# Hospodality — Hospitality glossary

Source: https://www.hospodality.com · hello@hospodality.com

## Glossary (927 terms)

### Bar and cocktails

**Bar spoon** — A long, thin, twisted spoon used to stir drinks smoothly and to layer liqueurs.

**Bitters** — Concentrated infusions of botanicals in spirit, used in dashes to season cocktails. Angostura and orange bitters are the staples.

**Boston shaker** — A two-part shaker of a metal tin and a mixing glass or smaller tin. Fast and the bar professional's standard.

**Build** — Making a drink directly in the glass it is served in, such as a highball or a Negroni on the rocks.

**Clarification** — Making a cloudy cocktail clear, for example by milk washing, centrifuge or agar, so it can be served still and bright.

**Cobbler shaker** — A three-part shaker with a built-in strainer and cap. Common in Japan and at home; slower in a busy bar.

**Coupe** — A shallow, stemmed glass used for drinks served up; less prone to spills than a V-shaped martini glass.

**Dilution** — Water added to a drink as ice melts during shaking or stirring. Essential to balance; a good bartender controls it.

**Dirty** — A Martini with a splash of olive brine; also used for a drink poured with its shaking ice unstrained.

**Expressed peel** — Squeezing a strip of citrus peel over a drink so its oils spray across the surface, then garnishing or discarding it.

**Fat-washing** — Infusing a spirit with a fat such as butter, bacon or coconut oil, then freezing it so the solid fat can be removed, leaving flavour and texture behind.

**Fine strainer** — A small conical mesh sieve used with the main strainer to catch ice chips and fruit pulp; the second half of a double strain.

**Float (cocktail)** — A layer of spirit or liqueur poured gently on top of a drink so it sits as a distinct layer.

**Gomme** — A sugar syrup thickened with gum arabic, giving a silkier mouthfeel than simple syrup.

**Hard shake** — A choreographed vigorous shaking style from Japanese bartending, said to aerate and texture drinks.

**Hawthorne strainer** — The flat strainer with a spring coil that fits over a shaker tin to hold back ice.

**Highball** — A tall glass for spirit and mixer drinks, and the name for that style of drink.

**Julep strainer** — A perforated, spoon-shaped strainer used with a mixing glass for stirred drinks.

**Low and no** — Low-alcohol and alcohol-free drinks, a growing part of every serious bar list.

**Milk punch** — A clarified punch where milk curdles with acidic ingredients and is strained out, leaving a silky, shelf-stable drink.

**Mixing glass** — A heavy glass vessel for stirring spirit-forward drinks over ice, such as Martinis and Manhattans.

**Nick and Nora** — A small, rounded stemmed glass for drinks served up, smaller than a coupe.

**Oleo saccharum** — An oil-rich syrup made by muddling citrus peels with sugar and leaving them to draw out the oils; a base for punch.

**Orgeat** — An almond syrup scented with orange flower water, key to the Mai Tai.

**Reverse dry shake** — Shaking a cocktail with ice first, straining out the ice, then shaking again without ice to build a thicker foam on egg-white drinks.

**Rinse** — Coating the inside of a glass with a small amount of a spirit, such as absinthe for a Sazerac, and discarding the excess.

**Rocks glass** — A short tumbler, also called an old fashioned glass, for drinks over ice or neat spirits.

**Shrub** — A drinking vinegar of fruit, sugar and vinegar, used to bring acidity and fruit to cocktails and alcohol-free drinks.

**Simple syrup** — Sugar dissolved in water, usually 1:1 or 2:1 rich syrup, the basic sweetener behind the bar.

**Spirit-forward** — A cocktail built mainly on spirit, with little or no juice, such as a Martini or Old Fashioned. These are stirred, not shaken.

**Swizzle** — Mixing a drink with crushed ice by spinning a swizzle stick between the palms, frosting the glass.

**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.

**Tin on tin** — A Boston shaker made of two metal tins, lighter and less breakable than a glass and tin set.

**Up** — Served chilled without ice, usually in a stemmed glass such as a coupe or martini glass.

**Whip shake** — A short shake with a few pieces of crushed ice to chill and dilute a drink that will be served over more crushed ice.

### Beer and cider

**Bitter** — The classic English cask ale: amber, moderately hopped and often low in strength.

**Bittersweet apples** — Cider apple varieties high in tannin and low in acid, giving body and structure to West Country cider.

**Cask conditioning** — The secondary fermentation that happens in a cask in the cellar, producing natural, gentle carbonation.

**Cask Marque** — An accreditation scheme in which assessors check the temperature, appearance, aroma and taste of a pub's cask ales.

**Cellar temperature** — The cool range, usually around 11 to 13C, at which cask ale is kept and served.

**Coupler** — The fitting that connects a gas and beer line to a keg; different brewers use different coupler types.

**Craft keg** — Unpasteurised, often unfiltered beer served from keg, associated with independent brewers.

**Dropped bright** — Cask beer that has cleared and is ready to serve.

**Finings** — A clearing agent, traditionally isinglass from fish, added to cask beer to drop the yeast to the bottom. Unfined beers stay hazy and are often vegan.

**Fobbing** — Excess foaming during dispense, often from warm beer, worn seals or the wrong gas pressure.

**Font** — The fixture on the bar from which keg beer is dispensed.

**Guest ale** — A rotating cask beer from another brewery, offered alongside a pub's regular range.

**Handpull** — A beer engine with a long pump handle that draws cask ale from the cellar by suction, without gas.

**IPA** — India Pale Ale, a hop-forward pale beer. Modern versions range from bitter West Coast styles to hazy, juicy New England IPAs.

**Keeving** — A traditional cider technique that slows fermentation to leave natural sweetness, used in France and the West Country.

**Keystone** — The hole in the end of a cask into which the tap is driven.

**Lager** — Beer fermented with bottom-fermenting yeast at cool temperatures and matured cold, giving a clean, crisp profile.

**Mild** — A traditionally dark, malty and low-strength English ale, once the most popular beer in Britain.

**Mixed gas** — A blend of carbon dioxide and nitrogen used to dispense stouts and smooth beers, giving a creamy head.

**Nitro** — Beer served with a high nitrogen blend for a dense, creamy texture and cascade, as with Irish stout.

**Perry** — A drink made from fermented pear juice, traditional in Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire.

**Porter** — A dark beer brewed with roasted malts, ancestor of stout, with chocolate and coffee notes.

**Pump clip** — The badge on a handpull or font that shows which beer it serves.

**Python** — The insulated bundle of beer lines and coolant pipes running from cellar to bar.

**Real ale** — Cask-conditioned beer that finishes fermenting in the cask in the pub cellar and is served without extra carbon dioxide.

**Scrumpy** — Rough, traditional farmhouse cider, typically still, cloudy and strong, especially from the West Country.

**Sessionable** — A beer low enough in strength and easy enough to drink several in a sitting, usually under about 4.5 percent ABV.

**Shive** — The wooden or plastic bung in the top of a cask through which the spile is inserted.

**Small brewers relief** — A UK duty relief scheme that reduces beer duty for smaller producers, tapering as output rises.

**Sour** — Beer deliberately soured by bacteria or wild yeast, from Belgian lambics to kettle-soured modern styles.

**Sparkler** — A nozzle on a handpull that forces beer through small holes to create a tight, creamy head, favoured in the north of England.

**Tapping** — Driving a tap into a cask's keystone so the beer can be drawn off.

**Venting** — Releasing excess gas from a newly delivered cask through the shive with a soft spile before serving.

### Business and finance

**Average transaction value** — Average spend per bill or transaction, used in bars and quick service where covers are not counted.

**Break-even covers** — The number of covers needed in a period to cover all fixed and variable costs.

**Business rates** — A UK property tax on commercial premises, based on rateable value. Hospitality has received varying levels of relief.

**Cash flow** — The timing of money in and out. Many profitable hospitality businesses fail on cash flow.

**Cash margin** — The money made on an item after cost, as opposed to percentage margin; matters more for high-priced items.

**Contribution** — What each sale contributes to covering fixed costs and profit after its variable costs.

**CVA** — Company Voluntary Arrangement, an insolvency process letting a company renegotiate debts and leases with creditors' approval.

**Daypart** — A section of the trading day, such as breakfast, lunch or late night, analysed for sales and staffing.

**Fit-out** — The cost of building and equipping a premises, often the biggest upfront investment in opening a restaurant.

**Fixed costs** — Costs that do not change with sales, such as rent, rates and insurance.

**Flash report** — A quick daily or weekly summary of sales, covers, labour and key figures.

**Food cost percentage** — The cost of food sold as a percentage of food sales. Many UK restaurants target around 25 to 35 percent.

**Four-wall EBITDA** — Earnings at site level before central overheads, a common measure of a restaurant's own profitability.

**Gross margin** — Sales minus cost of goods, as a share of sales. In UK hospitality GP is often quoted net of VAT.

**Heads of terms** — A non-binding summary of the main terms of a lease or deal, agreed before solicitors draft the contract.

**Key money** — Another term for a premium, paid to secure a lease.

**Labour model** — The planned staffing levels for each daypart and sales level, used to schedule the rota.

**Like-for-like** — Comparing sales at the same sites against the same period last year, excluding new openings.

**Liquor cost** — The cost of drinks sold as a percentage of drinks sales, usually much lower than food cost.

**Menu engineering** — Analysing each dish by popularity and profit to decide what to promote, reprice or remove.

**Occupancy costs** — Rent, business rates, service charges and insurance on a premises, often grouped together for comparison.

**P&L** — Profit and loss statement, showing revenue, costs and profit over a period.

**Payback period** — How long it takes for a new site's profits to repay the investment in it.

**Premium** — In UK property, a lump sum paid to an outgoing tenant for the lease of a desirable site.

**Rateable value** — The estimated annual rental value of a premises, set by the Valuation Office Agency, on which business rates are calculated.

