How to organize kitchen prep: app to assign work and track what's done

Assign each cook their prep list, watch them check items off, and know your kitchen is ready before service starts.

Who it's for

You own a seventy-seat restaurant somewhere like Halifax or Kitchener. Lunch is steady, Friday and Saturday nights are full, and brunch is its own animal. There is a chef or a sous who runs the line, three or four cooks across the day, and a couple of dishwashers who prep when they can. The problem bites at four in the afternoon, when you ask if the demi is done and nobody is sure who was supposed to do it.

The problem today

Prep is a sheet on a clipboard by the walk-in. The chef writes it out in the morning, half of it in shorthand, and whoever comes in reads what they can. Things get crossed off that were never made, and things get made twice because the morning cook and the afternoon cook both saw the same line. When the chef is off, nobody knows what the par is. I find out at service that we are out of soup, so we eighty-six it and the server eats the complaint. Other days we over-prep and throw it out on Tuesday. I am texting the kitchen group chat on my day off asking who did the chicken.

What the app does, screen by screen

1. Assign the day — The chef or owner builds today's prep from the standing list, sets quantities, and puts each item on a station or a cook before shift starts.
2. My prep list — A cook signs in on the kitchen tablet or their own phone and sees only the items that belong to them today, in the order they should be done.
3. Prep item detail — A cook opens an item to see the quantity wanted, the method or the yield note, and marks it done with how much was actually made.
4. Station checklists — Staff work through opening, changeover and closing checks for their station, so fridges, labels and temperatures get signed off by a name.
5. Ready for service — The chef sees what is done, what is short and what nobody touched, and signs the kitchen off before doors open.
6. Manager's day view — The owner sees today and the past weeks across all stations, who finished what, what keeps getting missed, and what carried over.
7. Prep item library — The chef or owner keeps the standing list of prep items, their pars and their stations, so the daily list is built in a minute instead of rewritten.

Who uses it and what it keeps track of

• Prep items — Name of the item, the station it belongs to, how much you normally want, how long it keeps, a short method note, and whether it is still in use. The chef and owner edit these. Cooks only read them.
• Today's prep — The date, the item, the quantity asked for, the station, the cook it is on, whether it is done, how much was actually made, the time it was finished and any note like short on shallots. Cooks see their own and their station. The chef and owner see all of it.
• Checklists — Which checklist it is, the station, each line to be checked, who signed it and when, plus a note or a photo where it matters. Staff fill their own. The chef and owner see every one.
• People and roles — Name, phone, station they usually work, and whether they are a cook, a chef or the owner. Only the owner and chef add people or change what someone is allowed to see.

What it changes for the business

Nothing gets made twice and nothing gets forgotten because two people read the same line differently. The chef stops rewriting the same sheet every morning and stops answering the same questions by text. When the chef is off, the kitchen still knows the pars and still gets the day done. You find out at two in the afternoon that the soup is short, not at six when a table has already ordered it. Over a few weeks you can see which items are always behind and which station is carrying too much, so you move work instead of guessing. Less waste, fewer items eighty-sixed, and a calmer line before doors.

The one decision that matters

The one that matters is whether prep is assigned to a named cook or to a station. Naming people gives you clear accountability, but kitchens change by the hour. Someone calls in, the dish pit gets buried, a cook gets pulled to the line, and now half the list is sitting under a name that is not even in the building. Station lists never go stale, but when something is missed, everyone shrugs. Go with station lists as the base, and attach the names working that station for the shift. The list belongs to garde manger, and today garde manger is two specific people who can see it and check items off. You get accountability without the list breaking the first time the schedule moves.

What to build first, and what can wait

Build the standing prep list, the daily assignment by station, the cook's own list with a done mark and the amount actually made, and the chef's ready-for-service view. That is the whole problem solved. Leave recipes with photos, temperature logs, label printing and anything that reaches into inventory or ordering for later. Keep the first version fast enough that a cook with wet hands will actually use it, then add the rest once the kitchen trusts it.

How BooDoo builds it

Describe the kitchen and the prep routine in plain words and BooDoo builds it, including the sign-in and the different views for owner, chef and cooks, so a cook never sees the manager's numbers. The same request gives you a website on its own address for the office and the kitchen tablet, and an Android app for the cooks' own phones that you can put on Google Play under your account. Change it later by describing the change. If you would rather not build it yourself, BooDoo Launch builds it for you.

How you'll know it works

At four in the afternoon the chef looks at one screen and knows the kitchen is ready, and nobody is texting the group chat to ask who did the stock.

Build it

Paste this in and it gets built.

I run a seventy-seat restaurant and I need an internal tool for my kitchen, not something customers see. I want a standing list of all our prep items with the station they belong to and how much we normally want, so my chef can build today's list in a minute. Each station gets its list for the day with the cooks working that station, and a cook signs in and sees only their own items with the quantity asked for and a short method note. They check an item off and type how much they actually made, and can leave a note if they ran short. I want opening and closing checks per station signed by a name. Then a view for my chef to sign the kitchen off before service, and a view for me as owner to see every day back, who finished what and what keeps getting missed. Give me a website for the office and the kitchen tablet, and an Android app for the cooks.