I eat 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 each month, I discover that one of the most badly operated, irregular locations of club/resort operations is Food and Beverage. Specifically in member owned environments, which are often managed by a club board, people seem to think 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 company choices about this essential aspect of the club. The reality is that this is one of the most complex departments in a club to manage, control, and produce a constant experience.
Let's ask a couple of questions!
Is your Food and Drink experience suitable for what your members/guests want to have in your club/resort? Are you priced appropriately, too expensive, or too low? How do you understand? Are you tracking cover counts by day? By shift? By hour?
Are your food choices stuck in the past, a nice balance of old favorites and brand-new choices, or edgy? Is your menu designed for function or style? Do you change your menu quarterly, or a minimum of semi-annually to keep it fresh? Or is it altered every year or 2 and end up being a club dinosaur? What are your product requirements and portion sizes? Is every product on your menu costed? What is your goal for a la carte food expense? Do you know the contribution margin on every product on your menu?
What about your special events. Are they actually unique? Do they produce a buzz in the Club? Are they excitedly anticipated or the exact same thing that was done the last 10 years with nothing more than the year altered in the newsletter and advertising piece promoting the event? Is your staff challenged every quarter to attempt brand-new events? Brand-new rate points?
Got Worth?
What about worth added shows? It's occurring every day in the hospitality industry. Chili's, Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, Flemings, Cody's Roadhouse, McDonalds, Quiznos, Train, and many other national franchises are actively programming to keep people can be found in. Any wonder the success rate of franchises is over 90% while the success rate of individually owned restaurants is about 10%?
What are you carrying out in your club to produce a "WOW" for your members/guests in your Food and Beverage 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 brand-new ideas that may supply "meal replacement" dining instead of only "special celebration" dining?
Something as simple as Delighted Hour can create extra use. Home cooking such as meatloaf, chicken casserole, lasagna, or similar for" at $8 or $9 throughout the week are popular. Taco bars, pasta bars, burger night, half price on bottles of house wine, Fresh Fish Fridays or a Friday Fish Fry, a Chef's choice at a special rate on slower nights, sushi nights, appetisers at an unique rate, home entertainment, and many other concepts and events drive usage, supply incremental income, and keep the personnel working. Are you explore new events in your club/resort? Give it a shot. You'll be surprised 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 presented? Elegantly with skirting, floral displays, and shiny silver chafing dishes? Or simple with little or no frills? Does it make good sense?
Do you have requirements of operation to guarantee the food and beverage experience for your members/guests? Is every employee wearing a clean and pressed designated uniform? Is there a particular manner to present menus, serve, food, cocktails, and white wine? Are members called by name? Are specific steps of service in place?
Does the service personnel understand the composition 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 frequently do you take a physical inventory? Exists "self-reliance" in the inventory process to make sure that the counts are precise? Is stock pricing adjusted frequently to show the most current cost the club is paying for all inventoried items or is the expense the club paid last year mechanic tool still being utilized to figure out stock value?
Do you follow this mantra when getting and inventorying products?
If you buy 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 surprised at how often shipments are accepted and signed for without even physically being in the very same space as the products that were delivered not to mention checking the packaging slip or invoice versus the goods received. Shipment individuals become savvy very quickly to those who hold them responsible and those who do not. A few pounds of missing steak here or a couple of bottles of missing alcohol there costs a great deal of cash over an extended amount of time.
How much unusable food is stored in the freezer, often a chef's best friend, and continues to be counted on a monthly basis throughout stock yet is basically worth little or absolutely nothing?
What does the organizational structure look like in your club's F&B operation? How are your managers compensated? Are they incented to produce a particular financial result, train the staff, and maintain requirements? Or are they paid just for revealing up?
How is your service personnel paid? By per hour wage? Suggestion swimming 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 alcohol, beer, and red wine? Do you have defined put sizes? Are they being adhered to? Do you have pourers which permit only for the pour size for which you are charging? Just how much of your club's resort's money is bound in red wine inventory? Have you established par stocks?
Do you have a Food and Beverage minimum? Does it make sense for your club? Do you have a minimum regular monthly service fee? Should you?
Do you provide a staff member meal? How is it accounted for? Is it represented at all? Do you enable employees to remove food/beverage from the club? (A bad idea!). Do you allow your staff members to take in alcohols at the end of a shift? (An even worse concept!!).
Private Occasions
What about your Personal Events? Is your catering menu priced right? What does priced right 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 room based upon the varying needs of each event?
Do your private occasion policies make good sense? When is the "guarantee' due? When is payment completely required? Do you require a signed contract? Do you even have an agreement that you need be signed?
A Solution
Great deals of concerns! Get a management business that will work collaboratively with you to address all of these and any others and create a customized food and drink experience that reflects your distinct scenario and supplies what your members/guests want and are willing to pay for.