**Rent-free period** — Months at the start of a lease where no rent is paid, often granted to fund fit-out.

**Sales per labour hour** — Revenue divided by hours worked, a measure of staff productivity.

**Semi-variable costs** — Costs with fixed and variable parts, such as utilities and labour scheduled around demand.

**Spend per head** — Average revenue per guest, calculated by dividing sales by covers. A key lever alongside volume.

**Stars, ploughhorses, puzzles, dogs** — The classic menu engineering grid: high profit and popular, popular but low profit, profitable but unpopular, and neither.

**Unit economics** — The profitability of a single site or product, before head office costs.

**Variable costs** — Costs that rise with sales, such as food, drink and card fees.

**VAT** — Value Added Tax, charged at the standard rate on most hospitality sales in the UK. Takeaway cold food can be zero-rated.

**Working capital** — Cash available to run day-to-day operations after current liabilities.

### Coffee and tea

**Afternoon tea** — A served meal of sandwiches, scones and cakes with tea, a key revenue stream for UK hotels.

**Backflush** — Cleaning the group head by running water and detergent through a blind basket, done daily.

**Batch brew** — Filter coffee brewed in quantity and held hot, letting cafés serve good black coffee quickly.

**Brew ratio** — The ratio of dry coffee to liquid espresso, such as 1:2. Baristas dial in by ratio, time and taste.

**Channelling** — When water finds weak spots through the coffee bed during extraction, giving uneven, sour and bitter shots.

**Cold brew** — Coffee steeped in cold water for many hours, giving a smooth, low-acid concentrate.

**Cortado** — Espresso cut with a similar amount of warm milk, little or no foam.

**Cream tea** — Tea served with scones, clotted cream and jam. Devon and Cornwall famously disagree about the order of cream and jam.

**Crema** — The golden foam on top of an espresso, formed from oils and carbon dioxide.

**Cupping** — The standard method of tasting and grading coffee, by steeping grounds in bowls and slurping from spoons.

**Dialling in** — Adjusting grind size, dose and time each morning so espresso tastes right as beans and humidity change.

**Doppio** — A double espresso.

**Dose** — The weight of ground coffee used for a shot or brew.

**Espresso** — A short, concentrated coffee made by forcing hot water through finely ground coffee under pressure, usually around 9 bar.

**Extraction** — How much of the soluble material is dissolved from coffee grounds. Under-extracted tastes sour; over-extracted tastes bitter.

**Flat white** — A small, strong milk coffee with a thin layer of microfoam, popularised in Britain from Australian and New Zealand cafés.

**Group head** — The part of the espresso machine where the portafilter locks in and water is delivered.

**Latte art** — Patterns such as hearts, tulips and rosettas poured into a milk drink.

**Loose leaf** — Tea served as whole or broken leaves rather than in bags, brewed in a pot with an infuser or strainer.

**Lungo** — A longer espresso pulled with more water, more bitter and less intense.

**Macchiato** — Espresso marked with a small spoonful of milk foam.

**Microfoam** — Finely textured steamed milk with tiny, glossy bubbles, needed for latte art.

**Natural process** — Coffee dried inside its fruit, giving fruity, sometimes winey flavours.

**Portafilter** — The handled basket that holds ground coffee and locks into the espresso machine group head.

**Pour over** — Filter coffee brewed by hand, pouring water over grounds in a cone such as a V60 or Kalita.

**Ristretto** — A shorter, more concentrated espresso using less water, sweeter and more intense.

**Single origin** — Coffee from one country, region or farm, rather than a blend.

**Specialty coffee** — Coffee scoring high on a recognised cupping scale, sourced and roasted with care for quality and traceability.

**Steam wand** — The pipe on an espresso machine that steams and textures milk.

**Steep time** — How long tea is left to brew. Green teas need cooler water and shorter steeps than black teas.

**Tamping** — Pressing ground coffee evenly in the portafilter so water flows through it uniformly.

**Tea sommelier** — A specialist who advises on tea selection, brewing and pairing, increasingly found in luxury hotels.

**Washed process** — Coffee processing in which fruit is removed before drying, giving clean, bright flavours.

### Equipment

**Bratt pan** — A large tilting pan that can braise, boil, fry and stew in volume.

**Chamber vacuum sealer** — A professional vacuum packer that seals bags inside a chamber, allowing liquids to be packed.

**Chargrill** — A grill with bars over a heat source that brands food with char lines.

**Convection oven** — An oven with a fan to circulate hot air, cooking evenly and quickly.

**Deck oven** — An oven with stone or steel decks for baking bread and pizza with strong bottom heat.

**Deep fat fryer** — A fryer for cooking in hot oil, with filtration to extend oil life.

**Extraction canopy** — The hood that removes smoke and grease from cooking, with filters that need regular cleaning.

**Flat top** — A flat cooking surface heated from below, used for burgers, eggs and searing.

**Gastronorm** — A standard sizing system for kitchen containers, so pans fit fridges, ovens and counters interchangeably.

**Glasswasher** — A compact dishwasher for glasses, usually under the bar.

**Grease trap** — A device that captures fats and oils from waste water before they block drains.

**Heat lamp** — A lamp above the pass that keeps plated food warm until collected.

**Hot cupboard** — A heated cabinet for warming plates or holding cooked food.

**Hotel pan** — A rectangular metal container, often sized to gastronorm, used for prep, storage and holding.

**Ice machine** — A machine that makes ice. Needs regular cleaning, as ice is a food and can harbour bacteria.

**Immersion circulator** — A device that clips onto a container and heats and circulates water to an exact temperature for sous vide.

**Induction hob** — A hob that heats pans directly by magnetism, cooler and more efficient than gas.

**Josper** — A brand of charcoal oven grill widely used in restaurants for its high heat and smoky flavour.

**Mandoline** — A slicer with an adjustable blade for very thin, even slices. A guard is essential.

**Pacojet** — A machine that micro-purées frozen preparations into ultra-smooth ice creams, sorbets and mousses to order.

**Pass-through dishwasher** — A hood-type commercial dishwasher that racks slide through, cleaning in a couple of minutes.

**Pizza oven** — A high-temperature oven, wood or gas fired, for baking pizza in a minute or two.

**Plancha** — A flat, very hot griddle plate for searing seafood, meat and vegetables quickly.

**Planetary mixer** — A stand mixer whose attachment orbits the bowl, used for doughs, batters and creams.

**Rational** — A brand of combi oven so widespread that its name is used generically in many kitchens.

**Reach-in** — An upright fridge or freezer that staff reach into, as opposed to a walk-in.

**Robata** — A Japanese grill, typically charcoal, used for skewers and slow grilling.

**Stick blender** — A handheld immersion blender for puréeing soups and sauces in the pot.

**Stockpot burner** — A low, powerful burner for heavy stock pots.

**Thermomix** — A blender with built-in heating and weighing, used for purées, sauces and doughs.

**Undercounter fridge** — A fridge fitted below a work surface for quick access to ingredients during service.

**Vacuum packer** — A machine that removes air and seals food in bags, for sous vide and storage.

**Water bath** — A precisely heated tank or circulator used for sous vide cooking.

### Events and banqueting

**24-hour delegate rate** — A residential conference package including the day rate plus accommodation, dinner and breakfast.

**AV** — Audio-visual equipment such as projectors, screens, microphones and sound systems, often supplied by a partner.

**Banquet captain** — The supervisor who leads a team of banqueting waiters, cueing them to serve and clear each course in unison.

**Banquet rounds** — Round tables usually seating eight to twelve, the standard for dinners and weddings.

**Bar tab (events)** — A set amount the host puts behind the bar for guests, after which it switches to cash.

**BEO** — Banquet Event Order, the document detailing every element of an event for all departments: timings, menus, room set, equipment and billing.

**Boardroom style** — A single large table with seating around it for small meetings.

**Bowl food** — Small portions served in bowls at standing receptions, more substantial than canapés.

**Cabaret style** — Round tables with seats around only part of each, so everyone faces the stage.

**Canapé** — A small, one or two bite savoury served on a tray at a reception.

**Cash bar** — A bar where guests buy their own drinks, as opposed to an open bar paid for by the host.

**Classroom style** — Rows of tables with chairs facing forward, used for training and note-taking.

**Corkage (events)** — A charge per bottle when clients supply their own drinks at a venue.

**Day delegate rate** — A per-person package price for a day conference covering room hire, refreshments and lunch.

**Drinks reception** — The welcome period before a sit-down meal, typically with fizz and canapés.

**Evening buffet** — Food served later at a wedding or party for evening guests, often bacon rolls, pizza or a hog roast.

**Exclusive use** — Hiring an entire venue so no other guests are present, common for weddings.

**Final numbers** — The confirmed guest count given by the client before an event, on which the bill is based.

**Function sheet** — The UK name for a document listing every detail of an event, used much like a BEO.

**Get-out** — Breaking down and removing an event set after it ends.

**Guarantee number** — The minimum number of covers a client pays for, even if fewer attend.

**Load-in** — The period when suppliers, AV and staging arrive and set up, often with tight access times.

**Minimum spend** — The amount a client must spend on food and drink to secure a space, with any shortfall charged.

**Open bar** — A bar where the host pays for drinks, either on consumption or at a fixed package price.

**Plated service (events)** — Each guest served the same course at once, as opposed to buffet or family style.

**Room hire** — The fee charged for exclusive use of a function space, sometimes waived against a minimum spend.

**Run sheet** — A minute-by-minute schedule of an event, shared with every department and supplier.

**Seating plan** — The plan showing who sits where at an event, finalised with the client before the day.

**Synchronised service** — In banqueting, service in which waiters serve a table together and put down plates at the same moment.

