1. Food and Beverage

2. Managing Food & Beverage Operations in a Hotel
Food Service outlets include:
Restaurants
Lounges
Banquet and catering
Room service

3. Managing Food & beverage Operations in a hotel
A large hotel should ensure that F&B units in the same hotel do not compete directly with each other.
Units must be diverse to give different segments of the market a choice.
F&B services should be treated as important revenue generator for the hotel.
However, some hotels may decide not to have any F&B operations but lease out spaces to outside companies to run F&B services.

4. Food service personnel
An executive chef is responsible for management related to the food production activities.
In a large hotel, he may actually perform little in the line of food production.
In a small restaurant, he may be part owner and performs most of the food related function.
Other position in the kitchen:
Sous chef
Pastry chef
Banquet chef
Assistant chef

5. Dining Room personnel
Depending on the complexity, the positions may be:
Maitre d (host / hostess)
Greets and supervises waitering staff
Captains
Servers (waiter / waitress)
Cashiers
Bartenders
Cocktail servers

6. Similarities: Hotel & Restaurant Foodservices
Planning issues
Plan by focus on menu
Menu impacts operational factors
Menu focus on guests’ wants, needs & preferences
layout / equipment
labor for production, service &
clean-up
F&B products for purchase
Financial concerns
All foodservice operations must assess financial status
Operating budget
income statement / balance
sheet / cash flow statement
Necessity for standard operating procedures
Purchasing / receiving / storing
/ issuing / pre-preparation /
preparation / serving / service
Marketing concerns
Repeat business important to financial success
Emphasis on consumers
Cost control procedures
Stress that basic principles for planning, for managing financial resources, for implementing marketing efforts, and for controlling costs are similar in all hospitality segments.
Review terms, “commercial foodservice operations” and “institutional foodservice operations” and their target audiences, when discussing “emphasis on consumers.”

7. Standard Operating Procedures: Cycle of F&B Product Control
Step 1: Purchasing
Step 2: Receiving
Step 3: Storing
Step 4: Issuing
Step 5: Pre-Preparation
Step 6: Preparation
Step 7: Serving
Step 8: Service

8. Cycle of F&B Product Control (continued…)
Develop purchase specification
Supplier selection
Purchasing correct quantities
No collusion between property and supplier
Evaluation of purchasing process
Step 1:
Purchasing
Development of receiving procedures
Completion of necessary receiving reports (e.g., addressing financial and security concerns)
Step 2:
Receiving
Effective use of perpetual & physical inventory systems
Control of product quality
Securing products from theft
Location of products within storage areas
Step 3:
Storing
Purchasing: describe the purposes of documenting purchase specifications: they provide detailed descriptions of desirable quality, size and weight for a particular item. In addition, the standardized purchase specification format includes usage of product, product test procedures and special instructions and requirements.
Receiving: Provide examples of financial and security concerns in receiving
Storing: For a perpetual inventory system, keep a running balance of the quantity of stored products by recording all newly purchased items as they enter storage areas and all quantities issued from storage to production areas; in a physical inventory system, physically count stored products periodically.
Product rotation concerns
Matching issues (issue & usage)
Purchasing as inventory is depleted
Step 4:
Issuing

9. Cycle of F&B Product Control (continued…)
Step 5:
Pre-Preparation
Mise-en-place
Minimizing food waste / maximizing nutrient retention
Use of standardized recipes
Use of portion control
Requirements for food and employee safety
Step 6:
Preparation
Timing of incoming F&B orders
Portion control
Revenue management concerns
Step 7:
Serving
Pre-Preparation: Mise-en-place means “everything in its place” and “getting ready for service.”
Define serving and service (serving is the process moving products from products personnel to service personnel; service is the process moving products from service personnel to the guests).
Revenue control concerns
Serving alcoholic beverage responsibly
Sanitation and cleanliness
F&B server productivity
Step 8:
Service

10. Personnel Requirement Similarities: Hotel & Restaurant Foodservices
Practice of empowerment
Transferring some decision-making responsibility and power to front-line employees
Enhancing service to guests and increasing profits for the organization 
To meet unanticipated guest needs effectively
Staff must be trained in standardized procedures.
Managers must provide clear direction to employees.
Managers must provide necessary resources.

11. Profitability Differences: Hotel & Restaurant Foodservices
Profitability = Revenue - Expenses
Profit amounts generated by restaurant F & B is relatively easy to calculate.
The process of allocating revenues and expenses applicable to F & B services in a hotel is more difficult.
Costs of F & B sales is generally higher in a restaurant than in hotel.
Define allocation as the process of spreading costs between two or more profit centers to more accurately identify each department’s profitability.
Hotel’s “bottom line” profit from F & B sales is likely to be lower than a restaurant’s.
Payroll costs (or fixed labor costs) are higher than in a restaurant.

