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Food and beverages is an extremely fragmented and diverse sector, whose scope and size of the industry develops a challenge for an organization. The food and beverage sector is mainly composed of commercial and non-commercial outlets. The commercial sector is again broadly divided into – general market and restricted market and on the other hand, the non-commercial sector is primarily classified into institutional catering and employee catering (Atkins & Bowler, 2016). It can be said that as this food and beverages sector is vast, there are varieties of food and beverage operations in the particular field. These include – shopping malls, ethnic restaurants, ethnic chains, educational institutions, transport, outside catering, employee dining, private clubs, fast food chains, takeaway, accommodation, street vendors, fine dining and many more. It has been found that each one of them have a specific type of food service, which is defined as the total experience that a guest gets from the performance of people serving their requirements. The various types of food services include – carvery, buffet, table service, self service, silver service, banquet, takeaway, room service and counter or bar service. In this assignment, three out of all the types of food services have been discussed in detail in order to investigate the operational requirements of each type, which include buffet, table service and room service.
Buffet is a type of food service where a meal is set out on a table or buffet from which people might serve on their own. This is also known as self service and is generally used in the banquet functions and also in some restaurants (Hoffman, Kelley & Rotalsky, 2015). Stratosfare Queenstown Restaurant of New Zealand is an example of a restaurant that offers food through buffet system.
The term “Front of the House” refers to a location within a restaurant which allows the customers. In case of buffet, the front of the house might include – dining room, rest room, bar, banquet and hotel. It has been found that for operating the front of the house services in a systematic way, the management department of the particular organization put focuses on customer services, designing the bar and dining room, training staffs and planning promotions of restaurant. Therefore, it can be said that to understand the operating method of the front of the house is an essential factor for overall success of any restaurant.
In case of buffet, the food is arranged attractively on a long table, arranged and classified according to an accurate sequence, starting from appetizers to desserts (Atkins & Bowler, 2016). Here, soup is placed on a soup tureen and the hot entrees in the chafing dishes in order to keep them warm.
The equipments that are required for buffet type of food service are saucers and dinner plates, which are laid down on the buffet table. In buffet system, no waiter serves the guests; rather the guests themselves go to the buffet table and pick up the plate, spoon, fork and napkin and all other items and serve themselves of their own choice (Hetterly, 2015).
The main costs include – the cost of preparing foods, utensils, cost of purchasing buffet table and decorating costs. It has been found that in case of some buffet, servers stand behind the food that is kept on the buffet table and as per the wish of the customers, the server serves the particular food item to the consumer. Therefore, in some cases staff appearance increase the cost implication of the buffet system.
The quality of food will be good, it will be good to taste, the plates, forks, spoons will be cleaned and the food will be kept on the buffet table sequentially starting from appetizers to desserts. In addition to these, water which is an essential factor is also provided along with the other dishes in buffet.
The table service is a restaurant industry that can represent either the representation of food to patrons by waiters or the place settings that is presented on every table. It has been found that table service establishments are generally more expensive but it has been found that more work is included on the part of the restaurant both to set and also to clear the tables and also to present the food to order. The Blue Breeze Inn of Auckland, New Zealand is an example of a restaurant that offers table service to its guests.
In case of table services, the front of the house might include – dining room, rest room, bar, banquet, hotel and restaurant. Therefore, it can be said that to understand the operating method of the front of the house is an essential factor for overall success of any restaurant. In case of table services, the waiter generally welcomes the customers to the restaurant and indicates them the table where to seat depending upon the total number of members in a group and serve water (Bujisic, Hutchinson & Parsa, 2014). Then the waiter serves the menu card and waits there until the customers provide any order. It has also been found that waiters also suggest the customers regarding selection of dishes.
In a restaurant various types of foods are available or it can be said that nowadays, depending upon the types of food, restaurants have been developed. The menu card represents the food items like – starters, soups, dishes, beverages and desserts that are available in the particular restaurant (Ryu, Lee & Gon Kim, 2012). The menu card also represents the name of the food items along with their prices for each plate. Therefore, it helps a customer to give order regarding any food item.