**Theatre style** — Rows of chairs facing a stage or screen, giving the highest seated capacity.

**Top table** — The table for the hosts or wedding party, often long and facing the room.

**U-shape** — Tables arranged in a U, with the presenter at the open end.

**Wedding breakfast** — The main meal at a British wedding, whatever time of day it is served.

### Food safety

**Allergen matrix** — A chart showing which of the 14 allergens are in each dish, used by staff to answer guests.

**Allergen statement** — A notice telling guests to inform staff about allergies, often printed on menus.

**Bacillus cereus** — A bacterium associated with reheated rice, whose toxins survive reheating.

**BS EN 1276** — The standard showing a disinfectant kills bacteria effectively, often referenced in UK kitchens.

**Clostridium perfringens** — A bacterium linked to large batches of meat cooled slowly, causing food poisoning.

**Cold holding** — Keeping chilled food at 8C or below by law, though best practice is 5C or below.

**Contact time** — How long a disinfectant must stay on a surface to work.

**Cook to 75C** — A common UK guideline for reheating or cooking food so the core reaches a safe temperature, with time and temperature combinations accepted.

**Cooling within 90 minutes** — A common guideline for cooling cooked food quickly to fridge temperature to limit bacterial growth.

**Core temperature** — The temperature at the centre of the thickest part of food, checked with a probe.

**Cross-contamination** — Transfer of harmful bacteria from one food, surface or person to another, particularly raw to ready-to-eat food.

**Due diligence** — The legal defence of having taken all reasonable precautions to prevent a food safety offence, proven through records.

**E. coli O157** — A dangerous bacterium that can cause severe illness; its risks led to strict separation of raw and cooked food in UK guidance.

**Environmental health** — The council department responsible for food safety and hygiene inspections.

**Exclusion period** — Staff with vomiting or diarrhoea should stay off work until 48 hours after symptoms stop.

**Food business registration** — The legal requirement to register with the local council at least 28 days before starting a food business.

**Food hygiene certificate** — Proof of training in safe food handling, typically a Level 2 Food Safety in Catering qualification for UK food handlers.

**Food recall** — Removing unsafe food from sale and from customers, often triggered by the supplier.

**Handwash basin** — A basin used only for handwashing, with hot water, soap and drying, required in food areas.

**High-risk food** — Foods that support bacterial growth, such as cooked meat, dairy, eggs and cooked rice.

**Hot holding** — Keeping cooked food hot for service, which in England must be at 63C or above.

**Hygiene emergency prohibition notice** — An order from environmental health closing a food business immediately due to a serious health risk.

**Hygiene improvement notice** — A formal notice requiring a food business to fix hygiene breaches within a set time.

**Listeria** — A bacterium that can grow at fridge temperatures, particularly dangerous for pregnant women.

**Norovirus** — A highly contagious virus causing vomiting and diarrhoea, spread by poor hand hygiene and contaminated surfaces.

**Pest control** — Prevention and treatment of pests such as rodents and cockroaches, usually under a contract with logs.

**Ready-to-eat** — Food that will not be cooked again before eating, and so must be protected from contamination.

**Salmonella** — A bacterium often linked to eggs and poultry that causes food poisoning.

**Shelf life** — How long food stays safe and good to eat in set conditions.

**Temperature log** — Records of fridge, freezer and food temperatures, kept as part of a food safety system.

**Traceability** — Being able to trace each ingredient back to its supplier, important in recalls.

**Two-stage clean** — Cleaning with detergent first to remove dirt, then disinfecting, as each needs its own step.

**Vacuum packing** — Sealing food without air to extend shelf life, which raises botulism risk without strict controls.

### Front of house and service

**American service** — Food plated in the kitchen and carried to the table, the most common style in modern restaurants.

**Auctioning** — Asking 'who had the fish?' at the table. Considered poor service; seat numbers prevent it.

**Bill presenter** — The folder or tray the bill is delivered on. Many restaurants now take payment at the table on a card terminal.

**Butler service** — Platters offered to guests who serve themselves, also used for passed canapés at receptions.

**Captain** — A senior server who leads a section, takes orders and directs runners and junior waiters, common in fine dining.

**Check back** — A visit shortly after food arrives, usually within two bites or two minutes, to ask if everything is as expected.

**Chef de rang** — A station waiter in the classical brigade, responsible for a group of tables and assisted by a commis de rang.

**Clearing from the right** — The convention of serving drinks and clearing plates from the guest's right. Food in plated service often goes down from the right too, though houses vary.

**Commis de rang** — A junior waiter who supports the chef de rang, running food and clearing.

**Cover** — Both a guest and the place setting laid for them. Laying covers means setting places with cutlery and glassware.

**Crumbing down** — Clearing crumbs from the tablecloth between courses with a crumber or folded napkin, usually before dessert.

**Demi chef de rang** — A server between commis and chef de rang in the classical dining room brigade.

**Directeur de salle** — The dining room manager in the classical French brigade, in charge of all front of house service.

**Doubling up** — Seating two parties at a table at the same time on a shared table, or booking a table for two consecutive sittings.

**Family style** — Dishes served on shared platters placed in the middle of the table for guests to help themselves.

**Flambé** — Igniting alcohol in a pan to burn off some of it and add flavour and theatre, as in crêpes Suzette. Needs a risk assessment and careful technique.

**French service** — Traditionally dishes finished or presented at the table, and in banqueting, guests serving themselves from a platter held by the server.

**Greeter** — The person at the door who welcomes guests and hands them to a host or server; sometimes the same person as the host.

**Linen** — Tablecloths, napkins and slip cloths, often rented from a laundry service and counted in and out each week.

**Marking the table** — Setting the correct cutlery for the next course in front of each guest after the previous course is cleared.

**Mise en place (FOH)** — The front of house equivalent of kitchen prep: polished glassware and cutlery, laid tables, stocked stations and briefed staff.

**Napkin fold** — A decorative or practical way of folding linen napkins for the setting, from the simple rectangle to the bishop's mitre.

**Pay at table** — Bringing a card terminal to the table so the guest pays without the card leaving their sight; standard in the UK.

**Pivot point** — The fixed seat from which a table's seat numbers start, often the seat nearest the door or with its back to the kitchen.

**Pre-bussing** — Removing empty glasses and finished plates while guests are still seated, keeping the table tidy without rushing them.

**Russian service** — Food carved or plated at a sideboard and offered to each guest from platters by the server. Often used loosely for silver service.

**Seat numbers** — A numbering system for positions at each table, usually clockwise from a fixed point, so runners place each dish correctly without auctioning.

**Slip cloth** — A smaller cloth laid over the main tablecloth so it can be changed between sittings without stripping the table.

**Splitting the bill** — Dividing a table's bill between guests by item or equally. POS systems handle it, but it slows table turns at peak.

**Table maintenance** — Ongoing attention to a table during the meal: water topped, glasses cleared, napkins refolded, condiments offered.

