Food and beverage Management

Food and beverage Management starts with learning the Structure, scope & future of catering industry – The catering industry is a very broad one, including lot of sub outlets such as- restaurants, coffee-shops, banquet halls etc. Besides this lot of clubs, multi-cuisine restaurants etc have also come up.

Looking at the number of outlets in each of the sectors, a hotel has the largest and pubs has the second largest number of outlets operating for profit. Cafes and take-a ways are the fourth largest restaurants remain reasonably static in fifth place.

Then there are number of fast-food outlets also which is the most modern trend and they are high in demand and serve less costly food.

Similarly road catering,railway catering and airline catering also forms part of the catering industry. Service areas are often open 24 hours a day.Function & event catering is also part of the catering industry and require better Food and beverage Management.

Airline catering has developed considerably over the last 25 years. Nowadays full& varied services are provided in the airline industry.

Sea & marine catering is another type of catering.Food & beverages are produced on short sea route ferries.

Classification of food & beverage outlets

-There are various types of food & beverage outlets according to Food and beverage Management:-

• Outlets that operate on a strictly commercial basis and those that are subsidized. he subsidized sector is not available to the public.
• The type of market served or which type of market is catered by the food& beverage markets.
• Outlets where catering is the main activity.
• Outlets that are in private ownership & those that are in private ownership.

  

Importance- Commercial food& beverage outlets may be defined as those operations in which profit is a primary concern. So, all in all commercial f & b outlets are business entities. So, they are important in the way that they provide revenues to the catering industry or the hotel. So, these outlets being commercially viable help the hotel in earning revenues.

Size of the catering industry-The size of the catering industry includes hotels, restaurants & snack bars, public houses, fastfood & take-away counters. These diverse type of restaurants caters to various type of cuisines.There are various speciality restaurants such as Chinese, Polynesian, Indonesian etc. So the size of catering industry is diverse.

Consumers- Customers are those prospective persons who would be our guests. Customers are those persons who are catered to by the hotel industry. They are our prospective guests. Customers can be the resident guests or the stray guests. Customers provide revenue to the catering units so hotel & catering industry look to satisfy customers always.

The eating out habits& leisure-The analysis of who the customers are is very important and then comes the food habits .For example it can be done by age,by socio-economic class and by the frequency of eating out.Other example of type of analysis is done by marital status, by number of people in the household ,by the number& Age of children in the household, and by region within a country. Or of a specific area etc.

Major research of this nature is conducted by established market research organizations such as market power ltd., FDS market research groupp etc. Leisure is directly related to eating out.And there are various statistics available to eating out.

Nowadays there is a increase in healthy eating, awareness for hygiene and cleanliness, demand for vegetarian foods, decrease in demand for red meat, with an increase in demands for white meat, fish & pasta, demand for organically produced fresh foods.

Changing trends in modern food & beverage department- Nowadays managers are totally involved in the planning process-setting objectives, making decisions and implementing decisions. Managers nowadays are involved in staff motivation also.They are responsible for purchasing, receiving, storing & preparation of food& beverage. The food& beverage management also looks at the and moniters

The prices of various items.and achieving competitive rates while ensuring quality food.The food& beverage management also prepares and compiles various menus. The food& beverage management has a very important task of Forecasting costs and sales & training to all food& beverage department staff.

Factors and strategies considered

       There are various strategies that the food& beverage management uses for better productivity and better management Which increases the yield more and produces more results. Generally senior managers are more business oriented & devise various business strategies.

           Theoritical facts & practical decision making- As we know various managers virtually follow theoretical facts & does their decision making. Always the decision should be made keeping the future

In mind. And also the decision should be long term.

Sales volume& mix analysis of profit margins-Sales volume means the total volume of sales of hotels or we can say the room sales & food& beverage sales. Sales margins depend on the total turnover of the hotels. Sales volume is directly related to profit margins. Now mix analysis of profit margins means to analyse the profit margins and to see how much profits can be earned and what would be the level of profit and how much profit can be Earned.

Food & Beverage branding strategies

-Food & beverages should be branded keeping in mind the

profit of the organisation. The brands will be always-national & international.Food& beverage management works in conjunction with other departments for formulating branding strategies..

