Kitchen porters are the glue that keeps most kitchens together
. They may not be in as visible a position as the chef, but perform most of the jobs that enable a kitchen to run efficiently. Their primary responsibilities include washing and drying all of the dishes for a working kitchen. In a small restaurant the kitchen porters may wash these by hand. In larger kitchens they typically use a commercial dishwasher that requires a bit of specialized training to operate because of the complex mechanics and temperatures involved.
In addition to the dishes being used to serve the food, the kitchen porters need to make sure the pots and pans required to prepare the food for the customers are clean and ready to use when the kitchen staff needs them. This is critical to an efficient kitchen since many of the meals being prepared require a variety of cooking pots and pans and the timing of preparing the food is crucial. If a particular style of pan is not ready it could ruin an entire meal and affect customers impressions of the restaurant by having the meals take too long to serve. Another important duty that these kitchen porters are responsible for is sanitation. They have to be sure that the kitchen itself is clean and sanitary so that there are no health concerns. This will involve a regular cleaning of the kitchen several times a week and may also include the breakdown of certain preparation equipment like mixers and dishwashers. The kitchen porters need to understand what cleaning agents work best for the various areas of the kitchen and restaurant that need cleaning and keep them spotless.
Most kitchen porters will also help out with basic food preparation duties in their idle time. This could involve the cleaning and pealing of vegetables or the basic preparation of salads. It may also extend to the preparation of sauces and other basic ingredients used for making the various meals the restaurant serves. None of these expanded duties will involve these kitchen porters using a stove to actually cook. It will mostly be the cleaning and mixing of ingredients. These duties are usually dependant on the skill level of the kitchen porters and are entirely up to the chef in the kitchen.
The kitchen porters in most restaurants are considered to be entry-level positions that may lead to promotion to other jobs over time. The position of kitchen assistant is a typical career path for many kitchen porters and involves less cleaning up and more food preparation and interaction with customers. Many kitchen porters are aspiring chefs that want to get a feel for every position in a working kitchen as they complete their studies and will work as kitchen porters as part of their job experience. Other times the kitchen porters are simply workers looking for a regular income. The kitchen porter?s job is easy to learn, typically pays at minimum wage and provides steady work. Because of these factors, people in these positions tend to stay at a particular restaurant for a long time.