I consume food. I consume beverages.
Therefore, I am certified to oversee a Food and Drink operation.
In examining the operations of many clubs/resorts each month, I discover that a person of the most improperly run, irregular locations of club/resort operations is Food and Drink. Especially in member owned environments, which are frequently managed by a club board, people appear to think that since they dine out, they in some way have some level of proficiency that permits them to make business choices about this important element of the club. The reality is that this is among the most complicated departments in a club to handle, control, and produce a constant experience.
Let's ask a few concerns!
Is your Food and Beverage experience suitable for what your members/guests want to have in your club/resort? Are you priced effectively, too high, or too low? How do you know? Are you tracking cover counts by day? By shift? By hour?
Are your food choices stuck in yesteryear, a nice balance of old favorites and brand-new selections, or edgy? Is your menu designed for function or style? Do you alter your menu quarterly, or at least 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 part sizes? Is every product on your menu costed? What is your objective for a la carte food expense? Do you know the contribution margin on every product on your menu?
What about your unique events. Are they actually special? Do they create a buzz in the Club? Are they eagerly prepared for or the same thing that was done the last 10 years with nothing more than the year changed in the newsletter and advertising piece touting the event? Is your personnel challenged every quarter to attempt new events? Brand-new rate points?
Got Worth?
What about value added programming? It's occurring every day in the hospitality market. Chili's, Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, Flemings, Cody's Roadhouse, McDonalds, Quiznos, Subway, and numerous other national franchises are actively programming to keep individuals being available 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 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 couple of covers? Or, are you trying brand-new concepts that may provide "meal replacement" dining instead of just "special celebration" dining?
Something as basic as Delighted Hour can produce extra usage. Comfort food 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 price on bottles of home wine, Fresh Fish Fridays or a Friday Fish Fry, a Chef's selection at an unique cost on slower nights, sushi nights, appetizers at an unique cost, entertainment, and numerous other ideas and occasions drive use, provide incremental revenue, and keep the personnel working. Are you explore brand-new occasions in your club/resort? Give it a shot. You'll be shocked at the buzz it creates.
The Experience
How is your dining room presented? With white tablecloths? No tablecloths? Placemats? Are you charging properly for the experience you are providing?
How are your buffets provided? Elegantly with skirting, flower screens, and glossy silver chafing dishes? Or simple with little or no frills? Does it make sense?
Do you have requirements of operation to guarantee the food and drink experience for your members/guests? Is every team member using a tidy and pushed designated uniform? Exists a specific way to present menus, serve, food, cocktails, and red wine? Are members called by name? Are specific actions of service in place?
Does the service personnel know the structure of every product, sauce, and portion size from the menu? Is training supplied a minimum of monthly? Is your staff selling suggestively?
The Technical Aspects
How typically do you take a physical inventory? Exists "self-reliance" in the stock process to guarantee that the counts are precise? Is stock pricing adjusted routinely to show the most recent expense the club is spending for all inventoried products or is the expense the club paid last year still being used to figure out stock worth?
Do you follow this mantra when receiving and inventorying items?
If you buy 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 situations, accept it blindly.
I am amazed at how often deliveries are accepted and signed for without even physically remaining in the same space as the products that were provided not to mention examining the packaging slip or billing against the products got. Delivery individuals become savvy extremely quickly to those who hold them responsible and those who don't. A few pounds of missing steak here or a couple of bottles of missing out on liquor there costs a lot of cash over an extended period of time.
Just how much unusable food is stashed away in the freezer, often a chef's best friend, and continues to be counted every month throughout inventory yet is essentially worth little or absolutely nothing?
What does the organizational structure appear like in your club's F&B operation? How are your supervisors compensated? Are they incented to produce a specific financial result, train the personnel, and maintain requirements? Or are they paid just for showing up?
How is your service staff paid? By hourly wage? Idea pool? Some combination of both? Does your pay structure promote tenure or turnover? What about overtime? Are you paying overtime? Legally?
In addition to costing every item on every menu, have you done the same for liquor, beer, and wine? Do you have defined pour sizes? Are they being abided by? Do you have pourers which permit only for the put size for which you are charging? How much of your club's resort's money is tied up in white wine inventory? Have you recognized par stocks?
Do you have a Food and Drink minimum? Does it make sense for your club? Do you have a minimum monthly service fee? Should you?
Do you supply an employee meal? How is it accounted for? Is it represented at all? Do you enable workers to remove food/beverage from the club? (A bad concept!). Do you allow your staff members to consume alcohols at the end of a shift? (An even worse concept!!).
Private Events
What about your Personal Events? Is your catering menu priced right? What does priced best mean? Have you assessed the competitive environment? What are you doing to bring weddings and conferences to the club/resort? Are you covering the expenses of setting up and breaking down every space based upon the differing needs of each occasion?
Do your private event policies make good sense? When is the "guarantee' due? When is payment in full required? Do you require a signed contract? Do you even have an agreement that you require be signed?
An Option
Lots of concerns! Get agriculture importers a management business that will work collaboratively with you to respond to all of these and any others and create a tailored food and drink experience that shows your unique circumstance and provides what your members/guests desire and are willing to pay for.