Day 2: The Importance of not Wasting, Running the Drive Thru, and having a Clean Restaurant

This was my second day working at Schlotzsky's and also time for me to understand something new about the restaurant. I showed up around 8:15 a.m. like I am supposed to do everyday. Before other workers arrive as well as customers, it is important to make sure that every nook and cranny of the restaurant is clean. Sylvia, one of the employees showed me all of the different things that are needed to be cleaned from wiping down the toilets and sinks, mopping the floor, dusting the lights, and cleaning the tables. All of these make for a clean and inviting restaurant. This did not take up the majority of the day, because it is meant to be fast because there is also another cleanup that happens at night before employees go home.

The second thing that I was learning how to do was using the cash register correctly while working the drive thru window. The employee that was teaching me was the manager, Nicki. She taught me the importance of the system that is set in place and that if you follow it, even though it may require extra work in the beginning, it will save you a bunch of time in the end. A few examples of this are first, filling drinks when the customer orders them and putting them in order from when they were first ordered to last ordered, so you don't have to go back and check the receipt to find what drink belonged to what person. Secondly, I learned that the simplicity of turning a ticket upside down can let me know that the order is done and ready to be given to the customer.

The third thing that I learned was reaching out to help a customer, because it will lead them to come back. At about 11:00 a.m., a lady called asking if she could place an order of 90 sandwiches. She said that nobody would make them, because it was on such a late notice. This really was going to throw a curveball at the crew, because they were going to have to work extra efficiently to get things done now that Mr. Rukieh accepted the order. By doing this, he not only made a profit, but pleased a new customer who had been desperately trying to get someone to cater her order, hopefully leading her back in the future.

Lastly, I learned the importance of not wasting or over packaging meat that was to be used. While running a business, it is important not to gouge customers on each item they buy, but make a small profit that will add up, making them want to return to Schlotzsky's to eat again. As Sylvia cut a tray full of meat, it was my job to wrap them into the appropriate sizes needed, small or regular. For a small, I weighed out 85kg of meat and wrapped it in parchment paper. Once I did six of these, I could wrap them all into a piece of saran wrap. I did the same for a regular size, but measured each amount of meat into 125kg portions, being careful to not steal from the customer by not giving them enough, but also not putting more than the designated amount of meat in a wrap, so we are not losing profit. While wrapping the meat, it is important to have labels, because other employees will be using the meat, so they need to know what it is. By doing this, you need to write the type of meat, then the size, then the expiration date, then your initials on the saran wrap. This tells the person using all of the above information including who packaged it.