hotel management

Chapter 13 Catering Service and Practice (1)
Catering service is an indispensable business content of modern hotels.The hotel food and beverage department is an important profit center of the hotel.The quality level and style characteristics of hotel catering services reflect the overall quality level and style characteristics of the hotel to a large extent, and the reputation of the hotel.Catering management is a kind of business management with the most numerous business links (sections), the highest technical level requirements, and the most extensive subject knowledge involved in the hotel, so it is also the most complicated business management.

Function and characteristics of the first (section) catering service

[-]. The role of catering services
1. Catering service is an important tourism resource
Tangible physical products and intangible labor services make up hotel products, and the two are an organically integrated whole, and catering products most typically embody this characteristic of hotel products.Catering products are hotel products that perfectly combine catering objects, cooking technology and service skills. It can meet the direct physiological needs of guests and many indirect needs such as psychological and emotional aspects.Not only that, the food culture of a region is embodied by the hotel's catering products. While tasting the food, guests can learn about the folk customs, cultural traditions, historical evolution and even religious customs of the region.Therefore, it can be considered that catering is not only a hotel product, but also an important part of tourism products.In other words, catering is not only a means of tourism, but also one of the purposes of tourism, which has the dual nature of both tourism facilities and tourism resources.Gourmet tourism, weight loss tourism and food therapy tourism have gradually become a fashion in various places.If the hotel wants to attract more guests, it must seize the opportunity to restore and develop famous dishes and spots, and design special catering, so as to enrich the content of catering services.

2. Catering service is a necessary part of hotel service
Housing, food, and transportation are the necessary conditions for people to travel or travel, and housing and food are particularly important.Hotels and tourism are produced and restaurants are produced, and tourism develops and catering develops. This is true no matter in China or other parts of the world.The early unwritten laws of the United Kingdom stipulated that the hotel must undertake the obligation to provide accommodation, food and safety for the guests staying in the hotel.According to historical records, at that time, restaurants were mostly set up in various buildings, providing accommodation and catering services for travelers.It can be seen that the accommodation and catering needs of tourists are the prerequisites for the existence of hotels.Some people say that a hotel that does not provide catering services is not a real hotel. This is unavoidably biased, but at least it can be considered that catering services are a necessary part of hotel services, and the catering department is an indispensable business department of hotels.It's just that due to the different types, scales, grades, and geographical locations of hotels, the scale and characteristics of their respective catering services are also different.

3. Catering service level is an objective sign of hotel service level
There is no doubt that the quality of catering services directly affects the reputation and competitiveness of the hotel, and directly reflects the service level of the hotel.The level of catering service is determined by many factors. From the perspective of guests, it is mainly determined by the two major factors of kitchen cooking and restaurant service, but all business links (sections) of the catering department are involved.Kitchen cooking technology affects the level of the physical part of catering products, and restaurant service level affects the mental and psychological state of guests when purchasing and accepting the product.The service level of a restaurant not only refers to the attitude and skills of the waiters, but also includes the atmosphere, style and atmosphere of the restaurant, and the quality level of catering utensils, etc., and the management level of the hotel determines all these.There are many hotels around the world that have built and endured a reputation for excellence in food and beverage service.For example, the starlight restaurant on the roof of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York, the restaurant of the Century Plaza Hotel, and the dancing shoes restaurant of the Ambassador Hotel in Chicago, all of which are famous for their exquisite food and beverage and unique service style; and the Leeds Hotel Company in France The Marriott hotel company in the United States is known for its emphasis on catering services and is well-known in the hotel industry all over the world.

4. Catering income is one of the main sources of hotel operating income
One of the important profit-making departments of the hotel is the food and beverage department.In European and American countries, hotel catering revenue can generally account for 35% of the hotel's total revenue (food accounts for about 25%, beverages 10%), second only to room revenue.Catering revenue in hotels in my country can generally account for about 1/3 of the hotel's operating revenue. Together with room revenue and shopping mall revenue, they are called the three pillars of hotel revenue.In recent years, the proportion of my country's hotels receiving individual guests (as opposed to group guests) has continued to rise, while the proportion of catering income has declined.Because for the catering of most hotels, individual guests are uncontrolled guests, and they can freely choose other catering places. If the hotel wants to compete with social restaurants, it must make the catering service unique and attractive.

Second, the characteristics of catering services
Hotel catering services fully possess the various characteristics of hotel products.In a fundamental sense, discussing the characteristics of catering services is actually discussing the characteristics of hotel products or services.

([-]) Service is the main content of catering products

As long as we analyze the sales content of service enterprises or the purchase content of consumers, it is not difficult to find that: the sale or purchase of any commodity is accompanied by the sale or purchase of services; and the sale or purchase of any service is also accompanied by the sale of goods. or buy.Accordingly, there are two types of service enterprises in terms of sales activities.One category is enterprises that mainly sell goods with the help of services, such as various retail stores.The retail service provided by this type of enterprise is called "sales service", which means that it plays a role in helping to sell products; the other type of enterprise is an enterprise that uses physical products to sell services, such as hotels, restaurants, and hairdressers. , various repair shops, etc.In such businesses, the physical product is considered a "merchant product" because the sale of a service or skill is facilitated by it.

