Foods For Pondering - Is Your Meals And Beverage Procedureprocess Being Handled

Posted by Jantz on January 20th, 2021

I eat food. I consume beverages.

For that reason, I am qualified to supervise a Food and Beverage operation.

In assessing the operations of numerous clubs/resorts every month, I find that one of the most poorly operated, inconsistent areas of club/resort operations is Food and Drink. Particularly in member owned environments, which are often managed by a club board, individuals seem to believe that since they dine out, they in some way have some level of expertise that enables them to make business choices about this essential element of the club. The reality is that this is among the most complex departments in a club to handle, control, and produce a consistent experience.

Let's ask a few questions!

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

Are your food choices stuck in the past, a great balance of old favorites and brand-new choices, or edgy? Is your menu designed for function or fashion? Do you alter your menu quarterly, or at least semi-annually to keep it fresh? Or is it altered every year or two and end up being a club dinosaur? What are your product specs and part sizes? Is every item on your menu costed? What is your objective for a la carte food expense? Do you understand the contribution margin on every item on your menu?

What about your special events. Are they really special? Do they produce a buzz in the Club? Are they eagerly expected or the same thing that was done the last 10 years with absolutely nothing more than the year altered in the newsletter and marketing piece promoting the event? Is your staff challenged every quarter to attempt new occasions? New rate points?

Got Value?

What about value included programs? It's happening every day in the hospitality industry. Chili's, Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, Flemings, Cody's Roadhouse, McDonalds, Quiznos, Train, and numerous other national franchises are actively setting to keep people coming in. Any question the success rate of franchises is over 90% while the success rate of separately owned dining establishments has to do with 10%?

What are you performing in your club to produce a "WOW" for your members/guests in your Food and Beverage offerings? Are you standing pat on your filet and sea bass questioning why you are doing so couple of covers? Or, are you attempting brand-new concepts that may offer "meal replacement" dining instead of only "special occasion" dining?

Something as easy as Happy Hour can generate additional use. 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 on bottles of house wine, Fresh Fish Fridays or a Friday Fish Fry, a Chef's choice at a special rate on slower nights, sushi nights, appetisers at an unique cost, home entertainment, and numerous other principles and events drive use, provide incremental profits, and keep the staff working. Are you try out brand-new occasions in your club/resort? Give it a try. You'll be surprised at the buzz it develops.

The Experience

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

How are your buffets presented? Elegantly with skirting, flower screens, and glossy silver chafing dishes? Or simple with little or no frills? Does it make sense?

Do you have standards of operation to guarantee the food and drink experience for your members/guests? Is every team member wearing a tidy and pushed designated uniform? Is there a specific way to go right here present menus, serve, food, mixed drinks, and white wine? Are members called by name? Are specific steps of service in location?

Does the service staff understand the composition of every item, sauce, and part size from the menu? Is training supplied a minimum of regular monthly? Is your staff offering suggestively?

The Technical Aspects

How often do you take a physical stock? Is there "self-reliance" in the inventory process to ensure that the counts are precise? Is stock rates changed frequently to show the most recent cost the club is spending for all inventoried products or is the cost the club paid in 2015 still being utilized to identify inventory value?

Do you follow this mantra when receiving 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 circumstances, accept it blindly.

I am surprised at how often deliveries are accepted and signed for without even physically being in the very same room as the products that were provided not to mention checking the packaging slip or invoice versus the products got. Delivery individuals become smart very quickly to those who hold them responsible and those who do not. A couple of pounds of missing steak here or a couple of bottles of missing alcohol there costs a lot of cash over a prolonged period of time.

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

What does the organizational structure look like in your club's F&B operation? How are your supervisors compensated? Are they incented to produce a specific financial result, train the staff, and maintain requirements? Or are they paid just for showing up?

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

In addition to costing every item on every menu, have you done the very same for alcohol, beer, and red wine? Do you have specified pour sizes? Are they being stuck to? Do you have pourers which enable only for the pour size for which you are charging? How much of your club's resort's cash is tied up in wine stock? Have you established par stocks?

Do you have a Food and Drink minimum? Does it make sense for your club? Do you have a minimum monthly service fee? Should you?

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

Personal Events

What about your Private Occasions? Is your catering menu priced right? What does priced ideal mean? Have you evaluated the competitive environment? What are you doing to bring wedding events and conferences to the club/resort? Are you covering the expenses of establishing and breaking down every room based upon the differing requirements of each occasion?

Do your personal event policies make good sense? When is the "assurance' due? When is payment completely needed? Do you require a signed contract? Do you even have an agreement that you require be signed?

A Solution

Great deals of questions! Get a management company that will work collaboratively with you to answer all of these and any others and develop a tailored food and drink experience that shows your distinct scenario and offers what your members/guests want and are willing to spend for.