To create the flow of Food & Beverage
items from the suppliers to the guests, through various departments within the
operation, in developing procedures for effective purchasing, storing and
issuing of items used in operations.
The Catering Cycle
Consumer and Market
The catering cycle originates from the need
which arises from captive Market like train, hospitals, airplane, institutions,
schools, etc. In the above, choice is limited and main concern is “how we eat”.
It includes canteen, mess, and cafeteria. It encompasses from teenager and
friends grabbing burgers and pizzas. Another important contributor to this is
the growing trend of “Family eating out together”. Generally families eat
outside for special events such as special occasions, dates or anniversary
dinners. The main concern is “with whom to eat”. Price may not be the ruling
factor. However, type of menu, service, ambience, manners & etiquette may
be important factors in it. The main concern is “where we eat” especially for
people like celebrities, businessmen, etc.
Formulation of Policy
It depends upon different Government polices
rules & regulations involved. For example, License for bars &
restaurants and for serving liquor in the minibar. It includes rules and
regulations for time of serving liquor, music timing, etc. It also consists of
license from music companies for playing their music.
Interpretation of demand
Interpretation of guest demands leads to the
new trends in the eating habits of the guest. Guests demand for particular time
of the day for having meals: e.g. 24 x 7 coffee shops. It may also comprise of
special themes and cuisine preferences. For Example; it may include hotel
guest's preference of a large choice in breakfast – Continental, English, and
Indian (regional). During dinner the guest might prefer an elaborate Food and
Beverage Menu.
Planning and design of facilities
It involves primarily planning of front of
the house and back of the house areas. Designing and planning of the menu. It also
includes planning for type of equipments and raw material being used. The
establishment also needs to plan for maximum space utilisation. It undertakes
the planning of type of cuisine.
Provisioning
This step involves four main elements, they
are; Purchasing, Receiving, Storage and Issuing.
Purchasing
Items are ordered from vendors by the
purchase department. Purchasing refers to a business or organization attempting
to acquire goods or services to accomplish the goals of the enterprise. Though
there are several organizations that attempt to set standards in the purchasing
process, processes can vary greatly between organizations. Typically the word
“purchasing” is not used interchangeably with the word procurement,
since procurement typically includes Expediting, Supplier Quality, and Traffic
and Logistics (T&L) in addition to Purchasing.
Receiving
Items are delivered by the vendors &
accepted by the Purchase department after checking the quality & expiry
dates.
Storage
Items are kept in a secured area until needed
by the concerned department. A warehouse is a commercial building for storage of goods. Warehouses are
used by manufacturers,
importers, exporters, wholesalers,
transport
businesses, customs,
etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial areas of cities and
towns. They come equipped with loading
docks to load and unload trucks; or sometimes are loaded directly from railways, airports, or seaports. They
also often have cranes and forklifts for
moving goods, which are usually placed on ISO standard pallets loaded into
pallet
racks.
Issuing
The items as and when required are indented
(requested) by the departments and issued from the stores. E.g. A barman would
indent for soft drinks, wines, beers and spirits from the stores as and when
required.
Production and service
After issuing the items from the stores the
Food & Beverage department does the preparation of the service of food and
drinks as per the order placed by the guests.
The food is prepared by the kitchen staff as
per the order of the guest and then served.
E.g. Incase of American service the food is
pre-plated while incases of a buffet the guest helps them from the buffet.
Control of costs and revenues
It involves using standardized recipes, and reduces
wastes. Control on over issuing of items. Posting invoices for the cost of
utilities, food, beverages etc. Control over breakages of glassware, crockery,
etc. It involves using small sachets of sugar, jams, butter, etc. instead of
bottles. While pricing menu cost of raw material and other fuel cost involved
should be considered. The monthly targets and budgets are to be achieved for
getting the revenue. The sales ability, loyalty, attitude towards work,
punctuality, grooming standards, menu knowledge, local knowledge are the
attributes of the Food & Beverage professionals which would help in meeting
the revenue for the month.
Monitoring of consumer satisfaction
It implies maintaining the guest profile,
their likes and dislikes. It involves continuously updating a repeat guest’s
profile. It involves informing guests about new trends and festivals that are
being organized at your restaurant via e-mail or mailers. Make guests feel
special on special occasions. Effective handling of complaints can lead to
guest loyalty. Always remember that ‘word of mouth’ is more effective than any
advertisement or marketing strategy. Customer satisfaction research is that
area of marketing research which focuses on customers'
perceptions with their shopping or purchase experience.
Many firms are interested in understanding what their customers thought about
their shopping or purchase experience, because finding new customers is
generally more costly and difficult that servicing existing or repeat
customers. Many people are familiar with "business to customer" (B2C) or retail-level
research, but there are also many "business to business" (B2B) or wholesale-level
projects commissioned as well.
There are basically two main methods of doing
research on customer satisfaction.
Quantitative Research Studies
Quantitative studies allow a firm to develop
an understanding of the "big picture" of their customers' experiences
based upon a relatively small number of interviews. This "sample" of
the firm's customers must be carefully designed and drawn if the results of the
study are to be considered representative of the customer population as a
whole. In most cases, the results of quantitative studies are based upon the
responses of a relatively "large" number of interviews. Depending
upon the size of the population and the amount of segmentation desired,
"large" can be as few as 50 responses or range from several hundred
to thousands of interviews. Mail-based, telephone-based, and (more recently)
Internet-based surveys and related data collection methods.
Qualitative studies are used by firms to
provide a more detailed and/or unconstrained understanding of customer
experiences. In most cases, the results of qualitative studies are based upon
dozens of interviews. Qualitative studies are not designed to provide insights
that are project able to the customer population: qualitative studies are used
for initial exploration of experiences and topics or to probe more deeply the
reasons behind customer perceptions. Focus groups (group depth interviews) and
"one-on-ones" (individual depth interviews) are common examples of
qualitative studies.
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