What Does 'Expo' Refer To In A Restaurant?

If you have never worked in a professional kitchen, FX's The Bear offers an excellent glimpse into that world. It can be chaotic, exciting, gripping, and intensely stressful. Working the pass as an expeditor, or expo, can be one of the most fulfilling jobs, but it can also fall apart quickly if the person doing it is not organized. The first season of The Bear showed just how strenuous expo can be when Chef Carmy had a breakdown directed at his sous chef, Sydney. This led to the "Step Out" meme and the memorable quote "Get the f*** off my expo, Chef!"

The expo's job is to be the link between the front of house and the back of house. Once the food is prepared, the expo compares each dish to the ticket to ensure everything for a table is plated accurately. This is harder than it seems because every dish is supposed to be plated a certain way.

The way the food is arranged, including garnishes, sauces, and even the type of plate used, needs to be consistent. In addition, any specific requests from the customer, like no onions or extra sauce, need to be accounted for. The expo has to be able to see if every dish is correct and complete before sending it out. If something is wrong, they need to get the kitchen to fix it on the fly. The kitchen may be making plates for multiple tables at once, and the expo needs to match plates to tickets and place them on the pass for runners or servers to deliver to diners.

Not every restaurant runs the pass the same way. Some expeditors may also be running the food, so they are in and out of the kitchen. Some may be in charge of the garnish station and personally put the finishing touches on every dish. It all depends on what that restaurant chooses to do, but the general job works the same across the board.

In many smaller fine dining establishments, the head chef will also serve as expo. This way, they get to maintain quality control so that no plate leaves the kitchen without meeting their exact standards. If a restaurant is very large or serving at high volume, expo duties will fall to a dedicated person. The role can rotate between kitchen staff members, from head chef to sous chef, and even front of house staff. Some restaurants ensure every employee is trained to run the pass.

The expo also needs to communicate back and forth between servers and kitchen staff. If a diner has an allergy and a server notifies the kitchen, the expo must ensure the chef understands. If an ingredient runs out, the expo needs to tell the servers so they can inform diners when something is no longer on the menu. The expo is the cog in the machine that keeps the whole restaurant running, so long as they stay organized and work smoothly.