Foods For Thought - Is Your Meals And Beverage Procedureprocess Being Dealt With Properly?

I eat food. I drink beverages.

For that reason, I am qualified to supervise a Food and Drink operation.

In assessing the operations of numerous clubs/resorts every month, I find that one of the most poorly run, inconsistent areas of club/resort operations is Food and Drink. Specifically in member owned environments, which are typically supervised by a club board, individuals seem to think that since they eat in restaurants, they in some way have some level of competence that allows them to make company choices about this crucial element of the club. The reality is that this is one of the most complex departments in a club to handle, control, and produce a consistent experience.

Let's ask a few questions!

Is your Food and Drink experience proper for what your members/guests wish to have in your club/resort? Are you priced appropriately, too high, or too low? How do you understand? Are you tracking cover counts by day? By shift? By hour?

Are your food selections stuck in the past, a great balance of old favorites and brand-new choices, or edgy? Is your menu developed for function or style? Do you change your menu quarterly, or a minimum of semi-annually to keep it fresh? Or is it altered every year or two and become a club dinosaur? What are your item requirements and part sizes? Is every product on your menu costed? What is your objective for a la carte food expense? Do you know the contribution margin on every item on your menu?

What about your unique occasions. Are they really special? Do they create a buzz in the Club? Are they eagerly expected or the exact same thing that was done the last 10 years with absolutely nothing more than the year altered in the newsletter and marketing piece promoting the occasion? Is your personnel challenged every quarter to attempt brand-new events? Brand-new rate points?

Got Worth?

What about worth included programming? It's happening every day in the hospitality market. Chili's, Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, Flemings, Cody's Roadhouse, McDonalds, Quiznos, Subway, and many other national franchises are actively setting to keep people being available in. Any question the success rate of franchises is over 90% while the success rate of separately owned dining establishments is about 10%?

What are you performing in your club to create a "WOW" for your members/guests in your Food and Beverage offerings? Are you standing pat on your $32 filet and $28 sea bass questioning why you are doing so few covers? Or, are you trying brand-new concepts that may supply "meal replacement" dining rather of only "unique occasion" dining?

Something as basic as Delighted Hour can generate extra usage. Comfort food such as meatloaf, chicken pot pie, lasagna, or similar for" at $8 or $9 throughout the week are popular. Taco bars, pasta bars, burger night, half cost on bottles of home wine, Fresh Fish Fridays or a Friday Fish Fry, a Chef's selection at a special cost on slower evenings, sushi nights, appetisers at a special price, entertainment, and numerous other ideas and occasions drive usage, supply incremental profits, and keep the personnel working. Are you try out new events in your club/resort? Provide it a shot. You'll be surprised at the buzz it produces.

The Experience

How is your dining room provided? With white table linens? No tablecloths? Placemats? Are you charging properly for the experience look these up you are supplying?

How are your buffets provided? Elegantly with skirting, flower display screens, and glossy silver chafing meals? Or fundamental with little or no frills? Does it make good sense?

Do you have standards of operation to make sure the food and beverage experience for your members/guests? Is every employee wearing a tidy and pushed designated uniform? Is there a specific manner to present menus, serve, food, cocktails, and wine? Are members called by name? Are specific steps of service in location?

Does the service staff understand the composition of every item, sauce, and portion size from the menu? Is training offered at least regular monthly? Is your personnel offering suggestively?

The Technical Aspects

How often do you take a physical inventory? Is there "independence" in the stock procedure to guarantee that the counts are accurate? Is stock prices changed frequently to show the most recent expense the club is paying for all inventoried items or is the cost the club paid last year still being used to determine inventory worth?

Do you follow this mantra when receiving and inventorying items?

If you buy it by the pound, weigh it. If you purchase it by the piece, count it. If you purchase it by ounce or length, determine it? Under no circumstances, accept it blindly.

I am astonished at how often shipments are accepted and signed for without even physically being in the same room as the products that were delivered let alone inspecting the packaging slip or invoice versus the products received. Delivery people end up being savvy really rapidly to those who hold them accountable and those who don't. A couple of pounds of missing steak here or a couple of bottles of missing liquor there costs a great deal of cash over a prolonged amount of time.

Just how much unusable food is stored in the freezer, typically a chef's buddy, and continues to be counted monthly throughout inventory yet is essentially worth little or nothing?

What does the organizational structure look like in your club's F&B operation? How are your managers compensated? Are they incented to produce a particular financial result, train the personnel, and preserve requirements? Or are they paid simply for showing up?

How is your service staff paid? By per hour wage? Pointer swimming pool? Some mix of both? Does your pay structure promote period or turnover? What about overtime? Are you paying overtime? Lawfully?

In addition to costing every product on every menu, have you done the same for liquor, beer, and white wine? Do you have specified put sizes? Are they being stuck to? Do you have pourers which permit just for the pour size for which you are charging? Just how much of your club's resort's money is tied up in red wine inventory? Have you recognized par stocks?

Do you have a Food and Beverage minimum? Does it make sense for your club? Do you have a minimum regular monthly service charge? Should you?

Do you provide a worker meal? How is it accounted for? Is it represented at all? Do you permit staff members to eliminate food/beverage from the club? (A bad concept!). Do you allow your staff members to take in alcohols at the end of a shift? (An even worse concept!!).

Private Events

What about your Private Events? Is your catering menu priced right? What does priced best mean? Have you examined the competitive environment? What are you doing to bring wedding events and meetings to the club/resort? Are you covering the expenses of establishing and breaking down every space based upon the varying needs of each occasion?

Do your personal occasion policies make sense? When is the "guarantee' due? When is payment in full needed? Do you need a signed contract? Do you even have a contract that you require be signed?

A Solution

Lots of questions! Get a management business that will work collaboratively with you to respond to all of these and any others and develop a customized food and drink experience that reflects your distinct situation and offers what your members/guests want and want to spend for.