We’re losing a minute or two per ticket when the board floods between 6:15–7:45 on Fridays, mostly where hot apps and grill hits reach the pass out of sync. What simple cues or timing habits have helped your team keep expo flush — like two-word confirmations or a 10-minute tray reset — so stations move as one without slowing the rail?
We started a 90-second ‘mark 90’ from expo when grill fires; apps drop on the mark, and at 90 expo calls ‘status’ and stations answer ‘green’ or ‘30 out’ so we either hold or micro-delay the other side — keeps plates landing together like a metronome. Small caveat: if fryers are snappy, make it ‘mark 60’; want the call script?
Quick win: we run a soft 60‑sec pulse on expo’s timer — like a kitchen metronome; grill drops on the first beep, apps on the second, and anyone off cadence calls ‘slip’ so expo auto-holds that ticket for one pulse without clogging the rail. If sound’s a no-go, @adatayl, a cheap LED puck light gives the same ‘pulse’ cue?
We use a simple “pair at pass” rule: when hot apps hit first, expo drops a red clip on that chit and calls “pair,” apps don’t leave until grill answers “paired,” which shaved about a minute off our 6:15–7:45 Friday drift without slowing the rail… If you don’t have clips, a Sharpie dot works the same — would that fit your pass?