IHM Notes Site
Dec 18, 202217 min
Topic Wise Notes: Food & Beverage Service
Please note: The answers provided below, are just for reference. Always consult your college professor if you have any queries.
Welfare Catering
The provision of food and beverages to people to fulfil a social obligation, determined by a recognised authority, is known as welfare catering. This grew out of the welfare state concept, prevalent in western countries. It includes catering in hospitals, schools, colleges, the armed forces and prisons.
Welfare Catering is mainly about providing food at minimal costs. It does not serve the purpose of generating revenue. This kind of establishment does not promote a lucrative food menu. They mostly follow a Cyclic Menu that is good enough to fulfill the nutritional requirements of the customer.
Industrial Catering
The provision of food and beverages to ‘people at work,’ in industries and factories at highly subsidised rates is called industrial catering. It is based on the assumption that better fed employees at concessional rates are happy and more productive. Catering for a large workforce may be undertaken by the management itself, or may be contracted out to professional caterers. Depending on the choice of the menu suggested by the management, catering contractors undertake to feed the workforce for a fixed period of time at a predetermined price.
Institutional Catering
The provision of food and beverages to ‘students in schools or colleges’ at highly subsidised rates is called institutional catering. It is the responsibility of the institutes to provide the students with a complete balanced diet. This kind of catering establishment may be under taken by the management itself or may be contracted out to professional caterers. The food menu in this type of establishment is Cyclic and is mostly based on the seasonal availability of ingredients. The concept is not to earn revenue but to serve their own social responsibility.
Travel Catering
The provision of food and beverages to passengers, before, during and after a journey on trains, aircraft and ships and in buses or private vehicles is termed as transport catering. These services may also be utilised by the general public, who are in the vicinity of a transport catering unit. The major forms of modern day transport catering are airline-catering, railways catering, ship catering and surface catering in coaches or buses which operate on long distance routes.
Airline Catering
Catering to airline passengers on board the air craft, as well as at restaurants situated at airport terminals is termed as airline catering. Modern airports have a variety of food and beverage outlets to cater to the increasing number of air passengers. Catering to passengers en route is normally contracted out to a flight catering unit of a reputed hotel or to a catering contractor or to the catering unit operated by the airline itself as an independent entity.
Railway Catering
Catering to railway passengers both during the journey as well as during halts at different railway stations is called railway catering. Travelling by train for long distances can be very tiring; hence a constant supply of a variety of refreshment choices helps to make the journey less tedious. On-board meal services are also provided on long distance trains.
Ship Catering
Ship catering is catering to cargo crew and passenger ship passengers. Ships have kitchens and restaurants on board. The quality of service and facilities offered depends on the class of the ship and the price the passengers are willing
to pay. There are cruises to suit every pocket. They range from room service and cocktail bars to specialty dining restaurants.
Most of modern hotels that sprouted were managed by European families. The Bombay hotel was opened in 1799. The British brought modern hotels to Kolkata. The Oldest was John Spence’s Hotel. Spence’s, the first ever hotel in Asia was opened to the public in 1830. The credit for opening the first Western style hotel under the name of British Hotel in Bombay in 1840, goes to Pallonjee Pestonjee was the first hotel to give a la carte and table de hôte menu. Then came the Auckland hotel by David Wilson in Calcutta in the year 1840-41 (now – The Great Eastern Hotel – officially Lalit Great Eastern Hotel) is a colonial era hotel in the Indian city of Kolkata – formerly Calcutta) and Connemara hotel in madras in the year 1870 by E. A. Oakshroff. But now this property belongs to Taj group.
Today, ITDC provides a complete range of tourism services, including accommodation, catering, and entertainment and shopping, hotel consultancy, duty free shops, and an in-house travel agency. The India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) was set up in 1966 as a corporation under the Indian Companies Act of 1956, with the merger of Janpath Hotel India Ltd.
