Food and beverage Management

Food and Beverage Management

(This article contains everything related to food and beverage Management in a restaurant and fine dining outlets. It highlights -

- food and beverage service department

- organizations chart of the food and beverage department

- outlets of food and beverage department

- Attributes required for food and beverage staffs

- Hospitality knowledge, skills and Attitude required for food and beverage personnel

- basic Dining Etiquette for food and beverage personnel

- Types of restaurant service

- Duties and responsibilities of food and beverage personnel. )

Food and beverage department is responsible for the systematic service of food and beverage in any outlet. It is the major revenue earning department whose task is to deliver the quality of food and beverage items to the guest. The role is to provide accurate service of food and beverage in a proper hospitality manner. Food and beverage department should meet customer satisfaction. A systematic good service process involves presentation, taking order in time and serving meal and drinks in proper hospitality manner with the right attitude.

Organizations Chart:-

Food and beverage director

Food and beverage manager

Assistant Food and beverage manager

Below assistant food and beverage manager, there are five sections. Restaurant manager, coffee shop manager, Room service manager, Banquet manager, Bar manager.

Restaurant manager supervises senior captain, captain, junior captain, waiter and trainee.

Coffee shop manager supervises senior captain, captain, junior captain, waiter and trainee

The room service manager also supervises senior captain, captain, junior captain, waiter and trainee

Banquet manager also supervises senior captain, captain, junior captain, waiter and trainee.

Bar manager supervises Bartender, captain, junior captain, waiter and trainee.

Outlets of the Food and Beverage department

Food and beverage items are sold through the outlet. Food and beverage outlets are points of sales of food and beverage items. The outlets of food and beverage are headed by the outlet manager and prepared according to hotel policy, size, service and menu offered.

The outlets of the food and beverage department are:-

1. Restaurant

2. Bar

3. Banquet

4. Pub

5. Room service

6. Kiosk

1. Restaurant:

The term restaurant is derived from the French word 'Restaurer' which meant to restore. The restaurant is commercial establishments that serve food and beverage in exchange for money. Meals are generally served and eaten on-premise or taken away. Different varieties of Cuisine are prepared and served. Types of a restaurant in the hotel are :

Coffee shop:- coffee shop opens 24 hours. It offers hot beverage along with light snacks. Both in - house and non - residential guest are served It is the second-highest revenue-earning outlet in the food and beverage department.

Speciality restaurant:- It offers any special cuisine. They are decorated and theme according to the type of cuisine served. Every large hotel has at least one speciality restaurant and serves both A la carte and Table d' hotel menu.

Grill rooms:- It serves Grilled poultry, fish, meats. It has glass partition so food is prepared in full view of the customer. The guest can choose his cuts of meat and the sizzle, aroma of grilled meat also adds the pleasure of eating.

Discotheque:- It is called Night Club and has attractive lightings, high music which is driven by Disco jockey. It is mainly for dancing and drinking. It attracts young customer but has age restrictions.

Fast food outlets:- fast food restaurant offers fast service of food items. The menu is not so expensive and less manpower is required. Food is either eaten or taken away.

Multi-cuisine restaurant:- It serves more than one country cuisine. One restaurant serves all meal and different cuisines. The rates are not so expensive and service depends on menu and time of day

2. Bar:- The word Bar is derived from the American word ' Barrier ' which meant wall. It is the place where all kinds of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages are served along with some light snacks. Drinks are served by the bartender.

The types of the bar are :

Dispense bar:- it is located in hotel premises. The guest is not allowed to consume the drinks. It only takes orders from other outlets and serves them. It is located in the back of the house

Public bar:- It is located in the public area of the hotel with a sitting arrangement. It provides service to both in - house guests and non - residential guest. It is also called the Lobby bar

Minibar:- The mini bar is the smallest of all bar. It is set up in the guest room The beverage is placed in the small refrigerator inside Guestroom. It contains both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverage, light snacks

Mobile bar:- It is a trolley bar which can be moved from one place to another within the hotel. The trolley is equipped with various alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages.

