I eat food. I drink beverages.
Therefore, I am qualified to manage a Food and Beverage operation.
In assessing the operations of many clubs/resorts monthly, I find that one of the most poorly run, irregular locations of club/resort operations is Food and Drink. Especially in member owned environments, which are frequently supervised by a club board, individuals appear to believe that due to the fact that they eat in restaurants, they in some way have some level of know-how that allows them to make business choices about this important element of the club. The truth is that this is among the most complicated departments in a club to manage, control, and produce a consistent experience.
Let's ask a few questions!
Is your Food and Beverage experience suitable for what your members/guests want to have in your club/resort? Are you priced correctly, too expensive, or too low? How do you know? Are you tracking cover counts by day? By shift? By hour?
Are your food choices stuck in the past, a great balance of old favorites and new choices, or edgy? Is your menu designed for function or fashion? Do you change your menu quarterly, or a minimum of semi-annually to keep it fresh? Or is it changed every year or 2 and become a club dinosaur? What are your product requirements and part sizes? Is every product on your menu costed? What is your goal for a la carte food cost? Do you understand the contribution margin on every item on your menu?
What about your unique occasions. Are they truly special? Do they develop a buzz in the Club? Are they eagerly expected or the very same thing that was done the last ten years with absolutely nothing more than the year changed in the newsletter and marketing piece touting the occasion? Is your personnel challenged every quarter to attempt brand-new occasions? New price points?
Got Worth?
What about worth included programs? It's occurring every day in the hospitality market. Chili's, Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, Flemings, Cody's Roadhouse, McDonalds, Quiznos, Train, and many other nationwide franchises are actively programming to keep people coming in. Any question the success rate of franchises is over 90% while the success rate of individually owned restaurants is about 10%?
What are you doing in your club to develop a "WOW" for your members/guests in your Food and Drink offerings? Are you standing pat on your $32 filet and $28 sea bass questioning why you are doing so couple of covers? Or, are you trying new concepts that may supply "meal replacement" dining instead of only "unique celebration" dining?
Something as basic as Delighted Hour can produce extra usage. Home cooking 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 price on bottles of house red wine, Fresh Fish Fridays or a Friday Fish Fry, a Chef's choice at a special cost on slower evenings, sushi nights, appetizers at a special rate, home entertainment, and numerous other concepts and occasions drive use, offer incremental profits, and keep the staff working. Are you explore brand-new events in your club/resort? Give it a try. You'll be surprised at the buzz it creates.
The Experience
How is your dining-room provided? With white table linens? No tablecloths? Placemats? Are you charging properly for the experience you are offering?
How are your buffets provided? Elegantly with skirting, floral screens, and glossy silver chafing dishes? Or basic with little or no frills? Does it make sense?
Do you have standards of operation to make sure the food and drink experience for your members/guests? Is every staff member wearing a tidy and pressed designated uniform? Is there a particular way to present menus, serve, food, mixed drinks, and white wine? Are members called by name? Specify steps of service in location?
Does the service staff know the structure of every product, sauce, and portion size from the menu? Is training supplied a minimum of regular monthly? Is your staff offering suggestively?
The Technical Aspects
How frequently do you take a physical inventory? Is there "independence" in the stock process to make sure that the counts are accurate? Is inventory rates changed regularly to show the most current expense the club is paying for all inventoried products or is the expense the club paid last year still being utilized to identify stock value?
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 situations, accept it blindly.
I am surprised at how often deliveries are accepted and signed for without even physically being in the very same space as the why not try here items that were provided not to mention checking the packing slip or invoice versus the products received. Delivery individuals end up being savvy very rapidly to those who hold them responsible and those who don't. A few pounds of missing out on steak here or a couple of bottles of missing out on alcohol there costs a great deal of cash over a prolonged period of time.
How much unusable food is stored in the freezer, often a chef's buddy, and continues to be counted each month during stock yet is basically 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 monetary outcome, train the personnel, and keep requirements? Or are they paid simply for showing up?
How is your service personnel paid? By hourly wage? Pointer swimming pool? Some mix 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 same for alcohol, beer, and wine? Do you have specified pour sizes? Are they being abided by? Do you have pourers which permit only for the pour size for which you are charging? How much of your club's resort's cash is tied up in wine stock? Have you established par stocks?
Do you have a Food and Beverage minimum? Does it make good sense for your club? Do you have a minimum regular monthly service charge? Should you?
Do you offer a staff member meal? How is it represented? Is it accounted for at all? Do you permit workers to remove food/beverage from the club? (A bad concept!). Do you permit your employees to consume alcoholic beverages at the end of a shift? (An even worse idea!!).
Personal Occasions
What about your Personal Events? Is your catering menu priced right? What does priced ideal 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 costs of establishing and breaking down every space based on the differing needs of each event?
Do your personal event policies make good sense? When is the "warranty' due? When is payment in full needed? Do you require a signed contract? Do you even have a contract that you need be signed?
A Service
Lots of concerns! Get a management business that will work collaboratively with you to answer all of these and any others and create a tailored food and beverage experience that shows your distinct circumstance and provides what your members/guests want and are willing to spend for.