In 1971-72, a beautiful palace of Rajasthan was linked up to the Taj, the lake palace in Udaipur, a marble dream, afloat lake pichola and the Rambagh palace, originally created at the height of Rajput splendour in Jaipur. In 1903 he raised finance invested his own money, hired the best architects and craftsmen and build the exquisitely beautiful Taj Mahal hotel in Bombay with 220 rooms. Mohan Singh Oberoi took Carlton hotel in Shimla on lease in 1927, renamed as Clarks hotel. He took a building in 1933 and built grand hotel in Calcutta.
Three Welcome Group Hotels were commissioned between 1975 and 1977; these were non-franchised hotels, inspired by the slogan “Be Indian, Buy Indian” and using Indian expertise. Ultimately, however, these hotels adopted the Sheraton system in 1978 and used the services of expatriates for the purposes of upgrading staff training and installing Sheraton operating systems-all without a management contract. This gave the Welcome Group a good start.
When India agreed to host the 1982 Asian Games, the GoI granted licenses for building hotels to the Taj Palace, Asian Hotels Hyatt Regency, India Tourism Development Corporation – Lodhi Hotel, Samrat Hotel, Kanishka, Le Meridien, and Surya Sofitel, with the stipulation that their new hotels had to be completed in time for the games. India hosted the Commonwealth Games in 2010, at Delhi. It was India’s most successful Commonwealth Games to date with Indian athletes winning 38 gold, 27 silver and 36 bronze medals. This also added to growth of hotel industry in India.
Tourism & Hospitality Industry in India contributed Foreign Exchange Earnings (FEEs) during the month of December 2014 were Rs 12,875 crore (US$ 2.03 billion) as compared to Rs 11,994 crore (US$1.9 billion) in December 2013. Foreign Tourist Arrivals, in India, during 2014 was 7.46 million, which translates to a 7.1% growth over the previous year.
The Indian Rupee was relatively stable against the US Dollar and from 59/$ as at the beginning of the year, the exchange rate hovered around 61/$ levels on the average and closed at 62/$ at the yearend for the year 2014-15.
GDP growth in India during the year is estimated at 7.4%. Inflation has decreased significantly from as high as 11.2% in November, 2013 to 5.2% in March, 2015. International tourist arrivals, worldwide, have grown to 1.14 billion in 2014, 4.7% above 2013 and are likely to grow 3% to 4% in 2015. Foreign Exchange Earnings (FEEs) have grown by 6.6% at US$ 19.65 billion for the year.
Hotels – Provision of food and drink together with accommodation, banqueting and conferences.
Restaurants – Restaurant is an establishment that serves food & beverage to customers, to be consumed on the premises e.g. Vasanta Bhavan, Hot Chips.
Fast food outlets – Food and drink served which are quick to prepare and serve and quick to consume e.g. Mc Donald’s, Pizza Hut.
Industrial catering – Provision of food to people at work at subsidized rates.
Welfare is catering – Food served in hospitals, schools, colleges and prisons etc. where the motive is not to earn profit but to cover the cost only. Provision of food is not a primary operation here, but is a part of another operation.
Transport – Provision of food and drink to people on move e.g. Railways, Airlines
Outdoor catering – Provision of service at special events. The venue is left to the people choice and caterer provides the food and drinks at the venue. Standard of the catering depends upon the price agreed by both the parties.
Retail store catering – Big departmental store along with selling their wares also provide the food and beverage service to their customer and same venue.
Takeaways – Service of packed foods e.g. kiosks, KFC. Fish and Chips.
Licensed trade – Provision of food and drink in environment dominated by licensing requirements e.g. Bars, Pubs, Nightclubs, membership clubs
The provision of food and beverages to people to fulfil a social obligation, determined by a recognised authority, is known as welfare catering. This grew out of the welfare state concept, prevalent in western countries. It includes catering in hospitals, schools, colleges, the armed forces and prisons.
