TỔNG QUAN VỀ NGÀNH THỰC PHẨM

1 OVERVIEW OF THE FOOD SERVICE INDUSTRY I. Types of management and ownerships 1. Independents Independent restaurants are owned by the owner or owners who in most cases also operate them. However, independent restaurants are statistically not as successful as other types. The reason is that many people who enter the foodservice industry do not have the skills or abilities to successfully operate such an establishment. The advantages that an independent restaurateur has are in terms of flexibility and hands on management that allows the owner to implement change quickly and adjust to new trends and consumer behaviors. He is “in charge” of the whole operation and does not have to follow rules made by franchisers or chains. The disadvantages of an independent are in terms of limiting expenses and marketing capabilities. The rates quoted by suppliers for purchases made by independents are never as good as for those quoted to franchises and chains who have many restaurants – hundreds or even thousands. Bulk purchasing allows the franchise or chain restaurants to obtain discounts that cannot be accessed by an independent. In terms of marketing, the independent relies heavily on word of mouth advertising through its customers or locally. In most cases, it does not have the capital to invest in marketing strategies internationally, nationally or even regionally. However, there are some independent restaurants that do very well. For example, Windows on the World, located in the World Trade Center in New York City regularly achieved over $31 million in sales before September 11. 2. Chains Chain restaurants are a part of a multi-unit organization owned by a parent company, a franchise company, or by a private owner or owners. Chains restaurants often share the same menu, purchase supplies and equipment cooperatively, and follow operating procedures that have been standardized for every restaurant in the chain. Some people incorrectly believe that a chain and a franchise operation are the same; they are not. While a franchise property may be affiliated with a chain, a chain property is not necessarily a franchise; it may be company-owned, for example. In other words, a chain may operate some restaurants itself and franchise others or it may not offer franchises at all. The advantages of the restaurant chains are some-what like franchises in terms of purchasing, marketing, and brand recognition. In terms of control, a chain restaurant can measure how well each restaurant is doing by comparing each of the establishments in its organization. Finally, chains can afford experts in finance, 2 construction, operation, and recipe development. Independent operators must handle must handle most, if not all, of these responsibilities themselves. The disadvantages for operating restaurant chains are in terms of bureaucracy and sometimes overwhelming paperwork, rules and procedures that can slow things down, especially when chains grow. Another disadvantage of restaurant chains is it can be difficult to keep up with changes in the market and economic conditions. 3. Franchises Franchise is a concept that takes the form of an individual purchasing the rights to use a name of a recognized restaurant. With a franchise, the franchisee (owner of a facility) pays fees to a franchiser (or franchise company) in exchange for the right to use the name, building design, and business methods of the franchiser. The franchisee must agree to maintain the franchiser’s business and quality standards. The advantages of operating a restaurant under a franchise name are the brand recognition, start-up assistance, training programs for management and staff, tested operating procedures that specify how things should be done, extensive advertising, and lower food costs due to volume purchasing by the chain. Many consumers find it reassuring to go to a franchise because they know that the food quality and the service will be the same no matter what geographical location they may be in. Disadvantages of entering into a franchise agreement are the strict limitations that are placed on the establishment. If the franchiser wants to reduce prices or offer specials as part of a marketing campaign, the franchisee must do so (some will compensate the franchisee, others will not). Also, in most cases all products must be purchased through the franchisor, which can result in price gouging. Finally, the most prevailing disadvantage for many operators setting up a franchise restaurant is having little decision-making capabilities in terms of how the operation should be run. With strict guidelines in place, the owner cannot respond to local conditions that an independent operator can. II. Types of commercial food service Commercial food service centers on providing an enjoyable experience for the guest. It includes: fine dining, family, quick service, bars or taverns, coffee shops or cafes, bistros, cafeterias, independent caterers, etc. Though the list can be endless in terms of labeling, each of these establishments serves food to a paying customer in one form or another, and some but not all, also serve alcoholic beverages. (i.e. liquor, wine, beer). All serve “soft drinks” (i.e. coke, mineral water, juices, coffee, tea, etc.) 1. Fine Dining 3 A fine dining restaurant can be distinguished by the high quality of furniture, fixtures, wares, etc. that it has, along with the number of waitstaff per table and the type of service that is available. Many fine dining restaurants will offer French or Russian service which is very labour intensive. The atmosphere of the restaurant is one of elegance. The prices to eat in this establishment are expensive due to the high labour and food costs that are incurred by the restaurant. Alcoholic beverages are always served at these establishments, with a sommelier (wine expert) being present at most. 2. Family style This is the largest category for restaurants. The range in this area goes from bistro style to a small roadhouse cafe. A full menu is offered at this type of establishment and most offer different menus for different meal periods. Some offer a “California style” menu where items that are usually served only for breakfast, lunch or dinner are offered all day. Therefore, family style restaurants, along with fine dining, can also be named full-menu restaurants. Plate service in family style restaurants is the predominant style of service due to the decreased number of waitstaff as compared to a fine dining establishment. 