**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.

**Turn time** — How long a table is occupied from seating to leaving. Reservations are often booked to a set turn time.

### General

**14 allergens** — The allergens that must be declared under UK law.

**86** — An item is finished or unavailable; also used to mean removing or barring someone.

**À la carte** — Menu with individually priced dishes.

**ADR** — Average daily rate: average room revenue per occupied room.

**Agency staff** — Workers supplied by an agency.

**Aggregator** — A delivery platform.

**All day** — The total number of an item needed across all tickets.

**Amuse-bouche** — Complimentary bite before the meal.

**Ask for Angela** — Scheme for people feeling unsafe to get help discreetly.

**Away** — Call that a course is ready to be started.

**Back bar** — Shelves of bottles behind the bar.

**Bain-marie** — A hot water bath for keeping food warm.

**Banqueting** — Large events catering.

**Barback** — Support role for bartenders, restocking and cleaning.

**Batch** — A pre-made cocktail mix.

**Behind** — Called when walking behind someone in a kitchen or bar to avoid collisions.

**Bell** — Bell rung for last orders.

**Best before** — Date relating to quality rather than safety.

**Blast chiller** — Equipment for cooling food rapidly.

**Board** — Tickets currently in play.

**BOH** — Back of house: the kitchen, stores, cellar and dish pit.

**Break clause** — An option to end a lease early.

**Break-even** — When revenue covers costs.

**Brigade** — The kitchen team structure.

**Brunoise** — Very fine dice.

**Busser** — Staff member who clears tables, more common in American usage.

**BYOB** — Bring your own bottle.

**Call** — A specific spirit brand requested by the guest.

**Card guarantee** — Card details held to charge for no-shows.

**Cash-up** — Counting takings at the end of the shift.

**Cask** — A container for real ale that conditions in the cellar.

**CCP** — Critical control point in HACCP.

**Cellar** — Where kegs and casks are stored.

**Challenge 25** — Policy of asking for ID from anyone who looks under 25.

**Channel manager** — Software syncing hotel rates to OTAs.

**Check** — An order slip, or the bill in some places.

**Check-in** — Guest arrival process.

**Check-out** — Guest departure process.

**Chef de partie** — Chef running a section such as sauce or fish.

**Chef's table** — A table in or near the kitchen.

**Chiffonade** — Fine ribbons of herbs or leaves.

**Clopen** — Closing late and opening early the next day.

**Closing down** — Cleaning and shutting at the end of the night.

**Combi oven** — An oven using steam and convection.

**Commis** — Junior chef learning in a section.

**Comp** — Giving an item or meal free of charge.

**Concierge** — Staff helping guests with arrangements.

**Coravin** — A device for pouring wine without removing the cork.

**Corkage** — Fee for bringing your own wine.

**Corked** — Wine tainted by cork.

**Corner** — Called when turning a blind corner, often carrying hot or sharp items.

**COSHH** — Rules on hazardous substances.

**Costing** — Working out the cost of a dish.

**Cover charge** — Charge per guest.

**Covers** — The number of guests served.

**Covers forecast** — Expected number of guests.

**Covers per hour** — A measure of kitchen or floor throughput.

**CRM** — Customer relationship management.

**Cross-contact** — Allergen transfer between foods.

**Cut** — Sending staff home early.

**Danger zone** — Temperature range where bacteria grow quickly.

**Dark kitchen** — Delivery-only kitchen.

**Dash** — A small splash of bitters or other liquid.

**Day dot** — Coloured label marking prep dates.

**Dead** — Very quiet.

**Decant** — Pouring wine into a decanter.

**Deposit** — Money taken in advance to secure a booking.

**Dish pit** — The washing-up area.

**Door super** — A licensed door supervisor.

**Double** — Working two shifts in one day.

**Double strain** — Straining through a fine sieve.

**DPS** — Designated Premises Supervisor, the named personal licence holder responsible for a licensed venue.

**Drink cover** — A lid to prevent spiking.

**Drinking-up time** — Time after last orders to finish drinks.

**Dry shake** — Shaking without ice, often to foam egg white.

**Dry stock** — Non-perishable food stock.

**EBITDA** — Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation.

**EHO** — Environmental Health Officer.

**EPOS** — Electronic point of sale.

**Executive chef** — Chef overseeing multiple kitchens or sites.

**Expo** — Expediter who coordinates dishes at the pass.

**F&B** — Food and beverage.

**Family meal** — The staff meal before or after service.

**FHRS** — Food Hygiene Rating Scheme.

**FIFO** — First in, first out stock rotation.

**Fire** — Instruction to start cooking a table's next course.

**Float** — The cash left in the till to start a shift.

**Fob** — Foam on beer detector that stops foamy beer flowing.

**FOH** — Front of house: the dining room, bar and everyone the guest sees.

**Food-led** — A venue making most revenue from food.

**Four-top** — A table for four.

**Free house** — A pub not tied to a brewery or pub company.

**Free pour** — Pouring without a measure, not allowed for certain spirits in the UK.

**Friends and family** — Trial nights for invited guests.

**Garde manger** — Cold section chef.

**Garnish** — A decorative or aromatic addition.

**Ghost kitchen** — Same as a dark kitchen.

**GP** — Gross profit: revenue minus cost of goods, usually as a percentage.

**Gratuity** — A tip.

**Gueridon** — Tableside service from a trolley.

**HACCP** — Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points.

**Half** — Half a pint.

**Handover** — Passing information between shifts.

**Hands** — A call for people to take food from the pass.

**Happy hour** — Discount drinks period, subject to licensing restrictions on irresponsible promotions.

**Head chef** — Leader of the kitchen.

**Heard** — Acknowledgement that an instruction or call has been received.

**Host** — Person who greets and seats guests.

**Hot behind** — Warning that someone is carrying something hot behind you.

**House pour** — The default spirit brand.

**Housekeeping** — Team cleaning rooms.

**In the weeds** — Overwhelmed and falling behind during service.

**Incident log** — A record of incidents in a venue.

**Jigger** — A measuring tool for spirits.

**Julienne** — Matchstick cuts.

**KDS** — Kitchen display system.

**Keg** — Pressurised container for filtered beer.

**KP** — Kitchen porter, who washes up, cleans and often preps.

**Labour percentage** — Labour cost as a share of sales.

**Last call** — Same as last orders.

**Last orders** — The final call for drinks before closing time.

**Licence review** — Process to reconsider a licence after problems.

**Line clean** — Cleaning beer lines to keep quality.

**Line-up** — Same as pre-shift.

**Lock-in** — Staying open after hours behind closed doors; usually unlawful if alcohol is sold.

**Lowboy** — A low under-counter fridge.

**Maître d'** — Head of the front of house who manages bookings and seating.

**Managed house** — A pub run by an employed manager for a company.

**Mise** — Short for mise en place.

**Mise en place** — Everything prepped and in its place before service begins.

**Mixologist** — A bartender specialising in cocktails.

**Mother sauces** — Classic base sauces in French cooking.

**Muddle** — Crushing ingredients in a glass.

**Mystery diner** — Anonymous inspector of service.

**Neat** — A spirit served without ice or mixer.

**Night audit** — Overnight reconciliation of hotel accounts.

**NLW** — National Living Wage.

**NMW** — National Minimum Wage.

**No sale** — Opening the till without a sale, often scrutinised.

**No-show** — A guest who books and doesn't arrive.

**Occupancy** — Percentage of rooms sold.

**On the fly** — Needed immediately, usually to fix a mistake.

**On the rocks** — Served over ice.

**Operating schedule** — Part of a licence application setting out how objectives will be promoted.

**Optic** — A dispenser that measures spirits.

**OTA** — Online travel agent, such as booking platforms that sell hotel rooms for commission.

**Overbooking** — Selling more rooms or tables than available.

**Pairing** — Matching drinks to dishes.

**Par level** — The amount of stock to hold.

**PAT test** — Testing portable electrical equipment.

**Pâtissier** — Pastry chef.

**Personal guarantee** — Promise by an individual to cover business debts.

**Personal licence** — Licence allowing a person to authorise alcohol sales.

**Petit fours** — Small sweets served with coffee.

**Pint** — The standard UK beer measure.

**Plate up** — Putting food on plates.

**Plonge** — French term for the dish area, used in some kitchens.

**PMS** — Property management system, the software that runs a hotel.

**Pop-up** — A temporary venue or event.

**POS** — Point of sale.

**PPDS** — Prepacked for direct sale, the food covered by Natasha's Law.

**Pre-shift** — Briefing before service.

**Pre-theatre** — Early menu for theatregoers.

**Premises licence** — Licence authorising licensable activities at a venue.

**Prime cost** — Food, drink and labour costs combined.

**Prix fixe** — A set price menu.

**Probe** — Thermometer for checking food temperatures.

**Pubco** — A pub company owning many pubs.

**Push** — A busy period.

**Rail** — Where tickets are hung.

**Rate parity** — Keeping prices the same across channels.

**Reduction** — A sauce concentrated by boiling.

**Refire** — Cooking a dish again.

**Refund** — Returning money to a guest.

**Refusals log** — A record of refused sales.

**Regular** — A frequent guest.

**Rent review** — A scheduled reassessment of rent.

**Residency** — A chef or concept occupying a venue temporarily.

**RevPAR** — Revenue per available room: room revenue divided by rooms available.

**RIDDOR** — Rules on reporting certain workplace injuries and incidents.

**Right to work** — Legal permission to work in the UK.

**Risk assessment** — Identifying hazards and controls.

**Rolled-up holiday pay** — Holiday pay added to each payslip, allowed for irregular-hours workers.

**Rota** — Staff schedule.

**Round** — Drinks bought by one person for a group.

**Runner** — Staff member who takes food from the pass to tables.

**Salamander** — An overhead grill.

**Saucier** — Chef responsible for sauces and often meat.

**Second sitting** — A later booking slot.

**Secret shopper** — Same as a mystery diner.

**Section** — The tables a server is responsible for.

**Send it** — Instruction to take dishes out.

**Service** — A meal period when guests are served.

**Service charge** — An added charge for service.

**Service please** — Call that dishes are ready.

**SFBB** — Safer Food, Better Business, a food safety management pack.

**Shake** — Mixing a drink with ice in a shaker.

**Sharp** — Warning that someone is carrying a knife.

**Short measure** — Serving less than the legal measure.

**Shot of the day** — A featured shot sold at a set price to push volume.

**Shrinkage** — Stock loss through theft or error.

**SIA** — Security Industry Authority, which licenses door staff.

**Side work** — Cleaning and prep tasks outside service.

**Silver service** — Serving food from platters at the table.

**Slammed** — Extremely busy.

**Soft opening** — A trial opening before launch.

**Sommelier** — Wine specialist.

**Sous chef** — Second in command in the kitchen.

**Sous vide** — Cooking vacuum-packed food in a precise water bath.

**Spec** — A recipe specification.

**Speed rail** — The rack of most-used bottles at the bartender's station.

**Spiking** — Adding substances to drinks or people without consent.

**Spile** — A peg used to vent cask ale.

**Split shift** — Working lunch and dinner with an unpaid break between.

**Staff food** — Same as family meal.

**Stage** — An unpaid or paid trial in a kitchen, pronounced 'stahzh'.

**Station** — A work area in the kitchen or bar.

**Steps of service** — The sequence of service tasks.

**Stir** — Mixing with ice in a mixing glass.

**Stocktake** — Counting inventory.

**Sweethearting** — Giving free items to friends.

**Tab** — A running bill.

**Table d'hôte** — A set menu with limited choice.

**Tasting menu** — Multi-course menu of small dishes.

**TEN** — Temporary Event Notice for one-off licensable events.

**Tenancy** — A pub let to a tenant who runs the business.

**The pass** — The counter where finished dishes are checked and collected for service.

**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.

**Top up** — Adding beer to a short pint.

**Tournant** — A chef who covers any station.

**Trial shift** — A shift used to assess a candidate.

**Tronc** — An independently managed pool for distributing tips and service charges.

**Troncmaster** — The person who runs a tronc and decides allocations.

**Turn** — Reseating a table during a service; also the number of times a table is used.

**Turndown** — Evening room service.

**Turnover rent** — Rent linked to sales.

**Two-top** — A table for two.

**Upsell** — Encouraging a guest to buy more or trade up.

**Use by** — Date after which food should not be eaten.

**Variance** — Difference between expected and actual stock or cash.

**VIP** — Very important person.

**Virtual brand** — A delivery-only brand from an existing kitchen.

**Void** — Cancelling an item on the POS.

**Waitlist** — List of guests waiting for a table.

**Walk-in** — A walk-in fridge or freezer; also a guest without a booking.

**Walk-in trade** — Guests without bookings.

**Walked guest** — A hotel guest moved elsewhere due to overbooking.

**Wastage** — Stock lost through waste.

**WAVE** — Welfare and Vulnerability Engagement training.

**Well** — The bar's standard pouring spirits.

**Wet stock** — Drinks inventory.

**Wet-led** — A pub making most revenue from drinks.

**Wipe** — Cleaning plate edges before service.

**X read** — Mid-day till report.

**Yes chef** — Standard kitchen acknowledgement to the head chef or the pass.

**Yield** — The usable amount after preparation.

**Z read** — End-of-day till report.

**Zero-hours** — Contracts with no guaranteed hours.

### Hotel and accommodation

**Allotment** — A block of rooms held for a tour operator or company, released back to sale if not taken by a release date.