Welfare Catering is mainly about providing food at minimal costs. It does not serve the purpose of generating revenue. This kind of establishment does not promote a lucrative food menu. They mostly follow a Cyclic Menu that is good enough to fulfill the nutritional requirements of the customer.
Menu Planning
Menu Merchandising
Menu Engineering
Making Budget for Department
Setting revenue & profit target for department
Cost Control for department
Facility planning for department
Organizing training for employees
Providing solutions for Employee grievances.
He is responsible for recruitment.
Professional & Hygienic Appearance
The food & beverage service personnel are a point of interaction to the guests. A server must be very well groomed so as to project a positive image of the establishment. While working in F & B Service one has to handle food throughout the operation hours; hence the hygienic practices must be followed strictly to ensure the safety of food and to provide hygienic atmosphere and service to customers.
Menu Knowledge
A server must have full knowledge of the food and beverage that are being offered in the menu. Which of the menu items are spicy, less spicy or medium spiced; how a particular item is prepared etc. Proper menu knowledge helps in suggestive selling and up-selling. A server must be aware of the special items for the day/month in the menu. Apart from the knowledge about food preparation, the server must have thorough knowledge about the different service styles chosen as per the menu/occasion/establishment.
Sense of urgency
The food and beverage operations demand a high amount of hard work and multi-tasking abilities are a must. The maximum amount of business is done at the high turnover hours, and a server must have sense of urgency to execute the operations flawlessly.
Punctuality
Punctuality is all important. If the staff is continually late on duty it shows lack of interest in work and lack of respect for management and customers.
Personality and attitude towards customers
The staff must be tactful, courteous, good humored and even tempered. They must converse with the customer in a pleasing and well spoken manner and the ability to smile at the right time pays well.
Honesty and Loyalty
“Honesty is the Best Policy”, as it is said. An honest employee is the most important asset to the organization. The staff must be loyal to the organization and management they are working with. No worker should leave the organization without informing to the management and must not commit any act which goes against the image of the organization.
Memory
This is an essential asset to f & b service staff. A good server must be able to remember the regular guests’ names and their preferences; this helps in making good relations with the customers and hence helps in generating repeat business.
Ability to handle customer complaints
Customer concerns or complaints are a regular part of f & b service operations. One must be tactful enough to handle the complaints and should be able to satisfy the guests. A customer not satisfied is loss to the business and reputation of the establishment.
Sales Ability
Servers reflect the image of the establishment. They are salespeople and must therefore have a complete knowledge of all forms of food and drink and their correct service, and so be able to contribute to personal selling and merchandising. Suggestive selling and up-selling abilities are a must for f & b service personnel.
Contribution to the TEAM
This is the most important attribute as it contributes to each and every quality mentioned above. Together Everyone Achieves More, and a person with ability to perform in a team takes the organization’s achievements to a higher level.
The word banquet means a sumptuous feast or meal. The need for its organization Dates back to such era when it became mandatory to organize a different setup together for Large groups can be separately looked on. Space constrains thus can be sorted out by Engaging particular big halls meant for the purpose and therefore the concept of banqueting Became popular. In the modern-day scenario, banquets are arranged to cater large number of People. It may be in honor of a visiting guest, dignitaries, birthday or marriage. Depending on the nature of the banquet or the function and the degree of the formality attached to it.
Banqueting can be divided into-
Informal banqueting- in this no set plan of seating is followed. Apart from this no formality is expected from the guest side in terms of maintaining the protocols. The best examples are the marriage parties, birthday bash, launch parties etc.
Semi-formal banqueting- in this a part of the function is formal whereas the rest can be informal in its own sense. For example in a company board meeting the top table can be arranged maintaining the protocols and ranking whereas the rest of the table could be at ease with no such arrangement.
