Introduction

This assignment is based on the food and beverage operations systems in tour operations management. Assignment 1 would be based on the food and beverage operations systems and the cost implications. It has further two tasks. Assignment 2 would comprise of planning and implementing a hospital event and this too has further two tasks in it.

Task 1 – Food and Beverage Operations Systems and Cost Implications

1. Characteristics of a range of food production systems and the various food and beverage service system.

The food production system comprises of centralized, traditional, cook-freeze, cook-chill and sous vide. They differ in the range of the room operations carried out in them. These operations comprise of layout of the kitchen, cooking methods and the various equipment used in them.

Almost all the food and beverage service system comprise of the following steps: Purchasing, Receiving, Storing, issuing, preparing, cooking, serving and finally consuming.

Characteristics of Food and Beverage Service System are:

• It is an important part of our life in everyday activities – Food is an item that is consumed by everybody every day.
• It has been a great contributor to the economy of the nation – Food sector helps in adding the income to the national treasure by giving its contribution to the economy.
• It has a complex and fragmented structure – There are a lot of hotels, restaurants, types of food, costing and the structure of the people involved in them.
• It helps in the creation of the employment – Food and Beverage sector creates employment for a lot of people (Okeiyi et al, 1994).
• It helps in the encouragement of entrepreneurship – There are various people who after completing their food and beverage diplomas join their own entrepreneurial activities of either opening a restaurant or a hotel.

2. Factors affecting the choice of menu and recipes for specific production and service systems, including the consideration of cost and staffing using the selected alternatives.

There are various factors that affect the choice of the menu and the recipes for specific production and service systems, including the consideration of cost and staffing using the selected alternatives are:

• Culture and ethnicity – The people are very much influenced by their ethnicity and the culture. They prefer to eat regular food as per their own culture and traditions. For example the people from Italy would prefer food of Italian Origin whereas the people from China would prefer Chinese Food only. The people have actually developed an interest in the kind of their foods that their cultures and traditions have taught them.
• Convenience and easy availability – When the people are hungry they may take up any kind of food irrespective of its type and make up. They look for easy availability and convenience in delivery. It is important that convenience of the availability of the food is also determined in the easy format.
• Facilities operations like take away and home meals – When the people get the option whereby they can easily get the food through take away and the home delivery options then they would prefer that menu. This saves the time of an individual in getting the material from outside.
• Health and Safety – Few people are very stringent on the health and safety of the food. They look for options that are inculcating the health and safety among the individuals.
• Taste and company – Based on the interest, preferences, tastes and company in which they survive affect their selection of the choice of food menu from the choices available.
• Quality of food and the size of the operation of the outlet – Few people prefer eating at the places where there exists quality and even the size of the outlet is large enough to go with their families.
• Availability of resources – Based on the transportation system and the distance and the cost in the sitting in that restaurant, the decision and choice of the restaurant operations is being done.
• Menu and its nature – The menu should be diverse and should have many options available in it.
• Needs and requirements of the various people.
• Type of place and its liveliness where the food is available – Few people for entertainment go for movies and along with that eat food at nearby places (Barrows & Bosselman, 1999).

Read More : Tour Operations Management in Travel and Tourism

3. Suitability of the selected food production systems and food and beverage service systems

The choice made is for the buffet kind of food and beverage services. This is a kind of service that is said to be other form of a self-service. Here the food is displayed on the tables very attractively. It has a perfect combination of the cold and hot beverages as well as the food. This kind of food and beverage system is very much suitable for the events, programs, conferences, seminars, and the promotional situations. It has a system of fixed pricing for it that consumers have to pay and in that fixed price they can take unlimited food and beverage for consumption. This kind of a service is suitable for the people with the large numbers and where the menu has to have varieties. The advantages for this kind of a system are: the availability of great choice, lesser skills to be required for this service and large number of people could be fed at once. The demerits of this system are: effective presentation of food and the queuing of the people.