Reviewing corporate food& beverage operations-It is the primary duty of f&b management is to review corporate

Daily, monthly & yearly tab sheets are kept with food & beverage department to keep a close look at food & beverage operations. The emphasis of food& beverage management is towards

teamwork & participation. One of the key jobs of food & beverage management is training, directing, monitoring & Motivating the job of food & beverage staff. The efficiency of their day to day job is also monitored by f&b management.Reviewing of corporate operations also becomes important to maintain a certain standard of hotel.

All areas of catering services are monitored including efficiency of staff & hygiene.Management should

always do performance measurement of staff . It is also done to avoid pilferage & theft.

Planning & Design

Location- For any success of any catering facility, its location is of utmost importance. Then the restaurant’s location in relation to its present market should not be considered but also its location to possible future market. For example, a city restaurant may rely heavily on a large number of local companies for majority of its lunch time, if large number of companies leave this area, then the restaurant’s trade would be affected. A road side restaurants, trade would be affectedby expansion or relocation of a major nearby road and consequently an increase or decrease of number of traffic.Customers going to any food outlet will expect proper Car parking facility. So the accessibility to the catering joint is another important factor.

Market feasibility-Feasibility means how much practically feasible a certain food outlet is in the market. Most food & beverage outlets are market linked. The food outlets being business entities should be feasible in the market. For being market Feasible the outlet should be business wise profitable. Market feasibility also means

Competition analysis.

Definition-The definition of feasibility study means to do a thorough research work & exploitation of the market. Market feasibility study is very important to understand the market scenario.

Reasons-Market feasibility studies are done for-

• The identification of gap in the eating out market and formulation of suitable product for it.
• The determination of most suitable product given a fixed location.
• The identification of location for pre-determined product.
• It is also important for the analysis of the organization & its external environment.

Types & Stages of feasibility study-SWOT Analysis is the analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities & threats of the organizations. It involves the systematic analysis of all aspects of operation,both internal & external. Strengths & weaknesses are referred to as internal factor, Opportunities & threats are external factors.

Advantages of a feasibility study-There are several benefits of a feasibility study.It includes identifying market area Characteristics, for example analysis of population, levels of income and levels and type of employment, commercial And industrial activity etc. Feasibility study is also done to analyse the competition.That means to analyse the competitors Within a certain area.

Feasibility study is also done to analyse demand. Demand analysis is done for identification & characteristics of existing markets & market segments, future needs. So, one of the major advantages of feasibility study is that it is overall analysis.

DESIGN & LAYOUT

The planning process-The planning process is a very important process of stocktaking. The planning of food service Facilities is more complex than many othertype of planning projects. Planning is nothing but the prediction of future events which are bound to happen.An inherent problem in food production or food & beverage planning is that customer demand for food service facilities is not constant.

The team- The team involves food & beverage manager to the supervisers to waiters.So the team needs to have competent. People for proper food & beverage management.This team is known as the food & beverage team.Last but not the least , the team should be able toframe strategies.

Stages involved-The management planning is done on a step by step basis.Such as planning also involves budgeting and there are various stages to budgeting.The amount of detail & subdivision into departmental budgets depends very much on type and

Size of business.For food & beverage planning, determination of the net profit required for the business in relation to Capital invested & risk involved.The next stage is preparation of sales budget.This determines the volume of sales Necessary to achieve the desired net profit. or subsidy and also influences the budgeted cost of food, beverages, labour & some overhead.Preparation of administration and general budgets is the next stage.Then comes the preparation of capital expenditure budgets which makes provision for such items as expenditure.

Last but not the least stages are preparation of cash budgets & preparation of master budgets, both of which are very important.As stated previously master budgets are prepared for trading account, profit & loss account and the balance sheet.

Functions of design & layout-Design & layout are done to aid in the total functioning of the food & beverage management. The first impression of the outlet is very important.The design & layout creates an impression of the restaurant, which is very important.

         Layout of production & service areas- The production & service areas should follow a certain design and should not be clumsy.The necessary space should be airy & should be easily accessible to people.Production area; it should be engineering wise always on ground floor. There are generally various kitchens & restaurants Cuisine wise. They should be generally spaciously arranged.

Quality in Food and beverage Management operations

         Operating research- This is nothing but to do a Prior research about operations. Operations can reassess their labour utilization & efficiency.