3. Banquet:- It is the highest revenue earning outlet in the food and beverage department. It caters food and beverage to the volume of person i.e a large volume of people for different Function. Banquet halls are well decorated and have a very aesthetic look.

4. Pub:- The concept of the pub is borrowed from public houses in England. A pub serves Beverage items and simple food. The traditional pubs were primarily concerned with drinking establishment. Modern pubs business relies on food also. It has a large selection of beers and ales on tap.

5. Room service:- Room service provides the provision of food and beverage in the house/room of guests. It Function found the clock i.e 24 hours in big hotels. The menu is simple but it is expensive. The guest is to be informed immediately if the preparation time is going to take longer than the stated time

6. Kiosks:- Kiosks are stalled opened for specific items like chocolate, ice cream and soft drinks. They are generally located in the side of a shopping mall, parks.

Attributes required for food and beverage personnel

No matter how luxurious the decoration or how aesthetic is the restaurant May be, grumpy, poorly trained and unhelpful staff can destroy the potential customer satisfaction and service. Some attribute of food and beverage service personnel are:-

1. Personal hygiene:- food and beverage staff must take bath daily, their hair should be well combed, nails clean and clipped. Their mouth should be free of any odour. They should be well-groomed and clean all times. If an employee has skin problems a doctor should be consulted immediately. Shoes should be polished and uniform clean and ironed

2. Physical fitness:- Food and beverage service Personnel work a long hour on their feet and the work is a continuous activity so they need to be physically fit.

3. Adaptability:- food and beverage staff should be willing to try and experiment with new ideas.

4. Honesty:- food and beverage service personnel should be honest. They should not lie to guest and should serve correct food items.

5. Punctually:- Food and beverage service staff should have respect for time. if they are continuously late for duty, it shows a lack of respect for their job and management.

6. Good memory:- Food and Beverage service personnel should have a good memory. They should be able to recognize their regular guest and should know their likes, preferences, dislikes.

7. Salesmanship:- They should have salesmanship skills. They should have the capacity to sell food items and should know push selling and suggestive selling

8. Eye for detail:- They should have an eye for details. They should know and understand the expectation of the guest and what he needs by looking at the table

9. Ability to learn and work on the team:- They should have the ability to learn as learning is a continuous process. They should also know the teamwork, Importance of teamwork and be willing to work as a team

10. Good conduct:- they should be respectful towards guests and should have well mannered. They should be calm, pleasant

11. Personality and knowledge.

12. Discipline

13. Loyalty.

Hospitality knowledge, skill and Attitude required for food and beverage personnel

Hospitality Knowledge, skills and attitude are required to maintain a high standard of service. Guest are in close contact with food and beverage personnel. Their way of dealing with the guest directly reflects the image of the property. Food and beverage service staff should be skilful, they should have good knowledge and the right attitude. Only a person is the right attitude can learn from his mistake.

1. Hospitality knowledge:- food and beverage personnel should have enough knowledge about food and beverage variety, food hygiene, safety, about the workplace, they also should know about :

Menu, price, special of the house
Coordinating Department with hotel
Norms and values of hotels
Service sequence
The idea of courses of the meal
Handling glassware, cutleries
Equipment and tools used
Grooming and hygiene
Sanitation
Fire safety and emergency procedure

2. Hospitality skill:-

Hospitality skill may be technical or interpersonal. Skill is required to perform the job efficiently. Knowledge along with skill makes the best combination. the staff should have every skill from dealing with guest to handling the Equipment.

Interpersonal skill:- it is a social skill. The various social skill required for food and beverage personnel are :

1. Able to recognize daily and repeated customer, their preferences, like and dislike

2. Effective communication skill

3. Skill and knowledge to deal with blind guest, disable and temper guest

Technical skill:- They are needed to perform a specific task. They need to perform job Effectively.

