Unit-6 Food and Beverage Management in Hotels and Quality Restaurants

UNIT-6

Food and Beverage Management in Hotels and Quality Restaurants

Hotel food and beverage management may be described as one of the most complex area of the catering industry because of the variety of catering outlets that may be found in anyone hotel.

The different types of catering services associated with hotels including the following:
luxury haute cuisine restaurant, coffee shops and specialty restaurants, room and lounge services, cocktail bars, banqueting facilities and staff restaurants.

Quality restaurants are those establishment whose soul business is restaurants and who often very high standard in all aspects of their operations such as an extensive a a la Carte menu, silver service, good quality facilities and service accompaniments etc.
The luxury restaurants found in hotel main therefore be defined as quality restaurants although there are also those operations found outside hotels and which are usually independently owned and operated.
The type and variety of catering outlets in hotels will depend to a large extent on the size of the hotel. small hotels of up to 30 to 40 bedrooms may have a licence bar and restaurant which may offer unlimited table d'hotê or a la carte lunch and dinner menu.

Basic policies - financial, marketing and catering

Financial Considerations-

The business operation of hotel and quality restaurant is determined by a number of factors which are characteristics of these types of operations. Hotels and quality restaurants are characterized by the need for high capital outlet and have a correspondingly high percentage of fixed cost; the perishability of their product and a demand for that product that is unstable.
All these factors lead to a high dependence of these operations on the demands of the market so that hotels and quality restaurants may be said to be highly market oriented. In comparison to the welfare sector, cost oriented operations, hotels and quality restaurants are there for more dependent on their market for the survival of their operations and this has important implications for their basic policies making decision.
Hotels and quality restaurants are profit oriented and there is reflected in their financial policies. The social policies of a large hotel for example may stipulates that the gross profit to be achieved by the hotel coffee shop and lunch services is 65%, the grill room 60% and the a la carte restaurant and room service 70%. The higher gross profit levels of the A la carte  and quality restaurants are mainly due to the lower variable cost of these operations and need to cover hire staff costs. The differential profit margins to be obtained by the different menus would also be laid down for each outlet for example and 8 Oz rump steak in the hotels grill room may be required to achieve a 50% gross profit, where is the same menu item in the a la carte restaurant main achieve a 70% gross profit.
the high percentage of fixed cost associated with the quality restaurants and other catering outlet in hotel affected the margin of safety of these operations this is the difference between the operations break even point and the maximum potential output. High fixed cost operations have a smaller margin of safety than those with lower fixed cost so that a drop in the volume of sales would seriously affect the profitability of high fixed cost establishments. In addition the wide range of price discretion that  is available to hotels and quality restaurants further complicates there pricing structure. The balance between the price level of these establishments and their volume of sales must therefore be carefully calculated and this again would be contained in their financial policies.
Generally speaking, the average spend of customers in hotel catering outlets is higher than in similar catering operation found outside an hotel. This is particularly evident with reference to the hotels has ASP quality restaurants but also in the less expensive outlets such as coffee shops are the ASP of the hotel customer may again be higher than in comparable operations found for example in towns High Street. The higher prices charged by these type of catering facilities result in higher says per employee and a higher revenue per trading hours. In fast food operations with their lower ISP per customer the long trading hours of these establishments are often necessary in order to achieve high volume sales. In the catering outlets of hotels similar long trading hours are not characteristic of all the facilities the lower SP coffee shop may stay open for most of the day but the higher AC restaurant in hotel like the quality restaurant found outside will only open for a lunch and dinner period approximately 3 hours and 4 hours to five hours respectively.
In the larger hotels some form of food and beverage service is generally available 24 hours a day and most of the catering facility are usually open seven days a week; quality restaurants created outside the hotel, however, only open 6 days a week. the catering policy of the hotel or quality restaurant is conjunction with the financial policy of the establishment will, however, determine the opening hours of the operation based on such information as revenue per trading hours sales per employee per hour etc.
The Everest paint per customer varies according to the type of the catering outlet. In coffee shop or launched service of a hotel which usually of a limited food and beverage item, the ASP maybe in the Rs 10 to Rs.6 range,  in the a la Carte restaurant of a hotel or other quality restaurant, the ASP may  range from RS.30 to RS.60 per customer. Payment for food and beverage in hotel may be made in several ways. If customer service resident the charges may be debited to the total Hotel account. Alternatively, payment may be made on a cash or credit basis. Generally speaking, the higher the price level of restaurant the most likely that credit facility will be available. Some hotels and quality restaurant include a service charge in the price of their meal while other leaves said to the discretion of the customer.  This is the sector of the industry where the practice of sleeping is most commonly found and the "trunc" system of sharing pulled by the employees.
In the higher ASP operations, the cost of the mail to the customer is not such an important variable in the determining the sale of the operation; broadly speaking the higher the price level of an operation the less elastic its demand. The demand for those catering facilities offered by quality restaurant and hotels, therefore tends to be relatively inelastic, that is, a large change in price will not have a very substantial effect on the sales of the establishment. This characteristic of hotels and quality restaurants has important implication for the marketing policies of such establishments; if they cannot complete with other catering operations on the basis of price, they must look to the other aspects of their operation, such as food quality and standard of service as a basis for competition.