         Forecasting menu analysis-The menu analysis is something which is done on a prior basis.It is done on a prior basis to know about the menu in general.Because formation of menu always requires pre-planning. The responsibility of making a full menu lies with the food & beverage team.The food & beverage team forecasts menu & it is their responsibility to prepare the menu. The forecasted menu should be well balanced. The language used should be easy to understand. The menus should be cost effective.

Profitability- Profitabiliy is Something which cant be ignored in Food and beverage Management. Profitabiity can only be achieved if proper costing is done and profitability is also important for the sustainance of any organization.Profitability is related to productivity improvement also & also depends upon the total sales of the department. Quality management helps in earning huge profitability.

    MARKETING & MERCHANDISING TECHNIQUES- Merchandising is done of each & every thing. The menu is without doubt one of the things which is always merchandised as because it is a sales tool & a very effective sales tool. Merchandising means the detailed marketing which is being done.

Advertising & promotion-Advertising & promotion are various tools used for promoting an outlet as well as Food and beverage Management. Sales promotion is a form of incentive which is aimed at customers. Advertising is generally of various types-print advertising ,visual advertising and digital advertising.Advertising influences the customers behaviour & attitude. Advertising draws the guest to the product.

             Advanced menu planning for food festivals-For food festivals advanced menu planning is required.Advance D menu planning is done to plan for the food festivals. The menu for food festivals will always be Elaborate & highly planned one.

               Special guest catering-For special guest catering understanding the guest is first & foremost important. Special guests are given special attention to because they are major revenue providers. For head of states sometimes specialized silver service is also provided.

Food & beverage purchasing & receiving-Purchasing can be defined as a function concerned with search, Selection,purchase,receipt,storage & final use of commodity. By wrong purchasing there can be overordering or under ordering.One of the main duties of purchasing manager is to carefully observe the price specifications.Then the receiving, cellar and storage areas also Needs to be checked. The purchasing manager also needs to ensure the continuity of supply.

             Ordering- Ordering tells us about the Quantity and specifications of an item which needs to be purchased. Giving orders always need to be done as per specifications.

             Requisitions- Requisitions are the proper specifications or quantities , given before giving any order. For proper Requisitions requisition slips are maintained.

             Managing Restaurants- Manager is the incharge of the restaurant and takes care of his fellow staffs and immediate juniors.He prepares the duty rota according to the work schedule.

             Managing Bars- They are efficiently managed by the bar captain.Wines, liquour,spiris,juices and aerated water,cigars and cigarettes.Restaurant staff coordinate with each other to manage properly.

             Managing Store-Store is generally managed by the store manager.He or she manages the store and keeps a total Stock of things.The main job of store manager is to ensure that an adequate supply of food is provided to all guests. The perishable items go straight to the kitchen,where they are stored either in refrigerators or cold rooms. depending on the item. Ideally meat, fish, dairy products and fruits should be stored separately. The main objective of store manager is to do stock taking and proper Food and beverage Management.

Food and beverage Management control operations

Planning & Budgeting-Planning & budgeting is an important aspect for Food and beverage Management and has become an important aspect with the continual increases in the cost of food, beverages , labour, energy, maintenance and other overheads. Now budget is made on a half yearly, yearly basis.There are various type of budgets including capital budgets,operating budgets etc.

FOOD COST CONTROL – The analysis is solely concerned with the income & expenditure related to food operations. Food revenue is one of the major Forms of revenue. The analysis of costs include departmental food & beverage costs, labour costs and portion costs. The performance of each outlets sales is then analyzed and expressed in terms of gross profit and net margin.

BEVERAGE COST CONTROL- The beverage control is a difficult proposition because of perishibility of the beverage items. The beverage cost control varies according to their demand.It is therefore important to determine the beverage list prices in light of accurate food and beverage cost and Food and beverage Management.

Inventory control-Inventory is nothing but the stocktaking. The amount is recognized as the most accurate method of determining the amount of beverage sold. Inventory control is done for auditing.

The main disadvantages of control system are:

1) The time required to analyse sales and to take stock levels daily.

2) The time required to calculate the daily consumption for each selling outlet.

Purchasing & receiving control- Purchasing is a significant procedure and control should be definitely exercised while purchasing.The purchasing managers duty to exercise control. When purchasing a food item it is necessary to consider the true cost of the item is very important for Food and beverage Management.

Management information system- This is nothing but managing. Here informations are gathered to Assist the managers in their management of hotels.This management information system or (MIS)is very common nowadays and sometimes management soft wares also assist the managers in their job.