Pro tip: stop plating apps before the entrees hit the window, my expo chewed me out and he was right

Jesse Jackson · 2026-09-11T03:15:05.003766+00:00

Last Tuesday at our spot in Austin we got slammed with a 40 cover rush and I was firing apps the second they were ready, thinking I was fast. My expo pulled me aside after service and asked me to watch the pass for one Friday, just count how many plates sat under the heat lamp. I did it and 9 out of 10 appetizers were dying there while the customer waited on their main anyway. Now I hold apps until the entree is 6 minutes out and my ticket times actually dropped. Any of you dealt with a hot line where timing apps was the real bottleneck instead of the cooking?

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Pro tip: stop plating apps before the entrees hit the window, my expo chewed me out and he was right | Chefs - Free To Speak