Backing Up on "Back of the House"

I explained the term "serveware" in a previous post, but neglected to define another bit of hospitality industry jargon that I tossed out somewhat carelessly. Namely: "back of the house". Sorry, readers! Back of the house describes the part of hospitality you don't see. It's a term used in the restaurant business to refer to kitchen area and staff, as opposed to the dining room — the "front of the house."

Never being satisfied with a simple explanation, I went on line to do a little research. It's actually pretty interesting!

According to WiseGeek.com, "Different types of staff work in each area, and rivalries sometimes crop up between back of house and front of house staffers, especially in large restaurants which can get extremely busy. As a general rule, the back of house is a staff-only area, although it may be opened to the public on a limited basis for tours. The back of house is the area in which food is stored and prepared, and it typically includes other staff areas such as a break room and changing area. Cooks, expediters, and dishwashers work in the back of house, usually largely unseen by the public.

In most kitchens, the back of house has a strict hierarchy, with each staff member performing a specific task.In the front of house, waiters, waitresses, and hosts interact with guests. These staff are said to be “on the floor,” since they are visible representatives of the restaurant. Floor staff are supposed to be courteous, informative, and neatly dressed, since their behavior determines whether or not guests enjoy themselves.Some staff flit between both the back and front of the house. Bussers and runners, for example, carry food and plates back and forth from the kitchen and the floor. Their jobs can be extremely high stress, as they must deal with demands from the kitchen and the floor staff. In addition, they also engage in interactions with customers, since guests of the restaurant may not always understand the distinction between waitstaff, runners, and kitchen staff.In some restaurants, part of the kitchen may be visible to members of the public. Not all kitchen staff enjoy this, as cooking can be a messy and tension-fraught business. Diners, on the other hand, enjoy being able to watch food preparation, especially since showy stations such as grill or sautee are often exposed."

So there you have it, more of an explanation than you asked for. Suffice it to say, the kitchen and staging areas of a restaurant are a hive of activity where food is painstakingly prepared, then carefully arranged on smallwares such as serving trays, chafing dishes, and other restaurant supply paraphanelia, before being shuttled out to the relative serenity of the front of the house. See how much we're learning?!

New Name, Old Game!

Setting a table with all the appropriate accoutrements is not exactly a new thing. Trends come and go, whether its paleolithic stones, sticks and arrowheads; medieval daggers and communal (yum!)wooden troughs; or post 17th century forks and knives, etcetera. (I'm thinking here, it's good to be a modern man!) There's always something interesting going on in table setting.

The "new" new thing in table setting is "tablescaping"! Tablescaping is essentially table setting on steroids. Legitimized as a word in the 2006 edition of the Oxford New American Dictionary, tablescaping is the art of designing a table, utilizing any number of table items such as napkins, placemats, serving plates, runners, silverware, chargers, etc., in order to create just the right ambience for dining. What makes it different from just setting the table? I suppose, it's the implied "creative license" associated with it. To dream the impossible tabletop dream!

But I say, don't wait for a dictionary to give your creative concepts legitimacy. Define and design your table with confidence! And if our amazing array of polyvinyl placemats, acacia wood serving trays, and Mason Cash earthenware can be helpful to you in the process, then so be it.

Note from the Editor: We're out of stock on communal wooden troughs. Check back with us in a few months.