FOOD AND BEVERAGE OUTLETS (F & B)

FOOD AND BEVERAGE OUTLETS

Food and beverage outlets are the areas in a hotel where food and beverage are sold to both in-house and outside guests. The following types of food and beverage can be seen which may or may not attach to a hotel.

Specialty restaurant
These restaurants deal in a particular type of cuisine like Chinese, Italian or French etc. Each and every aspect of the restaurant is typical and related to the area of region of community whose food is being served. The food, service, uniform, décor etc. are ethnic and authentic of the area whose cuisine the restaurant specializes upon. When one enters into such kind of restaurant one can feel the culture and tradition of that area. These restaurants may be attached to a hotel or may independently exist. They have specific hours of function and normally more expensive than ordinary restaurants.

Multi cuisine restaurant
These restaurants deal with more than one cuisine like Indian, Chinese and Continental etc. They are not as exclusive as the specialty restaurants. There is no emphasis on adherence to the culture and tradition of a particular area of region or community. They may be attached to a hotel or may independently exist. They generally have specific time of operation when attached to a hotel. They may be operating on a straight shift from morning till night when independently existing. They are not as highly priced as a speciality restaurant.

Bar
These food and beverage outlets deal with the alcoholic beverages only. They may be attached to a hotel or independently existing. They have certain specific hours of operation and the law strictly governs the operation. Their hours of operation, inventory, location and client to whom they should serve etc are governed and regulated by the law-enforcing agency.

Room Service
This food and beverage outlet is attached to a hotel and caters to the F and B requirements of the guests who are staying in the hotel only. These F and B outlets cannot independently exist. The service in room service is always in trays and trolleys. In a five star hotel the room service operates round the clock. The prices in the room service are generally more than the coffee shop.

Banquets
This is generally attached to a hotel of restaurant. This outlet generally caters to a huge gathering of people who assemble in the banquet hall for events like reception, marriage party, birthday, conference, seminar etc. The service is generally from a buffet when a lot of guests have to be served within a short span of time. Sometimes formal lunch, dinner etc also takes place in banquet halls. This is the highest revenue producing F and B outlet in any commercial hotel. Sometimes banquet halls can independently exist where an outside contractor does the catering part.


Coffee Shop
This is generally attached to a hotel. In a five star hotel the coffee shop operates round the clock. It cannot independently exist. The service is very informal and emphasis is on pace of service. Service is generally snacks and very light meals.
The meals part is not as elaborate as the restaurant. Prices are not as exorbitant as the restaurants. Although the coffee shop is operational round the clock there are meal timings when the certain items are available which are not available at other times. There are some dishes, which are available all 24 hours.

Pub
A pub generally independently exists, which serves only beer. The atmosphere in a pub is generally very informal most pubs have a very informal seating arrangement and generally designed to suit the likings and requirements of the youth. They also have specific hours of operation and the law like a bar governs operations. Books of inventory and accounts are maintained as per the government regulation and are supposed to produce them before the concerned authority as and when required.

Discotheque
This may be attached to a hotel or may independently exist. The ones, which independently exist, are open to anybody who can pay but most allow only couples. The ones, which are attached to the hotels, are not only opened to the members but guests accompanied by members are also allowed. They also have specific hours of operations and are normally attached with a bar.

Pastry shop
They may be attached to a hotel or may independently exist. They deal with only pastry or pastry related products. Those, which are attached to hotels, deal with pastry prepared in the same hotel. The ones, which are not attached to hotels, have their own bakery either in the same premises of outside the premises. Service is done across the counter. Very limited seating arrangements may be provided if space permits.

Cafeteria
These generally independently exist and are found in railway stations and airports etc. The service is generally self-service. Food is displayed in the counter and the guests helps himself in picking up the food as per his liking as he moves along the counter and finally pays the bill at the end of the counter. Sometimes payment of the bill may be through coupon also. Very informal atmosphere exists in these outlets and prices are not very high.

Poolside barbeque
These are generally attached to the hotels and operate near the poolside. They generally operate for lunch and dinner only. There are adequate lighting arrangements to take care of the dinnertime. The menu is not very elaborate and comprises a lot of grilled and barbequed items. Some light meals are also available. These outlets are generally attached with their own kitchens, which are more often than not makeshift. A bar may be attached to the outlet or alcoholic beverages may be served from the service bar. Once again the décor is very informal like a coffee shop. Service is very much similar to the coffee shop as well.

Grill Room
These kinds of hotels are generally attached to the star hotels although they can be found independently existing also. They specialize in grills and barbequed items only. The kitchen is separated from the service area by a glass partition so that guest can see the chef preparing the food. This give rise to impulse buying. The guests are normally assured of better hygienic condition as they can see the actual food preparation.

Permit Room
They are generally found in restaurants and in hotels existing in the dry states like Gujarat. In a restaurant there is a specific area where one can serve alcoholic beverages. The restaurant cannot pour alcoholic beverages an area outside this.
Same set of rules and regulations are applicable to the permit room as applicable to the bar. Prior license have to be secured from the appropriate authority before starting a permit room.

Night Club
They are generally attached to hotels and are open to members only. The operation starts late in the evening and goes on till late in the night. Stripes, cabarets and floorshows etc. are performed as a part of the entertainment. These are not seen in recognized star and commercial hotels. An elaborate menu is offered and the service is quite formal and extensive. It opens only for members. Alcohol is served to the members.

Fast Food Outlets
They are generally not attached to a hotel and are found independently existing. They serve fast foods, which are easy to prepare to easy to carry and eat. These outlets provide very limited seating arrangements and people are not encouraged to sit and pass time in these places. Service is done in disposable plates and packets. Patrons are supposed to get their food from across the counter. There may be one person to look after the clearance and cleanliness of the place. Very limited service is provided.

