Types of Food and Beverage Outlets

Here in this article we will discuss most commonly found food and beverage outlets like Coffee Shop, Specialty Restaurant, Grill Room,  Rotisserie, Bars, and Discotheque.

Coffee Shop

The Coffee Shop is a concept borrowed from the United States. Coffee shops have replaced the erstwhile dining rooms of old hotels and therefore, is an all-purpose restaurant. A coffee shop is distinguished by the following features and style of Food and Beverage Outlets:

• Food is pre-plated from the kitchen. This means that the cook in the kitchen prepares a complete and balanced meal and arranges it in a plate. The portion sizes are fixed but adequate in quantity for the average guest. The meals are complete and nutritionally balanced.
• The restaurant ensures a quick service because the food items elected can be made in a hurry and do not need elaborate service.
• The restaurant has a casual atmosphere. This means that guests can come in casual wear. The restaurant has lively piped music. The tables have table mats and paper napkins.
• Coffee shop menus are quite light and simple.
• The tables are provided with sugar cubes, proprietary sauces, and mustard and creamer satchels.
• A coffee shop runs for 24-hours a day and is the only restaurant in a hotel that serves food at any time of the day and night when other restaurants in the hotel are closed.
• Coffee shops of hotels are found off the lobby in most cases, or beside the swimming pool.

SPECIALTY RESTAURANT

Specialty restaurant is one of the Food and Beverage Outlets where the entire atmosphere and decor is geared to a particular theme, mainly related to a regional cuisine like Chinese, Indian, Polynesian, Japanese, French. Let us take Indian restaurant as an example. It will have the following features:

• Indian motifs on the walls Indian artifacts
• Staff wearing Indian costumes
• Music, if recorded, will be Indian music. Live performances will be by Ghazal singers or the like.
• Crockery, cutlery and glassware will have Indian designs.
• The restaurant can be either formal or informal.

GRILL ROOM OR ROTISSERIE

This is a Food and Beverage Outlets that specialises itself in grills and roasts of different meats, fish and poultry. The distinguishing features of this type of restaurant are:

• A glass partition that separates the kitchen from the seating area so that guests can see the grill preparation of their choice.
• Casual in atmosphere. Some of them may be as casual as to have pool tables and indoor sports.
• Grill rooms can be sophisticated casual too with finer crockery and linen.
• It is distinctly American with log tables and benches The crockery may be coarse with hardy cutlery, paper or checked cloth napkins.

BARS

The bar dispenses wines, liquor, spirits, juices, aerated waters, cigars and cigarettes. Restaurant food service professionals will coordinate with the bar for guest beverage orders

Bar Manager: Translates hotel policies, procedures and standards into the bar operation. He directs the bar operations ensuring efficient guest service.

Bartender: Mans the bar counter and supplies drinks directly to guests seated at the counter and to the waitresses serving tables elsewhere. He is known for his customer relations, showmanship and unique cocktails.

The essential features of a bar are:

• A bar counter with tall chairs
• Seating area
• Well stocked with a range of liquor
• Light snacks which come pre-plated
• Lively recorded music or in case of live performers—a duo or pianist.

DISCOTHEQUE                                                                 

It is a Food and Beverage Outlets which is principally meant for dancing to recorded music. Its distinguishing are:

• The music is driven by a qualified and experienced disc jockey (DJ) who creates or responsible the moods of the
• Special lighting to give psychedelic effects.
• A dance floor
• A bar which is the main
• Light meals and finger picking