1. Carrying the tray and salver

2. Service of drinks

3. Service of pre-plated food

4. Handle cutleries and crockery

5. Napkin folding

6. Cover layout

7. Carving meat at the table

8. Clearing plates from the tables

9. Crumb the table

3. Hospitality Attitude:- Attitudes are positive or negative. Hospitality personnel should have a positive attitude. They should be helpful cheerful and polite. They should be willing to learn from the mistake. Some hospitality Attitude Required are :

1. Willingness to serve

2. Capacity to take orders from seniors

3. Honesty

4. Helpfulness

5. Able to work any works

6. Cooperations

7. Cheerful and positiveness.

Food and beverage service simply is the process of serving prepared food and beverage to customers in hospitality manner. Food and beverage service may be various kind depending upon nature of the establishment, menu served, customer and their eating habits, the price offered. These factors directly affect the types of food and beverage service.

Basic Dining Etiquette for food and beverage personnel

All the personnel working in food and beverage department should have these Etiquettes. Without these Etiquettes they will not be able to perform job efficiently and maintain customer satisfaction. Some basic Etiquette are :

Attend the guest as soon as they enter in restaurant

Greet them and help to remove their overcoats, coats

Ask them where would they like to seat ; smoking zone / non smoking zone , AC / Non AC zone and help in seating arrangement of lady or elder people

Pour water in their glasses.

Present the menu and explain the menu but do not interrupt while guest are having conversation.

Taking orders correctly

Avoid mannerism like touching hair , nose picking

Stand erect all the time

Talk softly

Be attentive to their calls

Do not make guest wait for bills

Avoid arguing with service staff and guests

Crumb the table before dessert

Remove tips after guest have left the restaurant

Entering and leaving restaurant through service door

Carrying pencil on pocket

Present with proper grooming and hygiene

Never forgetting to carry waiter tools

Talking slowly and politely .

Restaurant Dining service

It refers to the service of food and beverage in the restaurant by the serviceman. There are various types of restaurant Dining service implemented according to policy of establishments. Some common dining services are :

American service-

American service is also called pre-plated service as the food items served to guest is already plated in the plate by the cook in Kitchen. The server simply delivered food in front is fasted good dust. It is fast-food good service and can be applied to both types of menu.

Service style -

The server delivers food item already portioned and plated in plate from kitchen or sideboard to customer table.

The food is served from right hand side of guest and moving clockwise

Always remember to put main course at 6 o'clock position while serving

Remove soiled plate from right hand side with right hand and crumb the table after guest have finished main course

2. Silver service:-

It is also known as a platter to plate service and is very systematic service which can be applied to Russian, French, English service. Silver Service requires the skill of handling service spoon and fork and high-quality silverware.

Service method -

Collect dishes and take them to sideboard at first

Crumb the table after each main course

Always ensure wine glass is full all times

Serve accompaniment and sauce straight away

Present main course and seek approval of the host. after the host approves, served food from the left-hand side using service spoon and fork and move clockwise

Hold platters with the left hand while plating the guest table and placed clean plates from the right side of the guest.

3. Room service:-

Room service is headed by the room service manager. It is responsible for the service of food and beverage in the guest room. Room service operates 24 hours in big hotels. Order is received in telephone and delivered straight to guest room on a trolley with the wheel.

Service method -

Leave quietly after delivering food items and clear the soiled after receiving instruction from guests.

Take the order correct and do not delay service. inform immediately if service is delayed

Place orders in KOT / BOT and after taking orders give the KOT / BOT to the captain who then hands to the waiter.

The KOT / BOT should have all necessary details filled from room number to order taken time, signature

The waiter set up the trolley with linen, cutlery, crockery and required Equipment

The first copy of KOT is handed to the kitchen, second copy to Cashier and the order is picked from the kitchen

Room service captain inspects and check the order and let the waiter go with trolley after handing the bill.

If the DND sign is displayed in a table, the waiter calls the front desk from floor telephone and the guest is informed about the coming room service order.

Present the bill after placing trolley inappropriate position inside the guest room. If the guest signs it ensures it is signed properly and if he pays, check the amount discreetly.

The signed bills are prepared to front office cashier who posted it to guest folios.

4. Buffet service-

In buffet service, the dishes are displayed in containers in the proper sequence. The guest moves and select dishes of their choice. Also, buffet service is divided into different section naming soup, appetizers, vegetarian, non-vegetarian. It feeds a large number of people and organized for function, parties. some types the the the the of the buffet are:-

Stand up buffet: in stand up the buffet, the guest is expected to stand and eat using one piece of cutlery. Sitting arrangement is minimum and staff in a key position to fill drinks, buffet from the kitchen.

