aren't, but that's it. We have an entire secondary prep kitchen down in the secure area of the terminal that let's us have loose knives though, so that's where we do the majority of the heavy knife work. Do they run that food through the X Ray when it's brought up? Or the food in general? How about liquids? Presumably you're not limited to 300 mL, but are there any restrictions? Do they all need to be screened?
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Dec 22, 2019 19:01
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HisMajestyBOB posted:Do they run that food through the X Ray when it's brought up? Or the food in general? No, they don't screen food. The vendors we use are all vetted and approved, so they do cursory searches on shipments, mostly to be sure nothing suspicious is happening. The only reason knives and things bolted down is because we have an open kitchen; they don't want travelers to be able to go back and bring a knife on a plane. All airport staff are vetted and background checked as a requirement to work. We have no restrictions whatsoever on what we can bring in to the airport productwise. TSA has almost nothing to do with our day to day operations, they are just security theater for the airport. Working for the airport has done nothing if not make me realize just how much a disaster and waste of money TSA is.
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Dec 22, 2019 19:11
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As a former sous chef your food looks good, my question is how many functional (or not ) alcoholics do you have or suspect employed under you?
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Dec 23, 2019 00:02
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Applesnots posted:As a former sous chef your food looks good, my question is how many functional (or not ) alcoholics do you have or suspect employed under you? Not many, actually. One of my sous chefs is, and I have to keep him on track, but most of the kitchen staff are hard working kids. I've not once had an issue with someone showing up to work drunk or high; I think security scares them tbh
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Dec 23, 2019 01:00
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Does your resturant have a to go counter? I'm an airline crew member who enjoys decent food but the time it takes dealing with getting seated, waiting on a waiter to take your order, waiting on a waiter to bring out the bill, and then waiting for them go in the back and ring you up makes a trip to a sit down restaurant impossible between flights.
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Dec 25, 2019 02:29
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KodiakRS posted:Does your resturant have a to go counter? I'm an airline crew member who enjoys decent food but the time it takes dealing with getting seated, waiting on a waiter to take your order, waiting on a waiter to bring out the bill, and then waiting for them go in the back and ring you up makes a trip to a sit down restaurant impossible between flights. Yeah we do. We also produce a large selection of sandwiches, wraps, salads etc. in house daily, all stocked in the market.
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Dec 25, 2019 02:32
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I hope this isn't too far afield but what is that pond-looking thing in the OP? Does that airport have a golf course or something?
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Dec 25, 2019 09:05
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Grand Prize Winner posted:I hope this isn't too far afield but what is that pond-looking thing in the OP? Does that airport have a golf course or something? It's just a nice little pond and landscaping. Our bar sits in a glass area that overhangs it, gives a nice view for passengers.
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Dec 25, 2019 12:42
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Grand Prize Winner posted:I hope this isn't too far afield but what is that pond-looking thing in the OP? Does that airport have a golf course or something? It's Florida, the entire state is basically four inches of pavement on two feet of fill floating on the gulf of mexico. Water management isn't optional.
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Dec 25, 2019 13:16
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Speaking of it being Florida... how do hurricanes affect your business? (My father lives in Key West, so anytime there's tropical storm activity down there, I'm biting my nails up here in VA) Like, say you've got an Irma threatening to tear FL a new one; do y'all close because no one's flying, or stay open because you have people stranded at the airport that need to eat?
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Dec 25, 2019 16:06
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JacquelineDempsey posted:Speaking of it being Florida... how do hurricanes affect your business? (My father lives in Key West, so anytime there's tropical storm activity down there, I'm biting my nails up here in VA) They straight up close the airport down for hurricanes, or even the threat of them. We were actually delayed on our initial opening for a week due to a storm. If the airport is open though, we have to be as well.
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Dec 25, 2019 16:37
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Is there anything interesting or unusual about dealing with the food vouchers airlines give out when they gently caress up and there are delays or whatever?
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Dec 25, 2019 16:46
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PT6A posted:Is there anything interesting or unusual about dealing with the food vouchers airlines give out when they gently caress up and there are delays or whatever? Not really, we just use them as cash. People eat, present vouchers, then pay the difference. All very rote.