 Marketing Considerations- 

Because of the nervous of the market for which quality restaurant caters, the marketing policies of these operations are able to quite clearly identify the market and target their advertising and merchandising campaigns at this market level. The marketing policy of a hotel however is considerable e more complicated because of its variety of catering outlets and the correspondence variety in the type of customers these facilities will attract; the customer frequenting the hotel's coffee shop for example may not be the same customer to use the hotel's a la Carte restaurant. The danger of catering for mix market within the same establishment must therefore be recognized and planned for accordingly. The marketing policy of a hotel may vary with different times of the year because it can see opportunities for marketing it's getting facilities to different markets.  A hotel in coastal resort, for example may caters largely for families and group of tourists during the summer months, during which time it's getting facilities maybe well patronized. In the winter months, however, this market may no longer be available and the hotel may therefore its marketing policy and promote its catering facilities as part of banqueting and conference "packages". In this way the hotel's catering facilities may be utilized throughout the year without the danger of mixing its market and adversely affecting the hotels total image based also ensuring a consistent revenue and maximum utilization of the hotel’s capital equipment.

A hotel's marketing policy will also contain its intentions with regard to its resident and non-resident markets. For example Hotel going to concentrate mainly on trade generated from within, that is, president or to what extent is it going to attempt to attract outside custom. Some hotels in almost exclusively at the resident gas and may offer comparatively limited catering facilities, compared with those Hotel seeking to also attract the non-resident customers by offering a wider range of catering outlets, restaurants, bar, banquet facilities etc.

In contrast to the very often direct and obvious advertising of fast Food establishment, particularly takeaway operations, the advertising and merchandising techniques used by hotel and quality restaurant have traditionally been more discrete and subtle; this is particularly evident with the advertising of quality restaurants which are aiming at  upmarket clientele and the techniques used are approximately sophisticated. For example, advertising in quality magazines obtaining free writers of the restaurant in quality newspaper and magazines joint promotion with credit card companies. These can enhance the type of image the restaurant is trying to create. In the lower ASP catering outlets of hotels such as coffee shop or wine bars, the advertising of these facilities maybe more direct, open because to a large extent this type of facilities is attempting to attract passer by traffic. In both lower and higher ASP outlets in hotels there is a tendency today for and alternative entrance to the catering facilities to be available directly from the street, b in addition to an inside entrance which would be used mainly by Hotel guests. By having the state entrance more pedestrian traffic is encouraged to use the catering operation, without feeling awkward in walking through the hotel foyer to the catering facility.

"crisscross" advertising is a technique available to hotel where there is more than one type of catering facility in the hotel for example the cocktail bar main use tent cards to advertise the special promotion week in the alacarte restaurant. Where the hotel is part of a large organisation inter-hotel advertising may be used which usually features the catering outlets of the groups hotel in the company sales literature which is distributed to all hotel unit throughout the country, and sometime abroad. It is also possible to advertise the food and beverage facilities of the hotel in conjunction with its other services for example, a number of large hotel chaims now offer 'bargain weekends' where for an inclusive price a may stay at hotel for two or three days on 'Demi pension' or 'en pension terms. 

Where quality restaurants are situated in establishment with accommodation, Gourmet and wine weekends may be offered during off peak winter months. Discounts are given to hotel residents dining in the a la carte restaurants free bottle of wine is offered with the meal, or two meal for the  price of one during the weekends. It is important there for all possible advertising techniques to be reviewed for the marketing of catering outlets, as they may often not only be mark in isolation but also maybe advertise in conjunction with the establishments other facilities such as accommodation.