3. Quick Service Quick service restaurants offer a limited menu that can be produced quickly (“fast food”). This is the reason that this kind of restaurant is also known as a limited-menu restaurant. Typically, customers go to a counter or drive to a service window (for drive- through one), order their food, and take it to the place where they consume it (in their car, at work, or at home). Most of these establishments do not serve alcohol. Quick service restaurants are inexpensive and operate on low food and labour costs. III. The recipe for success Good foods, good drinks and good service alone do not always guarantee the success of a commercial restaurant. There are many other factors need to be considered and combined as well. Here are some of the main factors to look at: 1. Effective management: Good food and effective service are essential but these factors by themselves cannot guarantee that a restaurant will be profitable. Rather, they should go hand in hand with knowledgeable management of every aspect of the operation from menu preparation to beverage dispensing. Effective management of food and beverage consists of three main elements: a. Knowledge: In today’s highly competitive environment, a good knowledge on who the restaurant’s guests are, where they come from, and what motivate them is 4 essential to success. In addition, a good and effective manager must have thorough knowledge of the restaurant’s products, procedures, and employees b. Coordination: the manager must be able to coordinate activities happening in the restaurant efficiently. c. Cost control: the success of an operation depends on the manager’s ability to monitor, plan, and control operating costs including costs for labour. 2. Quality food and beverage: One of the main reasons for guest to eat out is the food. Quality food and beverage begin with quality ingredients. Without good ingredients, even the best cook cannot produce good tasting meals. The ultimate measurement of food quality is the guests’ satisfaction. Of course, different people have different notions about what food tastes good and it is difficult to make all of them satisfied. However, a successful operation is one that consistently satisfies the majority of guests. 3. Consistency: Good meals are prepared by skillful cooks. A restaurant does not necessarily need a world-famous chef to serve good food, but menu planning and food preparation must be handled with knowledge and skill. In addition, the quality of food must remain consistent from one day to the next. This can be done by standardizing the way cooking is done (i.e. recipes and methods are followed exactly). There must also be consistency in service. Similar to cooking, this can also be done by standardizing the way of serving guest through Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) which should be incorporated in training, supervising and evaluation. 4. Attentive service: Food and beverage servers represent the operation to the guests. Servers interact more frequently with guests than do other employees, so the responsibility of providing an enjoyable experience for the guest rests in large part with them. In many ways, an operation’s reputation and financial success depend on its wait staff. Efficient, timely service is required to maintain the quality of many menu items. Hot meals should be served hot and not allowed to cool down. In addition, a friendly, warm welcome and attention to the smallest needs of guests improve both the dining experience and the image of the restaurant. A skillful service staff is as important as food quality and preparation. The level of service should correspond to the type and image of the food and beverage operation. For example, guests expect the staff of a gourmet-style restaurant to be very well trained and highly disciplined. Less service is expected in a fast food 5 restaurant. However, regardless of the restaurant type, guests should be served with as much promptness and courtesy as possible. A smile is important. 5. Leisurely surrounding: The interior surrounding reflects the restaurant’s personality and style. For example, a resort dining room may be designed for luxury, but a coffee shop is furnished for efficient service. For people to feel comfortable, the environment in any restaurant must be tastefully furnished, free of clutter and, above all, sanitary. Unique decorations, luxurious surroundings, and breathtaking views are traits of restaurants that are known for their leisurely ambience. 6. Satisfactory value. Value is a guest’s satisfaction with a product in relation to the price. The value of a restaurant meal is a matter of perception – how the guest sees the quality of the dining experience. Often, a guest does not mind to pay a higher price as long as what he/she receives is worth the money. In this case, the guest gets the satisfactory value. In contrast, poorer service than expected cannot compensate for lower price. In this case, the guest does not receive the value. I. Menu Planning Menu planning is a process in which the type of menu and the food items to be served are selected, and the price for each item is determined. To perform this work we need to have some basic knowledge on the type of menu, criterion for food selection, structure of a meal with classical French meal as a standard as it is still considered a standard around the world 1. Composition of the meal The composition of the meal determines the way the foods are displayed in the menu. The classical French meal includes 13 courses. Today this kind of complex meal is hardly ever offered in restaurants. Instead, many variations of shorter meals are offered but most of them follow the structure of the classical French meal as far as succession of courses is concerned. The classical meal of today consists of nine separate courses: appetizer, soup, fish, intermezzo, entree, salad, cheese and fruit, dessert, and after-dinner beverages. Appetizer: Hot or cold appetizers, offered to titillate the taste buds, are usually prepared from shellfish, smoked meats and fish, fruits, vegetables, pates, caviar or other exotic and often expensive ingredients. Portions are modest due to the high food 6 cost and rich nature of these items. Quality ingredients should be used to establish the tone for a successful meal. Soup: Soups can be categorized as clear or thick. Another mode of classif ication would be hot, cold, or jellied. One or two excellent offerings are more desirable than several ordinary ones. Preparation time and proper quantities are difficult to arrange with many soups on the menu. Avoid holding soup in a steam table, as the taste will quickly become poorer. Soups can be made to order in individual steam kettles or crocks. If large portions of soup are prepared, batch-heat fractional amounts at intervals throughout the meal period. Poisson or fish course and relevÐ. Traditionally the fish and the releve were offered separately, the releve acting as an intermediate light course between the fish and the main entree. Today one or the other is generally offered. Chicken, sweetbreads, or some other white meat usually make up the releve. The fish course and releve can be served hot or cold. Intermezzo or sorbet: . The sorbet is a pause between courses of a large meal to refresh the palate. Because alcohol rekindles hunger, an apple brandy called calvados was first used in France as the sorbet. Today unsugared (unsweetened) fruit ices are commonly used. The serving of a sorbet also allows the kitchen to time the preparation of the following courses with greater accuracy. Entree: The entree is the main course. Various types of hot entrees might be offered such as meat, offal, poultry, fish, seafood, game, or game birds. Cold entrees may consist of items such as fish, salads, or vegetable plates. Generally a vegetable and some type of starch accompany the entree. The accompaniments must be aesthetically planned to complement the color, contour, and texture of the entree. Salad: Gastronomically speaking, lightly dressed greens should be taken after the entree, as greens naturally relax the stomach and help to lighten a heavy meal. In the United States, however, the salad with a heavier dressing is often served as a filler item before the entree. Cheese and fruit: There are over four hundred varieties of cheese. Each is characterized by a particular flavor, texture, composition, size, and shape. Cheese is categorized as hard or soft depending on the amount of whey liquid left in the cheese, the manner of forming the curd, the bacteria or molds used, and the manner of curing. One good cheese is adequate, but an offering of four cheeses provides the proper color contrasts, contour differences, and flavor variations for the complete cheese board. Cheese may be accompanied by appropriate and well-ripened fruit. In Europe, where diners do not like to mix their courses, fruit and cheese are served separately. 7 Dessert: they are popular menu items that prove to be quite profitable for the restaurant. As the appetizer sets the tone for the meal, the dessert brings the meal to completion. Desserts are meant, literally, to leave a sweet taste in the guest's mouth, and to provide stimulation after an extensive meal. Beverages: Some typical beverages taken at the end of a meal are coffee, tea, cordials, brandy and cognac, and special after-dinner drinks. As hot beverages tend to satisfy hunger and thus detract from further eating, they should be discouraged during the meal. Friands : Not actually a course, friands are little extras given with the check. Petit fours, candies, mints and other sweets are, like dessert, literally intended to leave a good taste in the customer's mouth. VARIATION: In practice, individual restaurants will deviate from the classical menu on the number of courses available, the makeup of each course, and the manner in which it is served. Soup, for example, might be offered as an appetizer, thus eliminating the need for a separate soup course. If f ish is served as an entree, the fish course might be excluded from the meal. Cheese can be presented with the salad, again reducing the number of courses on the menu. Any number of variations can be developed to create imaginative, contemporary, and economical meals for today's palate. 2. Types of menu: In this part we look at different types of menu under the various ways of classification from the pricing style, length of usage, type of meal to menu for special purposes or customers. a. Classification by pricing style: Table d’hote menu: Table d’hote is a set menu with a set price. It means that the menu offers an entire meal with several courses at one price. Guests often have little or no choice regarding individual courses. It is sometimes called “prix fixe” or “fixed price” This type of menu is also used for banquets. A la carte menu: In this menu, food items for each course are listed and priced individually. The guests can select individual items for their meals. The price of the meal will be calculated according to what the guests selected. Combined menu: Many operations have menus that are a combination of the table d’hote and a la carte pricing styles. Chinese and other ethnic restaurants are examples. 