4. Brief analysis of the issues and the processes of purchasing for a specific food and beverage operations.

Purchasing could be defined as the searching, selecting, storing, receiving and finally the use of the various commodities. These are as per the policy of catering for a company. The person involved in this activity will not only be accountable for purchasing of the specific food and beverages but also all other functions and activities linked with them. The processes involved are keeping an account of the inventory management as well as making the correct investment. Other processes are:

• Requisition of supplies, tools and equipment – This is a complete process in itself as involved the selection of the vendor and then negotiating with him on the orders being placed and the supplies at a specified costing.
• Checking the right purchase specifications for the inventory and various products – Although purchasing would be done as per the order yet the checking has to be done as per the orders and the exact specifications.
• Checking of the note for the delivery – This note would be having the clear details on the orders and the delivery done accordingly.
• Inspection of the products, raw material and the various other inventories – Without inspection and the audit of the products and the raw material, the purchasing and the inventory process is never complete in itself.

The issues with the purchasing are:

• There may not be inventory as per the actual order placed.
• Defects and problems with the inventory purchased.
• All products not received in a single point of time.
• The calculation of the associated taxes and duties on the food.
• The identification and negotiations with the various suppliers and the vendors who are involved in the activities of the purchasing and the supplies.
• Force Majure for the shipment or the inventory that is obtained from one place to another.

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Task 2 – Planning and Implementing a Hospitality Event

5. Case for hospitality event and a food and beverage menu.

The food menu is said to depict and display the impression and the first image of a company. It helps in revealing the kind of operations that the company is carrying out. It also communicates the organizational staffing, service and the production methods. It helps in discussing on the quality, image, theme and the mission for hotel operations. Below is the menu of the event where all the types of people have been considered. There has been a lot of importance been given to the old age people as well as the Non-vegetarians.

Menu for the Hotel Operations

Drinks

Coffee/Tea, Fruit Juice, Mineral Water, Beer, & Other liquor

Vegetarians

Vegetables of all kinds

Diabetes

Rice, Fresh Salad and the Fish

Non Vegetarian

Chicken, Mutton and Fish

Deserts

Ice-cream

Type of Service – Counter or the Buffet System

During the preparation of Menu, Vegetarian as well as the Non-Vegetarian Food was kept in mind. The deserts along with both the types of the service system were kept for the event. The event is going to be held among the Bengali’s so non-vegetarian food is also considered. Salad and even the diabetic patients that been considered by preparing the menu as the party is held for the people over 50 years. I have chosen the beverages that will suit the requirements and needs of children, adults and the old age people as well. Beer and the other liquor have been selected for the people who are regular drinkers. Tea/Coffee and the juices will serve the purposes of the women and the children. In order to serve the needs of all, both counter and the buffet services system have been used. Counter services would be of different rate than the buffet rate for the menu that has been given above.  (see here: Icon College Travel and Tourism Entrepreneur Assignment)

6. Food and beverage service plan for the above hospitality event (task 6) within an agreed budget

In any kind of an event or the hospitality activity it is important that the kind of food kept is of variety and even meet the quality standards. The guests look for healthy and quality food than the quantity in their hospitality menu. In any hospitality events like celebrate the ‘end of the term’ maintaining standards of quality and health, safety and security are main points. Nowadays, customers are looking for quality rather than quantity. Quality is kept in all the departments of the food and beverage service plan. It means that certain standards have to be maintained in the quality and the kind of food and beverage that is provided to the people during the event or the function. The service team serving the food also should be dressed in the proper uniforms. They are being trained on how to serve food to the people. The food that has to be prepared for the event has to be cooked with proper settings and as per the cooking standards to maintain quality and the service standards and also maintaining the nutrient value of the food that is being served. Above all the health and safety also has to be kept in mind. The food should be kept covered and in properly cleaned containers and same standard has to be followed for the serving of the food. It is essential that the customization needs to be brought about in the kind of the food and the beverage menu that they would be giving to the people who would be attending the event. (Read more: Finance and Funding in Travel and Tourism Sector Assignment)

The costing for the food would be:

Menu for the Hotel Operations

Drinks

Coffee/Tea, Fruit Juice, Mineral Water, Beer, & Other liquor – 2 Pounds (unlimited)

Vegetarians

Vegetables of all kinds – 1 Pound

Diabetes

Rice, Fresh Salad and the Fish – 5 Pounds

Non Vegetarian

Chicken, Mutton, Fish – 6 Pounds

Deserts

Ice-cream – 1 Pound

Buffet – 10 Pounds, Counter Service Rates could be adding what is taken as per the above rates.