Catering Considerations-

Type of Customer-

The profile of a customer frequenting a quality restaurant is very likely to be different from the profile of a customer frequent taking a fast food takeaway operation.  In the letter case it has been suggested the customers is the take away as little more than a feeling station somewhere that food and drink can be both to satisfy some immediate basic need. Customers, frequenting a quality restaurant however will be desiring a considerably more in-depth meal experience;they will be visiting a quality restaurant because they have a greater interest in the quality of food and beverage they are buying, the standard of service and deca etc and because they can afford to pay more for their meal. This same type of customer is also likely to patronize the the a la Carte and hautê cuisine specialty restaurants of hotels. A customer profile for a quality restaurant operation main for example;customer coming from socio-economic groupings A and B, middle to order age group, both sexes, willing to experiment with unusual dishes, expecting a selection of "house specialty" high percentage of car ownership willing to travel up to 20 to 30 miles to dine, ASP RS.30-Rs 60 per head.
Customers patronizing Hotel catering facility may be conveniently in divided into two main groups:
1.Residents
2.Non Residents
The ratio between these two groupings will vary from one hotel to another, although generally speaking the resident guest will generate considerable more business than, the non resident the ratio being as high as 85:15 in some hotels.

In house' sales r are often generated by conference and banqueting guest staying in the hotels,and block bookings by 12 who may be staying at Hotel on half board terms. Residents guest may be further subdivided into business and non business customers; these different type of customers are likely to frequent the different level of catering facility in the hotel.  The business traveler on an  expense account, for example, is more likely to patronize the more expensive a la carte restaurant then is a a family staying at the hotel who would probably use the less expensive coffee shop.
Resident gas may be staying at a hotel on variety of different terms and this will affect to what extent they will use the hotel's catering facilities. The most commonly used hotel rate is for bed and breakfast which charges for the overnight accommodation and includes either continental or full breakfast. Guests staying at Hotel number one day this rate will usually have their breakfast in the hotel dining room but will not often return the patronize the hotel's other restaurant facilities, at least not on a regular basis, as it would then be more advantages for them to be staying at Hotel on other terms. These other terms include half board and full board rates. Half  board(MAP) arrangement include accommodation and two other meals usually breakfast and then either lunch or dinner.Full board(AP) inclusive term include accommodation  and three other meals breakfast lunch and dinner,sometime at resort hotels full board terms also include afternoon teas. These this fully aur partially inclusive terms are advantages to Hotel as they guarantee a certain percentage of restaurant customs which is advance booked and which may be catered for relative Li easily by offering set table d'hôte  menus. 
Non resident trade will depend to a large extent on the situation of the hotel. If it is heated in a town or city within close proximity to local office block and business firms, a considerable amount of trade may be generated from here civic launches, business meetings etc, main account for a large percentage of the hotel's restaurant trade. Even if the hotel is situated several miles out of town, because of this very feature it may still be able to attract local business trade out to its getting facilities. Quality and well known restaurants in particular have wider market area then they other level of food and beverage operation. These type of restaurants generate custom because of their reputation and customers are willing to travel a considerable distance to these establishments. fortunes trade a hotel must be situated where there is a heavy pedestrian traffic passing by; even where this is the case, chance trade does not usually account for more than one or two percent of hotels main restaurant custom, although considerable a higher percentage of passing trade may be used its lower ASP catering facilities, for example the hotel coffee shop. A well signposted and specious  Hotel car  park will at time attracts chance trade. The low percentage of chance stage usually associated with the more expensive quality restaurants is, however, compensated by the high percentage of advance booking made for seats in these operations. This is in contrast to the previously described fast food operations, where particularly with take away, chance trade account for a higher percentage of total custom.

Type of Production/Menu-

The food and beverage product offered by Hotel will depend on the type of customers frequent in the establishment and the market being catered for. In Hotel catering mainly for the commercial or business travelers the following facilities may be found; coffee shop or specialty restaurant featuring a popular prised menu where the gas may have a mail that is reasonably quickly , in a pleasant and relaxed atmosphere and which is not too expensive; higher prized a la Carte restaurant with a higher standard of service and quality of food with the more sophisticated atmosphere and a more extensive menus, and one or two bars ,one of which may be a cocktail bar that is situated adjacent to a la carte restaurant. Room  service in this type of Hotel, is usually very limited and where it is provided is restricted Meal ,to beverages a few snack items or light meals.
In resort hotel, or one that is catering mainly for non  business and holiday guests, the catering services of the establishment fulfill a different role. In Hotel catering mainly for the business traveler the catering services often have a purely functional nature,for example the hotels a la carte restaurant may be and ideal setting for business meetings, in a resort hotel, however, the catering outlets are usually seen as part of the entertainment facilities of the hotel. In in these establishments the food and beverage services offered by the hotel have a different role because of guests length of stay and particular attention should therefore be paid to such aspects of the operation as menu variety. Hotels offerings full board and half board can have a high percentage of long staying guests, where the guest average length of stay may be several weeks. Cyclical main use may be used by these hotels and are very useful for volume forecasting and planning; for example; in hotel where the guest average length of stay is two to three weeks a cyclical menu based on a 28 days cycle would be appropriate.
The menu of catering outlets in hotels may either be centred around one particular product, for example, steaks in a grill room, or as is more usual, offer a range of menu items. The greatest range of menu items is found in the  a la carte restaurant of hotels; even in similar quality restaurants found outside hotels there is rarely e the same range available. Traditionally haute cuisine Hotel restaurants have offered very extensive menu, sometimes with up to 200 Menu items. The trend today, however is away from such a large menu range to a more limited number of items,say, of up to 100, which are change seasonally. In this way food cost are more easily controlled mainly because of the reduction in food resources and wastage and all menu items repriced where necessary. Cyclical menus are rarely used in quality and hautê  cuisine Hotel restaurants; state the menu are usually return for a set period, for  example, 3 to 6 months and then change.