8 b. Classification by Menu Schedules: Fixed menu: Fixed menu is the menu that is used daily over a long period of time. This kind of menu is suitable for restaurants whose guests are not likely to visit frequently or where there are many items listed on the menu to offer variety. Cycle menu: Cycle menu is the menu that is changed daily or over a very short time period. This menu is suitable for those that receive guests frequently or the same guests daily. Cycle menus also enable the use of the freshest foods at the best market prices. Combined menu: Again, some restaurants have a combination of both. That is, a fixed menu and a daily special that features the items that the restaurant wishes to promote. c. Classification by type of meal There are three basic types of menus, they are breakfast, lunch, and dinner (menus designed around the traditional meal periods). There are also a large number of specialty designed menus to appeal to specific target market groups. The type of menu(s) a food service operation offers will depend on the number of meals it serves, type of operation it is, and the customers that it serves. Breakfast The important part of a breakfast menu is that the items are simple, quick to produce, and inexpensive. Guests are more price-conscious for breakfast and many are likely to be in a hurry to get to work or an appointment. There are several types of breakfast menu. They are Continental, American, and Brunch. Continental breakfast includes: hot beverage (coffee, tea, cocoa, milk), breads, butter, jam, extras (fruit juice, cheeses, cold sausage meat in Europe, etc.) American or English breakfast includes: hot beverage, bread, butter, jams, honey, fresh fruit, juices, stewed fruit (prunes, apricots, pears, ), cereal, eggs, meats (bacon, ham, sausage), fish (kippered herring), dairy products (cheeses, yogurt) Brunch is a combined breakfast and lunch. Guests spend more time at brunch (served mostly on Sundays). It is usually buffet style and it can be lavish with many hot and cold items and desserts. Lunch Like breakfast, people are usually in a hurry at this time of the day. Therefore, lunch menus must also include items that are relatively easy to make. Sandwiches, soups, 9 and salads are main items on a lunch menu. Lunch menus must have variety. Many guests eat lunch several times a week at a restaurant close to them or to work and thus wish to have a variety of items to choose from. Many restaurants offer daily special menus to add to this variety. Lunch menu items are usually lighter than dinner menu items as most customers still eat the most at dinnertime. Also, lunch menus are less elaborate than dinner menus. Dinner Dinner is the main meal of the day for most people and the menu items offered at dinner are heavier and more elaborate than those found on most breakfast and lunch menus. Dinner tends to be eaten at a more leisurely pace. Guests are willing to pay more for dinner than for lunch but they also expect a greater selection of menu items and place a greater premium on service, atmosphere, and decor. Beef, chicken, pork, cooked in special ways, pastas, wines and other liquor, etc. are usually found on a dinner menu. Also, appetizers, main courses, and desserts are almost always found on dinner menus which is not necessarily the case for lunch menus. d. Specialty menu Specialty menus are created to appeal to a certain target market. Below are several types of this menu that have proven successful in the restaurant industry. Children’s Menu The children’s menu does not have to blend with the restaurant theme or décor. Rather, the goal of this menu is to entertain the children while the parents have time to order and eat in relative peace. Many of these menus feature animated cartoons, drawings which children can colour, etc. The food offered on this menu should be simple and nutritious. Portions should be smaller and prices should be very modest. Make the menu fun in order to keep the child’s attention. Tassels, staples and any other materials dangerous to children that can be removed and swallowed should never be part of a children’s menu. Dessert menu At the end of the meal, most guests cannot recall the dessert items they saw listed on the main menu. Food servers at some operations use dessert trays to remind guests of desserts. Other operations have a separate dessert menu that is presented after the main course has been cleared away by the waitstaff. There are many advantages to having a separate dessert menu such as:  You can offer more desserts  There is more room for bold graphics and descriptive writing  If items or prices change, you don’t have to reprint the main menu 10 Room Service Some hotels offer room service to guests. The main concern is that the hotel must bring the food to the guests in their rooms and thus the quality of food may reduce. The longer food sits after being prepared, the lower the quality level. Thus, a menu is usually made up of foods that will maintain their quality level while being transported to the guestroom. 3. Selecting menu items: The first step in selecting items is to create a “pool” or many potential items that could be placed on the menu. How does one find these ideas for menu items? Some good sources of information are old menus, books, trade magazines, cookbooks, websites. All are excellent sources of information for finding ideas for a menu. Only those menu items that marketing research has indicated guests may like should be included in this pool of items. Once this pool has been reduced down to items guests may like, some of the items may also be eliminated based on:  Theme or cuisine: The theme or cuisine of the restaurant helps determine what types of menu items are appropriate. An ethnic restaurant has a very different menu than a family style chain restaurant.  Equipment: What is the capacity and type of equipment the kitchen has? The menu must be able to be prepared with the existing equipment in the kitchen and one appliance should not be overloaded while another is rarely used.  Personnel: What is the skill level of the employees? Will they be able to cook and serve the menu items?  Quality Standards: All menu items must be able to be prepared to a high quality level or they should not be put on the menu.  