The primary equipments that are required for table services include – utensils, napkins, goblet and a glass of water. Moreover, after the customers have ordered the food, a filled dish is added in order to complete the setting of the place (Garcia Martinez et al., 2014). On the basis of the type of meal has been ordered, some additional equipments might also be included. For instance, traditional western table service has spoons, knives and forks of different sizes and types. The smaller spoons are used for stirring coffee and eating dessert, whereas, larger spoons are used for having soup. It has been found that all place settings have a standard-sized dinner fork, rather it has been noted that smaller forks are used by the people for eating dessert and salads. Butter-type knives for bread, duller and steak knives can also be included within the equipment list.
The main costs of table service include the salaries and wages of the waiters and managers, utensils, cost of preparing foods, cost of purchasing table, chairs and decorating costs. The appearance of the staff in a restaurant is an important factor. Thus, servers should dress well in formal wear and in tuxedos as this creates a certain image in the mind of the customers (Jones, 2013). Additionally, restaurants design all aspects of their table service reflects the sort of ambiance.
In all types of table service restaurants, it is a common factor that waiters will deliver the meals of customers directly. Therefore, the primary level of expectation of all customers is to deliver the meals to the customers directly (Davis, 2013). The customers might also expect that the special dishes would come individually; however, it is more common for the whole table to be served at once.
The services that are provided to the customers by the staffs of the hotel in their hotel rooms are known as room service. It can also be said that the room service or the “in-room dining” is a hotel service that enables the guest to select items of menu for delivery to their respective hotel rooms and can consume the food items in their rooms only (Martucci & Martucci, 2013). In this case, the staff of the hotel will serve the food to the customer in his room and will also clean the room after the customer finish his meal. Chapmans Restaurant & Bar is an example of a restaurant that provides room service.
Room services are mainly provided in case of hotels. In room services food and drinks are served to the room of the guest. Here, the service provider or the staff of the hotel serves the guests as soon as the guest presses the alarm bell or call from his room.
In case of room services the service provider or the staff of the hotel serves various types of food and beverages that are mentioned in the menu card of the particular hotel. Generally, a menu card represents the food items like – starters, soups, dishes, beverages and desserts, thus, room services will provide all the food items that are available in the particular hotel.
A hotel needs some particular equipment for serving the food and beverages in the room of the guests. These include – tray, trolley for carrying food and beverages, tea pot cover for keeping the tea hot for longer time, flask, sugar cube and milk pot, stirrer, cup, plates, spoon, napkins, covering cloth and other necessary utensils (Srivastava, 2014).
In case of room service, additional cost is the wages and salary of the waiter or the room service provider. It has also been found that some additional equipment is required for room servicing (Wagner & Meyr, 2015). Thus, here also the cost of the organization increases. In some cases staff appearance and the decoration of the serving tray or trolley increase the cost implication of the room service system.
The primary expectation of a customer in case of room service is to provide quick and perfect service (Lee et al., 2014).
Therefore, it can be concluded that there are various types of food services in the food and beverages sector. However, depending upon the varieties of food and beverage operations, the type of food service should be selected. The reason behind this is that an appropriate type of food service can satisfy the customers and this satisfaction can increase the proportion of profit of the firm and can also decrease the cost of operation of the business.
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Davis, B., Lockwood, A., Pantelidis, I., & Alcott, P. (2013). Food and beverage management. Routledge.
Garcia Martinez, M., Lazzarotti, V., Manzini, R., & Sánchez García, M. (2014). Open innovation strategies in the food and drink industry: determinants and impact on innovation performance. International Journal of Technology Management 23, 66(2-3), 212-242.
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Hoffman, K. D., Kelley, S. W., & Rotalsky, H. M. (2015). Restaurant Service Failure and Recovery Analysis. In Proceedings of the 1994 Academy of Marketing Science (AMS) Annual Conference (pp. 193-193). Springer International Publishing.
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Martucci, J., & Martucci, P. (2013). U.S. Patent No. 8,498,899. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Ryu, K., Lee, H. R., & Gon Kim, W. (2012). The influence of the quality of the physical environment, food, and service on restaurant image, customer perceived value, customer satisfaction, and behavioral intentions.International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 24(2), 200-223.
Srivastava, S. (2014). Emereging Trends in in-Room Dining.
Wagner, M., & Meyr, H. (2015). Food and beverages. In Supply chain management and advanced planning (pp. 391-407). Springer Berlin Heidelberg.
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