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Food & Beverage Operations
Chapter 1:
Food Service Industry:
Commercial Operations
Commercial food service operations
• Maximize profits through sales
• e.g. free-standing restraunts, food service in lodging properties etc.
Free-standing eating and drinking places
Independent, chain or franchise properties
Restraunts Include:
- white-tablecloth (high-check-average)
- casual-dining
- family-service
- quick services
Note:
California Style
Menu: breakfast,
lunch and dinner
items served all times
of day.
Most white-tablecloth
and many casual
diners serve alcohol.
Family-service:
comfort foods in
relaxed setting –
usually without
service of alcohol.
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Lodging Food Service Facilities:
LFSF: Range from small B&B to large hotels, resorts and conference centres.
• Food service facilities available:
- À la carte dining in coffee shops, family restraunts, speciality restraunts
and gourmet rooms.
- Room service available.
- Banquet services provided.
Historically: hotels were classified into 2 categories:
• Full-service properties: offered food and beverage services.
• Limited-service properties: didn’t offer food and beverage services.
- Today, limited-service properties can offer complimentary breakfast
services. (AKA Lobby food service)
- Guests can purchase food and beverages from bars and take to their
rooms.
- Room service available.
- Food and Beverage establishments have expanded to out of house
guests as well – this creates competition with surrounding food service
operators.
- Easier to reach financial goals ^
Other commercial facilities: public cafeterias – similar to full-menu restraunt - , bars,
taverns, ice-cream and frozen yoghurt stands and caterers.
“Cook-and-Go”: business that make ingredients and cooking equipment available for
popular recipes.
• Customers can prepare their own meals and eat at home.
Non-commercial food service operations:
• Proving food and beverage is not the primary aim.
• Seeking minimal expenses.
• Aim to provide nutritious meals.
• Often have trained dietitians.
• Can be offered by a for-profit contract management company or a non-
commercial organization itself.
Examples of facilities:
• Business/industry organizations (vended services in manufacturing plants,
gourmet dining facilities in executive dining rooms of large companies).
• Healthcare.
• Educational Institutions. (subsidized participation in: NSLP)
• Private Clubs (can be member-owned and governed by board of directors or
individually or by corporation owned as a nonequity club.
- Services provided to members who pay initiation fee/monthly charges,
membership fees.
• Leisure and Recreation Operations (amusement and theme parks).
• Transportation Companies. (Food services offered in terminals)
• Military restraunts. (cafeterias, dining rooms, retail sale outlets etc.).
• Other Organizations. (prisons, religious groups, athletic facilities, casinos, cruise
lines.
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Food Service Origins:
Hotel Restraunts:
• Roman Catholic Church (hospice, type of inn + monasteries for travellers)
• English Inns (inns/ale houses or private homes, rented rooms for travellers - by
foot, ferry crossings, many locations etc.)
• American Inns (simple, plentiful food, beer and rum served. Tavern (Cole’s
Ordinary – 1634 by Samuel Cole)
• Hotels in 20th Century (large hotels in large US cities)
Free-standing Restraunts:
• 17th century England (coffee house)
• 18th century France (restraunts like today)
• 19th century US (first restraunt – Delmonico’s – high cuisine at high prices)
• 20th century US chain restraunt (Operators: 1) Fred Harvey- car dining, large
hotels, railway restraunts & 2) John R. Thompson – self-service restraunts)
Quick-Service Franchise Operations:
20th Century (quick-service AKA fast-food franchise operations by Howard Johnson’s
franchising of his A&W Restraunts’ units)
Food Service in Non-commercial Facilities:
Businesses:
• Robert Owen (Scottish) = the father of industrial catering.
• Appalled by exploitation in British textile industry
• Establishment of ‘large eating room’ to improve working conditions
• Companies later provided food service for employees
Result:
• World War 1 – increase in providing of food made workers keep working and
happy as workers were scarce during this time.
• Cafeteria’s became popular as lots of workers could be fed at once, served
quickly, selection of food according to choice and price preference and few
workers were needed to run it.
• World War 2 – increase again of businesses providing food. One third of
industrial workers were being fed on the job.
• World War 2 introduced the ‘coffee break’ – now a business standard.
• Small establishments starting food service programs to improve employee morale
and productivity.
• Nutrition is a focus – menu alternatives/ educate employees on health.
Hospitals:
• Therapeutic diet – restore patient’s health
• Florence Nightingale (English Nurse) – Start of hospital organization - first
administrator and dietician.
• Menus for patients – mostly under dietician guidance.
• Cash cafeterias for employees and visitors.
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Schools:
• Initially universities and boarding students would provide for themselves.
• Later, dining halls were created
• Formal evening meal served
• Federal Support programs have continued and expanded still today.
• Today, residence halls, student unions, lunchrooms.
Organization of Commercial Operations:
Independent Operation:
• owned by an owner or owners
• 1+ properties with no chain relationship (AKA ‘mom and pop’
• Menu may not be identical
• Food specifications may differ
• Operating procedures may vary
• Land, facilities, equipment may be leased.
• Minimal start-up inventory needed can be purchased on a few weeks’ credit.
• Even with chain restraunts and franchises surrounding, independent operators
still have space to operate.
Chain Restraunts:
• Part of a multi-unit organization
• Same/standardized:
- Menu
- purchase suppliers
- equipment
- operating procedures
• Owned by parent company, franchise company or private owner/owners
• Advantages:
- Acquire cash, credit, long-term leases on land and buildings
- Can afford to make more mistakes
- Therefore, experiment with menus, themes, designs and operating
procedures.
- Personnel advantage: staff specialists – experts in finance, construction,
laws, operations and recipe development.
- Control perspective: can generate internal financial information
- Collect restraunt information in geographic area – to set revenue and cost
goals and to identify problems in specific properties.
• Disadvantages:
- Hard to stay updated with changing markets and economic conditions
- Chain expansion: Large amount of paperwork, rules, procedures
- Therefore, slowing down running of business.
- Top management may lose motivation to keep up