Budget: Menu planners must recognize the financial constraints when planning menus. Profit and cost control must be kept in mind when creating any menu. II. Menu design When the items are selected and menu style and prices are determined, they should be organized in a way that maximizes sales. There are some key areas to look at when designing a menu: 1. Focal point and Field of view: One way to create a menu that is also a sales tool, is by applying the same design principle you would use for a poster. Since viewers cannot read everything at once, you must guide their vision. This is very important when positioning menu items on the menu card. 11 The eye naturally gravitates to a certain area of a rectangular menu, called focal point, and then moves in a fairly standard pattern around the rest of the page. Area 1: the focal point: the eye naturally focused first on this area. Therefore, this is the place to put all items with high profit margins Area 2: After viewing the focal point, the guests’ eyes will naturally move to this area. This is also a good area to list house specialties that produce high profit margin. Area 3: the eye moves to this part only after seeing 1and 2. This is the spot where you list the standard item found in most restaurants, items that the guests expect to find. 2. Lay out: A layout refers to how the items will be categorized and placed on the menu. It also means the way menu should look like. Usually food items are placed in groups following the sequence of courses. In every group, the lighter dishes are listed before the richer ones. Use white space on the menu, as it is more appealing and easier for the customer to read. The classical French menu, as mentioned above, includes 13 courses. Today, this kind of menu is hardly ever offered but today’s shorter menus follow the structure of French menus as far as succession of courses is concerned. They always start with something light, build up to the main course, and then become lighter towards the end of the meal. Typical shorter menu order is appetizer, soup, salad, entree, and dessert. What size, shape, graphics, are going to be used for the menu? This is often determined based on the type of operation. There are some general guidelines to follow when determining the format. A menu that is too large may dominate small tables or cause guests to knock over glasses. Menus too small are hard to read and are often too crowded. Menus with too many pages just confuse the guest. Sometimes items may have to be added or deleted to finalize a format that is appealing for the customer. What typeface should be used? There are so many to choose from that the restaurateur can be overwhelmed. Most menus are type printed in order to make it easier for the customer to read. The typeface chosen must be based on what the operation believes the customer will find appealing and what fits with the overall theme of the restaurant. A good rule is to never set menu copy in anything smaller than 12- point size. Choose larger typeface for Senior’s Menus. Paper choice for the menu is based in part on how often the menu will be used. If the menu is used for only one day and then thrown away, inexpensive paper can be used. If the menu is to last for weeks or months, a high quality paper along with lamination may be used to ensure it lasts a long time. Lamination is not used in high quality dining rooms. Menus often change by seasons – heavier food in winter, lighter in summer. 3. Copy: 12 Once the food items have been chosen, the copy must be written (menu item name and any description that may go along with it). The tone of the language for the copy must be carefully selected based on the type of guests the operation serves. Copy for children should be entertaining, copy for lunch menus should be brief, copy for dinner menus more descriptive because guests are likely to have more time and menu items are more complex than at breakfast or lunch. Menu copy can be divided into two elements: Headings: Headings usually identify courses (appetizers, soups, etc) and subheadings show the major food categories under each heading (e.g. steaks, seafood, etc.). For most operations, it is best to keep menu item names simple so that guests are not confused. Descriptive copy: Descriptive copy informs guests about menu items and help increase sales. Usually the menu’s main ingredient, important secondary ingredient and method of preparation are included. The descriptive copy should not read like a cookbook and should not be too “flowery”. A few well-chosen words are better than a long-winded paragraph. Rules of grammar apply. Everything must be true. If the cheese is not Switzerland, don’t say it is. Supplemental merchandising copy can be entertaining. A history of the restaurant, a statement about the management’s commitment to guest service, something about the location, or even poetry can be added to enhance the menu and help it stand out from its competitors. Artwork may also be added to encourage sales. Cover: Most menus feature a cover. A well-designed one communicates the image, style, cuisine, and even price range of the operation. It sets the mood. All it needs is the Restaurant name, and perhaps some basic information such as the address, telephone number and hours of operation. Basic information may also go on the back of the cover along with banquet information, take-out service information, etc. The color or colors on the cover should either blend in or contrast pleasantly with the color scheme of the restaurant. III. Evaluating the menu: No matter how well planned and designed, a menu should be evaluated periodically. To evaluate the menu, management first has to set goals that the menu is expected to help meet. For example, a goal for the lunch menu may be: “The average guest check at lunch should be $5.” A goal for dinner might be: “Each dinner guest should order at least two items – appetizer and entrée or entrée and dessert plus a glass of wine.” If these goals are not met, management must first determine if and to what extent other variables are contributing to the problem such as: price, food servers, quality of food items, external condition like a poor economy, etc. After that, the management must 13 take a serious look at the menu. There are two key areas to look at. They are the design of the menu and the items selected. For the design of the menu we can trace back to the previous part of “menu design” and reevaluate. However, for the items selected, we have to evaluate them through statistics. There are two measurements of how good a menu item is: popularity and profitability. A popular menu item is ordered frequently by guests. A profitable menu item generates a higher contribution margin. Popularity is measured against the expected number of unit sold for each item. If carefully selected, each menu item is assumed to be equally popular