Worked a brunch shift 6 months ago and saw the ticket printer print 47 orders in 2 minutes flat

I was working a Sunday brunch at this spot in Portland. We had a waitlist of 60 people by 10am. I remember the ticket printer just kept going nonstop for at least 2 minutes. I counted 47 tickets before it finally stopped. Never seen anything like it. How do you guys handle brunch rushes without losing your mind? Do you prep ahead or just wing it?

2 comments

2 Comments

wells.brooke15d ago

47 tickets in 2 minutes flat? That is absolutely insane. I can't even wrap my head around that many orders coming in at once. I've seen some bad ticket dumps before, but that's on another level. My stomach would have dropped right through the floor honestly. How do you even organize that chaos without just snapping and walking out the back door? You guys must have some serious system or just a whole lot of caffeine and luck.

the_ruby15d agoMost Upvoted

My old coworker used to scream "WE'RE IN THE WEEDS" like it was a battle cry every time we got hit hard. One time we had a rush so bad the printer just kept spitting out tickets for like ten minutes straight. We had tickets taped to the fridge, the windows, even the ceiling tiles. The owner brought in a whiteboard and we just started numbering everything and calling out times like a train conductor. Honestly the only thing that saved us was someone yelling "no more 86ing stuff" and we just kept cooking until the tickets stopped. I still have nightmares about the sound of that printer.