I eat food. I consume beverages.
For that reason, I am qualified to supervise a Food and Drink operation.
In assessing the operations of many clubs/resorts monthly, I find that one of the most inadequately run, inconsistent areas of club/resort operations is Food and Beverage. Particularly in member owned environments, which are often overseen by a club board, people appear to think that since they dine out, they somehow have some level of proficiency that permits them to make organization choices about this essential element of the club. The truth is that this is one of the most complex departments in a club to handle, control, and produce a constant 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 high, or too low? How do you know? Are you tracking cover counts by day? By shift? By hour?
Are your food selections stuck in the past, a great balance of old favorites and brand-new choices, or edgy? Is your menu developed for function or fashion? Do you alter your menu quarterly, or at least semi-annually to keep it fresh? Or is it altered every year or more and become a club dinosaur? What are your product specs and part 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 unique occasions. Are they truly special? Do they produce a buzz in the Club? Are they eagerly anticipated or the same thing that was done the last ten years with absolutely nothing more than the year changed in the newsletter and advertising piece promoting the event? Is your personnel challenged every quarter to attempt new events? New price points?
Got Value?
What about worth added programs? It's occurring every day in the hospitality industry. Chili's, Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, Flemings, Cody's Roadhouse, McDonalds, Quiznos, Subway, and numerous other national franchises are actively programming to keep people can be found in. Any question the success rate of franchises is over 90% while the success rate of individually owned dining establishments is about 10%?
What are you doing 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 few covers? Or, are you trying brand-new ideas that may offer "meal replacement" dining rather of only "special celebration" dining?
Something as simple as Pleased Hour can produce extra usage. Home cooking such as meatloaf, chicken casserole, lasagna, or comparable for" at $8 or $9 during 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 an unique cost on slower evenings, sushi nights, appetisers at a special cost, entertainment, and numerous other concepts and events drive usage, supply incremental revenue, and keep the staff working. Are you try out brand-new occasions in your club/resort? Offer it a try. You'll be amazed at the buzz it creates.
The Experience
How is your dining-room provided? With white table linens? No table linens? Placemats? Are you charging properly for the experience you are supplying?
How are your buffets provided? Elegantly with skirting, flower screens, and glossy silver chafing meals? Or fundamental with little or no frills? Does it make sense?
Do you have standards of operation to ensure the food and beverage experience for your flow meter members/guests? Is every staff member using a clean and pressed designated uniform? Exists a specific manner to present menus, serve, food, mixed drinks, and wine? Are members called by name? Specify actions of service in location?
Does the service staff know the composition of every item, sauce, and portion size from the menu? Is training supplied at least regular monthly? Is your personnel selling suggestively?
The Technical Aspects
How typically do you take a physical stock? Is there "independence" in the stock procedure to ensure that the counts are accurate? Is stock pricing changed routinely to show the most current expense the club is paying for all inventoried items or is the cost the club paid last year still being used to identify inventory value?
Do you follow this mantra when receiving and inventorying items?
If you buy it by the pound, weigh it. If you buy it by the piece, count it. If you purchase it by ounce or length, determine it? Under no situations, accept it blindly.
I am surprised at how frequently shipments 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 invoice versus the items received. Shipment people end up being savvy really quickly to those who hold them accountable and those who don't. A couple of pounds of missing steak here or a couple of bottles of missing out on liquor there costs a great deal of money over an extended period of time.
How much unusable food is stored in the freezer, often a chef's best friend, and continues to be counted every month throughout stock yet is essentially worth little or 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 particular financial outcome, train the personnel, and preserve requirements? Or are they paid merely for revealing up?
How is your service personnel paid? By per hour wage? Pointer 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 item on every menu, have you done the exact same for alcohol, beer, and white wine? Do you have defined pour sizes? Are they being abided by? Do you have pourers which allow just for the pour size for which you are charging? How much of your club's resort's cash is bound in white wine inventory? Have you established par stocks?
Do you have a Food and Drink minimum? Does it make good sense for your club? Do you have a minimum month-to-month service fee? Should you?
Do you provide a staff member meal? How is it accounted for? Is it accounted for at all? Do you enable employees to eliminate food/beverage from the club? (A bad concept!). Do you permit your workers to consume alcohols at the end of a shift? (An even worse concept!!).
Private Events
What about your Private Events? Is your catering menu priced right? What does priced right mean? Have you assessed the competitive environment? What are you doing to bring wedding events and conferences to the club/resort? Are you covering the costs of establishing and breaking down every space based upon the varying requirements of each event?
Do your personal event policies make good sense? When is the "assurance' due? When is payment completely needed? Do you need a signed agreement? Do you even have a contract that you need be signed?
A Solution
Great deals of concerns! Get a management business that will work collaboratively with you to respond to all of these and any others and create a personalized food and drink experience that shows your special circumstance and supplies what your members/guests want and want to spend for.