and thus “expected” to contribute an equal share of total menu unit sold. For example, if there are only 5 items on a menu, the unit sales of each item should contribute 20% of the total unit sales of the whole menu. However, in reality it is impossible to reach that absolute share. Therefore it is recommended that the level of “expected unit sales” of each item should reach around 70% of the absolute equal share. In the above example, in the 5-item menu, a menu item is considered popular if its unit sales reach: 70% of the 20% of the total unit sales of the whole menu. This equals to: 14% of the total unit sales of the whole menu (70% x 20% = 14%). Profitability is measured against the Average Contribution margin which is calculated by dividing the total menu contribution margin by the total number of items sold during the period of evaluation. Average Contribution Margin = sold ite m ofnumber Total marginon contributi Total An item is considered profitable if its individual contribution margin equals or exceeds the average contribution margin. (Note : Contribution margin (CM) is calculated by subtracting Food cost from Revenue (Revenue – Food cost) or for an item the CM is calculated by subtracting the item food cost from its price (Price – Item food cost); and thus it is equal to the gross profit.) Menu items can be evaluated in terms of both. Basically, menu items can be classified into 4 types: 1. Star – items that are popular and profitable 2. Plowhorse – items that are not profitable but popular 3. Puzzlers – items that are profitable but not popular 4. Dogs – items that are neither profitable nor popular The following examples illustrate how a menu can be evaluated using the above two criterion. Menu Engineering Worksheet 14 A B C D E F G H L P R S E - D D x B E x B H - G Item name # sold Menu mix % Item food cost Item selling price Item CM Menu cost Menu Revenue Menu CM CM Category MM% Category Classify Chicken 420 42% $5.21 $7.95 $2.74 $3,339.00 $1,150.8 Low High P-horse Steak 360 36% $8.50 $12.50 $4.00 $4,500.00 $1,440.0 High High Star Lobster 150 15% $9.90 $14.50 $4.60 $2,175.00 $690.0 High Low Puzzle Loin tip 70 7% $7.00 $9.45 $2.45 $661.50 $171.5 Low Low Dog Total N I J M 1,000 10,675.50 $3,452.3 Average contribution margin = M/N = $3.45 Popularity index = (1/4)x70% = 17.5% From this evaluation, managerial decisions can be made for each item. Service styles And management II. Service style: There are many types of services. An operation should select and use a service style, or combination of service styles, that best satisfy its guests’ wants and needs as well as its ability to provide them. Here are some common styles: 1. Buffet service: For this style of service, foods are fully prepared in the kitchen and attractively arranged on platters that are placed on a large serving table so that guests may serve themselves. Sometimes, a separate table is used for each course. Plates, silverware and other necessary items are conveniently located. Buffet service is very low in labor cost due to the lesser amount of servers required. However, it should be noted that the food cost of this style tends to be higher as wastage and consumption tend to increase. 2. Cafeteria service / Fast Food or Quick Food service In most cafeterias, guests move through a serving line selecting the food items they want which are on display. They place the food on an individual tray. Cold foods are usually displayed at the front of the line. The most expensive or hardest-to-serve food items (usually hot) are normally portioned out by service staff. Serve yourself 15 beverages are located at the end of the line beside the cashier where the guest pays and then exits into the dining area to eat the food selected. In fast food or quick food restaurants, guests order food that is listed on a board above the servers who stand behind a counter. The guest then pays the cashier who may also be the server. Once guests have their food, they proceed to seat themselves. A condiment counter with miscellaneous items such as salt, pepper, vinegar, ketchup, napkins, etc. is placed away from the food service area so guests do not hold up the line deciding on what condiments they want. This type of service requires minimal staff and the menu is usually simple, thus the food cost and selling point price are very reasonable. 3. Table service: Table service refers to the service used for guests who are seated at the tables. Servers bring food and beverage to the guests. There are four common styles of table service: English, America, French and Russian. a. English or family service: This style of service is for many guests, much like service at home. That is, foods are fully prepared in the kitchen, displayed on platters or in bowls, and then brought to the table. The guests then serve themselves, taking the amount they desire, and pass the food around to others at the table. b. American or plate service: In this type of service, servers take guests’ orders and give them to the kitchen staff who prepare the food and put it on individual plates which are then brought to the table by the server. This style of service was created in order to serve a large number of people quickly yet with lower labour costs than that of French or Russian service. Plate service has been adapted for some banquets attesting to the fact that this service is efficient and effective when dealing with large numbers. The plates can be brought out either by hand or on trays. More and more, the trend in restaurants, and sometimes in banquets, is to have servers bring out plates (usually three at a time) in their hands because it has been found that the time spent putting plates on trays was slower than having someone make two trips. c. French service: French service is considered the most elegant and theatrical of food services. The food is partially or completely produced in the kitchen and is then brought out on a “gueridon” (cart that has a heating unit to keep food warm). Alcohol and a match are used to produce a flame for finishing the food by the waitstaff. The food is finished (de-boned, flambÐed, etc.) in front of the guest. This style of preparation can be very