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Dec 25, 2019 17:14
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Sandwich Anarchist posted:Not really, we just use them as cash. People eat, present vouchers, then pay the difference. All very rote. Do you then submit them back to the issuing airlines to get paid or something? Can they be used for booze? The one time I got one, I'd already had breakfast and I didn't have time for a meal during my connection, but I couldn't use it for a beer for some reason, so it just went unused. EDIT: Does the system vary by airport? For example, if my initial flight is delayed, and the airline issues me a voucher at my origin, can I then get on my flight and use that voucher at my connecting and/or destination airport instead?
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Dec 25, 2019 18:32
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PT6A posted:Do you then submit them back to the issuing airlines to get paid or something? Yeah, we staple receipts to them and send to the airline. No, they can't be used for booze.
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Dec 25, 2019 18:35
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Do you pay a flat rental fee to the airport or is it more of a percentage of your revenue kinda deal? Are you allowed to say how much you pay?
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Dec 25, 2019 19:57
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Per posted:Do you pay a flat rental fee to the airport or is it more of a percentage of your revenue kinda deal? Both. The whole process of getting into an airport is a bidding war. Essentially, rent is rent, and then you compete with other companies with your concept, business plan, and most importantly, the cut you give the airport. So we pay a rent and also give a cut to the airport. So yeah, we sort of decide what we pay, by bidding a certain amount to get the spot in the first place.
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Dec 25, 2019 20:41
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I know that one significant challenge facing airport restaurants is the available space; some restaurants have virtually no kitchen and no/minimal outlets for kitchen utilities, meaning whatever consumers get is nuked X. How are the utility setups in your BoH?
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Dec 25, 2019 21:11
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Does the airport keep trying to squeeze you for money or are they just happy to have a good restaurant now?
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Dec 25, 2019 21:15
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Discendo Vox posted:I know that one significant challenge facing airport restaurants is the available space; some restaurants have virtually no kitchen and no/minimal outlets for kitchen utilities, meaning whatever consumers get is nuked X. How are the utility setups in your BoH? Full kitchen, full gas lines, 5 walk in coolers, combi ovens. This was a $15mil build out, with underground prep kitchen and 15000 sq foot of storage space. We don't have a microwave in the building.     
Sandwich Anarchist fucked around with this message at 21:52 on Dec 25, 2019 |
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Dec 25, 2019 21:47
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mystes posted:Does the airport keep trying to squeeze you for money or are they just happy to have a good restaurant now? Nope, they can't. We signed a 10 year contract under the numbers agreed upon, and we've far exceeded their projections.
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Dec 25, 2019 21:47
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Sandwich Anarchist posted:Nope, they can't. We signed a 10 year contract under the numbers agreed upon, and we've far exceeded their projections. How long until the contracts up and then the airports try to squeeze you?
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Dec 26, 2019 01:57
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Nissin Cup Nudist posted:How long until the contracts up and then the airports try to squeeze you? 7 more years, and they won't. It will likely go to another bid, but by then we'll have been an established brand reliably pulling mega bank, and they are all about that poo poo. My source on this is that our company acquired two smaller quick service locations in the terminal that were operating for 16 years and hadn't seen anything like that happen to them. We renovated them, rebranded, and developed new menus and market offerings. They now pull in over double what they did before.
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Dec 26, 2019 02:19
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Thanks for the thread! I've never worked in a kitchen but this is all really interesting. I've heard that Chefs have their favorite knives that they like to bring to their work's kitchen. Are you (or the chefs that work for you) able to bring a knife roll into work to use in the prep area? Or do you use whatever the company provides? If you do, what brand/knife-maker did they go for? Chip McFuck fucked around with this message at 19:25 on Dec 26, 2019 |
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Dec 26, 2019 19:13
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Chip McFuck posted:Thanks for the thread! I've never worked in a kitchen but this is all really interesting. Thanks, I'm glad people are getting some entertainment out of this! Yes, professional chefs generally have their own preference for knives that they work with, I use Mercer (reliable, inexpensive, durable). However, with airport security being what it is, we cannot bring our own knives in. I purchase knives for the restaurant; we get Dexter brand, just cheap commercial knives that cost nothing. We don't even bother sharpening them, we just replace them when they get dull.
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Dec 26, 2019 19:32
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I'm currently working on a new website thanks to this thread, and it is nearly done. Here is the link for anyone that wants to see the work in progress. It's mobile friendly! Password: meatloaf20 Sandwich Anarchist fucked around with this message at 21:08 on Dec 26, 2019 |
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Dec 26, 2019 20:59
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Having "farm to terminal" in quotes makes it sound sarcastic Where/when did you work at the Grand Floridian?
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Dec 26, 2019 21:29
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