hotel management

Chapter 14 Catering Service and Practice (2)
Some principles of physics and chemistry are also used in food service.For example, the working principle of the kitchen dishwasher, the principle of the convection oven, can only be explained by the principles of physics.Another example is why the microwave oven heats food so quickly, and the baked food is cooked from the inside of the food; why chefs prefer to cook with gas rather than electric stove, although the heat emitted by both is equal.More broadly applicable are the principles of chemistry, which are even more fascinating.Why do vegetables change color when cooked, and how to keep their original color; why some meat is easy to boil, but some never boil so you must resort to other methods; why potatoes are easy to burn when fried in cold storage When corn is fresh, it tastes sweet, but it loses its sweetness after a few hours. How to prevent milk from easily agglomerating when encountering acidic food; why the fried food is particularly greasy when the temperature of the oil pan is not high, etc. Although these are very common problems, but to understand the truth, you need to learn some knowledge of organic chemistry.

Nutrition and food hygiene must not be overlooked.Both managers and employees must master the knowledge of common pathogenic bacteria, understand the temperature, humidity and time requirements of food storage, in order to control the reproduction and growth of microorganisms and bacteria in food raw materials, and must also know what food poisoning is and be able to identify Symptoms of various poisonings and how to prevent and how to deal with them.

Managers should also master the basic classification of nutrients and their effects on the human body, and understand the normal intake of people of different ages and genders.Knowing this will help you formulate menus scientifically and provide a more nutritious diet.Eating well does not always mean scientific diet. It is undoubtedly the bounden duty of the catering industry to provide guests with nutritious and scientifically matched meals.Nutrition is particularly important to restaurant catering departments.Many guests have their own special dietary requirements and taboo habits, and strictly regulate the intake of various nutrients. This requires the restaurant kitchen to choose ingredients according to different needs, and strive to achieve a balance of various nutrients.

The second (section) management content of catering services
The purpose of hotel catering service management is to implement the catering service management policies and plans formulated by the hotel, to meet the various needs of guests for catering services, to obtain profits, and to stimulate employees' interest in work.Specifically include the following points.

[-]. Grasp the market demand and formulate the menu reasonably
In order to meet the various needs of guests for catering services, the hotel must first understand the consumption characteristics of the guests in the target market of the store, grasp the guests' catering requirements and habits, as well as the catering market development trends such as catering fashion and taste changes, and based on this The menu caters to the tastes of the majority of guests, and serves as the basis and guide for determining the type and specification of restaurants, catering content and characteristics, purchasing equipment, and manning.

[-]. Develop new varieties of catering and create operating characteristics

In order for hotel catering services to have the ability to attract guests and compete with other hotels and local restaurants, the most important thing is to have their own characteristics.For a hotel with no special catering service, nearby or even far away hotels and restaurants can easily attract its guests.In fact, the unique flavor or unique atmosphere of the hotel's flavor restaurant or theme restaurant is an important reason for attracting tourists.Therefore, hotels and catering should strive to tap the potential, actively inherit the tradition, research and develop new varieties and new projects, and form a school of their own so as to form their own operating characteristics.

[-]. Strengthen catering sales and increase operating income

An important part of hotel marketing is food and beverage merchandising.Under the guidance of the hotel's marketing plan, the catering department should study the needs of guests, select sales targets, formulate external and internal sales plans, carry out promotional activities, actively attract various banquets, and do a good job in the publicity of (festival) holidays and delicacies (festivals) Promote to win more guests and increase average guest spend.

[-]. Reasonably organize manpower and improve labor production efficiency
In order to rationally organize manpower, reduce labor costs, improve efficiency, and increase profitability, the catering department should do a good job of forecasting business volume, and make kitchen production plans and restaurant reception plans based on this, and rationally organize manpower and arrange staff work shifts according to the labor quota index .

[-]. Maintain and continuously improve food quality and service quality

The key to the success or failure of hotel catering department management is food quality and service quality.The catering department should focus on the post responsibility system, establish corresponding rules and regulations, formulate operating procedures and quality standards for each post, and strictly inspect the system.The warehouse should do a good job in the quality inspection of raw materials in the process of purchasing, acceptance, storage, and distribution to ensure that the raw materials meet the requirements of food processing and cooking; the kitchen should do a good job in the quality inspection of raw materials for rough processing, fine processing and cooking, and urge chefs to strictly follow the recipe requirements Operations, and strive to improve processing and cooking techniques to continuously improve food quality; restaurant services must insist on operating in accordance with service procedures, continuously improve service details (sections), and improve the peripheral quality of catering products.

