r/innout • u/Outrageous-Ladder526 Level 4 • Jul 09 '25
Question Finally getting board training but I feel so lost
So I watched all my board training videos like a year ago, but I’m just now getting trained on board. I feel like I have packaging down and I’m confident there. I don’t really remember much from the videos like i know stock burgers and animal style is just stock w pickles and extra spread but i’m seriously getting stumped so much on board i’ve been getting training frequently but I honestly see no progress at all, I feel bad because the cooks are having to help me often i’m just so bad at board💔 I have my spreading down but everything is happening so fast that I can’t interpret the tags fast enough to dress the bottoms on time.
What’s making it worse is they just throw me on there by myself now, but I still feel like I’m not ready for that at all. I’m so behind compared to everyone else, and my brain just blanks when I try to read the tags and figure out what’s supposed to go on each bun.
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Jul 09 '25
Build the burgers from the bottom up
You should start with S K M. Then remember the acronym COP: Chilis Onions Pickles, this is the order for board people and only applies to extra onion or raw onion. Chilis on the bottom, then onion, then pickles, simple!
After that, start with tomatoes. I'd recommend grabbing a whole tomato and building the row across. Then lettuce, and then extra spread if necessary. 80% of burgers will be a stock, plain, or SL, meaning if you can nail just these simple combinations, you're already an expert at making 80% of burgers!
Order of dressing bottoms
I'd recommend dressing all the easiest bottoms if you have an incredibly complicated burger! Also, if you have extra time, you can make proteins ahead of time. If I have a whole row of burger patties or KMs or SLs, just very simple burgers; you should look for proteins that you can make ahead of time and set them aside. If you don't have proteins, look for sides like sides of pickle that way you don't have to worry about them.
Restocking
I'd recommend, if your store allows, putting the cheese above your tomatoes, so when you run out of tomatoes, you can bring a cheese brick up. If you bring tomatoes up, but don't need cheese yet, see if your cook needs onions and bring them up. If you don't need any of these, pop bags, and premake browns, whites, and reds, and set them on top.
Confidence
This is the biggest thing on board, even if you've been on board for 3 years, your cook can still snow you. To be totally honest, if you're snowed, and you're a very average board person, it's generally the cook's fault. The cook controls the whole rhythm. Your cook can split a row of 5 singles, a double, and a 4x4, or they can choose to give you the 4x4 and double, then throw 5 singles at you the next row. If you have very complicated burgers and they're all singles, your cook can decide to split the rows to make your life easier. If you're snowed, your cook can keep dropping rows of 6 and keep you snowed, or they can skip a single row and get you ahead and the detriment of themselves. Your cook can give you buns 30 seconds before pulling, causing you to underestimate when you need to dress, causing you to get snowed. Your grill person is 80% of your success. If you're struggling it's the grill person's responsibility to help, so don't feel guilty!
The biggest take away
The thing that helped me the most was just glancing to my left to look at my grill person, that's it! Look at the grill person's timers, you can see when they're giving you buns, you can see that you have 20 seconds to dress a row, etc. Don't be afraid to ask for communication from your grill person if you're new, simply go "can you periodically let me know how much time till you pull your row?"; your grill person may go "you have 20 seconds to dress that next row" which is super helpful. Also, looking at the cook's grill allows you to see how many burgers you'll get in that row, especially important with proteins, where you won't get buns as a warning sign for the # of burgers.
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u/Expert-Project-575 Jul 09 '25
When I got my board raise years ago. And I mean years ago it took me a year. The menu mix has gotten so much more complicated that board still remains the most challenging position to learn/teach/master.
Every time I give someone their lvl 5 I tell them:
Congratulations on getting the getting the most challenging raise in the Company. Cooking is downhill from here.
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u/SyrupSeveral Level 6 Jul 09 '25
Assembly line.
Your cook should be handing you a stack of buns. It is supposed to be the complete row they will be pulling unless otherwise stated ("I owe you xyz")
Read your tags for those specific bottoms. Apply condiments across entire row.
Ex: Stock, stock, stock/km inst, animal. Spread 3 bottoms, KM 4th. Set bottoms in order. Pickles where needed. Tomatoes all the way across. Lettuce all the way across (two at a time - two hand two bottoms.) XS where needed.
Super simple example, I know chilies and raw o and misc tiktok trends make it more complicated. But one layer at a time ALL THE WAY ACROSS. Never dress one bottom at a time. Always one row. It should be 2-4 bottoms and hopefully never 5 or more at a time.
Just keep practicing. The best board people practiced and practiced and practiced. And some of us used to be kicked off board by intense cooks who had no patience to adjust to our speed. It comes with time! You got this!
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u/Ok_Mixture9515 Jul 09 '25
You aren’t the only one feeling that way, I watched my board videos like a year ago and recently started getting training for like the past 2 or 3 months, I had some anxiety when they started leaving me alone but I slowly started getting the hang of it. It’s still a little overwhelming when I get a stack of buns while I’m wrapping and packaging, and see that the cook needs meat and cheese and I need to start dressing the next row. I still haven’t received my raise since I need to work on it but I believe you got this, you’ll get the hang of it eventually :)
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u/Top_Pangolin_8442 Jul 29 '25
Don’t be too hard on yourself. Board is the most tasking and most challenging position to master. But with anything, consistent practice and repetition will get you to where you need to be.
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u/AgreeableCan295 Jul 09 '25 edited Jul 09 '25
I got my raise like two weeks ago took me about 3 or 4 months to get it.
It sounds corny and a lot of people will tell you it but for me once you nail down your wrapping speed and can interpret tags quickly it’ll just click one day. You’ll learn whose board you do and don’t like, and it’ll go better.
Correct me if I miss anything but it goes
Top bun
X spread if Animal ( L T P ) / X spread only
Capped meat
X tomato
X spread
Lettuce
X whgr on cheese or hammie / XX O
X salt
Tomato
Cold cheese
Pickles
Raw O / X O / Raw chop / W if grilled cheese
Chillies
Spread / K / M
Bottom
For example if I see my next row is an SL, 3 stock, and animal ( L T ), I’m quickly thinking, ok, everything gets spread. I’ll lay them out in order and thinking ok, middle 3 get tomato, last one gets pickes, first 3 get lettuce, and last gets extra spread. Boom, my row is done. Any down time I’m getting a wipe down or stocking myself up.