Food For Pondering - Is Your Food And Beverage Company Being Handled Correctly?

Posted by Shira on January 21st, 2021

I consume food. I drink beverages.

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

In assessing the operations of lots of clubs/resorts each month, I discover that one of the most improperly run, irregular areas of club/resort operations is Food and Beverage. Specifically in member owned environments, which are typically overseen by a club board, individuals seem to believe that due to the fact that they eat in restaurants, they somehow have some level of competence that permits them to make company choices about this important element of the club. The reality is that this is one of the most intricate departments in a club to manage, control, and produce a constant experience.

Let's ask a few concerns!

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

Are your food selections stuck in the past, a good balance of old favorites and new choices, or edgy? Is your menu developed for function or fashion? Do you change your menu quarterly, or a minimum of semi-annually to keep it fresh? Or is it altered every year or two and become a club dinosaur? What are your product requirements and part sizes? Is every item on your menu costed? What is your objective for a la carte food expense? Do you know the contribution margin on every item on your menu?

What about your unique occasions. Are they truly unique? Do they produce a buzz in the Club? Are they eagerly prepared for or the same thing that was done the last 10 years with absolutely nothing more than the year changed in the newsletter and marketing piece touting the event? Is your personnel challenged every quarter to attempt new occasions? Brand-new price points?

Got Value?

What about value added programs? It's occurring every day in the hospitality market. Chili's, Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, Flemings, Cody's Roadhouse, McDonalds, Quiznos, Train, and numerous other nationwide franchises are actively programming to keep individuals can be found in. Any question the success rate of franchises is over 90% while the success rate of individually owned dining establishments is about 10%?

What are you doing in your club to develop a "WOW" for your members/guests in your Food and Drink offerings? Are you standing pat on your cosmetic suppliers filet and sea bass questioning why you are doing so couple of covers? Or, are you attempting new principles that may offer "meal replacement" dining rather of just "special occasion" dining?

Something as simple as Pleased Hour can create additional use. Home cooking such as meatloaf, chicken casserole, lasagna, or comparable for" at or throughout the week are popular. Taco bars, pasta bars, burger night, half rate on bottles of home red wine, Fresh Fish Fridays or a Friday Fish Fry, a Chef's selection at a special cost on slower evenings, sushi nights, appetisers at a special price, home entertainment, and numerous other concepts and occasions drive use, offer incremental revenue, and keep the staff working. Are you try out new events in your club/resort? Offer it a try. You'll be surprised at the buzz it develops.

The Experience

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

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

Do you have standards of operation to ensure the food and beverage 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 steps of service in location?

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

The Technical Aspects

How typically do you take a physical stock? Exists "independence" in the stock procedure to ensure that the counts are accurate? Is inventory rates adjusted frequently to reflect the most current cost the club is paying for all inventoried products or is the expense the club paid last year still being utilized to identify stock worth?

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 astonished at how frequently shipments are accepted and signed for without even physically remaining in the very same space as the items that were provided let alone checking the packaging slip or invoice against the products got. Shipment individuals become savvy very rapidly to those who hold them liable and those who don't. A couple of pounds of missing steak here or a few bottles of missing liquor there costs a lot of money over an extended amount of time.

How much unusable food is stored in the freezer, often a chef's friend, and continues to be counted every 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 monetary result, train the staff, and preserve standards? Or are they paid merely for showing up?

How is your service personnel paid? By hourly wage? Pointer swimming 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 item on every menu, have you done the exact same for alcohol, beer, and red wine? Do you have specified pour sizes? Are they being complied with? Do you have pourers which allow just for the put size for which you are charging? How much of your club's resort's money is bound in wine inventory? Have you recognized par stocks?

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

Do you provide a staff member meal? How is it accounted for? Is it represented at all? Do you allow workers to get rid of food/beverage from the club? (A bad concept!). Do you permit your staff members to take in alcoholic beverages at the end of a shift? (An even worse concept!!).

Personal Occasions

What about your Personal Events? 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 meetings to the club/resort? Are you covering the expenses of establishing and breaking down every space based on the differing needs of each occasion?

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

A Service

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 personalized food and beverage experience that shows your special situation and offers what your members/guests want and want to pay for.