Text7 Food Service

Food service is a feature of hotels. Catering, providing food and drink for guests has always gone together with accommodation.

A hotel may have several restaurants or no restaurants at all; the number and type of restaurants varies as well. A major chain hotel generally has a bar of cocktail lounge and two restaurants: a signature or upscale formal restaurant casual coffee-shop type of restaurant. These restaurants cater to both hotel guests and to general public. Hotels also normally provide room-service food and drink that are brought to the guest’s room.

The rate when the hotel offers accommodation and breakfast has got name of “bread and breakfast”. The rate when the hotel offers accommodation, breakfast and one full meal has got name of “half board”. And the rate when the hotel offers accommodation and three meals has got name of “full board”. In recent years, because of increased guest expectations, hotels have placed greater emphasis on food and beverage preparation and service.

As this industry basically deals with the service of food provided to the people, so this industry includes lots of methods of service of food.

Different Types of Service Offered by the Hotels:

Table Service:

Customer is seated and menu is presented to the guest, service and clearance is provided by the staff. It is the most common service that is followed in a normal restaurant. Under table service we have following different Services:

Silver Service/English Service: Often referred to as “Host Service” because the host plays an active role in the service. Food is brought on pattern by the waiter and shown to the guest for approval, after that food is served and is also cleared by the waiter afterwards. Service is done according to the various courses.

Family Service: Here the main courses are pre plated in the dishes with the accompaniments, placed on the table, for the customers to help themselves.
Plated/Pre-plated/American Service: As the name suggests, the food is pre-plated and the service is to be done from the right hand side of the guest.
Butler/French Service: The food once brought inside the restaurant is presented in front of the guest individually, but the service is done by the guest itself, the food may be carved by the waiter as per the suggestion of the guest, and the customer have to help themselves.
Russian Service: The food is not presented in front of the guest, simply laid and the customers need to help themselves. Usually large joints are served in this style of service.

Gueridon: This is a service done where a dish comes, partially prepared from the kitchen, to be completed in the restaurant by the waiter. The cooking is done on a gueridon trolley, which is a mobile trolley

Bar Counter: Often a U-shaped bar with well designed stools for the customers to be seated and enjoy the alcohol and non
alcoholic drinks.
Hotel foodservice is complex, with many departments under Food and Beverage. There are Directors of Catering, Restaurants, Room Service, Beverage, Banquets and Kitchen, all reporting to the Food and Beverage Manager in the largest operations.

As a result, there is an increasing need for professionalism on the part of the hotels' personnel. Hotel restaurants are run by restaurant managers in much the same way as other restaurants. Restaurant managers are generally responsible for the following:

Exceeding guest service expectations

Hiring, training, and developing employees

Setting and maintaining quality standards

Marketing

Room service, minibars, or the cocktail lounge

Presenting annual, monthly, and weekly forecasts and budgets to the food and beverage director.

If the hotel’s cuisine and restaurant service have gained a reputation, it may increase the hotel’s business.

1. What does “bread and breakfast” mean?

2. What does “half board” mean?

3. What does “full board” mean?

4. What are the main types of service offered by the hotels?

5. What is Russian service?

6. What is English service?

7. What is French service

8. What are restaurant managers responsible for?

9. What is gueridon?

10. What is one of the most important secrets of the hotel’s business?