A system is a network of interdependent components that work together to try to accomplish the system’s aim, or purpose. In a restaurant, the system is the flow of food. But what are the interdependent components, or processes, that make up a restaurant system?

Before I began managing the pizzeria, I had been exposed to several tools for personal goal achievement and productivity. The first checklist I created was for myself–listing every task I needed to complete and assigning them to specific days of the week. However, when I looked at the checklist, it wasn’t clear how all the pieces of the puzzle fit together. Understanding what a system is and identifying the flow helped me see the processes of the restaurant system more clearly.

There are 7 processes in the restaurant system:

• Suppliers: Unless you are growing your own food, the system begins outside your walls–with suppliers. Your relationship with these suppliers plays a crucial part in how your restaurant operates.
• Acquisition: Acquisition refers to how your restaurant places, receives, and stores orders. While suppliers is about who you source from and your relationship with them, acquisition focuses on the logistics of bringing food under your roof.
• Preparation: Once you have the necessary raw materials in your restaurant, you must prepare them for efficient service. This stage often takes place before the restaurant opens, ensuring that shifts run smoothly.
• Sales: Sales is where food orders are determined. While waitstaff or cashiers may take the orders, this process also involves factors such as menu availability, kitchen capabilities, upselling, and guest preferences–all of which impact what food will be made.
• Production: With orders coming in, the kitchen gets to work. Production is where food is made–where the kitchen transforms ingredients into finished meals.
• Service: How guests experience their food is a critical component of the restaurant system. Whether food is served at the table, picked up from a counter, carried out, or delivered, this is the climax moment for the system.
• Feedback: Every system provides feedback. It is important that we capture it. It is also important that we collect the feedback that actually tells us how our system is performing. Feedback provides insight into what’s working, what isn’t, and where improvement is needed.

Do all your food operations fit under these seven processes? Are there any processes missing?