12. Marketing-related Differences: Hotel & Restaurant Foodservices
Location within the community
Restaurants: locations easily accessible to potential guests
Hotels: locations most accessible to guests desiring lodging accommodations
Location within a hotel
Restaurants: locations easily accessible to potential guests
Hotels: locations most accessible to guests desiring lodging accommodations
Menu
For hotels, F& B service is viewed as an amenity or secondary (sale of guestrooms is primary objective)

13. Room Service Operations: Profitability Concerns
Why lose money?
Relatively few properties generate profits from room service
Very high labor costs
High expenses incurred for capital costs
- delivery carts / warming devices
Why offered?
Service to guests
Impacts hotel rating
- some guests select hotels based on room service availability
Hospitality suite business involves providing food and beverage service during conventions / conferences; hosted events are functions served by a hotel which are complementary for invited guests.
High expenses incurred for capital costs
- Delivery carts / warming devices
Offer hospitality suite business
Provide hosted events
How to offset losses?

14. Room Service Operations: Menu Planning Factors
Quality Concerns
Less likely to oversee room service food quality
Must offer products maintaining quality during holding and transportation to guest room
(example: problems with omelet & French fries)
Cross-Selling
Advertising availability of other hotel services
- dinner menu providing info about Sunday brunch
Discuss issue of the prompt removal of soiled room service items, and how to design procedures for this operating challenge; use the first case study to facilitate discussion with students.
Menu Language
Language barriers for international guests
- uses of pictures and multi-lingual menu descriptions
Clearly state ordering-requirements
- minimum order charges / mandatory tipping policies

15. Room Service Operations: Operating Issues
An inaccurate room service order cannot be corrected quickly.
A minor problem in room service may impact guest’s perceptions about the entire lodging experience.
Communication
Guest placing order / order taker / room service production-service staff / room service staff
Abbreviations should be clearly understood by order taker and food production staff
Technology
Improving the accuracy of room service orders
electronic cash register (ECR) / point-of-sale terminal /
remote printer
Ask students about “upselling techniques” they have used in any segments of food and beverage service; then discuss how those techniques can be applied in room service.
Upselling Technique
Opportunities for upselling are overlooked
Upselling increases guest check average

16. Room Service Operations: Within-Room Service
Training issues for room service attendants
Explaining procedures to retrieve room service items
Asking guests where room service meal should be set up
Presenting guest check and securing payment
Opening wine bottles (where applicable)
Question 4 in “Issues at Work” (Chapter 8) addresses special training that a room service attendant needs to become an efficient dining room server.
Providing an attitude of genuine hospitality

17. Banquet Operations: Profit Opportunities
Well-planned banquets can be profitable!
Banquet menu has higher contribution margin.
- banquets frequently celebrate special events
Forecasting & planning production, service and labor are relatively easy.
- formal guarantee is made
- less likelihood of overproduction of food with subsequent waste
Beverage sales from hosted or cash bars increase profit.
- capable of increasing alcoholic beverage sales
Stress that coordination between banquet chef and banquet manager, between production staff and service staff, between sales / marketing department and the banquet department is critical to success.
Distinguish between hosted bars and cash bars.
Market share is the percentage of the entire volume of business of a specific type which the hotel enjoys.
Increasing market share of the community’s banquet business
Increasing property’s profitability

18. Banquet Operations: Menu Planning
Factors / concerns for planning banquet menus
Guest preferences
Ability to deliver desired quality products
Availability of ingredients required to produce the menu
Production / service staff with appropriate skills
Equipment / layout / facility design issues
Nutrition issues
Discuss the use of a banquet event order, and how this helps the banquet planning process
Sanitation issues
Peak volume production / operating concerns
Ability to generate required profit levels

19. Banquet Operations: Service Styles
Butler service
Appetizers and pre-poured champagnes can be served by service staff at a reception while guests stand.
Buffet service
Quantities of food are pre-arranged on a self-service line; guests pass along the line and help themselves
Family style (English style)
Platters and bowls of food are filled in the kitchen and brought to guests’ tables
French service
Meals are prepared or finished at tableside by service staff: (e.g., tossing Caesar salad / flambéing entrée)
Each service style varies uniquely in terms of required staff skills, costs, elegance, needed equipment, etc. Discuss advantages / disadvantages associated with each service style. (For example, for English service, the portion control procedures can be challenging. Although Russian and French service styles offer elegance, well-trained service employees and specialized equipment are needed, which increases costs. On the other hand, American service style involves low equipment- and labor- costs.)
Platter service
Production staff plate food in the kitchen; service staff bring it to the table to place individual portions on guests’ plates
Plated service (American service)
Production staff pre-portion food on plates in kitchen; service staff serve to guests

20. Banquet Operations: Beverage Functions
Various ways to charge for beverage
Individual drink price
Collecting cash or a ticket when each drink is sold
Bottle charge
Charging on a by-bottle basis for each bottle consumed / opened
Per-person charge
Charging a specific price for beverages based on attendance at the event
Hourly charge
Define the terms “Call brand beverages,” “Premium brand beverage”, and “House brand beverage.”
Charging the host a specific price for each hour of beverage service
Specific per event charge
Using hours of beverage service; charging number of drinks / hour X number of guests

21. Alcoholic Beverage Service in Hotels
Good training protects guests, public and hotel from tragedies and lawsuits
Responsible service & consumption of alcoholic beverage is an integral part of the responsibility of all F & B managers in all types of operations.
Train for all staff in the hotel (i.e. including non-F&B positions, e.g. front desk, housekeeping, maintenance and/or security staff ) to recognize and respond to visible signs of guests’ (non-guests’) intoxication.
Develop and implement ongoing training for responsible service of alcoholic beverages.