Hospitality glossary · Jobs and roles
A kitchen porter, often called a KP, keeps a kitchen clean and running. They wash pots, pans and plates, clear rubbish and help with basic preparation.
In practice
Definitions are easy. What matters is how the thing behaves in a real operation, and where it tends to go wrong.
In a UK kitchen the KP usually runs the pot wash during service, puts deliveries away, cleans floors and surfaces at the end of the night, and often peels and chops when the chefs need help. It is a common first job in hospitality, and some people move from it into a chef role. When there is no KP on a busy night, clean plates and pans run out and the whole kitchen slows down.
Treating the KP as the least important person in the kitchen. The role is often the lowest paid and the least thanked, so people leave it quickly, and a kitchen with no KP has chefs washing pans instead of cooking. Train them, include them in briefings and show them a route into prep.
Questions
Something here that doesn’t match what you’re seeing in your own business? That is usually worth a conversation rather than another article.
A kitchen porter, often called a KP, keeps a kitchen clean and running. They wash pots, pans and plates, clear rubbish and help with basic preparation. In a UK kitchen the KP usually runs the pot wash during service, puts deliveries away, cleans floors and surfaces at the end of the night, and often peels and chops when the chefs need help. It is a common first job in hospitality, and some people move from it into a chef role. When there is no KP on a busy night, clean plates and pans run out and the whole kitchen slows down.
Treating the KP as the least important person in the kitchen. The role is often the lowest paid and the least thanked, so people leave it quickly, and a kitchen with no KP has chefs washing pans instead of cooking. Train them, include them in briefings and show them a route into prep.
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