FW: eighty-six or 86; short-order cookery language

[Frank Abate]

Below is from my son, Greg, who has several years of recent experience in
restaurant work.

  _____

Sent: Tuesday, June 19, 2007 10:12 AM
To: Frank Abate
Subject: Re: eighty-six or 86; short-order cookery language



>From my experience, the usage of 86 that you describe is secondary.  I have
heard many theories as to how the specific number '86' came to be used in
this way (and can share them if you are interested), but these theories came
only in the form of restaurant rumor (about the furthest thing from a
reliable scholarly source imaginable).

But I think the primary and original usage (and how it was always used at
the restaurants I worked at in DC, California, and NY) is as a way to
designate that the restaurant is out of something.  So in the middle of a
shift, the cook will say, "86 venison," and everyone spreads that message
around so you don't try to sell a plate of venison to a table when there is
none.  So in this usage, 86 is a shorter and clearer way of saying, "We are
out of ______."  In my experience, this was the way 86 was primarily used.

I'm not sure if I have ever seen it used for individual orders, as you
describe.  I suppose it is somewhat related to usage I described above, but
you couldn't use both meanings in one restaurant because it would be very
confusing.  Everywhere I've worked you would simply type "NO" to exclude
something in an individual order ("NO TOMATO").  This is also shorter and
simpler to speak than 86, and short and simple (read: fast) is the name of
the game in the food industry.


G




On 6/19/07, Frank Abate <FABATE at cinci.rr.com> wrote:

"86" is used currently at the Ruby Tuesday restaurant in Blue Ash, Ohio
(near Cincinnati).  It is on the store's computer system software, used to
enter orders by servers and send them to the kitchen for preparation.
Servers and cooks there use it in speech as well.

        86 = 'do not prepare or serve with _______'

        SERVER USAGE: "86 (the) mayo on that Triple Prime Burger"

        SCREEN USAGE: "________ 86 MAYO"


Other info: The Ruby Tuesday chain has more than 900 stores.  HQ is
Tennessee.

Side note: "store" is the usual designation in the restaurant biz for any
specific location in a chain of restaurants.  Seemed a bit unusual to me at
first when I noticed the use (Sept 2006), but I now use it myself and now it
to be frequent and widespread among restaurant workers.


Frank Abate

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