theatrical with good waitstaff. When ready, the food is served from the right of the 16 guest. This type of service is usually found only in fine dining establishments due to the large labour and capital expenditure costs involved. d. Russian or silver service: In this style of service, foods are fully prepared in the kitchen and attractively arranged on large silver trays or platters. The server then presents and portions the foods with a fork and spoon from the platter directly onto the guests’ plates. The key to success for this type of service is in the speed of delivering the food from the kitchen and transferring it while it is still warm, quickly and efficiently, onto the guests’ plates. Russian service can be as elegant as French service, but it is faster and more practical. It is often used for banquets. IV. Service procedures 1. Preparation for service (pre-opening) The preparation activities for service to guests include: inspecting facilities, following reservation procedures, assigning food sever stations, performing sidework, holding food servers meetings. a. Inspecting facilities: Before opening, the dining room or restaurant must be inspected to detect and resolve any problems with room temperature, lighting, safety, sanitation and so on. Such safety hazards as rips in carpeting, wobbly tables, and wall decorations not securely fastened must be corrected immediately. A checklist of what needs to be checked can be helpful for effective inspection. b. Following reservation procedures: If the restaurant takes telephone reservations, it is important that all required information be received and noted in reservation book. To avoid any misunderstanding and confusion, only a few employees, usually the hosts, are allowed to take reservations. On the day of arrival, the tables assigned for the guests should be blocked. Assigning food and beverage server stations: Food and beverage server stations are assigned before the dinning room or restaurant opens. A station is a section of tables for which a server is responsible. Stationing is a systematic approach that improves the effectiveness of food and beverage servers. The elements of it are: 1.Numbering each table in the restaurant 2. Numbering each seat at each table. 17 The number of tables assigned for each server should depend on the following factors:  Number of seats  Type of service style used  Frequency of seat turnover  Experience of the server  Whether any servers are being trained during the shift  Distance to the kitchen and bar  Variety of menu items  Number of servers scheduled for a specific shift Stationing brings many advantages. Some typical advantages are: ☺ Once the guest has given his/her order, it is the responsibility of the server to remember who ordered what. Servers should never bring an order to the table and ask “who ordered the chicken?”. ☺ It also helps when guests want to reorder drinks. It is common for guests to say, “I’ll have another one please” which assumes that that server will remember the original order. ☺ When the restaurant is extremely busy, or a server has to leave work unexpectedly, or is taking a short break, the use of this system will allow other servers or managers to help in an efficient way. 3. Providing Guest Service: Each operation has its own way of serving guests. The process may even change in responding to different situations or guest needs. Discussing all different processes applied in different properties may be complicated and confusing. To make things simple, this part gives an example of a dinner service sequence in a full service restaurant applying table service. a) Greeting and seating g) Salad b) Cocktail h) Entrée and accompaniments c) Menu and wine list presentation i) Fruit and cheese d) Order taking k) Dessert e) Bread, rolls, appetizer l) After-dinner beverages f) Soup m) Check (a) Welcoming the Guest: In a full service restaurant, guests will be greeted by the maitre d'. A warm smile with good eye contact will help make the reception a success. A verbal greeting should accompany the smile — "Good afternoon," or "Good evening," as appropriate. Assist guests with wraps, umbrellas, and parcels. Check these items at the appropriate place. 18 After the reservation has been verified, escort the guests to the table. Remember to take the guests to the best table available if there is one or more tables available. Tables in traffic aisles, next to the kitchen doors, or near sidestations are less desirable and should be held until no better tables are left. When escorting, the host should be three steps ahead of the guests and should not change speed suddenly. (If there is no table available at this time, ask the guests if they are willing to wait - at the bar, in the lounge or other area. Inform them of the approximate waiting time and then enter the guests on the waiting list.) When seating guests at the assigned table, it is traditional to seat ladies first. Extra place settings and chairs should be added or removed. Once all the guests have been comfortably seated, let them know a server will be over to take their orders. Tell the server immediately that a new table of guests has been seated in his/her section. (b) Cocktail: The server requests the cocktail order. If there is a house specialty, be sure to mention it. Then record the cocktail order. Repeat the name of each cocktail as it is ordered. Excuse yourself from the table by stating to the host, keeping eye contact with the entire table, "I will be right back with your order." Declare each cocktail as you serve it. This will immediately clarify any mix up on the order. Serve the cocktails from the right. Place them to the right of each cover or directly on the service plate. If no service plate has been set, place the cocktail directly in front of the guest. At this point, the assistant waiter may serve bread or rolls. As the bread and butter plate is to the left of the cover, bread or rolls are served from the left. Note the use of the fork and spoon for serving the bread or roll. The same technique is used in Russian service. (c) Food order taking : Serving the cocktail before taking the food order may encourage a more adventure- some and possibly larger order. The menu may have already been presented by the maitre d'. If not, present the menu from the left with the left hand whenever possible. If this procedure will be awkward, present the menu in whatever fashion will disturb the guest least. At this time, make the guests aware of any specials that are being promoted during the meal period. Give a full explanation of menu items that might be unclear or foreign to the guests. Be honest without being negative in answering pointed questions such as, "How is the soup today?" This will establish a feeling of trust between guest and server. 