[-]. Control catering costs and increase profits
Catering cost control is a necessary measure to reduce food costs and increase corporate profits, and is an important part of catering service management.A series of business links (sections) involve cost control. The hotel should determine a reasonable food sales price according to the established standard cost rate; control the purchase price of food raw materials; strengthen the management of raw material acceptance, storage, and distribution to avoid loss and waste of raw materials; pay attention to raw materials Rough processing is closed, and the loss rate of raw material processing is controlled; the kitchen must operate strictly according to the standard recipe requirements, and do a good job of cost accounting and cost analysis, so as to ensure that the quality and quantity of food meet the standards. Increase profits.

[-]. Ensure food hygiene and food safety
To improve the quality of hotel catering services, catering hygiene and safety are two important indicators.Hotel catering facilities are public places serving the majority of guests and bear considerable social responsibilities. Therefore, whether catering hygiene and safety meet the standards can directly affect the reputation and economic interests of the hotel.Therefore, food hygiene and food safety management must be strengthened, and preventive measures must be strengthened to ensure that food hygiene, environmental hygiene and personal hygiene of employees all meet the standard requirements, so as to prevent food contamination, food poisoning and other accidents.

[-]. Organize employee training to improve industry quality and technical level

The catering department should formulate employee development plans and training plans according to the specific conditions of the department, cooperate with the personnel department to educate employees on ideology, politics, professional ethics, and scientific culture, and carry out targeted technical training to continuously improve the industry quality of employees and business level, forming a stable and well-trained workforce.If the service quality level of the hotel is unstable, the hotel can strengthen the training of employees, which is an effective way.

The third (section) job responsibilities and organizational methods of the catering department
[-]. Responsibilities of the catering department

([-]) Responsibilities of the Catering Manager

(1) Under the leadership of the general manager, implement the hotel's business policy and various rules and regulations, formulate departmental work systems and service procedures in light of the actual situation of the department, and supervise the implementation of procurement, kitchens, warehouses and restaurants.Responsible for the completion of the department's business organization, product, service quality and various economic indicators.

(2) Formulate annual and monthly business plans of the department, lead all employees to actively complete various reception tasks and business indicators, analyze and report annual and monthly business conditions.

(3) Participate in hotel department manager coordination work meetings and special analysis meetings, preside over regular department meetings, budget meetings, cost control meetings, and temporary meetings, convey instructions from superiors, listen to foreman reports, and arrange department work.

(4) Check the work of the management personnel and the service quality of the restaurant, do a good job in safety and sanitation, organize and check the hygiene evaluation of individuals, environment, operation, etc., implement the food hygiene system, carry out regular safety protection and fire prevention education, and ensure the safety of the restaurant. , kitchen safety.

(5) Familiar with and understand the hotel's target market and the needs of guests, and develop and provide catering products and services that can meet their needs in a targeted manner.

(6) Regularly analyze the menu with the head chef, collect and feedback customers' reflections and requirements on the menu variety and dish quality, adjust the menu variety, and continuously introduce special dishes and drinks to ensure that the menu and product sales adapt to changes in market demand.

(7) Supervise the head chef to carry out scientific management of the kitchen production, so that the kitchen organization is sound, the layout is reasonable, the quality of the dishes is guaranteed, the waste in production is reduced, and the enthusiasm of the kitchen staff is mobilized.

(8) Strengthen the daily management of the restaurant, personally supervise, receive VIP guests, ensure the provision of high-quality services, and cultivate the supervision level of restaurant managers; timely and properly handle customer complaints, and correctly guide the service staff of the department to continuously improve service quality.

(9) Control the standards and specification requirements of food and beverages, correctly grasp the gross profit rate, do a good job in cost accounting, strengthen the management of food raw materials and articles, reduce costs, and increase profits.

(10) Do a good job in the maintenance of equipment and facilities to keep them in good condition and be used reasonably, strengthen daily management, and prevent accidents.

(11) Expand catering sales channels, increase catering sales, and constantly formulate new catering promotion plans to meet the needs of market conditions in different periods, such as special foods (festivals), seasonal dishes and flavor foods, etc.

