A Typical Day at BBC

I guess you could say I was unofficially promoted. After my post about working in the new restaurant, I was moved out of Cold Catering and now work in the BBC kitchen. It's much more exciting and interesting than Cold Catering, and it gives me a great opportunity to see so much more than I would just making salads and sandwiches, so I thought I should write a post on a typical day at BBC.

As a third cook, I only get to work game days (there is a prep day the day before the game, but it's only first and second cooks, and usually just a handful of people). I show up at 1:30 and get straight to work getting ready for service. My tasks have included plating salads, mixing tempura batter, skewering meat, and preparing desserts.

At 4:00, we take a quick dinner break and then get back to whatever we were doing before break. Around 4:30, those of us working at an action station get our stations ready. I have worked at a station every game night except for one. Each station prepares one hot item, and personally I have made items including beef, rack of lamb, crab cakes, duck breast, and pork dumplings. We present each item individually on a plate with some sides and garnish, and then guests can take as much as they like throughout the evening.

Most nights, it is extremely busy trying to keep up with demand. Two of the stations can only cook one fry pan at a time, so maybe twelve items at a time, depending on the size. Often times people are waiting in line for food, especially things like beef which are really popular, so we try to use the larger action station for items like that because you can probably cook thirty to forty pieces at a time.

It's tons of fun cooking out of the kitchen and with the crowd. Many people have seasons tickets to BBC, so we see a lot of the same people every night. Most of the regulars come to the games early to eat and chat. Cooking slows down slightly during the game (though we're still busy trying to get ready for intermission), so I can usually watch the game on tv. The energy in the building when the team is winning and every time they score a goal makes it a lot of fun too.

After the second intermission, we close down the stations and clean up. There is usually some work to do in the kitchen as well, throwing out any food that can't be saved and cleaning up the fridges and work areas. It's a long day with just a short break, but it just flies by and it's really satisfying to know guests enjoyed the food I cooked for them.