I eat food. I consume beverages.
For that reason, I am certified to supervise a Food and Drink operation.
In assessing the operations of numerous clubs/resorts each month, I find that one of the most improperly operated, irregular locations of club/resort operations is Food and Drink. Specifically in member owned environments, which are often managed by a club board, individuals appear to believe that since they eat in restaurants, they somehow have some level of know-how that permits them to make business decisions about this crucial aspect of the club. The truth is that this is one of the most intricate departments in a club to handle, control, and produce a consistent experience.
Let's ask a few questions!
Is your Food and Beverage experience appropriate for what your members/guests want to have in your club/resort? Are you priced appropriately, expensive, or too low? How do you understand? Are you tracking cover counts by day? By shift? By hour?
Are your food selections stuck in the past, a good balance of old favorites and brand-new choices, or edgy? Is your menu developed for function or style? Do you alter your menu quarterly, or at least semi-annually to keep it fresh? Or is it altered every year or 2 and become a club dinosaur? What are your item specifications and part 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 item on your menu?
What about your special occasions. Are they truly special? Do they create a buzz in the Club? Are they eagerly prepared for or the very same thing that was done the last ten years with absolutely nothing more than the year changed in the newsletter and advertising piece touting the occasion? Is your personnel challenged every quarter to attempt new occasions? New rate points?
Got Worth?
What about value added programs? It's taking place every day in the hospitality industry. Chili's, Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, Flemings, Cody's Roadhouse, McDonalds, Quiznos, Subway, and lots of other nationwide franchises are actively configuring to keep individuals coming in. Any wonder the success rate of franchises is over 90% while the success rate of individually owned restaurants has to do with 10%?
What are you doing 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 http://jeffreytaes727.bearsfanteamshop.com/foods-for-pondering-is-your-meals-and-refreshment-business-being-managed-properly sea bass questioning why you are doing so couple of covers? Or, are you trying brand-new concepts that may offer "meal replacement" dining instead of only "special celebration" dining?
Something as basic as Happy Hour can generate extra usage. Home cooking such as meatloaf, chicken pot pie, lasagna, or similar for" at $8 or $9 throughout the week are popular. Taco bars, pasta bars, hamburger night, half cost on bottles of home white wine, Fresh Fish Fridays or a Friday Fish Fry, a Chef's selection at a special rate on slower evenings, sushi nights, appetizers at an unique cost, entertainment, and numerous other concepts and events drive usage, provide incremental profits, and keep the personnel working. Are you experimenting with new occasions in your club/resort? Give it a try. You'll be surprised at the buzz it produces.
The Experience
How is your dining room provided? With white tablecloths? No tablecloths? Placemats? Are you charging properly for the experience you are offering?
How are your buffets presented? Elegantly with skirting, floral screens, and shiny silver chafing meals? Or primary with little or no frills? Does it make good sense?
Do you have standards of operation to guarantee the food and beverage experience for your members/guests? Is every employee using a tidy and pushed designated uniform? Is there a specific manner to present menus, serve, food, cocktails, and red wine? Are members called by name? Specify actions of service in location?
Does the service personnel understand the composition of every product, sauce, and part size from the menu? Is training offered at least monthly? Is your personnel selling suggestively?
The Technical Aspects
How typically do you take a physical stock? Exists "self-reliance" in the stock procedure to guarantee that the counts are accurate? Is stock pricing changed frequently to reflect the most current cost the club is paying for all inventoried items or is the cost the club paid last year still being used to identify inventory worth?
Do you follow this mantra when getting and inventorying products?
If you purchase it by the pound, weigh it. If you purchase it by the piece, count it. If you buy it by ounce or length, measure it? Under no circumstances, accept it blindly.
I am amazed at how often shipments are accepted and signed for without even physically being in the very same space as the products that were provided not to mention checking the packaging slip or invoice versus the products received. Delivery individuals end up being savvy very quickly to those who hold them accountable and those who do not. A couple of pounds of missing out on steak here or a couple of bottles of missing liquor there costs a lot of cash over an extended period of time.
Just how much unusable food is stored in the freezer, typically a chef's buddy, and continues to be counted monthly throughout stock yet is basically worth little or nothing?
What does the organizational structure appear like in your club's F&B operation? How are your managers compensated? Are they incented to produce a specific financial result, train the staff, and preserve requirements? Or are they paid simply for showing up?
How is your service personnel paid? By hourly wage? Tip pool? Some combination of both? Does your pay structure promote period or turnover? What about overtime? Are you paying overtime? Lawfully?
In addition to costing every product on every menu, have you done the very same for alcohol, beer, and wine? Do you have defined put sizes? Are they being adhered to? Do you have pourers which enable only for the pour size for which you are charging? Just how much of your club's resort's cash is bound 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 regular monthly service fee? Should you?
Do you offer a worker meal? How is it represented? Is it represented at all? Do you enable staff members to get rid of food/beverage from the club? (A bad idea!). Do you permit your staff members to consume alcohols at the end of a shift? (An even worse concept!!).
Private Events
What about your Private Occasions? Is your catering menu priced right? What does priced best mean? Have you assessed the competitive environment? What are you doing to bring wedding events and meetings to the club/resort? Are you covering the expenses of establishing and breaking down every space based upon the differing requirements of each event?
Do your private occasion policies make sense? When is the "assurance' due? When is payment completely needed? Do you require a signed contract? Do you even have a contract that you require be signed?
A Service
Great deals of concerns! Get a management business that will work collaboratively with you to address all of these and any others and produce a customized food and drink experience that reflects your unique circumstance and supplies what your members/guests desire and are willing to spend for.