Food and Beverage Service Areas

Food and Beverage Service areas includes several ancillary departments or sections with-in Food and Beverage Service department of a hotel or restaurant.

Ancillary Departments

Introduction:-

These are service areas usually acting as the link between the kitchen and the food service areas. They are always behind the scenes or “back-of-the-house” the service themselves are some of the busiest unit of a catering establishments, especially over a service period. Because of this it is important tat department heads ensure that all staff know exactly what their duties are and how to carry them out efficiently and quickly.

In general, specially in large operations from main service areas can be distinguished

• A still room or a pantry
• Wash up/ Kitchen Stewarding
• Hot plate
• Linen Room
• Store

STILL ROOM/PANTRY

This is a service area whose main function is to provide items of food and beverages required for the service of meal and not catered for by other major departments in a hotel such as the kitchen, larder and bakery.

Following are some of the items dispense from the still room.

1. All beverages such as coffee, tea, chocolate, Horlicks, etc
2. Assorted fruit juices/fresh and canned
3. Milk and cream
4. Sugars
5. Preserves:- Jam, marmalade, honey etc. They are normally pre-portioned for better control.
6. Butter – it can curled or pre-wrapped portions
7. Slice and buttered brown, white an malt breads
8. Brioche, croissants
9. Melba toast – these are cut into triangle and put on a toast rack the sides of the slice bread are cut off before service
10. Assorted breakfast cereals- Cornflakes, Rice crispies, Muesli (mixed of all cereals)etc
11. Pastries, Gateaux and sandwiches
12. Porridge and boiled eggs.

WASH UP/ KITCHEN STEWARDING

The wash-up is the most important Food and Beverage Service Areas and must be sited correctly so that staff can work speedily and efficiently when passing from the food service area to the kitchen. Servers should stock trays of dishes correctly at the side boards with all the correct sized plates together and tableware (cutlery) stacked on one of the plates with the blade of the knives running under the arches of the forks. All glassware should be stacked on a separate tray an taken to a separate wash-up point.

The wash-up point should be closest to the exit from the food service area (the dining room). All the food debris should be put into the bin (wet garbage bin) and al dry garbage like paper doilies, paper serviettes etc in a separate bin (dry garbage bin)

HOT PLATE

The hot plate may be regarded as the meeting point b/w the food service staff (Food and Beverage) and the food preparation staff (kitchen). This is a place where all the crockery required for service will be kept warm. Care should be taken to make sure that the amounts of chinaware required are properly stacked in the hot case. In some hotels the silver required will be placed on top of the hotplate and used as required. Normally an ‘ABOYEUR’ (a backer) is incharge and controls the hotplate over the service periods. The hotplate is usually gas or electricity operated and should be lit well in advance of the service to ensure all the china and silver are sufficiently heated. Once a dish is ready to serve the aboyeur will announce it loudly so that the respective waiter can pick it up. Once the food has been picked up the KOT (kitchen order ticket) is put into a control box which can be operated only by a member of the control department who for control purposes makes the copy of the food check from the kitchen.

LINEN ROOM

It keeps a stock of the various linen used in the restaurant/ outlet. Example – table cloth, serviettes, guest napkin, slip cloth, baize etc.

Fresh linen is picked up by the restaurant staff in exchange of the soiled linen. Generally it is done once a day. But it might be more than once in case of coffee shop. A linen register is maintained on a daily basis for this purpose.

Find more about various Food and Beverage Sector …here

STORE

Store room is the Food and Beverage Service Areas from where the Food and Beverage service staff requisite and receives items such as grocery and stationary that are required for smooth running of the day to day operation of the outlet.

Dispense Bar:

The term Dispense Bar is recognized to mean any bar situated within the food and beverage service area that dispenses only wine or other alcoholic drinks to be served to a guest consuming a meal.

Cover:

It is the minimum space required for a person to dine with all the required accessories. The ize of a cover is 18*24 inches.