Importance of Menu Planning in Hospitality Proof Reading Services

Importance of Menu Planning in Hospitality Proof Reading Services

Introduction

The study aims to discuss the operations in the food and beverage industry along with placing an emphasis on the role of the manger in the operations. The implementation and the communication of the workplace policies and procedures in the food and beverage industry is of utmost importance for proper functioning of the enterprises in the industry (Brown, 2008). The planning of the Food and Beverage menus by the managers is based on various considerations including nutritional contents, prices and purchase requirements, seasonality of food items, etc. The manner in which the managers maintaining the staffing and the legal requirements in the food and beverages workplace is done had been discussed in the subsequent sections of the study.

Service Standards

Importance of Having Clearly Defined Standards at the Workplace

The F&B operators must abide by the various quality standards applicable to the hospitality industry as per laws. This includes the food quality standards, safety and health standards, security standards and hygiene standards mainly. Though the manager and the management conveys the standards impacting the operations in food and beverages industry to all the employees through training and in printed formats in form of handbooks or on the website, the standards in operations are maintained through having fixed SOP (Standards Operating Procedures) at workplace for each and every task from Fire safety management to handling customer calls and serving the customers at the restaurant (Hirschey, 2008).

These clearly defined standards are important at the F&B workplace as it helps in maximizing customer satisfaction and service experiences through properly training the service staff as this helps the staff with having standard operational procedures and thus limits conflicts during their course of working or servicing the clients at the organization. Also quality and consistent services as through use of HACCP are vital to customer or business sustainability thus attracting customers back and again (Brown, 2008).

Also through having standards that are clearly defined and well communicated in the organization, the cost as through minimization of the wastes in the various operations. This helps in transferring the benefits to the customers through providing competitive prices thus gaining a competitive advantage for the F&B enterprise (Camerinelli, 2010).

Management Monitor, Control And Evaluate the Food and Beverage Standards Within Workplace

The management monitors the implementation of the Food and Beverage standards in the workplace through having the well defined SOP or standard operating procedures in the workplace that help in standardization of the various procedures in operations of the enterprise. The control is attained through having a well defined HACCP OR Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points in the food and beverage production (Pizam, 2010). This includes almost all the parts of the food and beverage processing, production and delivery operations including food color, aromatic appeal, appearance, texture, hygiene, safe production operations, storage, temperature, etc

The implementation of menu as per HACCP is done through conducting a hazard analysis which include various points which may damage the quality of food or beverage until served and identification of the control points in the food production and delivery systems that helps in management of quality as per specifications or standards (Pizam, 2010). The critical limits are specified and monitoring of each control point is established by the manager in the F&B operations and setting the corrective actions that may need to be taken if any situation so arise in operations. The external inspecting authorities involve in checking if the business works as per HACCP in managing the food and beverages safety systems at the workplace (Brown, 2008).

Evaluation of the food and Beverage standards is equally important and done by the manager through regular inspections of the procedures and policies at workplace while also analyzing need for changes in existing policies, standards and procedures as per changes in regulations and legislations or for betterment of services (Goldblatt, 2010). Evaluation of the standards is done against quality of customer services thus ensuring satisfaction and sustainability. Evaluation may also be done against rising cost in order to prevent over pricing. Manager must ensure quality of food operations as against standards in terms of color, hygienic production, safety, etc.

Menu Planning and Implementation

Planning of the menu is the main consideration for the managers in the food and Beverage industry and has important impact on the service quality image of the organizations along with representing the mission of the hospitality enterprise. There are various approaches towards the planning of the menu of the F&B enterprise as may be self operated, franchisee or involved in outsourcing.  While planning of the new menus or the menu items the F&B may have following considerations such as Customer needs or preferences as they may be including vegetarian or non vegetarian, children, adult, etc (Hirschey, 2008). if the new menu or items are for a particular event, the host must be consulted by the manager. Ethnicity of the customers is equally important consideration as pork and cow beef may be prohibited in particular regions. Nutritional balance must be maintained as the customers in the F&B industry have growing concerns towards the health and nutrients including proteins, carbohydrates, etc. The customers may prefer low fat diet, high fiber diets, high protein diets, etc. The availability of the ingredients also impact the menu planning as certain ingredients may be of seasonal nature and may not be available all round the year (Pizam, 2010).

Another important consideration in the planning of the new menu or new items in the menu by the manager of the F&B operations is the cost factor and this directly impacts the price to be paid by the customers or their budgets (Brown, 2008). The availability of the production or other operational facilities or resources required for processing such as special varieties of fish that are highly poisonous in nature require specially trained staff for preparation which the service may lack. Also lack of the particular kitchen or other equipments or space may affect the menu planning by the manager.

The manager must plan the new menu or the new items in the existing menu only after consulting the ‘Menu Planning Legislations’ impacting the industry operations such as most of the F&B operators in various nations require license to serve the liquor or alcohol as beverages. HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point) is also an important consideration for the managers as is related to prevention of food from physical, chemical or any other hazards while involving in the production processes. Thus the manager must take the various considerations in to planning new menus or the menu items (Goldblatt, 2010).

The menu may be mainly divided in to three main arts as consisting of appetizers, main course, drinks and the desserts. The implementation of the menu is based on specifying the quality standards such as flavor, color, temperature, texture, visual appeal, aromas, etc or the Quality standards that must be met in the production process. The implementation of menu as per HACCP is done through conducting a hazard analysis and identification of the control points in the food production and delivery systems. The critical limits are specified and monitoring of each control point is established by the manager in the F&B operations and setting the corrective actions that may need to be taken (Brown, 2008).

