Loribeth (Director of Food and Beverage): Reports to the general manager and is responsible for the efficient and effective operation of the following departments: kitchen, catering, banquet, restaurants, room service, minibars, lounges, bars, and stewarding. I am in charge of exceeding guests’ expectations in food and beverage offerings and service, leadership, identifying trends, finding and keeping outstanding employees, training, motivation, budgeting, cost control, finding profit from all outlets, and having a detailed working knowledge of the front-of-the-house operations. During our trip to Le District what I found most interesting is the service, all the workers were focused on preparing for the day and serving customers at a fast pace. They were more focused on selling their product than interacting with customers. Also, the Tartinery in the food court upstairs served Rose and would pair with a chicken tartine. This is important knowledge because it creates a higher average bill and the customer appreciates the suggestion. Overall, Le District was well kept and all the workers had knowledge of the product they were selling.

Bao Yu (Restaurant Manager): “As a restaurant manager, my responsibility is to plan menus, manage budgets, training staff and so on. Also, I need to deal with customer service issues as well as to ensure that the food quality coming out of the kitchen is the best it can be. During the trip, I went to the market, there are food courts and grocery sections. I can see how the workers treated their guests and how they sell their products. They also have free samples for guests to sell them new products. I also found a personal hygiene issue, during observation, one of the workers grabbed lettuce without wearing gloves.”

Emily (Executive Chef): “Reports to the Food and Beverage Director, maintains cost control, oversees menus and recipes, ordering and purchasing and inventory control, check in with night cleaners in the morning and make sure utilities are working, check that employees are on task, check walk-ins, and consider the consistency in quality of the food on a daily basis. On our trip to Brookfield Place, I observed that in the sushi bar in the food court served overflowing sake into a shot glass and box. This practice was interesting to see as an executive chef because it showed hospitality and welcomed guests to the operation through traditions of Japanese culture. What stood out to me in Le District was the server at le boucherie who knew the flavors of the meat she was serving and was capable to answer my questions about food.”

Robert (Beverage Director): “My food and beverage job title is beverage director and his/her responsibilities are to supervise the ordering process and storage of beverages, prepare a beverages list, overseeing and train the staff, maintaining cost control, and assist guests with their beverage selection.

The two most significant observations that I saw in Le District were the employees preparing foods and stocking up inventories for lunch rush hours. We arrived and went inside pretty early so there was barely any customers interacting with the employees. I also saw baristas make and served coffees hastily to remove the long line. I saw one barista took the 7th customers on-line by looking up over the counter, point to the customers and asked “how do you want your coffee?” Overall, employees were courteous and knowledgeable, the floor is clean so do the display glasses. Display foods looked very appealing and in order.”

Destiny (Catering Manager): “The catering manager has more to do then just providing food, such as making sure clients are delighted with a room set up, the service provided and the food. Also checking that all hotel rules dealing with their department are met and followed. They also have to coordinate with the “banquet chef” to see the arranged service and menus. During our trip I went to Sprinkles cupcakes. On their wall I noticed they provided information on ordering cupcakes for any occasion. With ordering for any occasion you can have your cupcakes designed any way you wish and all prices were listed for the customer. Also, the Black Seed Bagel had written on their menu all the service they provide, such as catering and under they listed their email and phone number for customers seeking more information about their services.”

Group Members: Ri Dong Zheng (Food and Beverage Director), Angela Liang (Beverage Manager), Kaylah Bilal (Catering Manager), Lisbel Hernandez (Restaurant Manager). 

Brief description of our responsibilities: A Food and Beverage Director is responsible for the efficient and effective operation of all the departments that has to do with food and beverages. Some examples are kitchen, catering banquet, restaurants, room service, bars, etc.

A Beverage Manager is responsible for the smooth operations of beverages while ensuring high pour-cost percentage with minimum pilferage. This may include bars, restaurants, or banquets.

A Catering Manager is responsible for selling and servicing, catering, banquets, meetings, and exhibitions in a way that exceeds guest’ expectations and produces reasonable profit.

A Restaurant Manager is responsible for ensuring the smooth operations of a restaurant while exceeding guest service expectations, hiring training and developing employees, and setting and maintaining quality standards.

Observations: During our site visit to the Le District, we made some significant observations according to what our roles are. Our Restaurant Manager noticed how well the employee in Sprinkles Cupcake was doing in which the employee was able to greet customers with a warm and welcoming smile. The employee was also able to use suggestive selling, where she gave her own experience of only eating original flavors but started to like red velvet after eating it. Another observation made was when the employees were making bread or dessert, it was noticed that one of the employees did not had the hairnet, had her phone in her pocket, and was not using gloves.

Our Beverage Director observed that the types of beverages served was simple and basic with nothing too fancy. This is befitting of a place where it serves mainly business people and gets overcrowded during lunch time. With something not complicated, orders can be taken and done in a quick and efficient pace. As a Food and Beverage Director, I noticed how the different types of beverages serve has to do with location. On one end, caffeinated drinks were served where breakfast and desserts were sold. In the middle, non-caffeinated drinks where actual food and meals were being sold. On the other end, only coffee of a special kind was served where groceries were being sold. There was also a bar serving alcoholic drinks where there many tables. So the types of beverages sold at different locations matches well with what is being sold nearby.

Our Catering Manager noticed that the menus in the various stores were using different kinds of materials to write the prices and options of their products. Some of which were chalkboards, pamphlets, and tags next to their products. By using re-writable options, prices of products of prices are subject to change without having to reprint thousands of menu pamphlets. As the Food and Beverage Director, an observation about the menus made was the fact that they were all simple and easy to read. Instead of having all the products listed our with each individual prices next to it, only one or two prices for different sizes (ie; small, large), all the different kinds of choices were below it. Easy menu makes easy ordering.