what is the origin of the resturant term "86" meaning to leave off or out of?

Answer 1

The earliest related use of eighty-six was as a restaurant code word meaning that an item was out of stock. The use of number-codes in restaurants was apparently widespread, and was used both for brevity and secrecy. Some other codes were eighty-two, an order for two glasses of water, ninety-five, which meant that a customer was walking out without paying, and ninety-nine, which meant that the head soda fountain manager was around. This sense, first attested in the 1930s, was then extended to mean 'an undesirable customer who is to be denied service.

Further explanation into other meanings below...

Answer 2

I found the following, which seems the best...

Restaurant lingo meaning "take an item off the menu." By extension it can also mean to get rid of almost anything (including doing away with somebody). The Urbandictionary entry attributing the term to the 1980s is erroneous. I worked as a short order cook in the late 1960s and it was in use in a half dozen NewYork city joints where I worked. Oldtimers say the term was around in the 1940s and that the derivation is Article 86 of the New York Liquor Code which describes the circumstances under which liquor should be withheld from a customer.

Answer 3

Some theories go around this term, but seems there is not a trusted source for it.
Some say it comes from Delmonicos rest, the ribeye was the item number 86 and ran out every night. Others say that was the average of cut ribeyes per day at that rest, so when the 86 was sold, meant they ran out of it, Anyway, today is used in rest kitchen to identify an item sold out.
86 wings=no more wings for the night.

Answer 4

"86' is not just a term used in the restaurant business. If a person is "86ed", he/she is barred from returning to that paticular establishment forever. You are black-balled there and possibly other establishments as well...word travels quickly thruout the business world. Where it originated, I do not know.

Answer 5

If you leave one place for another and burn the bridge between them, you may have no way to return to the first place. It's better to let bridges stand just in case you need to return to a place, person, etc. Don't leave on bad terms.

Answer 6

There was some ship or squadron, the 86th, that was in a battle or something, and none of them people survived. So now when we say that something is 86'd, it means we don't have any of it.

Answer 7

This is a American term, in Europe it is not in use, but means
that a plate is not available anymore...