Recovering tables is an incredibly important part of running any restaurant. It allows you to seat new guests, keep things moving, and (importantly) increase your profits. So, today, we’re breaking down the basics of table recovery. How to properly recover a table at a restaurant, why you should, and how to do it efficiently.
What Does It Mean to Recover a Table at a Restaurant?
Put simply, recovering a table is another term for flipping or turning a table; in other words, it’s the act of clearing and preparing a table for another set of guests. Generally, this will be the job of your busser, though it can also fall on the shoulders of your servers, depending on how your restaurant is set up.
There are a lot of reasons to get the hang of recovering a table, but the most important of them is that without doing so, you can’t seat the next round of guests. In turn, this means that business will slow (even if just a touch) and, ultimately, you won’t be able to make as much profit.
Cleanliness and the way that you present your restaurant are crucial to how guests view it, and a dirty table filled with dishes isn’t really the best look. Instead, we want them to see a neatly set, clean table with the proper seating. This means you’ll need to remove dishes, wipe everything down, and potentially rearrange the tables or seating to put things back to their original position.
Steps for Properly Recovering a Table
Now, recovering a table isn’t a process that can just happen in seconds. While it can certainly be quick, it requires attention to detail and the willingness to clean. Let’s start with the basics.
Clear Dishes and Utensils Efficiently
When clearing a table for recovery, you’ll want to begin by removing any glasses, dishes, or silverware that were used by the previous guests. Bring them to your dish pit, get them cleaned up, and come back. From there, you’ll want to start cleaning.
Clean and Sanitize the Table Thoroughly
Sanitizing your work space is one of the most important parts of restaurant work, and that doesn’t end in the kitchen. Your tables should be perfectly clean and clear, but they should also be dry. In other words, don’t just wipe down the table and call it a day. Bring a dry, clean rag with you to wipe down the table and ensure it’s clean and dry for the next guests.
Reset the Table with Fresh Linens and Utensils
From here, it’s time to reset the table. Grab new linens (if you use them), new napkins, glasses, and silverware, and get them laid out. While you’re at it, inspect any items that you leave on the tables, be they for looks or function, and ensure they’re in good condition. All condiments should be filled, your salt and pepper shakers should be full, and any candles or other ambiance should be lit and maintained properly.
Inspect the Seating Area for Cleanliness
Even though we’ve already sanitized the table and removed any dirty dishes, it’s important to take a look beyond the basics of a clean table. We want to ensure that our guests know that they’re in good hands, and that means that the area around them should be clean, too. This means, more often than not, taking a broom to the area beneath and around your table. While mopping isn’t likely necessary, it’s best to inspect the area around your table to be sure.
The Importance of Speed and Precision in Table Recovery
Being on top of table recovery is far more important when things are crazy than it is when they’re slow. After all, the first thing your guests will see after being seated is their table, and if it’s dirty, that’s a bad first impression.
In other words, it’s absolutely crucial that you recover tables quickly and efficiently during a rush. Perhaps more importantly, it’s vital that you understand which tables are cleared and which ones aren’t and that you communicate it. Your hostess isn’t always going to be able to physically check tables, so once you’ve cleared a table it’s important to tell your host. This will help them to plan seating for the rest of the night and avoid any embarrassing moments with a dirty table and a rushed wipe down.
Common Mistakes to Avoid During Table Recovery
Overlooking Hard-to-See Areas
Clearing a table isn’t a hard process, but the importance of speed that we discussed above can lead to mistakes. One of the most common of these is simply overlooking the areas that are harder to see. This could mean beneath or behind the tables and seating, under any tabletop settings that you keep on the table like a condiment caddy, or the walls next to the table.
While it’s not the end of the world when one of these areas gets missed, it can very easily signal to your guests that you’re not quite as thorough with cleaning as you should be. Most people won’t lose it over a single missed splotch on the wall next to them, or a few crumbs under the table, but you should. By taking the time to take pride in clearing a table, we end up with a better final product and happier guests — it’s really a win-win.
Rushing Through the Cleaning Process
This ties into the point above, but cleanliness takes time. As such, it’s not uncommon for people to rush through cleaning and, ultimately, miss a spot (or three). While this can be rectified rather quickly, it’s one more step to add onto the process of turning a table, and one that sucks even more as a server. Showing up to a table with seated guests who ask for their table to be cleaned is discouraging, to say the least.
Failing to Sanitize Properly
The difference between sanitized and clean is one that’s often missed, but is extremely important in kitchens. Your tables are no different than a prep table, in that they need to be both clean and sanitized before continuing on to other tasks. A clean table will have all of its old utensils, linens, and dishes removed and will be clear of crumbs and debris. A sanitized table will have been hit with properly-mixed sanitary solution or bleach water; the difference here isn’t one that you may be able to see, but it is one that can affect the health of your guests.
Using Dirty Linens or Utensils
This isn’t a common mistake, but it is one that can happen. As such, it feels important for us to cover dirty linens, if only briefly. Dirty linens and utensils usually come down to an unorganized system. Organization is an incredibly important part of restaurant work because it allows us to simply grab things and get back to work. Despite how organized your kitchen may feel, though, that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t use our eyes to inspect the things that we give to guests. Just like you’ll inspect the plating and food of each dish sent to your table, you should be inspecting your linens and silverware, too!
In other words, take the time to look at what you’re setting down and, importantly, make a point of differentiating between clean and dirty linens! For example, that could mean getting another basket from your supplier or moving clean linens to an entirely separate area.
Forgetting to Inspect the Seating Area
Seating plays a pretty major part in the process of turning over a table. While not every restaurant will do this, if you’ve found that it’s common for guests to move chairs to accommodate a larger party (or if you do it yourself with tables and seats for a reservation), you’ll want to look at the seating. More accurately, you’ll want to refresh yourself on what goes where, and how many should be there.
If you flip a table only to realize you stole a few chairs from the next table down, that can screw up seating for you, your other servers, and your hostess — so be sure to return all tables and chairs to their original positions.
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