Of course, the hotel belongs to the latter. The main content of the business activities of the hotel is to provide guests with accommodation services by virtue of certain physical products.The main purpose of hotels renting rooms is to sell room services; to provide food and beverages, the purpose is to sell cooking skills and restaurant environment and services.Among them, services are fully utilized and realize their value through physical products, and physical products play the role of carrier of service sales.

The value and use value of catering products depend on the catering objects themselves, as well as on the services of chefs and waiters, because catering products are composed of tangible objects and intangible labor services.On the one hand, cooking skills and service skills must be realized through the sales of real food and beverages and the feelings of guests; on the other hand, the real food and beverage itself can only be better sold through superb cooking skills and excellent restaurant services.This is the starting point for us to understand the characteristics of hotel catering services.

([-]) Intangible characteristics of catering services

Although catering service is a hotel product with physical form, it is characterized by the intangibility of service.The simplest definition of service is "the act of completing a certain job or task for others", and the service itself is an intangible thing that cannot be seen or touched.Consumers cannot buy the service itself, but what they bring back is the effect of the service, the physical, psychological, and sensory effects and impacts of the service on consumers.For dining guests, he enjoys not only the color, aroma, taste, and shape of the food, but more importantly, the satisfaction and comfort generated by the atmosphere of the restaurant and the enthusiastic service of the waiters, all of which are the result of the service. .

The intangible feature of service is not difficult to understand. The main purpose of discussing this feature is to understand a series of problems that hotels face that do not exist in industrial and mining enterprises.

1. Difficulties in selling
Due to the intangible nature of the service, it is difficult to describe and display the service items of the hotel to the guests.Take the promotion of guest rooms as an example. The general advertising language is nothing more than spacious, comfortable, elegant and pleasant; the promotion of food and beverages is usually delicious, nutritious, clean and hygienic.But how comfortable the guest room is and whether the food and drink suits the taste can only be guessed by the guests.He may or may not believe that the situation is quite different from buying physical goods.

In fact, guests often rely on reputation when choosing a hotel or restaurant.Therefore, modern hotel management theory emphasizes that hotels must pay attention to brand building and establish a good public image and social reputation to attract guests. It is also based on this principle.

2. To promote hotel services, you cannot just emphasize the service itself
Operators of service enterprises should understand that due to the intangible nature of services, when promoting service items, they should emphasize the benefits that guests get after consuming the service, and it is not enough to just promote the service itself.It is better for the Guilin tourist car and boat company to promote the fun of swimming in the Li River than to directly publicize how luxurious its cruise ships are; for security service companies to instill in enterprises the importance of safety for owners and employees is better than to directly publicize the professional skills of their security personnel; if the hotel can Deliberately promoting the uniqueness and attractiveness of local tourism resources can undoubtedly attract guests more effectively than merely promoting the hotel itself.

3. Different from industrial products and technological inventions

Due to its intangible nature, services cannot apply for patent rights, at least so far, there is no precedent.Therefore, innovations in service work often have a very short life cycle, especially in a competitive situation, and will soon be imitated by competitors and lose their advantages. Such was the case with the competition between United Airlines, TWA and American Airlines in the United States in the 20s.At that time, the three companies were basically the same in terms of models and equipment levels, so the competition in terms of service items began.When one company creatively added an in-flight movie offering to attract passengers, two others soon followed suit, and two in a row; When it was increased to four, the other two companies immediately followed closely, and increased to six or even eight.In the past few years, the dispute over the Guangdong morning tea service in various hotels in Hangzhou is also quite revealing.Hangzhou Xinqiao Hotel took the lead in launching Guangdong morning tea, which attracted a large number of guests and opened up the first morning tea market in the history of Hangzhou hotel industry.However, the good times didn't last long. Within a few months, other hotels introduced "authentic Cantonese morning tea" one after another, which made Xinqiao lose its advantage.These examples show that in the service industry, project innovation is particularly important and difficult, because services have no patent rights and cannot prevent others from following suit.

([-]) Non-storage characteristics of catering services

A service that cannot be stored for later use is characterized by non-storage.There is a saying in the foreign service industry: the three most difficult things to save in the world are the seats on the plane, the guest rooms in the hotel, and the lawyer's time.The plane takes off and the seat is empty, and the room cannot be rented out after a day, and the lawyer waits for a day and no client comes to the door, then the vacant seat, room and time will lose the sales opportunity of this day forever.