Food Production Styles-

the most widely used method of food production in the kitchen of quality restaurant and Hotel is still the conventional method of production, based on the partie system. The Partie System is a method of kitchen organisation in which production is divided into separate areas according to the type of food being produced. In a large hotel kitchen, for example, there may be as many as seven main production parties: roast, vegetables, larder/salad,poultry,fish,soup and sauces, and each of these sections may be further subdivided depending on the quality of food to be produced by the partie. Although the other production styles such as cook chill and sous-vide are making inroads into this previous bastion of Hotel tradition these in roads are mainly in specific areas for example function catering where they may be used to implement the traditional method rather than replace them.
Where conventional or traditional method of food production is used in the kitchen of quality restaurant and Hotel a-la-carte restaurants, it it is used in conjunction with the highest standards of fresh food available and a low percentage of convenience food. For the lower price level outlets, however, such as a hotels coffee shop or bar snack service a higher percentage of convenience food may be used in the kitchen. 
Where convenience food are used by Hotel kitchens the quality of the food and beverage product is very dependent on the supplier. Where the total is part of a large organisation, this may have its own centralized production unit and show the quality of food can be very tightly controlled. An  individual operator however, is reliant on the quality product by the food manufacturer from whom he is buying. Today number of food manufacturers are selling higher quality convenience food for example, pâtés, Coq au vin, beef Chasseur  etc. Which fill a market gap for a particular level of operation. The type of catering operations which use these products are mainly those catering for the middle market such as the currently popular cafe and wine bars and bistros etc. In these operations which may offer two course and three course inclusive made from between RS.10 and RS.18, food and labour cost must be very tightly controlled and the use of these type of convenience food aids in this. It is important that where convenience foods are used in a kitchen based on the conventional production method there should be introduced and utilize as part of a totally planned catering system. This involves taking into account not only the financial aspect of the operation, but also having different equipment to make the best use of them, b and preparing staff for their introduction.
In some of the oldest I'll establishment which are usually convenience food, there are often large production areas which have not been substantially  altered for 20 or 30 years; this large kitchen  particularly found in the independently operated establishment which may have had a relative Low injection of capital over number of years. The production equipment is usually outdated and consequently where convenience food have been introduced,  they are not being used as efficiently as they may be. In this type of establishments convenience food may not be an aid  to the establishment's production; for this types of food to be an asset in kitchen they must be introduced in a planned and systematic way. 
Where hotel has a number of different catering outlets, this baby serve either from one Central kitchen or by a number of separate kitchens, all the way possible,duplication of kitchen areas is avoided because of the high capital cost involved. In Hotel switch off a room service, however, separate floor kitchen may be installed with limited production equipment which is able to supply beverages and small snacks and hence remove the load from the main kitchen. The equipment used in kitchens of hotel and quality restaurant will depend to a large extent on the menu being offered. Those operations featuring.

