I consume food. I consume beverages.
Therefore, I am qualified to supervise a Food and Beverage operation.
In examining the operations of many clubs/resorts every month, I find that one of the most badly operated, inconsistent areas of club/resort operations is Food and Beverage. Specifically in member owned environments, which are often overseen by a club board, people appear to believe that because they eat in restaurants, they somehow have some level of competence that permits them to make company decisions about this essential aspect of the club. The reality is that this is among the most intricate departments in a club to handle, control, and produce a constant experience.
Let's ask a couple of questions!
Is your Food and Drink experience appropriate for what your members/guests wish to have in your club/resort? Are you priced correctly, too expensive, or too low? How do you know? Are you tracking cover counts by day? By shift? By hour?
Are your food choices stuck in yesteryear, a nice balance of old favorites and new selections, or edgy? Is your menu created for function or fashion? Do you change your menu quarterly, or a minimum of semi-annually to keep it fresh? Or is it changed every year or two and become a club dinosaur? What are your product requirements and portion sizes? Is every product on your menu costed? What is your goal for a la carte food cost? Do you know the contribution margin on every product on your menu?
What about your special occasions. Are they actually special? Do they develop a buzz in the Club? Are they excitedly expected or the very same thing that was done the last 10 years with nothing more than the year altered in the newsletter and marketing piece touting the occasion? Is your personnel challenged every quarter to attempt brand-new occasions? New cost points?
Got Value?
What about value included programming? 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 programming to keep individuals coming in. Any wonder the success rate of franchises is over 90% while the success rate of separately owned restaurants has to do with 10%?
What are you carrying out in your club to create a "WOW" for your members/guests in your Food and Drink 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 ideas that may supply "meal replacement" dining instead of only "unique occasion" dining?
Something as easy as Happy Hour can produce additional use. 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 choice at a special cost on slower nights, sushi nights, appetizers at a special cost, entertainment, and lots of other ideas and events drive usage, offer incremental revenue, and keep the staff working. Are you experimenting with new events in your club/resort? Give it a shot. You'll be amazed at the buzz it creates.
The Experience
How is your dining room presented? With white table linens? No table linens? Placemats? Are you charging properly for the experience you are providing?
How are your buffets presented? Elegantly with skirting, floral display screens, and shiny silver chafing meals? Or rudimentary with little or no frills? Does it make good sense?
Do you have requirements of operation to make sure the food and beverage experience for your members/guests? Is every staff member using a clean and pushed designated uniform? Exists a particular manner to present menus, serve, food, mixed drinks, and wine? Are members called by name? Are specific actions of service in place?
Does the service staff understand the composition of every item, sauce, and portion size from the menu? Is training offered a minimum of monthly? Is your personnel offering suggestively?
The Technical Aspects
How frequently do you take a physical inventory? Exists "self-reliance" in the stock procedure to guarantee that the counts are accurate? Is stock pricing adjusted regularly to reflect the most recent expense the club is spending for all inventoried items or is the cost the club paid in 2015 still being used to identify stock value?
Do you follow this mantra when receiving and inventorying items?
If you buy 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 scenarios, accept it blindly.
I am amazed at how frequently shipments are accepted and signed for without even physically remaining in the exact same space as the products that were delivered let alone inspecting the packing slip or billing versus http://r4skxdi774.nation2.com/concepts-and-ideas-associated-with-takeaway-food-p the products got. Shipment individuals end up being smart really quickly to those who hold them responsible and those who do not. A few pounds of missing steak here or a couple of bottles of missing out on liquor there costs a great deal of money over a prolonged amount of time.
Just how much unusable food is stored in the freezer, often a chef's friend, and continues to be counted each month throughout inventory yet is basically worth little or absolutely 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 specific monetary outcome, train the personnel, and keep requirements? Or are they paid simply for revealing up?
How is your service staff paid? By hourly wage? Pointer swimming pool? Some mix 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 alcohol, beer, and red wine? Do you have specified put sizes? Are they being stuck to? Do you have pourers which allow just for the pour size for which you are charging? How much of your club's resort's money is tied up in white wine stock? Have you recognized 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 offer an employee meal? How is it represented? Is it represented at all? Do you permit staff members to get rid of food/beverage from the club? (A bad idea!). Do you permit your staff members to take in liquors at the end of a shift? (An even worse concept!!).
Personal Events
What about your Private Occasions? Is your catering menu priced right? What does priced right mean? Have you evaluated the competitive environment? What are you doing to bring wedding events and conferences to the club/resort? Are you covering the expenses of establishing and breaking down every space based upon the varying requirements of each occasion?
Do your personal event policies make good sense? When is the "guarantee' due? When is payment in full needed? Do you need a signed contract? Do you even have an agreement that you need be signed?
An Option
Lots of concerns! Get a management company that will work collaboratively with you to answer all of these and any others and create a personalized food and drink experience that reflects your distinct circumstance and provides what your members/guests desire and want to pay for.