Staffing and Legal Requirements

As manager is the head of the specific department in the F&B organization thus he is responsible for all the activities undertaken by the particular department. The F&B manager involve in the planning and direction of all the food and beverages related services such as involving in the purchasing of the food supplies, maintenance of the stock levels  and managing the operational staff (Camerinelli, 2010). The various responsibilities of the F&B manager include budgeting, collaboration with suppliers, manpower development and planning, quality control and compilation of new menus or menu items. While involving in menu planning and implementation, the manager must ascertain the appropriate staffing or skills requirements for delivering the planned menu (Brown, 2008). The employees involved in the menu implementation are the cooking staff or the production staff and the service staff. If the menu is not planned on the basis of the availability of resources in kitchen or inventories and the skills of the cooking staff then it will hamper the overall service or organizational image thus driving customers away from enterprise. The production staff may include various specialized staff based on nature of F&B operations the chefs such as Grill chef, Pastry chef, Sauce chef, etc. Manager must involve in staffing for the various operational workstations in the Kitchen and avoid overloading of work on any particular station through determining the appropriate number of staff and skills required for the kitchen staff. If the staff lacks the desired skills for delivering the planned menu by the manager they may plan training of the existing kitchen staff or recruit new staff based on the operational requirements. The training may be provided for new skills, organizational policies and quality standards or other necessary requirements in food processing industry including storage (Hirschey, 2008).

Service staff transfer the food from the kitchen to the customers or the food serving area and may or may not be involved in assisting the customer base on nature of the service operations in the enterprise. The service staff may be based on the type of services such as

1. Table service where the customers place order and get the food served on respective tables and manager of the F&B operations manages it through the separate restaurant team (Pizam, 2010)

2. Self service where the customer enter food area and serve themselves and manager of the F&B operations manages it through the Banquet operation team arranging food and other facilities

3. Assisted service where guest may be helped by the waiters in serving of food and manager of the F&B operations manages it through the having Beverage team serving beverages (Goldblatt, 2010)

4. Single Point service where food needs to be ordered and collected from specific counters as in various franchisee operated businesses.

The manager of the F&B operations may manage the various service teams including Restaurant team, beverages team, restaurant team, room service staff apart from cooking or kitchen team. From time to time the manager must ensure the various staff has the relevant skills such as communication and serving skills and competencies such as knowledge of menu, ingredients, prices, portion sizes, recipes, event, etc while communicating with the customers thus upholding service quality image of enterprise and helping customer queries (Brown, 2008). As demand in the hospitality industry is fluctuating as on weekends or based on tourism needs thus manager must hire temporary staff in various teams as per requirements. Thus the F&B manager has overall authority of deciding over the promotions, recruitments of new staff, conduction of training of various staff and teams and transfer of staff among various departments to manage the fluctuations in demand.

The manager must have well knowledge about the laws and legislations impacting the F&B operations that apply right from purchasing, processing, manufacturing and distribution of food and beverages in the respective geographic location. The manager must spread awareness about laws and regulations such as Food Safety Act, 1999 in UK and other regulations outlined by FSA (Food Standards Agency) in UK through regular training of the staff as per requirements. The F&B enterprise should comply with the necessary legislative requirements and manager must ensure this apart from setting up of rating mechanisms (Pizam, 2010).

The manager must ensure that all the food and beverages operations comply with food and safety regulations and the food is produced in a safe manner through installation of implementation of the HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points) which allow customer trust and satisfaction in the organization. Food Hygiene legislations must also be followed by the F&B operator as per the requirement (Brown, 2008).

If the enterprise supplies or serves liquor it must obtain licensing from the relevant government authorities.  Many laws such as Hotel And Motel Fire Safety Act applies to maintaining fire safety provisions as per guidelines and the managers must comply with these along with regular conduction of checks (Camerineli, 2010). The managers must comply with the necessary record keeping such as slips, falls or any incidents at the premises, employment agreements, payroll tax, etc as this world be required during the inspections by the relevant government hospitality authorities such as FSA (Food Standards Agency) in UK (Pizam, 2010).

Conclusion

Various standards apply to the Food and Beverages operations such as quality standards, hygiene, safety and security standards. Evaluation of the standards is done against quality of customer services thus ensuring satisfaction and sustainability. Menus are an important consideration in the food operations industry and act to attract the customers to the organization or services. Planning of the menu is the main consideration for the managers in the food and Beverage industry and is based on the customer’s needs or preferences, availability of the ingredients, nutritional aspects, availability of resources, organizational philosophy and service image, cost or price or customer budgets, flexibility, Menu Planning legislations and the storage of the food items.

References

Brown, D.R. (2008). The Food Service Managers Guide to Creative Cost Cutting: Over 2001 Innovative And Simple Ways to Save Your Food Service Operation Thousands by Reducing Expenses. Atlantic Publishing Company.

Menu Planning (2015) online at http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~wlr2/ha442/class/control/menu/ last accessed on 18 March, 2016

Hirschey, M. (2008). Fundamentals of Managerial Economics [With Access Code]. USA: Cengage Learning.

Pizam, A. (2010). International encyclopedia of hospitality management. Butterworth-Heinemann.

Goldblatt, J. (2010) Special Events- Next Generation and the next Frontier, New York Wiley, pp 226-57

Camerinelli, E. (2009). Measuring the Value of the Supply Chain: Linking Financial Performance and Supply Chain Decisions. Gower Publishing, Ltd.

HACCP (2015) online at https://www.food.gov.uk/business-industry/food-hygiene/haccp last accessed on 18 March, 2016
Food and beverage industry regulations and compliance (2015) online athttps://www.business.qld.gov.au/industries/hospitality-tourism-sport/food/food-beverage/regulationslast accessed on 18 March, 2016