**Amenities** — In-room items such as toiletries, slippers and tea trays, and wider hotel facilities such as gyms and pools.

**Aparthotel** — A hotel made up of apartments with kitchens, combining hotel services with self-catering.

**Attrition** — A contract clause charging a group if it uses fewer rooms than agreed, beyond an allowed tolerance.

**BAR** — Best Available Rate, the lowest unrestricted rate on offer for a given night.

**Booking engine** — The software on the hotel's own website that takes direct bookings, avoiding commission paid to agencies.

**Departure room** — A room whose guest checks out today, needing a full clean before resale.

**Direct booking** — A reservation made with the hotel itself rather than through an agency, usually more profitable.

**DND** — Do Not Disturb. Hotels balance respecting the sign against welfare checks when a room has shown DND for a long time.

**Early arrival** — A guest arriving before standard check-in time, often waiting for a room to be cleaned.

**Folio** — The guest's running account of charges during a stay.

**GDS** — Global Distribution System, the networks such as Sabre and Amadeus through which travel agents book hotel rooms.

**Group block** — Rooms reserved together for an event or wedding, often under a contract with attrition terms.

**Guaranteed reservation** — A booking secured with a card or deposit, so the hotel holds the room all night but can charge for a no-show.

**House count** — The number of guests in the hotel on a given night, used by housekeeping, breakfast and security.

**Incidentals** — Charges beyond the room rate, such as food and drink, often covered by a pre-authorisation on the card at check-in.

**Inspected** — A room checked by a supervisor after cleaning and released as ready to sell.

**Key card** — An encoded card that opens a guest's room door, programmed at reception and timed to expire at checkout.

**Late checkout** — Allowing a guest to leave after standard checkout time, often free for loyalty members or charged.

**Length of stay** — The number of nights in a booking. Hotels use minimum length of stay rules on busy nights.

**Linen par** — The number of complete sets of linen per bed in circulation, usually three to five, so rooms can be turned while laundry is processed.

**Minibar** — An in-room fridge of drinks and snacks. Many hotels now offer free or simplified minibars because checking them is costly.

**Out of order** — A room unavailable to sell because of maintenance; it is removed from inventory.

**Out of service** — A room temporarily unavailable for minor reasons but still counted in inventory.

**Pre-authorisation** — A hold placed on a card to cover expected charges, released or captured at checkout.

**Rack rate** — The full published room rate before any discount. Few guests actually pay it.

**Revenue management** — Setting prices and availability by demand forecasts to maximise revenue, the discipline behind dynamic hotel pricing.

**Room attendant** — The housekeeper who cleans guest rooms, often given a set number of credits or rooms per shift.

**Room status** — The live state of each room, such as vacant clean, vacant dirty, occupied or inspected, shared between front desk and housekeeping.

**Room type** — A category of room such as standard double, superior, junior suite. Rates and inventory are managed by type.

**Serviced apartment** — A furnished flat let short or medium term with hotel-style services, popular for longer business stays.

**Stay-over** — A room occupied by a guest continuing their stay, needing a service clean rather than a full departure clean.

**Upgrade** — Moving a guest to a better room category, free or paid, often used to free up lower categories.

**Walk a guest** — To relocate a guest with a confirmed booking to another hotel because none of your rooms is available, usually paying for the alternative room and transport.

### Kitchen and cooking

**À la minute** — Cooked to order at the moment it is called, rather than prepared ahead and held. The mark of a kitchen that cooks fish, risotto or sauces fresh for each ticket.

**Béarnaise** — A derivative of hollandaise flavoured with a tarragon, shallot and vinegar reduction. The classic partner to steak frites.

**Beurre blanc** — A warm emulsified butter sauce built on a reduction of white wine, vinegar and shallots, with cold butter whisked in off the heat. It splits if it gets too hot or too cold.

**Beurre manié** — Soft butter kneaded with flour and whisked into a simmering sauce as a quick thickener. Useful for rescuing a thin braise at the last minute.

**Beurre noisette** — Butter cooked until the milk solids turn hazelnut brown and smell nutty. Finished with lemon it becomes the classic sauce for skate or sole meunière.

**Blanch** — Plunging an ingredient briefly into boiling water, then often into iced water, to set colour, loosen skins or part-cook ahead of service.

**Bouquet garni** — A bundle of herbs, usually thyme, bay and parsley stalks, tied with string or wrapped in leek so it can be lifted out of a stock or stew.

**Braise** — Browning then slowly cooking an ingredient part-covered in liquid in a closed pot, turning tough cuts tender as collagen breaks down.

**Carryover cooking** — The rise in core temperature that continues after meat leaves the heat. Chefs pull roasts a few degrees early to allow for it.

**Chinois** — A fine conical sieve used to strain stocks and sauces to a perfectly smooth finish. Also called a china cap in some kitchens.

**Clarified butter** — Butter with the milk solids and water removed, leaving pure fat that tolerates higher heat. Ghee is a cooked, nuttier version.

**Confit** — Meat, usually duck or pork, cooked slowly submerged in its own fat at low temperature, then stored in that fat. The term now also covers vegetables cooked gently in oil.

**Consommé** — A crystal-clear soup made by simmering stock with a raft of egg white and minced meat that traps impurities as it sets.

**Deglaze** — Adding liquid such as wine or stock to a hot pan to dissolve the caramelised residue from searing, forming the base of a pan sauce.

**Demi-glace** — A rich brown sauce made by reducing veal stock and espagnole until glossy and concentrated. Labour-heavy, so many kitchens now use reduced stocks instead.

**Emulsion** — A stable mix of two liquids that would normally separate, such as oil and water in mayonnaise or hollandaise, held together by an emulsifier like lecithin in egg yolk.

**Espagnole** — The brown mother sauce, made from brown stock, a brown roux, mirepoix and tomato. The base for demi-glace.

**Fond** — A stock, or the browned residue left in a pan after searing. Deglazing lifts the fond into a sauce.

**Gastrique** — A sweet-sour reduction of caramelised sugar and vinegar used to balance rich sauces, especially with duck or pork.

**Hollandaise** — A warm emulsion of egg yolks and clarified butter seasoned with lemon. One of the classic mother sauces and the heart of eggs Benedict.

**Jus** — A light, intensely flavoured meat sauce made from roasting juices and stock, thinner than a gravy and not thickened with flour.

**Liaison** — A thickening mix of egg yolk and cream stirred into a sauce or soup at the end. It must not boil afterwards or the yolks scramble.

**Maillard reaction** — The browning reaction between amino acids and sugars above roughly 140C that creates the savoury flavours of crusts, roasted coffee and toast.

**Mirepoix** — Diced onion, carrot and celery, the aromatic base of French stocks, sauces and braises. Cut size depends on how long it will cook.

**Monter au beurre** — Finishing a sauce by swirling in cold butter at the end, giving gloss, body and richness. Done just before service so the sauce does not break.

**Nappe** — The consistency at which a sauce coats the back of a spoon and holds a clean line when a finger is drawn through it.

**Poach** — Cooking gently in liquid held below a simmer, roughly 70 to 85C, for eggs, fish and fruit.

**Raft** — The crust of egg white, mince and vegetables that forms on top of a consommé and clarifies it as it simmers.

**Refresh** — Stopping the cooking of blanched vegetables by plunging them into iced water so they keep colour and bite.

**Resting** — Leaving cooked meat to stand before carving so the temperature evens out and less juice runs onto the board.

**Roux** — Equal weights of fat and flour cooked together to thicken sauces. White, blond and brown roux are cooked for progressively longer and give deeper flavour but less thickening power.

**Sear** — Cooking the surface of meat or fish over high heat to build a browned crust through the Maillard reaction. It does not seal in juices, despite the old saying.

**Season to taste** — The instruction to adjust salt and acidity by tasting at the end. Good kitchens taste every component before it goes to the pass.

**Sweat** — Cooking vegetables gently in fat over low heat, often covered, so they soften and release moisture without browning.

**Velouté** — A mother sauce of light stock thickened with a blond roux, and also the name for a smooth, creamy soup.

### Knife and butchery

**Allumette** — A matchstick cut, thinner than a bâtonnet, used for fine fries and garnishes.

**Bard** — Wrapping lean meat in a sheet of fat, often back fat or pancetta, to protect it while roasting.

**Bâtonnet** — A stick cut around 6mm square and 6cm long, the starting point for dice and the shape of a classic chip.

**Bolster** — The thick band of steel between blade and handle on a forged knife, adding balance and protecting the hand.

**Boning knife** — A narrow, often flexible blade used to separate meat from bone with minimal waste.

**Butterfly** — Splitting a piece of meat or fish almost through and opening it out like a book for even, fast cooking.

**Claw grip** — Holding food with fingertips curled under and knuckles guiding the blade, so the knife cannot reach the fingers.

**Cleaver** — A heavy rectangular blade for chopping through bone and cartilage. Chinese cleavers are lighter and used for general prep.

**Colour-coded boards** — Chopping boards in set colours for different foods to prevent cross-contamination. The common UK scheme is red raw meat, blue raw fish, yellow cooked meat, green salad and fruit, brown vegetables, white bakery and dairy.