Formal banqueting- in this all degrees of formalities and protocols are maintained and therefore elaborate arrangements are required to be made. Normally formal banquets are witnessed in case of head of states hosting function in honor of Visiting dignitaries. These elaborate arrangements are in advance and everything is preplanned to the last details. Elaborate seating arrangements are made with predetermined and marked seat numbers. Seating plans may be given in advance to the guest along with the menu or may be send with the invitation. The actual plan is as per the ranking and during the final show one may find tent cards mentioning names of the guest placed in the particular seating position.
Bar is an outlet of F&B Service where alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, tobacco and some accompanied food items are served. Bars can be of different types:-
Public bar- Also known as cocktail bar, it has a bar counter and seating arrangements in the form of tables & chairs, as well as bar stools along the counter, for loaners. It is opened during lunch and dinner and is handled by a barman. The décor can be general or based on a particular theme and the lighting is generally dim.
Dispense bar- It is a bar which serves beverages to the different F&B outlets like room service, coffee shop, restaurant etc. It is located behind the scene and the timing depends on the F&B outlets with which it is related.
Temporary bar- It is a bar which is specially set for banquets etc. The commodities used in the bars are very expensive and a great deal of care and control of these areas has to be taken by the management. The hotel must have license for dispensing alcohol and a daily inventory must be taken of all alcoholic beverages. A bar has got three parts viz a viz Front bar, Back bar and Under bar
Cleaning and setting tables and placing seasonal decorations, candles, and table cloths.
Welcoming customers, seating them, serving them water or refilling their glasses, and delivering beverages from the bartender.
Keeping menus clean and presenting them to customers.
Stocking wait staff serving stations with napkins, utensils, trays, and condiments, and assisting the wait staff with all aspects of service.
Clearing tables and preparing them for the next customers.
Assisting in cleaning and opening or closing tasks.
Scraping food from dirty dishes, pots, pans, plates, flatware, and glasses, washing dirty dishes, and putting them away.
Assisting with sweeping, mopping, and polishing the restaurant, bar, kitchen, and equipment.
Transporting used linen to or from the laundry or housekeeping section.
Assisting with unloading and storing stock.
These are other department or unit that helps in the smooth functioning of restaurant. These units provide the necessary support to restaurant in the effective operations of the restaurant.
Pantry
This is area that is attached to restaurant. This area is essential for smooth operations in the restaurant during the service. This is the BACKBONE of Restaurant. It is very essential that pantry should be well equipped with all necessary equipment, machines, cutlery, crockery, glassware are the menus that is being served into that restaurant. The pantry in divided into the following areas :
food pickup area
silver room
still room
washup area
Store
This is a department in hotel which store all provisions required by all kitchens & restaurant. Each restaurant gives their requisition to store for procuring all provisions. E.g Sugar cubes, salt, pepper condiment sachet, breakfast cereals, milk all kinds of sugar, jams, jelly.
Linen room
This is one of sections of Housekeeping department which is responsible for receiving dirty restaurant linens and giving back fresh linen. Sometimes linen room also gives uniforms in exchange of dirty ones. E.g. Table cloth, slip cloth, dinner napkins, cocktail napkins, chair covers, frills, buffet table clothes, wiping cloth, dusters etc.
Kitchen Stewarding
This department is responsible for cleaning, maintaining and replenishing all silver ware, cutlery, bone china crockery, glassware & equipment needed during the service. All the service silver should be cleaned and burnished on a rota basis.
The origin of tea is believed to be in China though the legend associated with tea is Japanese. It is said that a monk fell asleep in the course of his meditation and was annoyed with himself that he cut off his eyelids. The place where the eyelids fell a plant arose which would keep sleep away.
Another legend says that when heaven and earth separated the universal cultivator tilled the land and tea was grown. It is interesting to notice that the Chinese ideogram in the 17th century. “Chai” is very commonly associated with tea in many Asian languages. Most historians believe that tea originated in 350 AD and was used by tribes of the regions near the southwestern borders of China. This was used as a brew in hot water.
