Restaurant terms glossaryWhat the kitchen means when it says it.
Market price, corkage, all day, in the weeds. The words that end up on a menu, on a check, or shouted across the pass, each defined in two or three plain sentences.
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This is a restaurant terms glossary for the people who write the menu and the people who read it. It covers four kinds of words: the ones printed on the menu (à la carte, prix fixe, market price), the ones that decide what a dish costs (food cost, pour cost, prime cost), the kitchen and floor slang you hear during service (86, all day, on the fly), and the words on the check (cover, comp, service charge). Every definition is two or three sentences. Where a term needs more than that, it has its own page, and where one of our guides already covers the idea properly, the entry sends you there instead of repeating it.
A note on what is not here: we left out terms we could not define without guessing, and we give an origin only where we found a source for it. If you run a menu and a word is missing, write to [email protected].
Pricing terms
Words that decide what a dish costs and what the check says.
Food cost percentage
What the ingredients in a dish cost, divided by its menu price, times 100. A $5 plate cost on a $20 dish is a 25 percent food cost.
Plate cost
The cost of every ingredient on one plated portion, including garnish and the sauce. The starting number for pricing a dish.
Pour cost
The same idea as food cost for drinks: what the pour cost you, divided by its price. A $2 pour sold for $10 is a 20 percent pour cost.
Prime cost
Cost of goods sold plus total labor cost, the two biggest controllable costs in a restaurant. Usually tracked as a percentage of sales.
Contribution margin
A dish’s menu price minus its plate cost: the dollars it leaves to pay for everything else. Menu engineering sorts dishes by it.
Menu mix
How many of each dish sold, as a share of all dishes sold in the same category over a period. It shows which dishes carry the menu.
Menu engineering
Sorting every dish by how often it sells and how much it earns, into stars, plowhorses, puzzles, and dogs. Our guide to menu engineering walks through it.
Upcharge
An extra charge for a change to a dish, such as oat milk, an added protein, or a substitution. Best printed on the menu so the server does not have to quote it.
Corkage fee
A charge for opening and serving a bottle of wine a guest brought in. Where it is allowed, it is set by the restaurant and by state and local rules.
Cake cutting fee
A charge for cutting, plating, and serving a cake or dessert the guest brought in, usually per person. Also called cakeage or a plating fee.
Service charge
A mandatory charge added to the check by the restaurant. Unlike a tip, the guest does not choose it, so the menu or check should say so plainly.
Auto-gratuity
A tip added automatically to the check, usually for large parties. Restaurants that add one print the party size and the percentage on the menu.
Check average
Total sales divided by the number of checks, or by the number of guests when it is called per person average. A measure of how much a table spends.
Price anchoring
Placing a high-priced item on a menu so the dishes near it read as reasonable. A common menu design idea; treat claims about how much it moves sales with caution.
Kitchen and floor slang
What you hear across the pass during service.
86
Out of it, or take it off. “86 the halibut” means there is no more halibut tonight. See what 86 means for where the word probably came from and what to do about the menu.
All day
The total count of a dish across every open ticket. “Four burgers all day” means four burgers to cook, counting every order on the rail.
On the fly
Needed right now, ahead of everything else, usually because something was dropped, forgotten, or sent back.
In the weeds
Behind and struggling to catch up, for a cook, a station, or a server with too many tables at once.
Expo
Short for expediter: the person at the pass who calls tickets, checks every plate before it leaves, and sends it with a runner.
The pass
The counter or shelf where finished plates wait under the heat lamps between the cooks and the servers.
Fire
Start cooking it now. A table’s mains are fired when the starters are cleared.
Heard
Understood. Said back to the expo or the chef so they know a call landed.
Hands
A call for someone to carry plates from the pass to a table right now.
Behind
Said when walking behind someone in a tight kitchen, so they do not step back into you. “Corner” does the same job at a blind turn.
Mise en place
French for everything in its place: every ingredient prepped and every tool set before service. Often shortened to mise.
Family meal
The meal the kitchen cooks for the staff before or after service, usually from what needs using up.
Ticket
The printed or on-screen order for one table, also called a chit or a dupe. It hangs on the rail until the table’s food goes out.
Walk-in
The walk-in refrigerator or freezer. What is in it decides what gets 86’d.
Sell
On the line, to plate and send a dish. From a server, to steer guests toward a dish the kitchen needs to move.
Service and check terms
The front of house, the table, and the check.
Cover
One guest served. “We did 180 covers” means 180 people ate. Reservation counts and check averages are usually in covers.
Two-top, four-top
A table for two or four guests. Used for seating and for how a party is described on a reservation.
Turn
Seating a table again after the last party leaves. How many times a table turns in a service decides how many covers a room can do.
Comp
Short for complimentary: an item taken off the check for free, usually to make up for a problem or as hospitality.
Void
An item removed from the check because it was rung in by mistake and never made, as opposed to a comp, which was made and given away.
FOH and BOH
Front of house (the dining room, bar, and hosts) and back of house (the kitchen, dish, and prep). How restaurants divide staff and jobs.
Runner
The person who carries food from the pass to the table, so servers can stay with their tables.
Busser
The person who clears and resets tables, fills water, and keeps the room ready for the next party.
Sidework
The jobs servers do outside of waiting tables: rolling silverware, restocking, and, in many rooms, wiping down and checking the printed menus.
Split check
One table’s order divided into several checks, by seat or by item. Worth deciding ahead of time for large parties and set menus.
BYOB
Bring your own bottle: guests may bring wine or beer to drink with the meal. Whether it is allowed, and what corkage applies, depends on the restaurant and local rules.
Bottomless
Unlimited refills of a drink for one price over a set time, most often mimosas at brunch. Many states limit or ban unlimited alcohol offers, so check your state’s rules.
Private dining
A separate room or a buyout for a group, usually with its own set menu and minimum spend. See private event menus.
Questions we get asked
- What is the difference between à la carte and prix fixe?
- À la carte means every dish is ordered and priced on its own. Prix fixe means several courses for one set price, usually with a choice in each course. Many restaurants run both: an à la carte menu most nights and a prix fixe for holidays.
- What does MP mean on a menu?
- Market price. The dish’s price changes with what the restaurant paid for it, so the server tells you tonight’s number. It is most common on seafood like lobster and oysters.
- What does 86 mean in a restaurant?
- The kitchen is out of something, or it should come off the menu. “86 the halibut” means no more halibut tonight.
- What is a cover in a restaurant?
- One guest served. A restaurant that “did 180 covers” fed 180 people during that service.
Every term on this page ends up on a menu someone has to keep right.
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