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I eat food. I drink beverages.
For that reason, I am certified to supervise a Food and Drink operation.
In assessing the operations of lots of clubs/resorts each month, I discover that a person of the most improperly run, inconsistent areas of club/resort operations is Food and Drink. Particularly in member owned environments, which are frequently supervised by a club board, people appear to think that since they dine out, they somehow have some level of competence that allows them to make organization decisions about this important element of the club. The truth is that this is among the most complicated departments in a club to manage, control, and produce a constant experience.
Let's ask a few questions!
Is your Food and Drink experience appropriate for what your members/guests wish to have in your club/resort? Are you priced appropriately, too expensive, or too low? How do you understand? Are you tracking cover counts by day? By shift? By hour?
Are your food selections stuck in yesteryear, a good balance of old favorites and new selections, 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 changed every year or 2 and end up being a club dinosaur? What are your product 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 product on your menu?
What about your unique events. Are they actually special? Do they create a buzz in the Club? Are they excitedly expected or the same thing that was done the last ten years with nothing more than the year changed in the newsletter and promotional piece touting the occasion? Is your personnel challenged every quarter to attempt new events? Brand-new price points?
Got Value?
What about worth included programs? It's taking place every day in the hospitality industry. Chili's, Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, Flemings, Cody's Roadhouse, McDonalds, Quiznos, Subway, and numerous other nationwide franchises are actively setting to keep people coming in. Any wonder the success rate of franchises is look at this over 90% while the success rate of separately owned dining establishments is about 10%?
What are you carrying out 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 couple of covers? Or, are you attempting new ideas that may supply "meal replacement" dining rather of just "unique celebration" dining?
Something as basic as Delighted Hour can create extra usage. Home cooking such as meatloaf, chicken pot pie, lasagna, or similar for" at $8 or $9 during the week are popular. Taco bars, pasta bars, burger night, half rate on bottles of house wine, Fresh Fish Fridays or a Friday Fish Fry, a Chef's choice at an unique rate on slower evenings, sushi nights, appetisers at an unique price, home entertainment, and many other principles and events drive usage, provide incremental income, and keep the staff working. Are you experimenting with brand-new events in your club/resort? Offer it a shot. You'll be amazed at the buzz it develops.
The Experience
How is your dining room presented? With white tablecloths? No tablecloths? Placemats? Are you charging properly for the experience you are offering?
How are your buffets provided? Elegantly with skirting, floral display screens, and shiny silver chafing dishes? Or simple with little or no frills? Does it make sense?
Do you have standards of operation to guarantee the food and drink experience for your members/guests? Is every team member using a clean and pushed designated uniform? Exists a particular way to present menus, serve, food, mixed drinks, and wine? Are members called by name? Are specific actions of service in place?
Does the service personnel know the composition of every item, sauce, and part size from the menu? Is training supplied a minimum of regular monthly? Is your personnel offering suggestively?
The Technical Aspects
How typically do you take a physical stock? Is there "self-reliance" in the inventory procedure to make sure that the counts are precise? Is inventory rates adjusted frequently to reflect the most recent cost the club is spending for all inventoried items or is the cost the club paid in 2015 still being utilized to determine stock worth?
Do you follow this mantra when receiving and inventorying items?
If you purchase it by the pound, weigh it. If you buy it by the piece, count it. If you purchase it by ounce or length, determine it? Under no situations, accept it blindly.
I am surprised at how often deliveries are accepted and signed for without even physically remaining in the very same space as the items that were delivered not to mention checking the packaging slip or invoice against the items got. Shipment individuals end up being savvy really rapidly to those who hold them responsible and those who do not. A couple of pounds of missing out on steak here or a few bottles of missing out on liquor there costs a lot of money over an extended amount of time.
Just how much unusable food is stored in the freezer, often a chef's best friend, and continues to be counted on a monthly basis during inventory yet is basically worth little or nothing?
What does the organizational structure look like in your club's F&B operation? How are your supervisors compensated? Are they incented to produce a particular monetary outcome, train the staff, and keep standards? Or are they paid merely for revealing up?
How is your service staff paid? By per hour wage? Pointer swimming pool? Some combination of both? Does your pay structure promote tenure or turnover? What about overtime? Are you paying overtime? Legally?
In addition to costing every item on every menu, have you done the exact same for liquor, beer, and red wine? Do you have defined pour sizes? Are they being abided by? Do you have pourers which allow only for the put size for which you are charging? Just how much of your club's resort's money is tied up in red wine stock? Have you established par stocks?
Do you have a Food and Drink minimum? Does it make good sense for your club? Do you have a minimum monthly service charge? Should you?
Do you provide a staff member meal? How is it represented? Is it represented at all? Do you permit employees to get rid of food/beverage from the club? (A bad idea!). Do you permit your staff members to take in alcoholic beverages at the end of a shift? (An even worse idea!!).
Personal Events
What about your Personal Occasions? Is your catering menu priced right? What does priced best mean? Have you assessed the competitive environment? What are you doing to bring weddings and conferences to the club/resort? Are you covering the expenses of setting up and breaking down every space based on the varying requirements of each event?
Do your personal occasion policies make sense? When is the "guarantee' due? When is payment in full required? Do you need a signed contract? Do you even have an agreement that you require be signed?
An Option
Great deals of concerns! Get a management business that will work collaboratively with you to answer all of these and any others and produce a customized food and beverage experience that shows your distinct situation and provides what your members/guests desire and are willing to spend for.
