KENYA · GUIDE 0008 · EDITION 4.2
Lettuce growing - Operations, capacity and quality
Deliver the agreed result consistently
Choose a lettuce format that fits one restaurant's dishes, distinguishing whole heads for portioning from loose leaves intended for assembled salads during busy service.
The operating sequence for this offer is:
- Confirm lettuce variety, head or leaf format and kitchen packing requirements; trace the supplied lot back to the relevant planting material.
- Inspect harvested lettuce before packing, removing damaged outer material and recording usable weight without implying that appearance establishes raw-food safety.
- Use protective crates that prevent compression, label each kitchen order and record delivery condition, rejection reasons and quantities accepted.
Put acceptance into the job record
Leaves must meet the buyer's cleanliness and freshness checks; this brief does not validate raw-food safety.
Ask the chef to separate a sample into usable leaves and trim, then assess how the remaining leaves behave in the restaurant's usual plated dish.
Inspect at the point where a correction is still possible, then again at handover. Record rejected or incomplete output separately from accepted output. A completed task is not automatically an accepted task, and an invoice does not establish that the customer received the right result.
Measure real capacity
Time preparation, the main operation, transport, cleaning, approvals and correction as applicable. The slowest stage determines how much you can promise. Where two orders need the same person, space or equipment at the same time, resolve the conflict before confirming both deadlines. An additional enquiry should not erase a commitment already made.
| Operating checkpoint | Evidence for this business |
|---|---|
| Before starting | Choose a lettuce format that fits one restaurant's dishes, distinguishing whole heads for portioning from loose leaves intended for assembled salads during busy service. |
| During delivery | Inspect harvested lettuce before packing, removing damaged outer material and recording usable weight without implying that appearance establishes raw-food safety. |
| At acceptance | Ask the chef to separate a sample into usable leaves and trim, then assess how the remaining leaves behave in the restaurant's usual plated dish. |
| At the pilot review | Record head weights, usable leaf yield, plating feedback and the number of heads the chef actually uses during a service before scheduling successive plantings. |
Keep a correction and escalation rule
When inputs, access, specifications or customer instructions change, pause the affected work and confirm the effect on time and cost. Do not quietly lower the acceptance standard to avoid a delayed delivery. Keep rework caused by your error distinct from a customer-requested change of scope and agree the remedy clearly.
A restaurant may reject attractive oversized heads when its portions leave excessive remnants, so head appearance alone does not establish the commercial product specification.
Retain the minimum records needed to investigate a complaint without disclosing unrelated personal information. Use measured delivery and actual acceptance as the basis for expanding capacity, rather than the maximum theoretical output of a tool or production line.