“You can’t have a successful service in a restaurant without a great dishwasher.” — Emeril Lagasse.
Every great service starts in the dish pit. The quiet metronome that keeps plates, glasses, and morale circulating… one rack at a time. Chefs from Bourdain to Emeril, Keller, and Redzepi have all said, in their own ways, that the dishwasher’s work is the bedrock of everyone else’s success; when that station hums, the line cooks breathe easier, turns tighten, comps drop, and guests feel the difference without ever seeing it.
This plan treats the role with that same respect: first, we’ll define what success looks like in the pit so you can measure it; then we’ll give you a ready-to-post job ad and fast sourcing plan; a 10-minute screen and paid trial so you hire for hustle and teamwork; a one-shift onboarding that locks in flow and safety; retention moves that make it a job people keep (and a path they can grow on); plus a manager checklist for peak hours. Honor the pit, and the whole house moves.
Step 1: Define success
Purpose: Keep clean wares flowing so no station waits.
The entire position can really be boiled down to preventing bottlenecks. If you aren’t familiar with or haven’t set your pars here’s a quick way to do it: during the rush, watch the 15-minute usage for each item at one station, add a buffer of 20-50% to cover hiccups and convert to racks or stacks so it’s easy to see at a glance.
Outcomes you’re looking for:
- Glass, plate, and smallware pars are maintained by the station at all times. A goal could be that racks are turned in under 2 minutes during peaks.
- Zero cross‑contamination and breakage under your acceptable threshold.
- Behaviors: Hustle, teamwork, safety‑first.
Things like an organized flow, or dependable attendance is a little harder to visualize initially – remember to look for it as they settle in.
Pro tip: Keep a “backup par” pre-racked by the dish pit equal to about one station par, so runners can swap whole racks/stacks instead of trickle-restocking.
Step 2: Post a job ad that filters in the right people
Copy/paste this, tweak pay/benefits, and post today:
- Title: Porter/Dishwasher (Growth Path to Prep/Line)
- About us: Busy, team‑first kitchen. We call our dish team Porters because they keep the whole house moving.
- You’ll do: Rinse/sort, rack, run machine, restock stations, help trash/linen; keep logs; jump in with the team.
- You’ll need: Night/weekend availability, comfort with fast physical work, reliable transport.
- We offer: Competitive hourly + meals, fair schedules, gloves/non‑slip support, paid training, clear path to prep/line for performers.
- How to apply: 2‑question application + same‑day working interview option. No resume required.
Our working interview product is perfect to trying before you hire, and our assessment questions (free with a Premium Post) feature is perfect for intro positions like this where resumes will be spotty.
Step 3: Source fast
It’s acceptable to ask your line, servers, and bussers for referrals (bonuses for 30/60‑day retention can help); ping recent applicants for BOH roles. If Craigslist, has been your go-to for hourly workers; Poached can give you special access to track applicants using the Poached ATS rather than clogging your inbox with resumes. Local shelters, re‑entry orgs, and ESL programs offer consistent schedules and training for these types of roles.
On Poached; Premium Posts get top billing like a boosted job plus all the Premium Features for the life of the job post, and additional boosts keep your job at the top of Poached.
Step 4: Screen in 10 minutes, then do a paid trial
3 quick questions:
- “Tell me about a physically tough job you’ve had.”
- “How do you know you had a great shift?” (Listen for teamwork, pace, clean stations.)
- “Can you reliably work Fri/Sat nights?”
Paid trial (during pre‑rush): Show the flow, have them rinse/sort/run a full cycle, restock a station, and wipe down. Hire if they stay organized under speed, follow safety, ask smart questions, and help without being asked.
“I learned every important lesson, all the most important lessons of my life as a dishwasher.” — Anthony Bourdain
Step 5: Onboard in one shift
- Station map: Where every item returns (photos help).
- Flow: Scrape → sort → rack → pre‑rinse → machine → dry time → restock.
- Safety: Heat, steam, glass/knife handling, chemicals; hydration plan.
- Quality: Spot‑check for lipstick, smears, cloudiness; escalate machine issues fast.
- Communication: Who to call if falling behind; hand signals with expo/FOH.
- Metrics posted by the dish pit: Racks/hour and station par‑checks.
Step 6: Make it a job people keep
- Respect signals: Same pre‑service briefing shout‑outs as line; uniform parity; address them by name; only managers “borrow” from the dish pit.
- Comfort + tools: Fans, mats, ear protection, steady glove supply, squeegees, a clearly labeled backup rack for every station.
- Growth: A 60‑day “porter‑to‑prep” path with a small raise, plus cross‑training reps (one hour per week on prep tasks when pars are met).
- Scheduling fairness: Rotate the hardest closes; promise and honor two back‑to‑back days off when possible.
Step 7: Manager checklist for peak shifts
- Before doors: Machine heat/chemicals logged; trash/linen staged; pars pulled; backup racks built.
- During rush: Expedite returns; assign a runner to ferry clean wares; call 5‑minute plate counts.
- After: Sanitizer buckets dumped; floors squeegeed; screens/arms cleaned; errors noted in a simple log.
On making longtime dishwasher Ali Sonko a partner; René Redzepi said “Ali is the heart and soul of Noma.”
Hire for hustle and character, not fully fleshed out resumes. Teach the flow, protect their hands and backs, praise in public, and show the path up. Do that, and your dish pit becomes your unfair advantage.