Sarah: The food and beverage director oversees every employee within this service of a company. She is in charge of making sure everything goes smoothly and according to schedule and that every guest’s need is met.
Karen: Restaurant Managers must combine strategic planning and day to day activities. The role is both business-like and creative in terms of marketing and business development. Restaurant Managers take responsibility for promotional events and discount schemes; prepare reports at the end of the shift/week including staff control, food control and sales; create and execute plans for department sales, profit and staff development; set budgets or agree them with senior management; plan and coordinate menus; coordinate the operation of the restaurant during scheduled shifts; recruit, train, manage and motivate staff; respond to customer queries and complaints, meet and greet customers, organize table reservations and offer advice about menu and wine choices, maintain high standards of quality control, hygiene, and health and safety.
Neil: Executive chef responsibilities are critical when it comes to the kitchen. The Executive chef is in charge of training and managing the kitchen personnel and supervising all culinary activities taking place. The Executive chef must purchase food; develop recipes; ensure efficient quality; estimate food consumption; demonstrate different techniques that need to be used; demand safety and sanitation in his/her kitchen.
Lily: An assistant director of food and beverage looks after the administration of the hotel staff, which caters to the needs of the customers. Part of the assistant’s job may include working with contractors the facility uses. Their responsibilities include: to discuss the budget and accordingly plan the inventory, chart menu cards along with their prices in the approval of the director. Supervise over the activities of the staff to get the taste that the customer’s desire. Take the approval of the directors if there are large orders, such as organizing of parties and marriage banquets. Oversee the duties carried out on day to day basis; provide the inventory and funds required on need.
For the Food and Beverage Management: Research and Development, in the first activity: Restaurant Management R&D we didn’t feel too welcomed by one cafe cashier at the register when Sarah was purchasing breakfast. We also witnessed the 5/10 foot rule when our group were walking up to the restaurant and the two hosts instantly stopped conversation going and greeted us.
For the menu analysis activity, we confirmed that the material that cafe’s used were different from the materials at sit-down restaurants used in that at the cafe’s, the menu was very basic and they used chalk boards. At the sit-down restaurants, menus were laminated and we were each given an individual menu. Another point noticed from the menu analysis activity were the prices. All cafe’s were priced about the same, however the sit-down restaurants were about double of what you would be paying for a similar item at a cafe.
The beverage activity helped us see the different types of drinks they served at Le District. There were a variety of breakfast beverages including coffee and natural juices. After discussing which would be better, we came to the conclusion that the natural juices are the healthier option but at the end of the day, it all depends what you prefer. Natural juices, although expensive we filled with lots of nutrients needed to start your day. We also noticed that Le District had a large selection of wine which would could be perfectly paired with cheese.