Sit down buffet: The sitting arrangement is made as per the number of pax. It is also called table buffet. The cutlery, crockery, napkin Required are already set up in the table. Light dishes are served by a waiter in the table except for the main dish.

Finger buffet: Dishes are eaten with a finger without cutlery. Staff collects empty plates and full drinks. dishes are collected from the buffet.

5. Gueridon service:-

Gueridon is moveable service trolley with flambe from which food may be carved, prepared and served. The food items are prepared in the trolley with showmanship adjacent to the guest dining table which influences dining experience. This service may be applied to French Russian services. This service was invented by Henry Charo and this service is very luxurious.

Duties and Responsibilities of food and beverage personnel:-

Talking about food and service department it has a high number of staffs when compared to another department. The duties and responsibilities of different food and beverage service staffs are given below :

1. Food and Beverage Manager :

He is the head of the department who looks at both administrative and operational works. He reports te the general manager and supervises all food and beverage staff.

Duties and Responsibilities

To train, motivate and supervise service personnel
To prepare budget of the department
Resolve complaints from guest and staff.
To assign duty to staff ensuring equity of work
To coordinate with executive chef for Preparation of Hotel Menu and special of the day/weeks
To quality check and control food and beverages
Conduct daily briefings
To evaluate the performance of service personnel for promotion, transfer and dismissal
Track and order shipments
Set duty schedules for outlet managers and supervisors
To verify daily sales of department

2. Restaurant Manager :

He is also known as outlet manager and is the outlet manager of a hotel. He reports to the food and beverage manager and supervises all staff working under him. He has responsibility for a particular outlet.

Duties and responsibilities

Check Mis-en-scene and mis-en-place done by the team
To maintain discipline and assign duties to staff ensuring equity of work
Prepare duty roaster of his outlet
To train his staff for efficiency
Set and monitor the standard of service
To check punctuality and grooming of staff of his outlet

3. Senior Captain :

He is also known as Maitre D' hotel and is a supervisory level position. He reports to the restaurant manager and supervises trainee, captain waiter. He has overall responsibility for the operation.

Duties and Responsibilities

Supervise food service to ensure efficiency and effectiveness in service
Attend immediately to assist guest in confusion for guest satisfaction
To take orders in the busy hour
To ensure, check proper mis-en-scene and mis-en-place of the restaurant
To receive the guest and supervise staff
To perform briefings and de-briefing
To follow instructions set by the restaurant manager

4. Captain :

He is also known as chef de rang and is a head waiter. He is in charge of a particular section/station so, he should know food and beverage and should be able to discuss the menu with a guest. He reports to senior Captain and supervises waiter, trainee.

Duties and responsibilities

To ensure clearance from the table has been done systematically and in a proper manner
To assign duties to steward and trainee ensuring equity of work
To promote selling through push selling and suggestive selling technique
To train staff under him on dining Etiquette
He should have the ability to use restaurant and bar equipment
He should know service style and food, beverage
To receive guest and make seating arrangements
To take orders from the guest
To check uniform of staffs under him and their punctuality
To ensure correct mis-en-scene and mis-en-place of dining areas
To take inventory of all equipment timely
To allocate tables to waiter and steward in his station

5. Waiter :

He is also known as commis De rang and reports to captain. He serves food, beverages and performs mis-en-place and mis-en-scene along with clearing of the table.

Duties and responsibilities -

To attend the briefing and attend duty in proper grooming and hygiene
To perform mis-en-place and mis-en-scene
To polish and clean service equipment
To receive payment after presenting the bill
To make table setting / make table serviceable
To ensure safety and customer satisfaction at work
To receive and exchange linens from the housekeeping department. Moreover, he should also get requisitioned restaurant items from the store
To perform duties assigned by Management
To serve the food items correctly and in the correct way
To help the guest in seating
To take correct order of food and beverages
To answer guest queries promptly
To set up a table and inform the guest about special of the day
Provide excellent service to guest