Plucking– Two leaves and a bud are plucked from every shoot. A bush may be plucked 25-30 times in a year. The best tea is plucked during the flush season in India there are three flush periods, namely:
1st Flush: 15 days of March and April
2nd Flush: 10 days after the 15th of May
3rd Flush: Also known as the autumn flush occurs in October.
Drying-Leaves are dried out on racks. There is up to 50% loss of moisture, which leads to withering.
Rolling– The withered leaves are machines rolled to break cellular structure and release fermenting enzymes giving the leaves a red hue. Prior to the use of machines in 1887 the leaves were hand-rolled in Assam. There are two method of rolling:
C.T.C – CUT TURN CURL – The two cylinders have grooves on them. When the leaves are pass through these cylinders the leaves not only get the
cut and torn but also get curled. The CTC reduces the fermentation time to 1/3. It is a best method but cannot be applied to Green tea and Oolong tea.
LEG CUT – The leaves are shredded into stripped therefore maximum tannin comes out and fermentation is very quick.
Fermentation– This is done at about 82 degrees Fahrenheit for about 3-4 hours. This is essentially done for black tea, and is what gives it its strength, taste and coppery hue.
Firing– Firing is done to check fermentation by passing hot air through leaves at a carefully regulated temperature.
Sorting– The leaves are sorted out as (a) broken or small leaves and as (b) Grades of the leaf.
Grading– The leaves are graded for green tea as per quality and for black tea by size of leaf and leaf particle There are 4 main grades of BLACK TEA:
Leaf Teas – Leaf tea generally yield more flavour than broken and small leaf tea. The Grading are:
FLOWERY ORANGE PEKOE (F.O.P.)
ORANGE PEKOE (O.P.)
PEKOE (P.)
PEKOE SUCHONG
Broken and Small Leaf Tea– Consist of small leaves sieved from bulk intentionally cut after firing to smaller size.
Fanning– Tea leaves are of very small size. The fanning’s and dust are used as tea dust.
Polishing and Dyeing – This process is practiced only in China. The tea leaves are polished using chalk and dyed using indigo.
An interesting story associated with the origin of coffee goes that Kaldi the goatherd discovered that a wild berry had caused his normally docile sheep to be very active and tried the berry himself. Pleased with his discovery he took the berry to the monks who condemned it as the work of the devil and threw it into the fire. The aroma that arose by roasting the berries enchanted the monks and the devil’s work was turned to god’s work and the few
berries collected and mixed with water and were consumed. It was popularized in Europe by Pope Clement VIII. The early coffee houses sprung
around the universities and was hence known as penny universities. Originally, coffee was associated with the Middle East that either a Turkish coffee pot or a Sultan’s head indicated every coffee house. Coffee beans were initially cultivated only in Arabia and the secret was guarded heavily. To ensure that no cultivation of coffee takes place even the beans that were exported were roasted. The Dutch spies managed to smuggle few beans and in turn began to
guard the secret. Palheta who charmed the Dutch Governor’s wife introduced coffee cultivation to Brazil and she gifted him with and bouquet of flowers within which as hidden coffee seedlings.
Curing – It is process of soaking the berries into the water and washing it until all parchment & covering is removed then it is sun/ machine dried & milled.
Polishing and Grading: Depends on the type, size, quality exports and local consumption. The best quality beans are called as ‘supremo’.
Roasting – The degree of roasting differs with regard to the use of the coffee. This is done at 200-220 degree Celsius for 5 mins and to avoid overcooking the beans are sprayed with water or cooled air is passed over them. In the early days this was done over charcoal. During roasting the green beans change colour to brown due to caramelization of the sugars. The oils oozes out & provide aroma. During the process the weight of the beans reduce by 16% but the volume increases. Roasting depends upon the uses of coffee.
LIGHT CITY ROAST: Cinnamon colour, thin flavour and is very popular in the west.
CITY ROAST / BROWN / AMERICAN: Has a flat flavour and is popular in America.
FULL CITY ROAST: Dark brown colour and a hearty flavour.