(12) Give full play to the enthusiasm of all employees, supervise the implementation of the department's training plan, adopt effective incentives, do a good job in the construction of the workforce, and be familiar with and master the employees' ideological status, work performance and business level.

([-]) Responsibilities of the Head Chef

(1) Fully responsible for the organization and leadership of the kitchen, formulating a set of kitchen management systems, organizing work procedures, drawing up the staffing of each kitchen, proposing candidates for each kitchen foreman, and supervising the implementation of each kitchen foreman.

(2) Cooperate with the restaurant management personnel, according to the budget and grade of each restaurant, study and determine the gross profit rate standards of snacks, banquets, teams, etc., prepare cost accounting, and supervise the implementation of each kitchen after approval by the manager of the catering department.

(3) Responsible for formulating menus for banquets and VIPs, and reviewing the menus formulated by each kitchen to ensure that the menu formulation and pricing are compatible with the restaurant's market positioning, and the menus of each restaurant should be adjusted according to changes in market demand.

(4) Responsible for issuing raw material purchase and delivery orders, supervising each kitchen to do a daily inspection of fresh raw materials, and correcting problems in a timely manner.

(5) Each kitchen should be inspected every day to supervise the staff to operate according to the work procedures, do a good job in raw material processing, product cooking, find problems, and put forward improvement measures in time.

(6) Do a good job in the organization of important banquets, important guests, food (festivals), and gourmet (festivals) in person, and cook the main products in person when necessary, to ensure product quality and improve the reputation of the hotel.

(7) Check the consumption of kitchen raw materials, analyze cost consumption, do a good job in cost control, and ensure the smooth completion of gross profit targets.

(8) Formulate training plans, carry out regular technical training for chefs, do a good job in kitchen staff assessment, and implement rewards and punishments.

(9) Daily inspections of kitchen and food processing hygiene, implementation of the "Food Hygiene Law", good food hygiene, to prevent food poisoning and diseases from entering the mouth.

(10) Listen to the opinions of the guests and understand the quality and sales of kitchen dishes.Regularly arrange personnel to inspect the outside world, learn from the directors, draw inferences from one instance, and launch special dishes.

([-]) Responsibilities of the restaurant manager
Restaurant managers have settings in both large restaurants and hotels.A restaurant manager needs to be versatile.He must be an excellent technician, familiar with the whole process of restaurant service and various service details (details); he must be a competent supervisor, good at training, directing employees, and mobilizing their work enthusiasm; The ability of the guests is good at selling to increase the sales revenue of the restaurant; he must be a shrewd manager who can organize the work of the department, arrange production, and have the ability to control the quality and cost of catering.

The restaurant manager must cooperate closely with the head chef and the banquet manager, and must also exchange information with other hotel departments such as the general service desk, procurement, finance, engineering and other departments in a timely manner in order to grasp the overall situation, and the entire restaurant business work arrangement must be orderly.Although a competent restaurant manager does not have to do everything personally, he must still have superb service skills, including various forms of restaurant services. He must be good at planning, flexible, and have considerable experience in forecasting, forecasting, and management of the entire restaurant. ability.As to food, drink, wine, and cooking, he should try to be all-knowledgeable, and be able to answer all possible questions.Of course, restaurant managers should be able to flexibly handle various disputes and guest opinions.The basic duties of a restaurant manager are as follows.

(1) Under the leadership of the manager of the catering department, be responsible for the daily operation and management of all restaurants.

(2) Organize and supervise the service reception work, closely contact the foremen of each restaurant, and reasonably arrange the work positions of the waiters according to their technical expertise and business standards.

(3) Develop a good customer relationship, meet the special needs of the guests, actively listen to the complaints of the guests, keep in close contact with the restaurant, and continuously improve the service skills and quality.

(4) Familiar with and grasp the daily operating and sales status of each restaurant, and check the service and reception of various large-scale banquets and important guests.

(5) Control the cost of low-value consumables and singing and dancing performances in each restaurant, and use all kinds of raw materials reasonably to reduce waste and make the best use of them.

(6) In order to ensure work efficiency and work quality, regular inspections should be conducted in each restaurant to check the specific implementation of various tasks and systems.

(7) Responsible for the training and performance evaluation of subordinates, ensuring that the working attitude and ability of subordinates meet the requirements of the post, and implementing rewards and punishments in accordance with the reward and punishment system.

