Foods For Thought - Is Your Meals And Refreshment Establishment Being Handled Co

Posted by Jantz on January 21st, 2021

I eat food. I drink beverages.

Therefore, I am qualified to oversee a Food and Beverage operation.

In examining the operations of many clubs/resorts each month, I discover that a person of the most badly operated, inconsistent areas of club/resort operations is Food and Drink. Particularly in member owned environments, which are frequently overseen by a club board, individuals seem to think that due to the fact that they dine out, they in some way have some level of knowledge that permits them to make service decisions about this important aspect of the club. The reality is that this is among the most complex departments in a club to manage, control, and produce a constant experience.

Let's ask a few questions!

Is your Food and Beverage experience suitable for what your members/guests wish to have in your club/resort? Are you priced correctly, too expensive, or too low? How do you understand? Are you tracking cover counts by day? By shift? By hour?

Are your food choices stuck in the past, a nice balance of old favorites and brand-new choices, or edgy? Is your menu created for function or fashion? Do you alter your menu quarterly, or at least semi-annually to keep it fresh? Or is it changed every year or more and become a club dinosaur? What are your item specs and portion sizes? Is every product on your menu costed? What is your objective for a la carte food cost? Do you understand the contribution margin on every item on your menu?

What about your special events. Are they truly special? Do they develop a buzz in the Club? Are they eagerly anticipated or the same thing that was done the last 10 years with absolutely nothing more than the year changed in the newsletter and promotional piece promoting the occasion? Is your personnel challenged every quarter to attempt new events? Brand-new rate points?

Got Value?

What about worth included programs? It's taking place every day in the hospitality industry. Chili's, Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, Flemings, Cody's Roadhouse, McDonalds, Quiznos, Subway, and lots of other nationwide franchises are actively configuring to keep individuals coming in. Any wonder the success rate of franchises is over 90% while the success rate of individually owned dining establishments is about 10%?

What are you performing in your club to create a "WOW" for your members/guests in your Food and Drink offerings? Are you standing pat on your filet and sea bass wondering why you are doing so couple of covers? Or, are you attempting new ideas that may offer "meal replacement" dining instead of only "unique celebration" dining?

Something as easy as Happy Hour can produce extra usage. Home cooking such as meatloaf, chicken pot pie, lasagna, or similar for" at or throughout the week are popular. Taco bars, pasta bars, burger night, half cost art shop near me on bottles of house wine, Fresh Fish Fridays or a Friday Fish Fry, a Chef's selection at an unique price on slower nights, sushi nights, appetisers at a special price, entertainment, and numerous other concepts and events drive usage, provide incremental revenue, and keep the staff working. Are you try out new occasions in your club/resort? Give it a shot. You'll be shocked at the buzz it produces.

The Experience

How is your dining room presented? With white table linens? No tablecloths? Placemats? Are you charging appropriately for the experience you are offering?

How are your buffets provided? Elegantly with skirting, flower display screens, and shiny silver chafing dishes? Or basic with little or no frills? Does it make sense?

Do you have requirements of operation to guarantee the food and drink experience for your members/guests? Is every team member wearing a tidy and pushed designated uniform? Exists a specific manner to present menus, serve, food, cocktails, and white wine? Are members called by name? Specify actions of service in place?

Does the service personnel understand the composition of every item, sauce, and portion size from the menu? Is training supplied at least month-to-month? Is your staff selling suggestively?

The Technical Aspects

How typically do you take a physical stock? Is there "self-reliance" in the stock process to make sure that the counts are precise? Is stock prices changed regularly to show the most current cost the club is paying for all inventoried products or is the cost the club paid last year still being used to identify stock value?

Do you follow this mantra when getting and inventorying items?

If you purchase it by the pound, weigh it. If you purchase it by the piece, count it. If you buy it by ounce or length, determine it? Under no situations, accept it blindly.

I am surprised at how typically shipments are accepted and signed for without even physically remaining in the exact same space as the products that were provided not to mention examining the packing slip or invoice against the goods received. Shipment individuals end up being savvy very quickly to those who hold them accountable and those who do not. A couple of pounds of missing out on steak here or a couple of bottles of missing liquor there costs a lot of cash over a prolonged amount of time.

Just how much unusable food is stashed away in the freezer, often a chef's best friend, and continues to be counted each month during inventory yet is essentially worth little or nothing?

What does the organizational structure appear like in your club's F&B operation? How are your managers compensated? Are they incented to produce a specific financial result, train the personnel, and maintain requirements? Or are they paid simply for revealing up?

How is your service staff paid? By per hour wage? Idea pool? Some combination of both? Does your pay structure promote tenure or turnover? What about overtime? Are you paying overtime? Legally?

In addition to costing every product on every menu, have you done the exact same for liquor, beer, and white wine? Do you have defined pour sizes? Are they being followed? Do you have pourers which enable only for the pour size for which you are charging? How much of your club's resort's money is tied up in white wine inventory? Have you established par stocks?

Do you have a Food and Beverage minimum? Does it make good sense for your club? Do you have a minimum regular monthly service charge? Should you?

Do you offer a worker meal? How is it accounted for? Is it accounted for at all? Do you enable employees to eliminate food/beverage from the club? (A bad idea!). Do you allow your employees to take in liquors at the end of a shift? (An even worse idea!!).

Private Events

What about your Personal Events? Is your catering menu priced right? What does priced right mean? Have you assessed the competitive environment? What are you doing to bring wedding events and conferences to the club/resort? Are you covering the expenses of setting up and breaking down every space based on the differing needs of each event?

Do your personal occasion policies make good sense? When is the "warranty' due? When is payment completely needed? Do you need a signed contract? Do you even have a contract that you require be signed?

A Solution

Lots of questions! Get a management business that will work collaboratively with you to answer all of these and any others and develop a customized food and drink experience that shows your distinct situation and offers what your members/guests desire and want to spend for.