BRAZILIAN ROAST: There is a trace of oil on the beans.
FRENCH COFFEE: Burnt amber colour and is very close to Espresso roast.
VIENNESE ROAST: The beans are roasted to between full city and French roast
ITALIAN / ESPRESSO ROAST: Almost burnt or carbonized and yields the darkest and the heaviest of coffees.
Grinding: Different coffees have different grinds. The beans are ground to bring out the aroma and flavour from the roasted beans. But grinding also makes the coffee lost its aroma faster than other wise and so it would be best if ground when required. The earliest method of grinding was to use the mortar and pestle and is believed to be the best way of bringing out the flavours. The Box coffee mill succeeded the mortar and pestle, which was similar to a pepper mill. The next in line was the Bladed electric mill in which various blades could be used for various grinds. The grinding electric mill was the next invention. The modern machines available today may be programmed to grind only a specific quantity of beans so that always a fresh grind may be made. The types of grind are:
PULVERISED: Only used for Turkish coffee and is a large grind.
VERY FINE: Used for filter coffee.
FINE EXPRESSO: Specifically, for use in the expresso machine and is generally applied for the Expresso roast.
MEDIUM: This grind is specifically for percolators, vacuum machines, coffee jugs, etc.
COARSE: This is a finer grind than the other grinds. It yields a muddy coffee and the grinds should not be too fine.
Fermenting the beans– the ripe cocoa pods are collected, split open and the beans and pulp surrounding them scooped out and fermented under controlled conditions. The temperature is allowed to rise to 40-45 degree celsius (104-122 f). Fermentation is done to
kill the germ and prevent germination of the seed and decomposition of the bean.
encourage enzyme reaction, reducing bitterness and developing flavour. The beans absorb the liquid from the fermenting sugary pulp which is then converted into alcohol and then to acetic acid. At this stage fermentation is stopped or else it would develop unpleasant flavours and odours.
drying the beans: – this is done either by laying the beans out in the sun for two or three days’ r by passing them through a mechanical drying chamber. When completely dried, they bean should have moisture content of less than 14%.
roasting the beans: – this is essential to develop the flavour and aroma of the beans and give it an even colour. Moisture is lost at this stage which assists in the separation of the shell of the beans.
removing the shell (winnowing): – this is done by passing the beans through a series of rollers and sieves. The de-shelled beans (now mostly broken pieces) are referred to as nibs.
alkalizing the nibs (dutch processing) – this stage further develops the flavour and colour and is usually done by tumbling the nibs in a warm alkali solution. After drying, the nibs may be re-roasted to correct the moisture content.
grinding the nibs – the nibs are ground into very small particles, a process which releases a large amount of fat and results in the mass becoming a thick syrup. The fat is cocoa butter, usually 50% of the nibs.
extracting part of the cocoa butter – the cocoa fluid (or mass or Pate) is then fed into the felt lined steel pans fitted with a movable perforated lid. When subjected to hydraulic pressure some of the fat is forced through the fitter Cloths leaving behind a residue known as press cake. This is removed from the pan, cooled to set the colour, pulverized and sieved. To this very fine powder, a small Quantity of salt and flavouring (vanilla) is usually added before it is marketed as cocoa powder.
Five cocoa Beverages
Traditional Hot Chocolate
Dried Plum Cocoa
Coconut Hot Cocoa
Maple Cocoa
Mexican Hot Cocoa
(a) Spoon : cuillère
(b) Fork : fourchette
(c) Knife : couteau
(d) Plate : assiette
(e) Table cloth : nappe de table
(f) Napkin : serviette de table
(g) Slip cloth : Napperon
(a) Soup plate : 20 cm diameter
(b) B & B plate : 6 inch diameter
(c) Fish plate : 12 inches
(d) Cereal bowl : 28 oz
(e) Coffee cup : 90 ml
(f) Tea cup : 150 ml
(g) Dessert plate : 9 inches diameter
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