86 SARAH
When a restaurant runs out of an item, it’s “86’ed.” On a busy night at my restaurant, when a customer orders the last of something, the chef will yell, “86 chicken,” or whatever it is, and a network of employees then run out to the servers talking on the floor and secretly whisper in their ear, “86 chicken.” This is all in an effort to make sure the guests know before they place their order that some things are no longer available. Of course, either five people walk up to me and tell me “86 chicken,” or somehow I slip through the cracks and I don’t hear it from anyone. My table will then inevitably order the damn chicken, which I will enter into the sales system only to be chastised by the chef for not knowing that’s it’s been gone for twenty minutes.
Enter the 86 board. Someone will write the item down on the 86 board in the side station so that the staff can keep up with what is no longer available. Sometimes, there is also a “count” of items that are remaining, so you know that they are getting low.
As you can see from the picture below, sometimes the kitchen can’t plan for busy nights and they run out of a lot of things. This makes for an embarrassing introduction on my part:
“Hello my name is Sarah, thank you for dining with us tonight. Before you look over the menu I want to let you know that we no longer have wedge salads, oysters, or mashed potatoes. If you’d like a loaded potato, please let me know right away so I can set aside the one that we have left. While you decide what you’d like to eat among your few remaining options, can I bring you something to drink as long as it’s not Sweetwater 420 beer, Louis Martini Cabernet, or anything that has Tito’s Vodka in it? By the way, save room for the mousse special because we have 14 we want to get rid of.”
Have you ever dined anywhere that seemed to be out of everything?
Bonus restaurant slang: The term 86 can also be used facetiously, as in “This double is killing me and I am so tired. 86 Sarah.”