(8) Keep in close contact with the head chef, put forward relevant food sales suggestions, and timely feedback the needs of customers to the head chef, so as to provide a basis for the purchase of food raw materials and the preparation of dishes in the kitchen.

(9) Responsible for the sanitation work of the restaurant equipment, supervise and guide subordinates to correctly grasp the knowledge of safety and sanitation, carry out safety education frequently, implement the food sanitation system, and ensure the integrity of the equipment and the cleanliness of the environment.

(10) Participate in the regular work meeting of the catering department and complete the tasks temporarily assigned by the manager of the catering department.

([-]) Responsibilities of restaurant foreman
Restaurant service is usually carried out by area, and the business work in each area is managed by a foreman.Depending on the size of the restaurant, the scope of duties of the foreman varies.In some restaurants, the foreman must participate in the actual catering service, but in other restaurants, the foreman is only responsible for the organization, inspection, supervision and coordination in the area, and the waiters undertake most of the specific catering services.The duties of a restaurant foreman are as follows.

(1) Organize regular meetings of the team, check the dress, appearance and personal hygiene of the waiters, ensure that they meet the standardized requirements before going to work, report the reservation situation and convey the assignment tasks to the team according to the service needs.

(2) Coordinate and communicate the work of restaurants and kitchens, and master the daily supply situation.

(3) Maintain, maintain and clean the equipment in the service area.

(4) Lead and direct the waiters to complete various preparatory work before the meal, such as the table arrangement, the positioning of the table and chairs, the hygiene and cleanliness of the restaurant, the normal operation of various facilities, and check the status of the food in the counter after the meal is received.

(5) Supervise the staff during the meal opening time to provide high-quality and efficient catering services for the guests. The work procedures and standards of each post must be strictly implemented, pay attention to the dining situation of the guests, and meet the requirements of the guests. In case of important guests Or when there is not enough manpower, you must serve in person to ensure the quality of service.

(6) Handle or report guest opinions and complaints, and prepare guest reception files.

(7) Regularly evaluate the performance of the team members, put forward reward and punishment suggestions to the restaurant manager, and be responsible for the organization and implementation of training for the team members.

(8) Do a good job in restaurant sales service statistics and shift work.

(9) Reasonably arrange the shifts of employees to ensure the smooth completion of the reception work.

(10) Complete other tasks assigned by the restaurant manager.

([-]) Responsibilities of restaurant waiters

Depending on the level and type of the restaurant, the specific job content of the waiter is also different.Under normal circumstances, the duty of the waiter is to prepare the dining table and dining table under the leadership of the foreman, arrange the tables and chairs, arrange the countertops, and arrange the tableware according to the standards; Responsible, usually with the cooperation of two waiters, responsible for contracting out the service for several tables. One waiter acts as an assistant, responsible for sending and picking up menus, picking up food and wine, and changing tableware. The other waiter always stays in the service area to take care of the dining guests.

(1) Obey the arrangement of the foreman, and do all the preparations before the meal in accordance with the work procedures and standards.

(2) Serve the guests in strict accordance with the work procedures and standards, always consider the guests, and try to serve the guests before the guests speak.

(3) Familiar with the menu and wine list, actively sell to the guests, and fill in the guest's menu and wine list according to the specifications.

(4) Do a good job in cleaning and maintaining the facilities and equipment in the area you are responsible for, and ensure that the dining environment is elegant and clean.

(5) Reflect the questions and complaints raised by the guests to the foreman in a timely manner, and try to help the guests solve the problems.

(6) After the end of the shift, do a good job of finishing work and handover with the next shift.

(7) Quickly replenish tableware and countertop supplies to ensure cleanliness and sanitation after meals.

(8) Do a good job of supplementary replacement of tableware, cloth and miscellaneous items.

(9) Actively participate in training and continuously improve service skills and skills.

(10) Complete other tasks assigned by the foreman.

[-]. The organization of the catering department

Regardless of the size of the hotel, its catering services are generally composed of three major parts: food raw material procurement and supply, kitchen processing and cooking, and restaurant and bar services. Usually, there are raw material procurement and supply department, kitchen, restaurant, bar, and catering department (or management department). and other business departments.Large and medium-sized hotel catering service organizational structure.

1. Raw material procurement and supply department

(End of this chapter)