Glossary
Hospo words: T
53 terms you'll hear on shift.
- Tab
- A running bill.
- Table d'hôte
- A set menu with limited choice.
- Table maintenance
- Ongoing attention to a table during the meal: water topped, glasses cleared, napkins refolded, condiments offered.
- Table management system
- Software that handles reservations, waitlists and table allocation.
- Table plan
- The floor map of tables and their numbers, used by hosts to allocate bookings and walk-ins.
- Tableside
- Any preparation finished at the table in front of guests, from flambéing to carving to mixing a salad.
- Tamping
- Pressing ground coffee evenly in the portafilter so water flows through it uniformly.
- Tannin
- Compounds from grape skins, seeds and oak that create a drying, grippy sensation in red wine and help it age.
- Tapas
- Spanish small dishes served with drinks, now a wider menu style.
- Tapping
- Driving a tap into a cask's keystone so the beer can be drawn off.
- Tartare
- Finely chopped raw meat or fish seasoned and served cold, as in steak tartare.
- Tea sommelier
- A specialist who advises on tea selection, brewing and pairing, increasingly found in luxury hotels.
- Temperature log
- Records of fridge, freezer and food temperatures, kept as part of a food safety system.
- Tempering
- Heating and cooling chocolate through set temperatures so cocoa butter crystallises in its stable form, giving snap and shine.
- TEN
- Temporary Event Notice for one-off licensable events.
- Tenancy
- A pub let to a tenant who runs the business.
- TENs
- Temporary Event Notices, plural: the UK route for licensable activities at a small event without a premises licence, with limits on number and attendance.
- Terrine
- A mixture of meat, fish or vegetables pressed in a mould and served sliced, usually cold.
- Terroir
- The full combination of soil, climate, slope, aspect and local tradition that shapes a wine's character in a particular place.
- Test purchase
- An operation where trading standards or police send a young person to try to buy alcohol, to check age verification.
- The pass
- The counter where finished dishes are checked and collected for service.
- Theatre style
- Rows of chairs facing a stage or screen, giving the highest seated capacity.
- Thermomix
- A blender with built-in heating and weighing, used for purées, sauces and doughs.
- Throw
- Pouring a drink back and forth between two vessels from a height to aerate and chill it gently, a technique associated with Spanish bars.
- Ticket
- An order sent to the kitchen.
- Tied pub
- A pub that must buy drinks from its landlord, usually a pub company.
- Tilt
- Angling a cask to get the last of the beer out.
- Time and attendance
- Systems for clocking in and out, feeding payroll.
- Tin on tin
- A Boston shaker made of two metal tins, lighter and less breakable than a glass and tin set.
- Top table
- The table for the hosts or wedding party, often long and facing the room.
- Top up
- Adding beer to a short pint.
- Tour operator
- A company that packages travel and accommodation into holidays.
- Tourist tax
- A charge on overnight visitors; Wales and parts of Scotland have moved towards introducing one.
- Tournant
- A chef who covers any station.
- Tourné
- A seven-sided barrel shape carved from potatoes or root vegetables with a curved tourné knife. A classic test of knife skill, now rarely served.
- Traceability
- Being able to trace each ingredient back to its supplier, important in recalls.
- Traditional method
- Sparkling wine made with a second fermentation in the bottle, as in Champagne, Cava and English sparkling wine.
- Travel retail
- Shops and food outlets at airports, stations and ports.
- Trial shift
- A shift used to assess a candidate.
- Tronc
- An independently managed pool for distributing tips and service charges.
- Tronc software
- Tools that calculate and distribute tips and service charge fairly and transparently.
- Troncmaster
- The person who runs a tronc and decides allocations.
- Truss
- Tying a bird or joint with string to hold a compact shape so it roasts evenly.
- Tuile
- A thin, crisp biscuit shaped while warm, often curved over a rolling pin, used as a garnish.
- Turn
- Reseating a table during a service; also the number of times a table is used.
- Turn time
- How long a table is occupied from seating to leaving. Reservations are often booked to a set turn time.
- Turndown
- Evening room service.
- Turnover rent
- Rent linked to sales.
- Twelve-hour shift
- A long day common in kitchens; increasingly scrutinised for welfare.
- Two minutes
- A call warning the pass or a section that a course will be ready shortly.
- Two-stage clean
- Cleaning with detergent first to remove dirt, then disinfecting, as each needs its own step.
- Two-top
- A table for two.
Hospodality