The non-storage feature of hotel catering services is reflected in the fact that catering services cannot be preserved to meet future needs.Although the food raw materials needed by the hotel in the near future can be stored in the warehouse, the catering products needed for a week's business cannot be produced in one day in the kitchen.Likewise, the time wasted by waiters in a restaurant because they have nothing to do can't be saved until the next day.At the same time, because the reception capacity of the hotel restaurant is generally fixed for a certain period of time, but there is a constantly changing demand for guests, which makes it difficult for the kitchen and restaurant to cope with fluctuations in demand, especially when a large number of dining guests suddenly increase. It will inevitably bring a sense of oppression to the kitchen and dining room.Due to the non-storable characteristics of catering services, in order to avoid losses caused by insufficient guests or insufficient reception capacity, the hotel should take the initiative to take measures to make the demand of guests as close as possible to the current reception capacity of the hotel.

([-]) Differences in catering services

There are differences in catering services, because it relies on a lot of manual labor, lacks machine control, and the working attitudes and skills of employees vary from good to bad.The difference in service not only refers to the difference between the services of one hotel and another hotel, but also refers to the difference in the services provided by the same hotel, which is specifically manifested in the same employee at different times, on different occasions or for different employees. The same catering products produced by the subject or the same service provided are often of different levels and qualities.For example, if the electronic wine dispenser is not used to control the amount, the cocktails made by the bartenders will inevitably not have inconsistent quality; the restaurant waiters will inevitably be affected by physical and emotional changes during the entire service period, and it is difficult to provide the same from beginning to end. quality of service.Therefore, only by formulating strict quality standards, insisting on implementing quality standards, strengthening employee training and education, continuously improving, correcting service attitudes, and improving technical skills can hotel catering services be successful.

([-]) Simultaneity of production and sales of catering services

Simultaneity refers to the simultaneous or almost simultaneous occurrence of the production process and sales process of hotel catering services, that is, on-the-spot production and on-the-spot sales, direct contact between consumers and producers, and no product storage and transportation processes in between.The hotel industry has a characteristic different from industrial and mining enterprises, that is, its services cannot be transported to other places for sale.This feature determines that the scale of hotels and restaurants is bound to be restricted regionally, and the market scope is limited to a certain extent. Therefore, the scale of enterprise facilities and reception capacity must be determined according to the size of the target market.The characteristics of simultaneity also determine that the hotel must pay attention to both the sales environment and the production environment, because in most cases, the hotel restaurant is the production and sales place of the service.At the same time, the simultaneity of catering services creates opportunities for hotels to sell on the spot that industrial and mining companies do not have, allowing restaurant waiters to have the opportunity to directly introduce and recommend food and beverages to guests and promote sales.Of course, this requires restaurant waiters to have dual skills, namely service skills and sales skills.In fact, a competent restaurant waiter is good at serving and selling.

([-]) Variability of catering income

Generally speaking, since the price of hotel rooms and the number of rooms are usually fixed within a certain period of time, the maximum daily operating income of the rooms is also fixed accordingly.However, the highest operating income of catering services has become a variable due to the variability of restaurant seat turnover and per capita consumption of guests, which provides great possibilities and room for increasing catering income.In the modern hotel industry, when the level of guest rooms and other facilities and equipment are similar, an important means for hotels to compete with each other is catering services.

([-]) Dependence on other facilities of catering services

The purpose of hotel catering services is to attract guests and increase the room occupancy rate, but its own business volume depends to a large extent on the scale of hotel room facilities and room occupancy rate.Catering services depend to a large extent on other hotel facilities and equipment. Under normal circumstances, hotels with a large number of guest rooms, a high appearance rate, and complete public service facilities generally have a large restaurant business volume.

([-]) Complexity of catering services

The so-called art and science of management refers to vocational skills and professional skills.Vocational skills refer to the management theories and principles that managers should master, which are similar in all walks of life.Only when professional skills are combined with these theories and principles can managers engage in the management of a particular industry.

Catering management is a business activity involving the most professional skills and subject knowledge in hotels.Therefore, the manager of the catering department must not only master certain modern management theories, but also be proficient in cooking techniques and other disciplines related to food and beverage and its services, such as psychology, chemistry, physics, food hygiene, nutrition, etc.In fact, many basic principles of psychology are used in management.For example, how should managers stimulate the enthusiasm of employees, how to stimulate or change market demand, how does the status and grade of kitchen staff affect work efficiency, what is the different impact and effect on the psychology of guests waiting in line and waiting at the table, Psychological principles can be used to study the influence of restaurant layout, color tone, atmosphere, lighting, and sound on the situation when guests eat, and even the relationship between the size of the plate or the shape and size of the food and the acceptance of the food by the guests.There are generally not many problems related to food and beverages in catering services, and most of them are caused by poor service or improper decoration of restaurants, which cause psychological and emotional discomfort of guests.Experienced managers believe that the quality of the food served by a restaurant can be mediocre, but as long as it has excellent service and a pleasant environment, it can still attract a considerable number of guests.On the other hand, a restaurant with rude and unsatisfactory service and unsatisfactory ambience will never succeed.

(End of this chapter)