What every guest does not see
Ceiling tiles, bulbs, HVAC, deferred maintenance, no phones on the floor.
- A team member on a phone, eating, or chewing gum at the counter.
- Trash overflowing in the dining room or at the drink station.
- Dirty tables sitting more than 60 seconds after a left.
- A back of house argument or raised voices.
- An unlocked back door, a delivery cart in the dining room, supplies stacked in the public area.
- A POS screen turned toward them with another 's order on it.
Dining room non-negotiables
A judges cleanliness in the first three seconds, before they have tasted anything we make. The dining room is the brand's silent ambassador. The list below is the floor, not the goal.
No dirty table sits longer than 2 minutes after a leaves. If a runner is mid-drop, the next FOH on the floor catches the bus. Chairs squared to the table after every wipe. A pushed-out chair signals an empty table that nobody reset. Sauces and chutneys at the drink station stocked at all times. Empty bottles are a stop-everything moment. Floors swept continuously, not just at close. Crumbs around a table during service are dismissal-grade. We purposely keep the music loud, slight annoyance, but never to a point where conversations are impossible. Music sits on the louder side: it should make a guest lean in slightly to hear their friend across the table, not have to shout. Loud music creates energy, energy creates spend, energy creates memory. Restrooms checked every hour, signed on the clipboard, restocked, smelling clean. The team never huddles at the POS. If three FOH are at the register, two of them belong on the floor. No dead body language: no leaning, no slumping at the window, no scrolling through order tickets while standing still. Guests judge cleanliness faster than food. Because they can see cleanliness before they taste anything.