Sample result
Operating Manual Architect by Area for Restaurants
The owner asked this:«I want every plate to come out the same at both locations and to bring kitchen food cost down from 34 % to 32 % without touching menu prices. I need the kitchen manual: who signs each step, what gets measured and where our money is going.»
① The kitchen journey (the map)
What the kitchen handles is the ingredient, from the supplier to the plate. The clock is set against the window that rules: lunch from Tuesday to Friday, 12:00 to 14:30, and Sunday midday. The map has ten stages; these are six:
| Stage | What leaves | Signing role | Typical time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Scheduling and ordering (16:00 the day before) | Production plan and purchase need (FOR-COC-01) | Head chef | 20 min |
| 2. Receiving (07:00 to 10:00) | Goods accepted and labelled, or rejected (FOR-COC-02) | Production cook | 10 min per delivery |
| 4. Base production (08:00 to 11:00) | Stocks, sancocho, beans, rice and sauces, labelled | Production cook | 180 min |
| 6. Service and the pass (12:00 to 14:30) | Plate portioned at the pass | Head chef at the pass | 8 min the starter, 15 min the main (proposal) |
| 8. Cooling (from 14:30) | Product at 5 °C or less, labelled, or discarded (FOR-COC-03) | Production cook | 6 h at most |
| 10. Cleaning and close | Clean kitchen, gas shut, cold checked (CHK-COC-03) | Head chef | 45 min |
The slowest dish sets the start. The Sancocho de tres carnes takes 60 minutes of prep and 90 of cooking. That is why base production starts at 08:00: the stock is ready at 10:30, with half an hour of margin before the mise en place deadline, 11:00.
② The control points and what they cost
The kitchen buys 72,760,000 COP a month in ingredients (34 % of 214,000,000 COP in sales). Each point of waste on that cost is 727,600 COP a month. Each food-cost point on sales, 2,140,000 COP a month.
| Point | Standard | Tolerance | Who measures | Lost per month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Receiving | Chilled at 4 °C or less; weight against invoice | 2 % by weight | Production cook, every delivery | 654,840 COP for each undetected 2 % shortfall (illustrative) |
| 2. Portioning | Protein at 180 g | ± 10 g | Head chef, 5 plates per service | 802,500 COP for each extra 10 g (illustrative) |
| 3. Waste | Under 3 % of the week's ingredient cost | 3 % | Head chef, on Mondays | 727,600 COP for each point above |
| 5. Cooling (CCP) | From 60 °C to 21 °C in 2 h and to 5 °C in 4 h more | None | Production cook, every batch | 360,000 COP per discarded 40-litre batch of base stock (illustrative) |
Point 4, the peak starter in 8 minutes, carries no figure. It is measured over one week: the system's ticket time against the exit time logged in FOR-COC-06. What is lost is the lunch table that does not come back.
③ The boundaries with the other areas
| What looks like the kitchen's | Who actually signs it | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Buying and negotiating with the supplier | Storeroom and purchasing (Volume 5) | Whoever receives does not buy: splitting the two roles prevents the agreed shortfall |
| Delivery temperature at the customer's door | Delivery (Volume 3) | The kitchen hands over sealed and at temperature; the road belongs to whoever carries it |
| Repairing equipment | Maintenance (Volume 6) | The kitchen reports and does not dismantle: a badly repaired fridge is a lost CCP |
| Changing the menu or a dish's price | Management, with the recipe card | The kitchen proposes with the cost in hand; it does not set prices |
The gaps nobody signs today (the finding):
- The allergen matrix per dish. The dining room asks about the allergen and the kitchen complies, but the document does not exist. Proposal: the head chef writes it into each recipe card and the dining room uses it.
- Moving preparations between locations, if it happens. Nobody signs the arrival temperature. Proposal: the receiving kitchen logs it in FOR-COC-02, like any delivery.
The full example has 2 more part(s): you see them inside the library, with your account.