**Concasse** — Tomato that has been blanched, peeled, deseeded and diced, used as a fresh garnish or sauce base.

**Dry ageing** — Hanging beef in a chilled, humidity-controlled room for weeks so moisture evaporates and enzymes tenderise it, concentrating flavour. The dried crust is trimmed and lost as yield.

**Filleting knife** — A long, thin, flexible knife for removing fillets from fish along the bones.

**French trim** — Scraping the meat and sinew from the end of a rib bone so it is clean and white, as on a rack of lamb.

**Gyuto** — The Japanese chef's knife, typically thinner and harder than its European counterpart, holding a very keen edge.

**Honing steel** — A rod used to realign the edge of a knife between sharpenings. It straightens the edge rather than removing metal.

**Jardinière** — Vegetables cut into batons about 4cm by 5mm, a classic garnish for roasts.

**Lard (technique)** — Threading strips of fat through lean meat with a larding needle so it stays moist during long cooking.

**Macédoine** — A dice of roughly 5mm, larger than brunoise, used for vegetable salads and garnishes.

**Mince** — Chopping very finely, as with garlic or herbs. In butchery it also means meat put through a grinder.

**Nose to tail** — Using the whole animal, including offal and lesser cuts, on the menu to respect the animal and improve the economics of buying whole.

**Pané** — The three-step breading process of flour, beaten egg and breadcrumbs, used for schnitzel and Kiev.

**Paysanne** — Vegetables cut into thin, flat pieces of similar size, often squares or rounds, for rustic soups.

**Pin bones** — The small bones running along the centre of a fillet of salmon and similar fish, pulled out with tweezers or pliers.

**Primal cut** — The large sections a carcass is first divided into, such as the loin, rib or shoulder, before being broken down further.

**Rough chop** — Cutting into irregular pieces of roughly even size where appearance does not matter, such as stock vegetables.

**Santoku** — A Japanese all-purpose knife with a flat edge and sheep's-foot tip, popular for slicing and dicing vegetables.

**Silverskin** — The tough, shiny membrane on cuts like fillet and loin that does not break down in cooking and is trimmed off.

**Spatchcock** — Removing a bird's backbone and pressing it flat so it cooks quickly and evenly.

**Sub-primal** — A cut taken from a primal and broken down into joints or steaks, such as the striploin from the short loin.

**Supreme** — A chicken breast with the wing bone attached and trimmed. In citrus, a segment cut free of all pith and membrane.

**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.

**Truss** — Tying a bird or joint with string to hold a compact shape so it roasts evenly.

**Whetstone** — A flat sharpening stone, used wet, that grinds a new edge onto a knife. Graded by grit, from coarse repair stones to fine polishing stones.

### Law and compliance

**Acas** — The UK Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service, which offers guidance on employment law and early conciliation.

**Auto-enrolment** — The legal duty for UK employers to enrol eligible workers in a workplace pension.

**Calorie labelling** — The rule in England requiring large food businesses to display calories on menus.

**Closure order** — A court order closing premises because of disorder or nuisance.

**Club premises certificate** — Authorisation for qualifying members' clubs to supply alcohol without a premises licence.

**Disciplinary procedure** — The formal process for handling misconduct, which should follow the Acas Code of Practice.

**Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023** — The Great Britain law requiring employers to pass on all tips to workers without deductions and to allocate them fairly, with a written policy.

**Employment Rights Act 1996** — The main UK statute setting out employee rights such as unfair dismissal protection and redundancy pay.

**Equality Act 2010** — UK law protecting people from discrimination, including in employment and access to services.

**Fire risk assessment** — A legally required assessment of fire hazards and safety measures in UK premises.

**GDPR** — The UK General Data Protection Regulation governing how businesses collect and use personal data, enforced by the ICO.

**Holiday entitlement** — UK workers' statutory paid holiday of 5.6 weeks a year, pro rata for part-timers.

**Late night refreshment** — Serving hot food or drink between 11pm and 5am, which is licensable in England and Wales.

**Licence conditions** — The rules attached to a premises licence, such as CCTV, door staff or closing times, enforceable by law.

**Licensing Act 2003** — The main law governing the sale of alcohol, entertainment and late night refreshment in England and Wales.

**Licensing objectives** — The four objectives under the Licensing Act 2003: prevention of crime and disorder, public safety, prevention of public nuisance and protection of children from harm.

**Minor variation** — A simplified process for small changes to a premises licence that will not affect the licensing objectives.

**Natasha's Law** — The UK law requiring full ingredient labelling with allergens emphasised on prepacked for direct sale food.

**Pavement licence** — Permission from the council to place tables and chairs on the public highway outside a premises.

**PECR** — The Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations, governing marketing emails and texts in the UK.

**Planning use class** — The category of permitted use for a property, which affects whether it can be used as a restaurant, bar or takeaway.

**PPL PRS** — The UK licence needed to play recorded music in public, covering both recordings and songwriting rights.

**Proxy purchase** — Buying alcohol on behalf of someone under 18, an offence in the UK.

**Reasonable adjustments** — Changes required under the Equality Act to remove barriers for disabled guests or staff.

**Regulated entertainment** — Activities like live music, recorded music and plays that may need a licence, with many exemptions for smaller audiences.

**Responsible authorities** — The bodies, such as police, environmental health and fire service, who can make representations on a licence application.

**Section 19** — A police closure notice under the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001 used against premises selling alcohol without the right authority.

**Smoke-free legislation** — UK law banning smoking in enclosed workplaces and public places.

**Statutory sick pay** — The minimum sick pay UK employers must pay eligible employees.

**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.

**Test purchase** — An operation where trading standards or police send a young person to try to buy alcohol, to check age verification.

**Unfair dismissal** — Dismissal without a fair reason or process, which employees can challenge after a qualifying period.

**Working Time Regulations** — UK rules on maximum weekly hours, breaks, rest periods and paid holiday.

### Menus and dishes

**Bottomless brunch** — A brunch with unlimited drinks for a fixed period. Licensing rules on irresponsible promotions apply.

**Carpaccio** — Very thin slices of raw beef, or other ingredients, typically dressed with oil and Parmesan.

**Carte** — The main menu of individually priced dishes.

**Ceviche** — Raw fish cured in citrus juice, from Peru and Latin America.

**Charcuterie** — Cured, cooked and preserved meats such as hams, salami and pâté.

**Cheese course** — A selection of cheeses served after mains, before or instead of dessert.

**Crudo** — Italian for raw: thinly sliced raw fish or meat, dressed simply.

**Daily specials** — Dishes offered for a single day, often using seasonal or surplus ingredients.

**Entrée** — In the UK and France, a starter or middle course; in the US, the main course. A common source of confusion.

**Fish and chips** — Battered fish, usually cod or haddock, with chips. A British institution.

**Full English** — A cooked breakfast of eggs, bacon, sausage, beans, tomato, mushroom and toast, with regional variations.

**Intermezzo** — A palate cleanser between courses, often a sorbet.

**Kids' menu** — A menu for children, ideally with real food in smaller portions.

**Main course** — The central course of a meal.

**Menu descriptors** — The words used to describe dishes on a menu, chosen to inform and to sell.

**Mezze** — Eastern Mediterranean and Middle Eastern small dishes served together.

**Omakase** — A Japanese format in which the chef decides what is served, typically at a sushi counter.

**Pâté** — A spreadable paste of liver or meat, fish or vegetables.

**Pie and mash** — A London dish of minced beef pie with mashed potato and parsley liquor.

**Plant-based** — Dishes made without animal products, overlapping with vegan.

**Ploughman's** — A cold pub lunch of cheese, bread, pickle and salad.

**Pre-dessert** — A small sweet course served before dessert in tasting menus.

**Rillettes** — Meat cooked slowly in fat, shredded and set in its fat, served with bread.

**Scotch egg** — A boiled egg wrapped in sausagemeat, crumbed and fried; a pub snack staple.

**Seasonal menu** — A menu changing with the seasons to use produce at its best.

**Set menu** — A fixed menu of courses at a set price, often with limited choices.

**Sharing plates** — Smaller dishes designed to be shared by the table, often arriving as they are ready.

**Signature dish** — The dish a restaurant or chef is best known for.

**Small plates** — A menu style of smaller dishes ordered several at a time.

**Sunday roast** — The traditional British Sunday meal of roast meat, roast potatoes, Yorkshire pudding, vegetables and gravy; a major pub trading day.

**Tapas** — Spanish small dishes served with drinks, now a wider menu style.

**Tartare** — Finely chopped raw meat or fish seasoned and served cold, as in steak tartare.

**Terrine** — A mixture of meat, fish or vegetables pressed in a mould and served sliced, usually cold.

### Nightlife and security

**Banning** — Barring a person from a venue. Pubwatch schemes can extend bans across all member venues in an area.

**Body-worn camera** — A camera worn by door staff to record incidents, deterring aggression and providing evidence.

**Bottle service** — Selling whole bottles of spirits or Champagne to a table, often with sparklers and mixers.

**Capacity** — The maximum number of people legally allowed inside, set by fire risk assessment, and counted at the door.

**Clicker** — A handheld counter used by door staff to track the number of people inside.

**Coat check** — A cloakroom service, often a modest earner, that needs secure tickets and a clear liability policy.

**Cumulative impact** — A council policy area where there are already many licensed venues, making new licences harder to obtain.

**Dispersal** — Managing customers leaving at closing time to reduce noise and conflict outside.

**Door policy** — The rules for who is admitted to a venue, such as dress code, age and guest list, ideally written down and applied consistently.

**Door split** — An agreement dividing door takings between promoter and venue.

**Drink spiking test kit** — Testing strips some venues keep to check a drink for common spiking substances. They are not a substitute for reporting to police.

**Ejection** — Removing someone from a venue. Best practice is calm, proportionate, recorded and caught on body cam or CCTV.

