Restaurant terms, explained clearly

86

Restaurant shorthand meaning a menu item is sold out or temporarily unavailable, so staff should stop taking orders for it.

BOT

Beverage Order Ticket

A beverage order ticket routes drinks such as tea, lassi or soft drinks to the bar or beverage station instead of the hot kitchen.

CDS

Customer Display System

A customer-facing screen that shows order or token status, often announcing when an order is ready for collection.

Covers

The number of guests served, counted per person rather than by tables or bills. A table of four represents four covers.

Day close and Z-report

An end-of-day sales and payment summary used to reconcile orders, payment methods and the cash drawer before closing the business day.

Dine-in, takeaway and delivery

The three common restaurant order types: guests eat at the venue, collect the order themselves, or receive it at another address.

Food cost percentage

Ingredient cost expressed as a percentage of food sales or a menu item's selling price. The calculation basis should always be stated.

FOH and BOH

Front of House and Back of House

FOH covers guest-facing work such as service and cashiering; BOH covers kitchen, preparation, storage and other behind-the-scenes work.

Inventory and purchase order

Inventory records the stock a restaurant holds. A purchase order records items and quantities requested from a supplier before receipt.

KDS

Kitchen Display System

A kitchen screen that displays incoming order tickets and lets the team move each ticket through preparation statuses.

KOT

Kitchen Order Ticket

The ticket the kitchen prepares from, listing ordered items, quantities, notes and table or token details without customer-facing prices.

Menu engineering

A structured review of item popularity and contribution to decide pricing, placement, promotion and whether an item should remain on the menu.

Mise en place

The ingredients, portions, tools and station setup prepared before service so cooks can execute orders quickly and consistently.

POS

Point of Sale

The system where restaurant orders are entered, sent to fulfilment, charged and recorded for reporting.

Production

Preparing a finished or semi-finished stock item from raw ingredients before service, then recording the input and output quantities.

QR ordering

A flow where guests scan a table or venue QR code to open a digital menu and place an order from their own device.

Restaurant KPI

Key Performance Indicator

A defined measure used to monitor restaurant performance, such as sales, covers, average order value or food cost percentage.

Service charge and VAT

Service charge is an amount a restaurant adds for service; VAT is tax governed by applicable law. They must be shown and accounted for separately.

Kitchen station

A defined kitchen work area, such as grill, curry, tandoor or beverages, responsible for a set of menu items or preparation tasks.

Table turnover

The number of separate guest parties served at a table during a defined service period.

Variation, add-on and combo

A variation changes an item's option or size, an add-on adds an extra, and a combo bundles multiple items into one offer.

Void, comp and discount

A void cancels an item or charge, a comp makes it free, and a discount reduces its price. Each should be tracked separately in reports.

Walk-in

A guest who arrives without a reservation; in an ordering system it may also describe an order not attached to a booking.