UNIT 1

 Managing F&B Outlet UNIT  1

F&B Management  is an essential activity performed by the managerial staff to check if all the tasks of F&B service are carried out according to the standards set, so as to satisfy the customer and make them feel that they have received the money’s worth. Also to ensure the profit margins are achieved in each financial period from each department of F&B service

Major Functions required under F&B management:

1.     Indenting & Maintaining Par stock

2.     Advertising/Selling Techniques

3.     Situation Handling

4.     Employee Requirement

5.     Setting up Procedures

6.     Garbage Disposal

Indenting & Maintaining Par Stock:

The term par stock is used to determine the demands needed by the restaurant on a daily basis, and the minimum amount of supplies needed to fill these demands, in order to ensure smoothness and stability of functions in the f&b department.

Maintaining Par stock is an important function where in supervisor maintain the stock of all area under his/her control, stocktaking should be at least once in a week with a proper record keeping

Indent is a document stating the requirements of goods with the quantity required along with its specification. It is sent to the store department, which in turn procures the items, and dispatches the same to the department on the day specified. The requisition of goods is signed by the authorized person. The supplies in the service are includes Edible (sugar, proprietary sauces, salt pepper, butter) & Miscellaneous Supplies (Paper Napkins, Doily paper, straws, toothpicks etc.)

Situation Handling/Complaint Handling:

Situation handling is a process where the department receives information about the situation, identifies what it is about, finds a way to deal with it, deals with it, and ascertains that it is done satisfactorily.

Success of food and beverage operations is ensured when the needs and the expectation of the guest are met. Complaints from food and beverage operations are basically of two types

1.     Food-related:

o   Menu- not much variety offered, common dietary needs are not met, availability of dishes, improper pricing, etc.

o   Dish- Not prepared according to the guest’s requirement, Bad quality, Poor portion size, Poor Presentation, Hot food served cold, Too Oily/spicy/salty, Poor Texture, Burnt Taste

2.     Attitude Related:

o   Arguing with the guest

o   Ignoring the guest

o   Delaying the service

o   Poor Personal Grooming

o   Expecting the tips

 

It is the duty of the service staff to analyze the root cause of the problem for the complaints and take necessary actions and ensure complaints do happen again. All complaints made and action taken should be recorded in a notebook.

 

General Situations

1.     Drunk Guest

2.     Fire

3.     Death

4.     Accidents

5.     Spillage

6.     Ill guest

Handling customer complaints in 8 steps:

Apologize and be sorry – the first step is to apologize and be truly sorry for what happened. You must not belittle the complaint since this humiliates the customer and sends them a message that they’re lying.

Listen – when they are speaking, attention needs to be directed towards the customer. Stop doing what you’re doing (sends a message that nothing will distract you from solving the problem). Let the customer finish with presenting their problem and don’t make premature conclusions.

Take notes – while the customer is presenting the problem, don’t interrupt but take notes of what they’re saying since this will later help you in responding and offering a solution (sends a message that the problem will be dealt with seriously and systematically).

Repeat the problem – when the customer is finished, briefly repeat the problem to make sure you have understood it correctly.

Offer a solution – if possible, offer a solution right away, two realistic options, without giving false promises or exaggerating. If not possible, give a firm promise that everything will be done to solve the problem in a satisfactory manner.

Apologize and thank the customer – the conversation must end with a repeat apology and a thank you to the customer for warning you about the problem. This sends a message that the customer’s opinion is appreciated.

 Report to your superior – next step is reporting to your superior, agreeing about the solution, making a decision and following its progress.

Report to the customer – as the final step, you must inform the customer about what was done to solve the problem, instead of giving that task to a colleague. This sends a message that you took the problem seriously and personally made sure it was solved. This is personalized service.

If it becomes evident that the complaint is a result of a systematic inappropriate procedure or of a permanent deficiency, actions must be taken to introduce new and improved procedures in order to keep the problem from repeating in the future.

There are customers who get even more upset when they receive an apology. In that case, stop apologizing and talk as little as possible.

Employee Requirement

Staff organization plays a major role in the success of any establishment. It is also important to have well –disciplined operation in an outlet. It helps the management to allocate the right persons in the right positions. An effective staff organization is necessary for service-oriented industries such as hospitality industry. It is important to know some techniques of human handling while managing or organizing staff.

 

Categories Of Staff:

Every successful organization has different levels of brigades to perform various operations, the food and beverages service personnel can be categorized into three levels.

Ø  Managerial

Ø  Supervisory

Ø  Operations

 

Managerial staff:  This category of staff is on the top in an organizational chart. They are also known as ‘top management.’ This category has lesser number of people who participate in decision-making. They are responsible for the overall performance of an establishment.

Supervisory staff: This category of staff takes the middle part of an organizational chart. They are also called the ‘middle management.’ This category fills about 15 percent of the total number of staff. Their main responsibility is to supervise the lower staff and communicate them the decisions, made by the top-level management.

Operational Staff: This category of staff is at the bottom end of an organizational chart. They are the ones who actually have hands on the job. Most of the physical work is performed by this category. They make about 80 percent of the total staff.

 

To calculate the total staff required

 

Ø  Estimate the number of staff required per service in one week.

Ø  Multiply the number of staff per service period by the number of hours to be worked in each period.

Ø  Divide total staff hours by full time equivalent of number of staff.

 

Calculation

 

100 pax specialty restaurant operating for all 7days/week.

 

*   Restaurant timings:

Lunch 4 hours (11:30 am to 3:30 pm)

Dinner 5 hours (7:00pm to 12:00 pm)

 

*   Staff timings:

Lunch 5 hours (11:00am to 4:00pm)

Dinner 6 hours (6:30 pm to 12:30 pm)

 

*   Daily staff requirement estimate:

o   Lunch 1 steward for 20 pax

o   1 captain for 30 pax= 5 stewards+ 3 captains+ 1 in charge=9 no

o   Dinner 1 steward for 16 pax

o   1 captain for 30 pax= 6 stewards+ 3 captains+ 1 in charge=10 no

o   Weekly staff requirement per service period

o   Lunch  9 staff x 7 days = 63 no

o   Dinner 10 staff x 7 days= 70 no

 

*   Weekly staff hours

o   Lunch  5 hours x 63 = 315 staff hours

o   Dinner  6 hours x7 0 = 420 staff hours =315 + 420 =735

 

*   Average staff required  = weekly staff hours/ weekly operating hours

o   735/9x7(63) =11.6=12 numbers

 

Setting up Operational Procedures:

 

A standard operating procedure (SOP) is a set of written instructions that document a repetitive activity followed by an organization. The development and use of SOP are an integral part of a successful quality system as it provides individuals with information to perform a job properly and facilitates consistency in the quality of a product or service.

 

Writing an SOP

 

Ø  SOPs should be written in concise, step by step, easy to read format. The document should not be wordy or over lengthy.

Ø  SOPs should be written with sufficient details so that anybody with limited experience or knowledge can successfully reproduce the work when unsupervised. These SOPs should be made available for reference. SOPs should periodically be revised to keep them updated

Ø  SOPs should be written in concise, step by step, easy to read format. The document should not be wordy or over lengthy.