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When most people think about a restaurant, they picture beautifully plated dishes, a warm ambience or the friendly waitstaff that makes the dining experience memorable. But behind the scenes lies the heartbeat of every successful restaurant: the back of house.
While customers may never see this part of your restaurant, it has a direct impact on their dining experience. Proper back-of-house management ensures timely service, consistent food quality and a smooth workflow that supports your front-of-house team, ensuring your guests leave happy and satisfied. Let’s explore what makes up the back of house and how you can manage it to improve your restaurant’s efficiency and overall customer satisfaction.
What is the back of house?
The back of house, also known as BOH, refers to everything behind the scenes in a restaurant that customers typically do not see. It includes the kitchen, dishwashing station, inventory storage and prep areas. It can also include employee break rooms and any office space you might have. It’s different from the front of house (FOH), which refers to all areas that customers see and interact with, including the dining area, bar and staff who directly serve them. In other words, the BOH is where the magic happens. Your chefs, cooks, dishwashers and kitchen staff operate in this space, making it the heart of your restaurant’s operations.
How to manage your restaurant back of house
Managing your back of house efficiently helps give customers a positive experience and ultimately helps your bottom line.
Organise your kitchen to support an efficient workflow
A disorganised kitchen creates confusion and slows down service. The key is to design your BOH for maximum efficiency. A best practice is to divide your kitchen into specific stations – prep, cooking, plating and dishwashing – and equip each with the tools and ingredients required. For example, your pastry station should have everything from mixing bowls and piping bags to baking pans and spatulas within easy reach.
Next, ensure your kitchen setup is functional by positioning stations next to each other in an order that makes sense. Having the prep station for vegetables next to the chef who cooks them, for example, can help avoid collisions and minimise time wasted running across the kitchen.
Build a data-backed staffing schedule
Effectively staffing your BOH is just as important as organising it. Having too few people during peak hours creates stress and delays, while overstaffing during slow periods can balloon your labour costs. The key is to create schedules that align with your restaurant’s needs.
Start by analysing your sales data to identify busy and slow periods. If you use Square POS, you can easily find this data in your Dashboard. For example, if Friday evenings are consistently your busiest time, schedule your strongest team members to work that shift. Conversely, assign lighter staffing during weekday afternoons if those are typically quiet.
Using staff management software can make shift scheduling easier. Tools like Square Shifts allow you to build schedules and track time and attendance. You get insights into labour costs, helping you optimise your budget without sacrificing service quality. A well-balanced schedule ensures your BOH operates smoothly, no matter the time of day.
Establish clear communication protocols
Without proper communication among BOH staff, mistakes happen, orders get delayed and tempers flare. Before service begins, a quick meeting with your staff can help align everyone and build team spirit. Use this time to go over menu changes, specials and expected busy periods. And when problems arise – and they will – make sure there’s a point person to handle them. If your fryer breaks down mid-shift, the sous chef might step in to adjust the menu without disrupting the flow.
During service, clear communication is critical. A call-and-response system can be helpful. When the head chef issues a command, the receiving staff should verbally acknowledge it. This minimises errors and keeps everyone on the same page.
To manage orders efficiently, invest in a kitchen display system (KDS) to avoid miscommunication. Square KDS, for example, replaces traditional paper tickets and kitchen printers, allowing you to manage orders on a single screen. Special modifications or dietary requirements are immediately visible, reducing the chances of miscommunication and ensuring smooth service.
Businesses like Vegie Bar use Square KDS to help keep track of orders while cutting down on printed dockets. “The KDS is wonderful, it’s made communication between the FOH and BOH seamless, as tickets are easily organised in order of priority, making service a lot smoother,” shared co-owners Laki and Marion Papadopoulos.
Improve collaboration between the FOH and BOH
Communication shouldn’t stop among BOH staff. Every employee in your team affects how customers perceive your restaurant. Communication between front-of-house and back-of-house staff ensures both areas of your restaurant run smoothly.
Organising group training with your front- and back-of-house staff helps everyone operate under the same rules and guidelines. Let both sides of the house see what the other does. It also helps the team see how each individual affects the customer experience.
Siblings Benjamin and Emily Calabro use Square for their business, Quick Brown Fox. They appreciate how easy it is to use and train staff on, compared to previous tools they’ve tried. “Other POS companies are quite complicated – whether it’s the setup, whether it’s offshore, IT support, things like that,” Benjamin said. “You can jump online and build a Square Terminal. You can teach someone with no computer acumen how to use Square. I think that’s a beautiful thing.”
Communication goes beyond just training. Offering a free meal for staff during work hours helps build camaraderie between employees during breaks when they can talk casually. Employees who are friendly with each other work better together.
Optimise inventory management
Running out of key ingredients can derail service very quickly. That’s why proper inventory management is critical. Consider using inventory management software to track stock levels and get automatic alerts when stocks are low. Weekly inventory checks are essential to identify slow-moving or overstocked items. For instance, if you notice you’re consistently over-ordering an item, adjust your next order accordingly.
Portion control is equally important. Train your staff to follow portion guidelines using tools like digital scales to ensure consistency. This reduces waste and also guarantees that every customer gets the same high-quality experience.
Maintain cleanliness and sanitation
Cleanliness isn’t just about passing inspections. A clean kitchen protects your customers and reputation. You can start with a cleaning schedule that assigns specific tasks for each shift. In the morning, the team can focus on wiping down counters and organising inventory while the closing crew handles scrubbing floors and sanitising equipment.
Establish handwashing and glove policies, and place reminders near sinks and prep areas to enforce these habits. And don’t forget deep cleaning. This isn’t a daily task but should happen weekly or bi-weekly for harder-to-reach areas like hoods, vents and ovens. A spotless kitchen not only complies with regulations but also boosts morale among your staff.
Monitor and improve performance
To truly excel, you need to consistently improve how your BOH operates. And you can only do this by consistently observing your team’s workflow during service. Consider installing cameras or monitoring systems (if appropriate). This can help you spot inefficiencies, like staff crowding one station while another goes unused.
Post-shift meetings can also be helpful. Use them to gather feedback from your team on what went well and what didn’t. And don’t forget to track key metrics like docket times. If orders consistently take longer than 15 minutes to reach the table, investigate whether prep work or cooking is the bottleneck.
Run an efficient back of house with technology
A smooth running back of house doesn’t happen by accident – it’s the result of careful planning, clear communication and many smart choices. By organising your kitchen, nailing your staffing schedules and optimising your inventory, you can create an environment that supports your business growth.
While you’re at it, invest in restaurant technology that supports important back-of-house operations and syncs with your front of house. With these strategies and tools in place, your BOH will be ready to handle anything, from the busiest dinner rush to the unexpected hiccups that come with the territory.