Food Service Style:

The variety of food service styles used in hotel is dependent upon the different type of catering outlets in the establishment. In Venice Mall Hotel, for example,where one restaurant is used for the service of all meals, and features Table d' hôte menu for lunch and dinner, plated meals may be served to the guest by service staff. In a large hotel, however,with four or five different types of outlets there can be a corresponding variety in the service styles. breakfast service in the hotels for example can be on self-service basis in the coffee shop or server service in the main restaurant. For lunch and dinner the coffee shop can serve a limited selection of elated snacks and meals directly to customers at their table, and the outlet may also incorporate a self service buffet. The Hotel grill room or themed restaurant good feature a menu with plated Mills And the a la carte restaurant would offer silver service, both with server service. In addition to the main dining areas the hotel bar can offer unlimited snack service and the hotel could also offer room service facilities because, room service is  however, a highly labour intensive and time consuming method of food service,the majority of hotels offering room service today usually provides only a very limited menu selection except for the large luxury establishment the room service menu of an containing some items from the main restaurant menu. The celebrity of service styles is not however found in quality restaurants. This level of operation usually only offers are similar service style to that found in the a la carte restaurants of hotels that is silver service to the table.
Hence dance style of service could be vary from hotel to hotel and restaurant restaurant as per their production style.

 Organisation and Staffing-

Staffing organisation in hotel and quality restaurants depend to the large extent on the size of the establishment and the level of service being offered the larger the operation and the most of employed the greater the departmentalization and specialization of the catering personnel. In a small hotel with one restaurant offering a limited menu there may be as few as five or six production staff and a similar number of service staff this would constitute the catering department. In a large hotel, however, number of catering outlets the catering department may consist of several hundred personnel. In the small hotels,little staff  hierarchy would be present, in the large hotel a very clearly defined hierarchy would be identified for each catering outlet.

As the staff hierarchy in the catering operation increases so does the specialization of the staff functions. The head Chef of a large hotel or quality restaurant may therefore have several sous chefs, who would deputize in the in his absence, and under the shoe size would be the Chefs de parties; these are responsible for the main sections in the kitchen-roast, vegetables, fish, Larder, pastry, soup and sauces etc. The Chef de parties may have several commis, or assistant chefs reporting to them depending on the size of the section and finally there can be a number of general apprentices working in the kitchen in any one of these sections. In the large kitchen organised on this traditional partie system,is section is quite autonomous in smaller kitchen, where less specialization is found,the kitchen staff may be required to perform a variety of stars that would normally be associated with specific sections in a large production area. The head Chef of a large kitchen is usually involved to a far greater extent with the administrative side of the operation or rather than in the physical preparation of meals. In small establishment, however, the head Chef is more involved in the production of restaurants meal leaving the majority of the administration to the hotel owner or proprietor.
On the food service side of catering operation a similar staff hierarchy is found according to the size of the establishment. In ilaaj operation, example,the stopping organisation for a lunch or dinner service in a quality restaurant serving 80 or more covers from an a la carte menu, may be as follows; the restaurant manager or his assistant, 1 head server, 2  Chef de rang, a wine server, one  commi wine server and 3 assistant server.  In a small operation however there may only be the restaurant manager or head server and several assistance with no separate staff hierarchy for beverage service.
Because of the high degree of departmentalization in large hotels, the food and beverage manager is able to delegate responsibility to a far greater extent to other heads of the departments;  these would include such personal as the head cellar man,  head store man and the chief steward  and so on,  who would all have there on specialized  functions and would report to food and beverage manager. The food and beverage manager would in turns directly to the general manager of the hotel, and be required to attend meetings with the other heads of department over which the general manager would preside. In the small hotels of up to 50 bedrooms where there is considerable less specialized because of the size of the operation, the owner or proprietor of the hotel may have a very small management team; 10 hotel operations of this size there may only be tu assistant managers one responsible for the food and beverage department and other is the front of the house.

The ratio of service staff to customers will depend largely upon the type of catering outlet and the level of service being offered. In Hotel coffee shop, for example, with limited server service, the ratio may be as low as one server to 20 customers. As the service style becomes more elaborate, however, So  the number of service staff increases;  thus  in a quality restaurant the ratio may be as high as one server to 6 to 10 customers. Service staff contact time also increases with the ratio of staff to customers. In quality restaurant, for example, service staff are not only involved in 'taking orders' as they are example, in take away operations in quality restaurant, customers may require explanation of certain diseases, such as the house specialties and the service staff would be expected to be knowledgeable about these menu items. 
Because substantial percentage of trade in quality restaurants is repeat trade, customer appreciate being served by familiar staff, and this is recognized by these establishments. Most of the staff employed by these operations are there for full time, with little part time labour being used.

The level of scale of food and beverage employees in hotel will depend largely on the type of catering outlet with which they are associated with. The hotels coffee shop, for example, using a high percentage of convenience food only required comparatively unskilled labour in both production and service areas. In the hotel a la carte,  restaurant and other quality restaurants highly skilled labour is necessary both in kitchen where high percentage of food used as fresh and is prepared from the prostate on the premises and in the restaurant West silver service is commonly used.