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 LESSON 1:
PROVIDE LINK BETWEEN KITCHEN AND
SERVICE AREAS
Topic:
Check Quality Of Food In
Accordance
with Enterprise Standards
LO1: Liaise between kitchen and service
areas.
Introduction
 Before you take any dishes or trays of food out of
the kitchen and give it to wait staff or to guests
you must undertake a series of checks to ensure
the food being served is acceptable and to make
sure all necessary requirements have been met.
 This section identifies practices to follow to help
make sure guests receive exactly the food they
ordered, and to ensure smooth and professional
service is provided.
 What are the standards of
an enterprise?
In relation to checking food prior to service “enterprise standards” may refer to:
 Size of the meals – the volume or quantity of food provided as an entrée, a main
course or as “extra”
 Placement of items on a plate. Some venues will require, for examples,
vegetables for certain dishes to be placed in a nominated sequence or location
on the plate to optimize the visual appeal of the dish. Some dishes may be
centrally located in the middle of the plate whereas other menu items will
feature the main component (meat, fish, chicken) located at a constant position
on every plate
 Use of stipulated service ware for given items. For example, it may be a
requirement a certain type or size of bowl is used for nominated food items or
accompaniments, or an underliner may be required for identified dishes
 Service of sauces. Some venues may add sauces to the meal (directly applying
the sauce to the food), while others may provide a small jug of sauce, a bottle of
sauce or a sauce boat.
 Checking the food
Before all food is taken from the kitchen you must check it (that is,
visually inspect each dish) to ensure:
1. The right meal has been prepared and any requested changes
have been made to the item or dish. This means comparing the
food presented by the kitchen against the order given to them.
 Never assume the kitchen will automatically get the order correct.
Remember the kitchen is a busy place and accidents and mistakes can
happen.
 If the order is for four meals, are there four meals being given to you?
 Do the dishes you are being given match exactly the requirements of each
guests as stated in the order?
 It is your job to make sure incorrect meals are not taken into the room or
to the service point.
 Every service plate is clean and presentable. This means checking to
ensure there are no marks, spills and drips on plates.
 In some cases you may be able to clean the plate and in other cases it may
need to be returned to the chef or to the person operating the pass
 Checking the food
Before all food is taken from the kitchen you must check it (that is,
visually inspect each dish) to ensure:
2. The quality of all items served for
consumption. This includes checking all food
served on the plate to ensure it is of an
acceptable quality.
For example:
 A whole fish should not have tears in the
skin
 Fresh fruit must not be over-ripe
 Salad vegetables must be crisp
 There should be no obvious blemishes or
visible impediments to any food items on a
plate
 Checking the food
Before all food is taken from the kitchen you must check it (that is,
visually inspect each dish) to ensure:
3. The appearance of the food on the plate. Issues to
look for are:
 All dishes of the same type must be of the same size.
There should not be a difference in serve sizes unless
requested by the guest
 Same dishes must look the same in terms of layout
of vegetables, accompaniments, service ware,
garnishes
 An appealing and appetizing appearance
 The edible portion of a steak is at the outside of a
plate as opposed to having the fat/gristle
component at the rim of the plate
 Checking the food
Before all food is taken from the kitchen you must check it (that is,
visually inspect each dish) to ensure:

4. Guest requests have been taken into account. This

means directly comparing the dishes against the
orders.
Additional points to note
1. Some establishments have photographs of each dish at
the pickup point or pass to help service staff plate
dishes correctly and consistently and to give you a
means by which you can check dishes prior to taking
them
2. The person operating the pass should check all dishes
before they are called but you still ALWAYS have to
conduct your own independent check
3. Note it is much, much easier for a problem or mistake to
be identified at this stage, than it is for the dish to go
out to the dining room, be presented to the guest, be
complained about and then be returned to the kitchen.