These rates have been benchmarked with the industry standards so that the cost is not high. It is falling in the consumer budget. It has been kept in mind that the hotel is also keeping their costs so that it is not also harming them (Brotherton & Shaw, 1996).

7. Carrying out the agreed F&B service plan maintaining the standards of quality and health, safety and security, and the factors determining its success with recommendations for improvements.

It is quite essential that the event has meeting the food and beverage service standards in terms of the quality, safety and the security. This is because once the event is a success it would help in tapping more clients and the customers for the hospitality sector company. The various factors that determine the success of the service are:

• Plan and Organization of the event – The way in which the entire event has been planned and organized is important determinant of the success of the services. It defines the time and the kind of effort that has been taken by the management in the event.
• Satisfaction of the customers – The major factor is that the customers should be satisfied by the food and the beverages who would be taking.
• Following of the quality standards – When the service standards with respect to quality are maintained then the food would obviously be of higher standards.
• Time and cost effectiveness –The cost and the time spent in designing and planning of the event are also the key factors (Baker et al, 1995).

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The various recommendations could be:

• Clarity in the communication for the staff as well as the customers who are attending the event – This will help in discussing on the food menu and knowing the requirements of the people so that food is prepared and kept accordingly.
• Staff and service people are keeping the quality and service standards maintained – Certain standards that have been kept by the hospitality company have to be implemented at all the costs.
• Keeping safety and hygiene in the food and beverage services – Safety and hygiene of the food arrangements have to be kept in mind so that the event is successful.
• Provision of great food and beverage services before and after the entire function or the event.
• Obtaining customer satisfaction in all respects that is food, beverages and the services related with them.
• Giving attention to each and every customer attending the event.
• Maintaining the setting and quality assurance standards.
• Keeping service staff, vendors, supplier and the other related people satisfied – It is essential that satisfaction of all the people should be there in the hospitality company.
• Keeping the cost in such a way that it is budget of consumers and also not leading to loss to the food and beverage company – The cost should be calculated by keeping all cost of the raw materials in mind. This will help in making margins and even the budget of the consumer has to be kept in mind.
• Buying of the raw material and the food from the quality supplier – The suppliers who are providing the quality products only have to be dealt (Kozak & Rimmington, 1998).

Conclusion

Food and Beverage sector has gained a lot of importance in the last few years. Quality assurance and the setting and implementation of the standards are essential to be followed. There has been a great advancement in the training and developmental services for the staff. This assignment has made us learn the importance of the standards, quality in the food and beverage services of the hospitality industry.

References

Baker, M., Cattet, A., & Riley, M. 1995. Practical food and beverage training in the UK: a study of facilities and a debate on its relevance. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 7(5), 21-24. Okeiyi, E., Finley, D., & Postel, R. T. 1994. Food and beverage management competencies: Educator, industry, and student perspectives. Hospitality & Tourism Educator, 6(4), 37-40. Davis, B., Lockwood, A., Pantelidis, I., & Alcott, P. 2013. Food and beverage management. Routledge. Hallam, G., & Baum, T. 1996. Contracting out food and beverage operations in hotels: a comparative study of practice in North America and the United Kingdom. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 15(1), 41-50. Hemmington, N., & King, C. 2000. Key dimensions of outsourcing hotel food and beverage services. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 12(4), 256-261. Barrows, C. W., & Bosselman, R. H. (Eds.). 1999. Hospitality management education. Psychology Press. Gilbert, D., & Guerrier, Y. 1997. UK hospitality managers past and present. Service Industries Journal, 17(1), 115-132.

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