A Guide to Restaurant Take Out Orders

Have you ever gotten take out, or 'to go' food from a restaurant before? If so, are you one of those people who sort of 'chuckle' when you see the tip line on your credit card receipt, and then say something like, "Tip? For what...all you do is walk a bag out to my car." If that sounds like you or someone you know, please keep reading. This article is an introduction to take out. You will learn that simply taking a bag out to a car is not the case.

This article is geared toward your casual dining restaurants, and the person that brings your take out food to the car is going to be referred to as the 'to go specialist' throughout the article.

Let's go through the steps that your to go specialist has to do to get your order ready for you. We will start with answering the phone and writing down the order. Now keep in mind that your to go specialist may not always be answering every call, due to all the other things he or she needs to do, which you will learn more about in coming paragraphs. So if the to go specialist doesn't answer the phone, don't let this reflect on the tip...they are doing something important. When this happens one of the servers in the restaurant will answer the phone and write down your order. Hopefully they will be pleasant and helpful, but if for some reason they are not, just remember that the to go specialist did not have anything to do with that.

The next step is putting the order into the computer correctly. This is always done by the to go specialist themselves in most cases. Keep this step in mind before the chuckling starts!

The next thing your to go specialist needs to do is expedite the food. Now, if you were sitting down is a casual dining restaurant, your server does not do this. Servers have their own 'expo' in the kitchen that does this step for them. Your to go specialist on the other hand does not have an expo. They have to put all their to go orders together themselves. This includes getting the dressings and sauces that go with the order, any bread that may come with the order, and making sure that the meal was prepared correctly. They also have to make sure the right side dishes are in the container, and make any side, dinner, caesar salads, or soups that you may have ordered with your meal. Then when all your meals are put together properly they go into a bag, or bags, get a ticket taped on them and find their way to the to go specialist's work area where your meal will wait for you to arrive. Now keep in mind that when you called you were told either how long this would take, or a specific time to come. Your to go specialist planned this out so that your meal will not get cold, so please, try to show up as close to the designated time as possible.

Now we are up to the part that most people believe is the only part of the job, bringing the food out to your vehicle. Let's just do a quick recap to see how we got here. First the to go specialist answered the phone and took your order, (or they were busy with another task and a fellow associate does). Next the order was rang into the computer correctly and in a timely manner. Third, the order was put together by the to go specialist. This included dressing, sauces, side dishes, salad, breads, and or soups. And then the order was taken out to the car.

Now keep in mind, although some of you may think that this doesn't sound too hard, mostly of the time there is more then just your order being worked on. Servers in a restaurant usually have about four tables. Your to go specialist aways has at least four orders, and nobody to help them do anything more then answer the phone. If it's a busy part of the day, they may have as many as ten to twenty orders to get ready all at the same time. They may have phone lines ringing off the hook and four cars in the parking lot. Please keep this in mind!! Also keep in mind that most to go specialist make the same amount per hour as a server does. This is $3.68. And out of that $3.68 comes taxes. All to go orders are taxed seven percent. If you don't leave a tip, that seven percent still gets taken out of their 3.68 an hour.

Next time you get take out, please consider this article. There is a lot of preparation that goes into your meal. Most of us have families to support, and cannot do it on 3.68 an hour, minus taxes. We are counting on your tips. And yes, we are only humane, and sometimes a mistake might be made, but we always feel horrible, and try to do what we can to make it up to you. Mistakes don't happen on purpose that's why they are called mistakes.