I consume food. I consume beverages.
For that reason, I am certified 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 run, irregular locations of club/resort operations is Food and Drink. Specifically in member owned environments, which are frequently overseen by a club board, people seem to believe that due to the fact that they eat in restaurants, they somehow have some level of expertise that permits them to make organization decisions about this essential aspect of the club. The reality is that this is one of the most complicated departments in a club to manage, control, and produce a constant experience.
Let's ask a few questions!
Is your Food and Drink experience appropriate for what your members/guests want to have in your club/resort? Are you priced properly, too high, or too low? How do you understand? Are you tracking cover counts by day? By shift? By hour?
Are your food selections stuck in yesteryear, a great balance of old favorites and new choices, or edgy? Is your menu created for function or fashion? Do you alter your menu quarterly, or a minimum of semi-annually to keep it fresh? Or is it changed every year or two and end up being a club dinosaur? What are your item requirements and part sizes? Is every item on your menu costed? What is your goal for a la carte food expense? Do you understand the contribution margin on every item on your menu?
What about your special events. Are they actually special? Do they produce a buzz in the Club? Are they eagerly expected or the exact same thing that was done the last ten years with nothing more than the year altered in the newsletter and promotional piece touting the event? Is your staff challenged every quarter to try new occasions? New cost points?
Got Value?
What about value added programs? It's happening every day in the hospitality industry. Chili's, Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, Flemings, Cody's Roadhouse, McDonalds, Quiznos, Train, and many other nationwide franchises are actively configuring to keep individuals being available in. Any wonder the success rate of franchises is over 90% while the success rate of individually owned dining establishments is about 10%?
What are you doing in your club to produce a "WOW" for your members/guests in your Food and Drink offerings? Are you standing pat on your $32 filet and $28 sea bass wondering why you are doing so few covers? Or, are you attempting new principles that may provide "meal replacement" dining rather of just "unique event" dining?
Something as easy as Happy Hour can produce extra usage. Home cooking such as meatloaf, chicken casserole, lasagna, or comparable for" at $8 or $9 during the week are popular. Taco bars, pasta bars, burger night, half cost on bottles of house wine, Fresh Fish Fridays or a Friday Fish Fry, a Chef's choice at a special price on slower nights, sushi nights, appetizers at a special price, entertainment, and lots of other principles and events drive use, offer incremental profits, and keep the staff working. Are you try out new events in your club/resort? Provide it a try. You'll be amazed at the buzz it produces.
The Experience
How is your dining room presented? With white tablecloths? No table linens? Placemats? Are you charging appropriately for the experience you are providing?
How are your buffets presented? Elegantly with skirting, flower screens, and shiny silver chafing dishes? Or rudimentary with little or no frills? Does it make good sense?
Do you have requirements of operation to guarantee the food and drink experience for your members/guests? Is every team member wearing a clean and pressed designated uniform? Exists a specific manner to present menus, serve, food, cocktails, and wine? Are members called by name? Are specific steps of service in place?
Does the service staff understand the structure of every item, sauce, and part size from the menu? Is training offered a minimum of regular monthly? Is your staff offering suggestively?
The Technical Aspects
How often do you take a physical inventory? Is there "independence" in the inventory process to guarantee that the counts are accurate? Is stock prices adjusted frequently to reflect the most recent cost the club is paying for learn the facts here now all inventoried products or is the expense the club paid last year still being used to identify inventory worth?
Do you follow this mantra when receiving and inventorying items?
If you purchase 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 situations, accept it blindly.
I am amazed at how typically shipments are accepted and signed for without even physically being in the same room as the products that were provided not to mention checking the packaging slip or billing against the items received. Delivery people end up being savvy very rapidly to those who hold them liable and those who don't. A few pounds of missing steak here or a few bottles of missing alcohol there costs a lot of cash over a prolonged time period.
Just how much unusable food is stored in the freezer, frequently a chef's best friend, and continues to be counted every month during inventory yet is essentially worth little or 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 financial outcome, train the personnel, and keep standards? Or are they paid simply for showing up?
How is your service personnel paid? By per hour wage? Suggestion swimming 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 item on every menu, have you done the very same for alcohol, beer, and wine? Do you have specified put sizes? Are they being adhered to? Do you have pourers which enable just for the put size for which you are charging? Just how much of your club's resort's money is tied up in wine inventory? Have you recognized par stocks?
Do you have a Food and Beverage minimum? Does it make sense for your club? Do you have a minimum month-to-month service charge? Should you?
Do you supply an employee meal? How is it accounted for? Is it accounted for at all? Do you permit employees to get rid of food/beverage from the club? (A bad idea!). Do you permit your workers to take in alcoholic beverages at the end of a shift? (An even worse concept!!).
Personal Events
What about your Private Events? Is your catering menu priced right? What does priced ideal mean? Have you assessed the competitive environment? What are you doing to bring weddings and meetings to the club/resort? Are you covering the expenses of establishing and breaking down every room based on the differing requirements of each occasion?
Do your private occasion policies make sense? When is the "guarantee' due? When is payment in full required? Do you need a signed agreement? Do you even have an agreement that you require be signed?
A Service
Great deals of questions! Get a management business that will work collaboratively with you to respond to all of these and any others and produce a tailored food and beverage experience that reflects your special situation and supplies what your members/guests desire and are willing to pay for.