I consume food. I consume beverages.
Therefore, I am qualified to oversee a Food and Drink operation.
In examining the operations of numerous clubs/resorts every month, I discover that one of the most improperly run, irregular areas of club/resort operations is Food and Drink. Specifically in member owned environments, which are frequently managed by a club board, individuals appear to believe that since they eat in restaurants, they in some way have some level of proficiency that permits them to make service decisions about this crucial aspect of the club. The reality is that this is among the most intricate departments in a club to manage, control, and produce a constant experience.
Let's ask a few best site concerns!
Is your Food and Beverage experience suitable 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 designed 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 2 and end up being a club dinosaur? What are your product specs and portion sizes? Is every item on your menu costed? What is your objective for a la carte food cost? Do you know the contribution margin on every product on your menu?
What about your special occasions. Are they actually unique? Do they produce a buzz in the Club? Are they eagerly expected or the very same thing that was done the last 10 years with nothing more than the year altered in the newsletter and advertising piece promoting the occasion? Is your staff challenged every quarter to try new events? Brand-new rate points?
Got Worth?
What about worth included programming? It's taking place every day in the hospitality industry. Chili's, Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, Flemings, Cody's Roadhouse, McDonalds, Quiznos, Train, and lots of other nationwide franchises are actively programming to keep individuals can be found in. Any question the success rate of franchises is over 90% while the success rate of individually owned dining establishments has to do with 10%?
What are you performing in your club to create a "WOW" for your members/guests in your Food and Beverage offerings? Are you standing pat on your $32 filet and $28 sea bass wondering why you are doing so couple of covers? Or, are you trying brand-new concepts that may supply "meal replacement" dining instead of only "unique occasion" dining?
Something as basic as Delighted Hour can generate additional usage. Comfort food such as meatloaf, chicken pot pie, lasagna, or comparable for" at $8 or $9 throughout the week are popular. Taco bars, pasta bars, hamburger night, half rate on bottles of home white wine, Fresh Fish Fridays or a Friday Fish Fry, a Chef's selection at a special cost on slower nights, sushi nights, appetizers at a special rate, home entertainment, and lots of other concepts and events drive use, offer incremental profits, and keep the staff working. Are you try out new occasions in your club/resort? Give it a shot. You'll be amazed at the buzz it develops.
The Experience
How is your dining room provided? With white tablecloths? No tablecloths? Placemats? Are you charging appropriately for the experience you are offering?
How are your buffets provided? Elegantly with skirting, flower displays, and shiny silver chafing meals? Or simple with little or no frills? Does it make good sense?
Do you have requirements of operation to make sure the food and beverage experience for your members/guests? Is every staff member using a tidy and pushed designated uniform? Exists a specific way to present menus, serve, food, mixed drinks, and wine? Are members called by name? Specify steps of service in place?
Does the service staff know the structure of every product, sauce, and portion size from the menu? Is training offered a minimum of month-to-month? Is your staff offering suggestively?
The Technical Aspects
How often do you take a physical inventory? Exists "self-reliance" in the inventory process to make sure that the counts are precise? Is stock prices changed frequently to show the most current cost the club is spending for all inventoried products or is the expense the club paid in 2015 still being utilized to determine stock value?
Do you follow this mantra when receiving and inventorying products?
If you purchase it by the pound, weigh it. If you purchase it by the piece, count it. If you purchase it by ounce or length, measure it? Under no circumstances, accept it blindly.
I am astonished at how often deliveries are accepted and signed for without even physically being in the exact same room as the products that were delivered let alone inspecting the packaging slip or invoice versus the items got. Shipment individuals end up being smart really rapidly to those who hold them responsible and those who do not. A few pounds of missing out on steak here or a couple of bottles of missing liquor there costs a lot of money over an extended amount of time.
Just how much unusable food is stashed away in the freezer, frequently a chef's buddy, and continues to be counted each month during inventory yet is basically worth little or absolutely 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 monetary outcome, train the personnel, and maintain requirements? Or are they paid merely for showing up?
How is your service personnel paid? By hourly wage? Suggestion pool? Some combination of both? Does your pay structure promote tenure 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 liquor, beer, and white wine? Do you have defined put sizes? Are they being adhered to? Do you have pourers which permit just for the pour size for which you are charging? How much of your club's resort's cash is bound in wine stock? Have you established par stocks?
Do you have a Food and Drink minimum? Does it make sense for your club? Do you have a minimum month-to-month service fee? Should you?
Do you offer a staff member meal? How is it accounted for? Is it accounted for at all? Do you enable workers to remove food/beverage from the club? (A bad concept!). Do you enable your employees to consume alcoholic beverages at the end of a shift? (An even worse idea!!).
Personal Occasions
What about your Private Occasions? 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 setting up and breaking down every room based upon the differing requirements of each occasion?
Do your personal event policies make sense? When is the "assurance' due? When is payment in full required? Do you require a signed agreement? Do you even have an agreement that you need be signed?
A Solution
Great deals of questions! Get a management company that will work collaboratively with you to answer all of these and any others and produce a personalized food and beverage experience that shows your unique circumstance and provides what your members/guests want and want to spend for.