Sequence of Food Service

Food and Beverage Services: the process of preparing, presenting, and serving of food and beverages to the customers.

The Five Stages of the Basic Sequence of Service

• Meet, Seat and Greet

• Taking the order

• Serving the order

• Bill out

• Farewell

5 Ways to Deliver Excellent Customer Service at Your Restaurant

• Do it right from the start

  • Speak appropriately

  • Etiquette matters

• Do not make them wait

• Fix problems immediately

  • Listen intently to their problem

  • Own the mistake.

  • Stay calm

  • Try to negotiate a solution

  • Always empathize, don’t blame.

  • Apologize

  • Solve the problem quickly.

• Use customer comment cards.

• Incorporate Technology

Types of F and B Services

• On Premise: Food is delivered where it is prepared.

• Off Premise or Outdoor Catering: includes partial cooking, preparation, and service at customer’s premises. Away from F&B Services providers’ base.

Types of F and B Services Operations

• Commercial: The primary business.

  • Ex: Hotels, restaurants, lounges, bars.

• Non Commercial: Secondary businesses in alliance with the main business.

  • Ex. Hospitals, hostels, prisons.

• Catering: The business of providing foods and beverage service to the people at a remote location.

• Quick Service Restaurants: the food is prepared, purchased and generally consumed quickly.

  • Ex: Fast food chains

• Full-Service Restaurants: The food and beverages menu is wide and the customer’s expectation are high.

F AND B SERVICES CYCLE

Product Cycle in F&B Service

• Purchasing Product: The purchaser is responsible for purchasing a product.

• Receiving the Product: The receiver receives the products from the supplier.

• Storing and Issuing the Product: store men carry out the task of storing received supply and issuing it to respective departments.

• Preparing and Presenting an F&B Product: includes preparation of various food items and fresh beverages.

• Consuming the F&B Product: played by the guest

Structure of F&B Services Department

• F&B Services personnel: responsible to create the exact experiences the guests wish for.

• Food & Beverage Service Manager: Ensures profit margin, plans menu for various service, purchases material and equipment.

• Assistant Food and Beverages Service Manager: aware of and tuned to all the work the F&B Services Manager performs.

• Restaurant Manager: looks after the overall functioning of a restaurant

  • Managing functions in the dining room

  • Ordering material

  • Stock-taking

  • Supervising, training, grooming, evaluating the subordinates.

  • Preparing reports of staff and sales.

  • Managing budgets

  • Handling daily sales.

• Room Service Manager

  • Selecting, training, encouraging, and evaluating all junior employees.

  • Ensuring that cultural values and core standards are met

  • Controlling labor expenses

  • Handling guest complaints.

  • Providing special complaints

• Banquet Manager

  • Setting service standard.

  • Forecasting and allocating budgets.

  • Achieving F&B sales

  • Controlling tableware and equipment.

  • Handling decorations and complaints

• Food Safety Supervisor: trained to recognize and prevent risks associated with food handling in an F&B Services business.

• F&B Ancillary Departments: relies upon the support of the following departments:

  • Kitchen Stewarding Department: ensures cleanliness, preparedness, and orderliness in the commercial kitchen.

  • Dishwashing Department: Provides clean and dry supply of tableware and restaurant service.

  • Laundry Department: outsourced laundry services for timely supply of dry-cleaned and wrinkleless linen

What should F and B staff must have?

• Appearance: creates the first impression on the guests.

• Attentiveness: paying sincere attention to details.

• Body Language: A very positive, energetic, and friendly gestures.

• Effective Communication: talking with coworkers and guests. It can bring truly enhanced experience to the guests.

• Punctuality: needs to know the value of time while serving the guests. Helps to keep the service workflow smooth.

• Honesty and Integrity: two core values in any well-brought-up person.

TYPES OF SERVICES

• Table Service: waiter offers them water and menu cards.

  • English or Family Service: waiter brings food on platters. Common in specialty restaurants where customers spend more time on premise.

  • American or Plate Service: served the guest’s plate in the kitchen itself in predetermined portion. Food plates are brought to the guests

• French Service: very personalized and private service. Taken in platters and casseroles and is kept on the table of guests near their plates.

  • Cart French Service: Prepared and assembled at tableside. Offered for small groups of VIPs

  • Banquet French Service: prepared in the kitchen.

• Gueridon Service: partially cooked food from the kitchen is taken to the Gueridon trolly for cooking it completely. Waiter needs to perform the role of cook partially and needs to be dexterous.

• Silver Service: The food is presented on silver platters and casseroles. Set with sterling silverware.

• Russian Service: Identical to Cart french. Servers place the food on the platters and serve it from the left side.

• Assisted Service: the guests enter the dining area, collect their plates, and go to buffet counters and help themselves.

• Buffet Service: the guests get plates from the stack and goes to buffet counter where food is kept in large casseroles and platters with burners.

  • Sit-down buffet: tables are arranged with crockery and cutlery where guests can sit and eat.

• Self Service: The guests enter the dining area and select food items. The guest are required to take their own plates to the table and eat.

• Cafeteria Service: a quick service.

• Single Point Service: the guest orders, pays for his order and gets served all at a single point.

  • Food Court: Array of autonomous counters at which the customers can order, eat, or buy from several different counters.

• Kiosks: the customer enters the choice and amount of money physically and the machine dispenses.

• Take Away: Customer orders from a single counter and consumes it off the premises.

• Vending: automatic machine installed in industrial canteens, shopping centers, airports.

• Special Service: provides food and beverages at the places which are not mean for food and beverages.

  • Grill Room Service: various vegetables and meats are displayed for a better view and choices. Guest take a seat and is served cooked food with accompaniments,

  • Tray Service: Method of service of whole or part of a meal on tray.

  • Trolley/Gueridon Service: Food is cooked, finished or presented to the guest at a table from a moveable trolley.

  • Home Delivery: delivered to customer’s home or place of work.

  • Lounge Service: Service of variety of food and beverages in lounge area.