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The diner was at full capacity, with more customers lined up outside. Summer observed as Austin’s older sister Katie and her fellow server Terri panicked at the flood of orders.
As Summer watched, customers began complaining that they’d been served the wrong orders. Some tables never received their food, while other tables had one person still waiting for their order while their companions were nearly finished eating.
Finally, Summer couldn’t take it any longer. She’d seen enough, and the customers needed help. She set her coffee cup down with a thump and marched to the back of the diner.
“Everyone stop what you’re doing!” she shouted in her most authoritative tone. “Now!”
Everyone in the kitchen froze. Even Brock.
Summer turned to the servers. “Terri, Katie, what the heck are you doing? You’re just randomly grabbing plates as they come up, without looking at the tickets! That stops right now.”
Both servers looked at each other in dismay.
“She’s right,” Marlene said. “You girls are making more work for us. As if we weren’t already busy enough!”
“All right, this is how things are going to work from now on,” Summer began.
She explained the system in a few terse sentences, ignoring their cowed looks. This was Restaurant Operations 101, something Katie and Terri should already be familiar with.
It had been a few years since she’d worked as an expediter, but Summer still knew how to manage tickets and the flow of dishes out of the kitchen. She set to work unsnarling the mess that Terri and Katie had made, and got everything running smoothly within fifteen minutes.
The hours flew by, with no real break between breakfast and lunch, but Brock and his staff had prepped sufficient quantities of everything, so nothing ran out.
After the lunch rush ended and the last customers departed, Summer gathered everyone together in the front of the house for a meeting.
She began by critiquing Terri and Katie for ignoring the ticket system and making the already-swamped kitchen re-do orders. Marlene and Brock both nodded in agreement at this.
Terri began sniffling halfway through, but Summer ignored her. She ended with “…and if I catch either of you using your phones while you’re supposed to be working, you’re gone.”
“But you can’t do that!” Katie shot a wide-eyed look of appeal at her mother, then Brock.
Summer braced herself for opposition. But Marlene nodded in agreement.
“Yeah, she can,” Brock growled at the two young women, catching Summer by surprise. “I catch either of you girl slacking off where customers can see you, I’ll fire your asses.”
Terri’s sniffles turned to tears and outright sobs. Katie sat there stone-faced, pale with shock.
“Go,” Brock ordered them. “You guys are done for the day.”
They practically ran for the back of the diner to clock out.
Warmed by the unexpected support, Summer continued. Next, she presented her ideas for reorganizing the locations of the kitchen’s appliances and prep stations to reduce the amount of unnecessary running between the stove, grill, and fridge.
She expected Brock to argue with her suggestions, Instead, he sat, listening intently. From Grandma Abigail, she knew he’d learned on the job, rather than through any formal training. At least he seemed open to some basic improvements.
Then, she sat at the diner’s computer and reviewed the past month of income and expenses while Brock and his staff cleaned the kitchen.
Once everyone else had clocked out, Summer emerged from the office to collar Brock. “Hey, do you mind staying a few more minutes? We need to talk.”
He threw her a wary look. “About what? You got another list for me?”
Apparently, his show of cooperation earlier had been just that—a show for the staff. “I wanted to run some ideas by you for making the diner profitable by Grandma Abigail’s deadline.”
He sighed loudly. “Fine. There some huckleberry pie left, and I’m starving.”
She followed him out to the dining room and filled a pair of mugs with the last of the coffee while he served up two large wedges of fragrant purple pie.
Summer waited until they were both seated, then said, “You made a great start with your menu overhaul, but you need to reduce your portion sizes to keep ingredient costs under control. Bigger isnotbetter.”
