Glossary
Hospo words: I
18 terms you'll hear on shift.
- Ice machine
- A machine that makes ice. Needs regular cleaning, as ice is a food and can harbour bacteria.
- ID scanner
- A device that scans and records ID documents at the door, sometimes required by licence conditions.
- Immersion circulator
- A device that clips onto a container and heats and circulates water to an exact temperature for sous vide.
- In the shit
- Blunt kitchen slang for being badly behind.
- In the weeds
- Overwhelmed and falling behind during service.
- Inbound tourism
- Visitors arriving from abroad.
- Incentive travel
- Trips given to staff as rewards, often luxury and highly organised.
- Incident log
- A record of incidents in a venue.
- Incidentals
- Charges beyond the room rate, such as food and drink, often covered by a pre-authorisation on the card at check-in.
- Independent bottler
- A company that buys casks from distilleries and bottles them under its own label.
- Induction hob
- A hob that heats pans directly by magnetism, cooler and more efficient than gas.
- Inflight catering
- Producing and loading food and drink for aircraft, a large-scale, highly regulated operation.
- Inspected
- A room checked by a supervisor after cleaning and released as ready to sell.
- Integration
- A link between two systems so data flows automatically, such as POS to accounting.
- Intermezzo
- A palate cleanser between courses, often a sorbet.
- IPA
- India Pale Ale, a hop-forward pale beer. Modern versions range from bitter West Coast styles to hazy, juicy New England IPAs.
- Isomalt
- A sugar substitute that resists humidity and crystallisation, used by pastry chefs for sugar work and decorations.
- Italian meringue
- Meringue made by pouring hot sugar syrup onto whipping egg whites, giving a stable, glossy, cooked result.
Hospodality