**Guest list** — Names admitted free or with priority, managed by promoters or the door team.

**Headliner** — The main act on a club night, typically playing at peak time.

**Hostile vehicle mitigation** — Barriers and bollards that stop vehicles being driven into crowds outside venues.

**ID scanner** — A device that scans and records ID documents at the door, sometimes required by licence conditions.

**Late licence** — Permission to sell alcohol or provide entertainment late into the night.

**Late night levy** — An optional charge councils can impose on venues selling alcohol between midnight and 6am, funding policing.

**Martyn's Law** — The UK law requiring certain venues and events to prepare for terrorist attacks, with duties scaled by capacity.

**Night czar** — A role in some cities to champion and coordinate the night-time economy.

**Noise limiter** — A device that caps the sound level of music systems, often a licence condition.

**Promoter** — A person or company that runs nights at a venue and brings in crowds, often paid by door share or headcount.

**Pubwatch** — A local partnership of licensed premises that shares information and agrees joint bans on troublemakers.

**Purple Flag** — An accreditation for town and city centres that offer a safe, varied night-time economy.

**Radio link** — A shared radio network connecting venues, door teams and sometimes CCTV control rooms and police.

**Rider** — The list of requirements an act needs, from technical equipment to drinks and hospitality.

**Safe space** — A quiet, staffed area where vulnerable guests can recover, wait for friends or call a taxi.

**Search policy** — The written rules for searching guests on entry, often a condition of the premises licence.

**Smoking area** — The outdoor space where guests can smoke, which must meet smoke-free legislation rules on enclosure.

**VIP table** — A reserved table with minimum spend and bottle service, central to many clubs' revenue.

**Vulnerability** — Recognising guests at risk, whether from drink, drugs, isolation or predatory behaviour, and acting to keep them safe.

**Warm-up** — The DJ who plays before the headliner, building the room without peaking too early.

**Welfare officer** — A staff member tasked with looking after guests in distress, increasingly common in clubs and festivals.

### Pastry and baking

**Autolyse** — Resting just flour and water before adding salt and yeast, letting gluten form and making dough easier to work.

**Baker's percentage** — Expressing each ingredient as a percentage of the total flour weight, which makes recipes easy to scale.

**Banneton** — A cane or wicker proving basket that supports shaped dough and leaves a spiral pattern of flour.

**Blind bake** — Baking a pastry case before filling it, weighted with baking beans so the base stays flat and crisp.

**Bulk ferment** — The first rise of a whole dough after mixing, when most flavour and structure develops.

**Crème anglaise** — A pouring custard thickened only with egg yolks, cooked gently to about 82C so it coats the spoon without scrambling.

**Crème chantilly** — Cream whipped with sugar and often vanilla to soft peaks.

**Crème diplomat** — Crème pâtissière lightened with whipped cream, sometimes set with gelatine.

**Crème pâtissière** — Pastry cream, a thick custard of milk, yolks, sugar and starch used to fill éclairs and tarts.

**Entremet** — A layered modern French dessert cake of mousses, inserts and sponges, often finished with a mirror glaze.

**Frangipane** — An almond cream of butter, sugar, egg and ground almonds, baked in tarts such as Bakewell and pear tarts.

**French meringue** — The simplest meringue, made by whisking raw egg whites with caster sugar, then baking.

**Ganache** — An emulsion of chocolate and warm cream, used as a glaze, filling or truffle centre depending on the ratio.

**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.

**Lamination** — Folding butter into dough repeatedly to create thin alternating layers, as in croissants and puff pastry.

**Levain** — A naturally fermented starter of flour and water used to leaven sourdough bread.

**Mignardises** — Small sweets served with coffee at the end of a meal, overlapping with petits fours.

**Pâte à bombe** — Egg yolks whisked with hot sugar syrup, the base of mousses and parfaits.

**Pâte à choux** — Choux pastry, a paste cooked on the stove then baked so trapped steam puffs it hollow. The basis of éclairs, profiteroles and gougères.

**Pâte brisée** — A plain, flaky shortcrust used for quiches and savoury tarts.

**Pâte sablée** — A sandy, crumbly sweet pastry with a high butter and sugar ratio, used for biscuits and delicate tart bases.

**Pâte sucrée** — A sweet, rich shortcrust pastry made with butter, sugar and egg, used for fruit tarts and tart cases.

**Poolish** — A wet pre-ferment of flour, water and a little yeast, made hours ahead to add flavour and extensibility to bread.

**Proving** — The final rise of shaped yeast dough before baking. Over-proved dough collapses; under-proved dough bursts and is dense.

**Puff pastry** — A laminated dough of hundreds of alternating layers of dough and butter that rise as steam forms in the oven.

**Quenelle** — An elegant three-sided oval of ice cream, cream or mousse shaped with one or two spoons.

**Sabayon** — Egg yolks whisked over heat with sugar and wine until thick and airy. The Italian zabaglione is the same idea.

**Scoring** — Slashing the surface of dough with a blade or lame before baking so it expands in a controlled way.

**Swiss meringue** — Egg whites and sugar warmed together over a bain-marie before whisking, giving a dense, smooth meringue.

**Tempering** — Heating and cooling chocolate through set temperatures so cocoa butter crystallises in its stable form, giving snap and shine.

**Tuile** — A thin, crisp biscuit shaped while warm, often curved over a rolling pin, used as a garnish.

**Viennoiserie** — Yeast-raised enriched or laminated bakes such as croissants, pain au chocolat and brioche, sitting between bread and pastry.

### Slang and shift talk

**Behind you, hot** — The combined warning that someone is passing behind carrying something hot.

**Campers** — Guests who linger at a table long after finishing, slowing turns.

**Cover for** — Taking someone else's shift.

**Crushed** — Very busy; also slammed.

**Deuce** — A table for two.

**Dine and dash** — Leaving a restaurant without paying.

**Doubles** — Working both lunch and dinner services on the same day.

**Drowning** — Badly behind during service, beyond being in the weeds.

**Dying on the pass** — Food left waiting under the lights too long, losing quality.

**Floor** — The dining room or service area, as in working the floor.

**Graveyard** — A late or overnight shift, such as night porter or night audit.

**Hanging** — A dish ready but waiting for the rest of the table's food.

**Hot plate** — A warning that a plate is very hot; also the heated pass itself.

**In the shit** — Blunt kitchen slang for being badly behind.

**Kill it** — Cook a steak well done; an old kitchen phrase.

**Knock off** — Finishing a shift and leaving.

**Last table** — The final table seated before close, often the one that keeps everyone late.

**Mise check** — A walk around stations before service to make sure everything is prepped.

**On hold** — A dish or table paused until the kitchen is told to fire it.

**Open** — A warning call that a door is being opened, such as an oven or walk-in.

**Ordering** — The call from the pass reading out a new ticket to the brigade.

**Pick up** — The call that dishes are ready at the pass to be collected.

**Rota drop** — When next week's rota is published; often a moment of tension.

**Runner please** — A call for someone to take dishes from the pass to the table.

**Rush** — The busiest part of service, when tickets arrive fastest.

**Shift drink** — A drink given to staff at the end of a shift.

**Stiffed** — Left no tip.

**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.

**Walk-out** — Guests leaving without paying the bill; also called a dine-and-dash.

**Walking in** — Guests arriving without a reservation.

**Weeded** — Short for in the weeds: overwhelmed during service.

**Weeds call** — Asking for help when overwhelmed, a sign of a healthy team rather than weakness.

### Spirits

**100 percent agave** — Tequila made only from blue agave sugars, as opposed to mixto, which can contain up to 49 percent other sugars.

**ABV** — Alcohol by volume, the percentage of a drink that is pure alcohol.

**Age statement** — The age on a whisky label, which by law must be the age of the youngest whisky in the bottle.

**Agricole** — Rum distilled from fresh sugar cane juice rather than molasses, typical of the French Caribbean; grassy and vegetal.

**Amaro** — An Italian bitter herbal liqueur, often drunk as a digestif.

**Añejo** — Tequila aged in oak for between one and three years.

**Angel's share** — The portion of spirit that evaporates from casks during ageing each year.

**Aperitivo** — The Italian pre-dinner drinking ritual, and the bitter-sweet drinks that go with it, such as Campari and Aperol.

**Blanco** — Unaged or very lightly rested tequila, showing the pure flavour of agave.

**Blended Scotch** — A blend of malt and grain whiskies from several distilleries, the bulk of Scotch sold worldwide.

**Botanicals** — Plants, spices and fruits used to flavour gin. Juniper must dominate for a spirit to be called gin.

**Calvados** — Apple and sometimes pear brandy from Normandy, aged in oak.

**Cask strength** — Spirit bottled straight from the cask without dilution to a standard strength.

**Chill filtration** — Chilling whisky and filtering out compounds that cause cloudiness when cold or diluted. Some drinkers prefer non-chill-filtered for texture.

**Column still** — A continuous still that produces a lighter, purer spirit at high strength, used for vodka, grain whisky and many rums.

**Cuts** — Dividing distillate into heads, hearts and tails. Only the hearts are kept as spirit; the rest is redistilled or discarded.

**Digestif** — A drink served after a meal, such as brandy, amaro or a fortified wine.

**Finish (cask)** — A period of extra ageing in a different cask, such as sherry or port, to add flavour.

**Independent bottler** — A company that buys casks from distilleries and bottles them under its own label.

**Liqueur** — A sweetened spirit flavoured with fruit, herbs, nuts or cream.

**London Dry** — A gin style defined by method rather than place: botanicals added by redistillation, with nothing added afterwards except water and a tiny amount of sugar.

**Mezcal** — An agave spirit, often made by roasting agave hearts in earth pits, giving a smoky character. Tequila is technically a type of mezcal.

