Meals For Thought - Is Your Food And Drinks Establishment Being Run Properly?

Posted by Shira on January 21st, 2021

I consume food. I drink beverages.

For that reason, I am certified to oversee a Food and Drink operation.

In assessing the operations of numerous clubs/resorts each month, I discover that one of the most improperly operated, irregular areas of club/resort operations is Food and Beverage. Especially in member owned environments, which are often overseen by a club board, people appear to think that because they dine out, they somehow have some level of competence that allows them to make business choices about this important aspect of the club. The truth is that this is one of the most complicated departments in a club to manage, control, and produce a consistent experience.

Let's ask a couple of concerns!

Is your Food and Drink experience appropriate for what your members/guests want to have in your club/resort? Are you priced properly, too expensive, or too low? How do you know? Are you tracking cover counts by day? By shift? By hour?

Are your food selections stuck in yesteryear, a great 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 altered every year or more and become a club dinosaur? What are your product specs and portion sizes? Is every item on your menu costed? What is your goal for a la carte food cost? Do you understand the contribution margin on every product on your menu?

What about your special events. Are they really unique? Do they produce a buzz in the Club? Are they eagerly expected or the exact same thing that was done the last 10 years with nothing more than the year changed in the newsletter and advertising piece promoting the occasion? Is your staff challenged every quarter to try brand-new occasions? New price points?

Got Value?

What about worth added programs? It's taking place every day in the hospitality market. Chili's, Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, Flemings, Cody's Roadhouse, McDonalds, Quiznos, Train, and many 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 separately owned dining establishments has to do with 10%?

What are you carrying out 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 questioning why you are doing so few covers? Or, are you attempting new concepts that may offer "meal replacement" dining rather of just "unique occasion" dining?

Something as simple as Pleased Hour can create 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, hamburger night, half price on bottles of house wine, Fresh Fish Fridays or a Friday Fish Fry, a Chef's choice at an unique cost on slower nights, sushi nights, appetizers at a special rate, entertainment, and numerous other ideas and occasions drive usage, supply incremental profits, and keep the staff working. Are you experimenting with brand-new events in your club/resort? Offer it a try. You'll be surprised office furniture at the buzz it produces.

The Experience

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

How are your buffets provided? Elegantly with skirting, floral displays, and glossy silver chafing meals? Or primary with little or no frills? Does it make good sense?

Do you have requirements of operation to make sure the food and drink experience for your members/guests? Is every employee using a tidy and pushed designated uniform? Exists a specific manner to present menus, serve, food, cocktails, and red wine? Are members called by name? Specify actions of service in location?

Does the service personnel understand the composition of every product, sauce, and portion size from the menu? Is training offered a minimum of regular monthly? Is your staff offering suggestively?

The Technical Aspects

How typically do you take a physical inventory? Exists "independence" in the inventory procedure to make sure that the counts are accurate? Is stock rates adjusted regularly to show the most recent cost the club is paying for all inventoried products or is the expense the club paid in 2015 still being utilized to identify inventory worth?

Do you follow this mantra when getting and inventorying products?

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

I am amazed at how often deliveries are accepted and signed for without even physically remaining in the very same space as the products that were provided not to mention checking the packaging slip or invoice against the goods got. Shipment people become savvy really rapidly to those who hold them liable and those who do not. A couple of pounds of missing steak here or a couple of bottles of missing out on alcohol there costs a lot of money over an extended period of time.

How much unusable food is stored in the freezer, typically a chef's friend, and continues to be counted on a monthly basis throughout stock yet is basically 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 particular financial result, train the staff, and preserve standards? Or are they paid just for showing up?

How is your service staff paid? By hourly wage? Idea 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 product on every menu, have you done the same for liquor, beer, and wine? Do you have specified put sizes? Are they being complied with? Do you have pourers which enable just for the pour size for which you are charging? How much of your club's resort's money is bound in red wine stock? Have you recognized par stocks?

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

Do you provide an employee meal? How is it accounted for? Is it accounted for at all? Do you permit staff members to get rid of food/beverage from the club? (A bad concept!). Do you permit your staff members to consume liquors at the end of a shift? (An even worse concept!!).

Private Events

What about your Private Occasions? Is your catering menu priced right? What does priced ideal mean? Have you examined the competitive environment? What are you doing to bring wedding events and conferences to the club/resort? Are you covering the costs of setting up and breaking down every space based on the differing requirements of each occasion?

Do your personal occasion policies make good sense? When is the "guarantee' due? When is payment completely required? Do you need a signed agreement? Do you even have an agreement that you need be signed?

A Service

Great deals of concerns! Get a management company that will work collaboratively with you to address all of these and any others and create a tailored food and drink experience that reflects your distinct situation and provides what your members/guests desire and want to pay for.