19 Observe the table after a reasonable amount of time passes ( five to ten minutes) and ask politely, "Are you ready to order?" If the guests need more time, withdraw and return in a few minutes. The order is generally taken from the right, but as with all dining room procedures, take the order in whatever manner will disturb the guest least. When requesting the order for a table of two, it is important to establish eye contact to see who will order first. Traditionally, the male will order for the female and then follow with his order. This should not be assumed, however, especially with today's changing social standards. When both guests are of the same sex, the elder is usually first to order, followed by the younger. When there are four or more guests in a party, each one usually orders separately. Start with the guest to the left of the host and work your way clockwise around the table. The host orders last if there is one. Seat numbers are generally assigned by the house to specific places at the table. Order taking throughout the meal should be done with reference to these seat numbers. Regardless of the sequence in which an order is taken, the person seated in chair number two stays number two on the check. Consequently, you can refer to the check to see who gets what food items at service time. Take each person's complete dinner order at one time. Repeat each item after it is ordered to be sure you are recording the correct selection. Be sure to note on the guest check special requests, timing preferences, and degrees of doneness — for example, "No potato, delay the entree, steak medium-rare." After the order is taken, house policy may dictate the summari zation of the order and the use of a dupe. (d) Wine List Presentation and Order Taking: After the food order has been taken, the wine list is presented to the host by the sommelier, maitre d' , head waiter, captain, or waiter. This is done after the food order because the selection of wine will depend on the choice of food. Remember, the more special the wine list presentation, the more effective the sale. If only one wine has been ordered, suggest a special wine or a multiwine meal, such as a split of white and a split of red instead of a full bottle of either. This will most certainly enhance the meal by creating a new wine experience for the guests without necessarily increasing the check average. Suggest a light wine for starting the meal, possibly a full-bodied wine for the entree, and, of course, champagne for dessert. (e) Appetizer: Before serving the appetizer, all needed utensils must be set in place. Clean flatware should be carried to the table on a clean dinner plate and napkin by the assistant waiter. The appetizer fork is placed beside the dinner fork. If wine is to accompany the 20 appetizer, it must be served before the food. This is usually done by whoever took the wine order. After the wine has been poured, serve the appetizer, women first. Accompanying sauce may be served by the assistant waiter. Bread and rolls should be checked and, if necessary, replenished at this time. When all guests at the table have finished, remove the soiled plates and utensils, as well as anything served to accompany the appetizer, (f) Soup: If soup has been ordered, the assistant waiter sets the appropriate soup spoon in place beside the dinner fork. Once this has been done, serve the soup. As usual, soiled dishes and flatware are removed from the right. (g) Salad: As explained earlier, greens should be reserved until after the entree. Because greens have a lightening and relaxing effect on the stomach, their consumption after the main course will help prepare the guest for dessert. Also, three courses served prior to the entree add up to a considerable amount of food. Delaying the service of salad will allow the guest to better appreciate the entree. According to custom, however, most American operations serve salad before the main course. As with the appetizer and soup courses, all necessary tableware must be set in place prior to the service of the salad. The salad fork is positioned to the left of the dinner fork. If a knife is needed for the salad, it is positioned to the right of the dinner knife. After the completion of the salad, the table must be prepared for the entree. All dishes, flatware, and glassware which were used with the salad should be removed. Generally the cover plate is removed at this time. Many operators, especially those using expensive cover plates, instruct their staff to remove the cover plate even before the appetizer. (h) Entree: The entree is the high point of the meal. It usually takes more time to be consumed and, for optimum enjoyment, a leisurely air should prevail at the table. Palates have been appeased and thirsts quenched. The task of rekindling the guest's interest in partaking of yet another course falls on the waiter. Special presentations like en papillote, flambe, and tableside cookery help in this regard. However, a simple but well-designed plate which offers pleasing contrasts in color, texture, and contour, and which is presented by the server with just the right amount of flair and style, is often all that is needed to bring the patron's attention back to the focal point of the meal. . the item’s food cost by the desired food cost percentage (food cost/desired food cost %). Selling price = Item’s standard food cost Desired food cost. allowable food cost by the forecasted food sales and then multiplying by 100. Budgeted food cost percentage = Allowable food costs Forecasted food sales