**Navy strength** — Gin or rum bottled at about 57 percent ABV, a strength historically associated with the Royal Navy.

**Overproof** — Spirit bottled well above standard strength, such as rums at 60 percent ABV or more.

**Peat** — Partly decomposed vegetation burned to dry malted barley, giving smoky, medicinal flavours, notably in Islay whisky.

**Pot still** — A batch still that produces fuller, more flavoursome spirit, used for single malt Scotch, Irish pot still whiskey and many rums and Cognacs.

**Proof** — An older measure of alcoholic strength. In the US, proof is double the ABV.

**Reposado** — Tequila rested in oak for at least two months but less than a year.

**Single cask** — Whisky or rum bottled from one individual cask rather than a vatting, so each release varies.

**Single malt** — Scotch made from malted barley at a single distillery in pot stills.

**Solera** — A system of fractional blending in stacked casks, used for sherry, some rums and brandies.

**Vermouth** — An aromatised fortified wine, sweet or dry. Once opened it oxidises and belongs in the fridge.

**VS, VSOP, XO** — Cognac and Armagnac age categories, from youngest to oldest, indicating minimum ageing of the youngest brandy in the blend.

### Tech and systems

**API** — Application Programming Interface, the way systems talk to each other.

**Back office** — The administrative software side of a business: accounts, reporting and HR.

**Card terminal** — The device that takes card payments, often integrated with the POS.

**Chargeback** — When a card payment is reversed by the card issuer after a dispute.

**Contactless** — Card or phone payments by tapping, standard in UK hospitality.

**Dashboard** — A screen showing key figures at a glance, such as sales and labour.

**Digital key** — A phone-based room key replacing the key card in some hotels.

**Dynamic pricing** — Automatically changing prices based on demand, common for hotel rooms and increasingly tested in restaurants.

**Guest data** — Information on guests' visits and preferences, used for marketing and personalised service, subject to GDPR.

**Handheld** — A mobile device used by servers to take orders at the table.

**Integration** — A link between two systems so data flows automatically, such as POS to accounting.

**Kiosk** — A self-service ordering screen, common in quick service restaurants.

**Loyalty app** — An app that rewards repeat visits, collecting guest data in return.

**Mobile check-in** — Checking in to a hotel via an app or link before arrival.

**Modifier** — An option added to an item on the POS, such as no onions or medium rare.

**Online ordering** — A system for customers to order for collection or delivery, ideally integrated with POS.

**Online reputation** — How a venue is perceived across review and social platforms.

**Order at table** — Guests order and pay from their phone by scanning a QR code at the table.

**Payroll** — The process and software for paying staff, including tax, national insurance and tips.

**PCI DSS** — The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard governing how card data must be protected.

**PLU** — Price look-up code, the reference for an item on a POS system.

**Printer routing** — Sending order items to the right kitchen or bar printer or screen.

**QR menu** — A digital menu accessed by scanning a QR code.

**Recipe costing software** — Software that calculates dish costs from ingredient prices and updates as prices change.

**Reservation platform** — A system that takes online bookings and may also market the restaurant to diners.

**Review platform** — Websites and apps where guests review venues; managing responses matters.

**Rota software** — Scheduling software for creating rotas, handling shift swaps and tracking hours.

**Smart room** — A hotel room with connected controls for lighting, heating and entertainment.

**Stock management software** — Software for tracking stock, orders and wastage, often linked to POS for theoretical usage.

**Table management system** — Software that handles reservations, waitlists and table allocation.

**Time and attendance** — Systems for clocking in and out, feeding payroll.

**Tronc software** — Tools that calculate and distribute tips and service charge fairly and transparently.

**Wi-Fi** — Wireless internet, now considered essential by guests in hotels and cafés.

### Travel hospitality

**Airline lounge** — A comfortable area for premium passengers, with food, drink and work space.

**Airport hotel** — A hotel near or at an airport serving transit passengers, crew and early flights.

**ATOL** — A UK financial protection scheme for air package holidays.

**Cabin crew** — The flight attendants who serve and look after passengers.

**Concession** — An outlet operated by a contractor in a venue such as an airport or stadium.

**Contract catering** — Running food services for a client such as an office, hospital or school.

**Cruise hospitality** — Hotel and restaurant service at sea, with very high volumes and long contracts.

**Destination management** — Coordinating a place's tourism offer, including marketing and visitor experience.

**Domestic tourism** — Residents travelling within their own country, such as staycations.

**Duty free** — Shopping at airports and ports without some taxes, a big part of travel retail.

**Event hospitality** — Packages at sports and cultural events including tickets, food and drinks.

**Frequent flyer** — A loyalty programme member who travels often, valuable for airlines and hotels.

**Galley** — The kitchen on an aircraft, ship or train.

**Glamping** — Glamorous camping, such as yurts, bell tents and cabins with comfort.

**Holiday let** — A property let to holidaymakers, often via platforms.

**Holiday park** — A site of caravans, lodges and facilities for holidays.

**Hospitality lounge** — A premium area at a stadium or event serving food and drink to ticket holders.

**Inbound tourism** — Visitors arriving from abroad.

**Incentive travel** — Trips given to staff as rewards, often luxury and highly organised.

**Inflight catering** — Producing and loading food and drink for aircraft, a large-scale, highly regulated operation.

**Layover** — A stop between flights; crew layovers drive demand for airport hotels.

**MICE** — Meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions, the business events travel segment.

**Motorway services** — Roadside service areas offering food, fuel and rest facilities.

**Overtourism** — Too many visitors in a place, causing strain on locals and infrastructure.

**Package Travel Regulations** — UK rules protecting consumers who buy package holidays, including financial protection.

**Pilgrimage travel** — Trips to religious sites, a specialist segment needing specific hospitality.

**Purser** — The officer in charge of passenger services on a ship or senior cabin crew on an aircraft.

**Rail catering** — Food and drink served on trains, from trolleys to dining cars.

**Short let** — A property rented for short stays, sometimes regulated by councils.

**Staycation** — A holiday taken in one's own country.

**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.

**Travel retail** — Shops and food outlets at airports, stations and ports.

### Wine

**Acidity** — The fresh, mouth-watering element of wine that gives it structure and makes it work with food.

**Appellation** — A legally defined wine region with rules on grapes, yields and methods, such as AOC in France and DOCG in Italy.

**Bin end** — The last few bottles of a wine on a list, often sold at a discount to clear space.

**Bin number** — A short reference given to each wine on a list so staff and guests can order without struggling with names.

**Blanc de blancs** — White sparkling wine made only from white grapes, usually Chardonnay.

**Blanc de noirs** — White sparkling wine made from black grapes, such as Pinot Noir and Meunier.

**Body** — The sense of weight and fullness of a wine in the mouth, from light to full, driven mainly by alcohol and extract.

**Brett** — Brettanomyces, a yeast that gives wine farmyard, plaster or medicinal aromas. A fault to some, character to others.

**Brut** — Dry sparkling wine, with low sugar; the most common Champagne style.

**By the glass** — The list of wines poured in measures rather than sold by the bottle. In UK licensed premises, wine by the glass must be offered in 125ml as well as larger measures.

**Cellar book** — The record of wine stock in the cellar, its bin locations and movements.

**Charmat method** — Sparkling wine made with its second fermentation in a pressurised tank, as with most Prosecco; fresher and fruitier.

**Cork taint** — A musty, damp-cardboard fault caused by the chemical TCA, usually from contaminated cork. It mutes fruit even at faint levels.

**Cru** — French for growth: a named vineyard or estate with an official quality status, as in Grand Cru or Premier Cru.

**Disgorgement** — Removing the frozen plug of yeast sediment from the neck of a traditional method sparkling wine before corking.

**Dosage** — Sugar and wine added after disgorging a sparkling wine, setting its sweetness from Brut Nature to Doux.

**En primeur** — Buying wine, classically Bordeaux, while it is still in barrel, a year or more before it is bottled and released.

**Finish** — How long the flavour lasts after swallowing; a long finish usually signals quality.

**Lees** — Dead yeast cells left after fermentation. Ageing on the lees adds texture and bready complexity.

**Legs** — The streaks running down the inside of a glass after swirling, linked to alcohol and sugar, not quality.

**Magnum** — A 1.5 litre bottle, equal to two standard bottles. Wine is said to age more slowly in large formats.

**Malolactic fermentation** — A secondary fermentation in which bacteria convert sharp malic acid into softer lactic acid, giving creamier wines. Most reds and many Chardonnays go through it.

**Mark-up** — The multiple applied to a wine's cost price to set its list price. Restaurants often use a sliding scale, with cash margin rising and percentage margin falling on dearer bottles.

**Natural wine** — Wine made with minimal intervention, usually organic grapes, wild yeast and little or no added sulphur. No legal definition in the UK.

**Orange wine** — White wine made with extended skin contact like a red, giving amber colour, tannin and grip.

**Oxidised** — A wine damaged by too much air exposure, tasting flat, nutty or bruised, and browner in colour. Deliberate in some styles such as sherry.

**Reductive** — Describes a wine showing a struck-match or rotten-egg aroma from sulphur compounds formed without enough oxygen; often fades with air or decanting.

**Sulphites** — Sulphur dioxide used to protect wine from oxidation and microbes. Must be declared on labels above 10mg per litre and is one of the 14 allergens.

**Sur lie** — Wine aged on its lees before bottling, as in Muscadet sur lie.

**Tannin** — Compounds from grape skins, seeds and oak that create a drying, grippy sensation in red wine and help it age.

**Terroir** — The full combination of soil, climate, slope, aspect and local tradition that shapes a wine's character in a particular place.

**Traditional method** — Sparkling wine made with a second fermentation in the bottle, as in Champagne, Cava and English sparkling wine.

**Ullage** — The air gap in a bottle or barrel. In UK pubs it also means beer lost as waste, such as line clean slops.

**Vintage** — The year the grapes were harvested. Non-vintage wines blend several years for a consistent house style.