r/PandaExpress • u/AutisticDoggi • 4h ago
Employee Question/Discussion keeping up with dishes
i started working as kitchen help a month ago and im struggling with keeping up with dishes. my first 2 weeks they only had me on dishes and i learned all the techniques people use to do it efficiently (make sure things are soaking, plastics and pans first, scrape food to avoid clogging sink etc.) but since ive started making sides i’ve found it really hard to keep up.
i’ll come in at 11 am and literally nonstop be cooking batch 2s and batch 3s for hours. i might have like 5 mins of downtime per hour to knock out any pans but dont have much time aside from that until 4 pm. then they want me to take trash out and sweep, and send me on a 30. when i get back i need to keep making food and the dishes are piling up. by the time it finally slows down at around 7-8 pm i have a mountain of dishes and still need to start helping with closing.
the only thing saving me is sometimes this one lady in foh will come and help with dishes. also my store recently started adding an extra kitchen help after 4pm to help, but im not sure if thats going to stay that way
i couldn’t imagine running it solo and i fear the day my extra kitchen help calls out. how can improve? im really giving it my all and at the end of the shift im completely drained.