Coffee Bar: This is a very recent development and becoming very popular. These outlets deal with only coffee. They specialize in different types of coffee. Both alcoholic and non-alcoholic coffees are served here. The alcoholic coffees are commonly called as speciality coffee.

Cyber Café
These are also very recent developments and fast growing in popularity. Each outlet provides computers with Internet facility and the guest can surf the Internet for a specific period of time paying certain amount of money. The outlet also provides light refreshments like tea, coffee and snacks to keep the people engaged when there are two different sessions with the computer.







Vending machine
Such kind of a service involves service from a machine is requiring a coin or token of a particular denomination and the product comes out through an outlet in the machine itself. These machines are not extensively used in India and the use is still confined to tea, coffee and packed milk etc.

Pizza outlets
These are outlets that mostly stand-alone. These outlets have been a recent development in India over the past decades. Their food mainly deals with pizzas. They also offer food & beverage like pasta, garlic bread, soft drinks, ice-tea etc. In India chains like Pizzeria, U .S pizza, Pizza hut, Smoking Joe’s etc are very popular. This trend has given rise to the franchising business, hence making pizza a youth food trend along with family and office treat zones. Basically covering all age groups of people. These outlets also deal with home delivery and take away. They usually have a moderate or minimum seating arrangement in an informal manner or tables are attached to walls with high chairs. Here one can enjoy hot & fresh food. One also has the optional at most places to plan their own pizza as per the available ingredients in the menu.

Home delivery/ take away
This has been a recent trend over the past few years. As the name suggests, these outlets deal with delivery of food till your doorstep. These are stand-alone restaurants (kitchen only) that emphasize only on quick preparation of food & its delivery. There is no seating arrangement available here. The staff may contain chefs, order taker, cashier and delivery boys. The order taker takes orders over the phone or of walk in guest, notifies the kitchen and hands over the food packets to guest or delivery boys. He also might take the cashiering responsibilities at the counter, which might be overlooked by the manger. Normally such outlets do not charge for home delivery. Food is provided in plastic containers, aluminum foils, plastic bags etc. These outlets must not be confused with restaurants, which provides services of home delivery.

Drive-Inns
These are developing outlets, which have not yet made a strong base in India. In places like U.S, U.K etc they have already make their mark and are best accepted. Mc Donald has stared this type of service in few of its outlets. This kind of restaurant may be attached to a hotel or stand-alone. They are normally situated at highways or near petrol pumps etc. This kind of outlet has no seating arrangement only a path around the outlet for vehicles to enter and exit. It has one or two counters where the attendant takes your order and payment, at the other counter if any pick up / delivery of the food is order is done. These outlets are time saving and economical.

Chai- bars
Just like coffee bar these outlets also deals with only one kind of beverage i.e. tea. In India, tea in the Hindi language is known as “chai”. These outlets may mostly have an informal atmosphere and seating arrangement. The menu here includes variety of tea based on different regions, method of preparation etc. These outlets may also provide light snacks on the menu to go along with the beverage. These outlets may be stand-alone or may be attached to a restaurant. If attached to a restaurant the same premises is used for service with a different menu card or tent card only for tea.




Bakery
These outlets may be attached to a hotel, pastry shop or may be stand-alone. They may or may not have a seating arrangement. They may have a kitchen/ place attached to the outlet where bakery items are prepared. The ready to eat food items are then put at the counter for display. . The food items mainly deal with various bread preparations .The guests can then choose his food and make payment over or at the end of the counter.


Grill and eat
These are restaurants, which give a lot of emphasis on guests and their interests in food. The main attraction being the fact that guest has to pick ingredients, raw meat, vegetables etc of their choice from the counter & cook food himself on grillers / cooking range provided on the table itself. The grillers or cooking range is a part of the décor. The chefs are available for assistance at all times. The guests may not have knowledge of cooking & might harm themselves hence safety and first aid is also given importance. These kinds of restaurants may be attached to a hotel or stand-alone. Here they do have an elaborate seating arrangement. The restaurant may or may not a theme for itself depending upon the country, region or cuisine they are dealing with.

QSR: quick service restaurant
Theses are fast food outlets, which give importance not only to the pace but also to the quality of service delivered. These are basically stand-alone restaurants that might have a brand name attached to them; hence quality plays an important role here. The seating arrangement and ambience is usually informal. The service staff may or may not collect order from the table as some of these restaurants have counter service available.























TYPES AND STYLES OF SERVICE
Depending upon different factors like the client, the location, the volume of operation, peak hours etc. service can be of many different types to suit the requirements of a particular establishment. An establishment can have a particular type of service or a combination of service depending upon the requirement of the restaurant. The different types of service shich one can some across are:
Silver service: This type of service involves service from entrée dishes and platters with the helo of service spoon and fork on to the guest plate by the steward or the waiter. This is a very formal type of service which is carried out in very exclusive restaurants. Such kind of a service require skilled and professional staff. The service is slower in comparison to plated service. This is also known as English service.
Plated Service: This kind of service involves service of preplated food. The food is pre portioned. Placed and garnished on the plate itself in the kitchen. The steward is supposed to just place the plate infront of the guest. Such kind of service does not require much skill and generally carried out in the coffeeshop where emphasis is on the pace of service and not on the quality of service. This is also called American service.
French Service: This service involves presentation of food to the guest individually by the service staff and the guests help themselves. This is also known as buttler service. Such kind of service is generally seen in the military establishment.
Russian Service: This kind of service involves the lay up of the table with the food already presented for the guest to have themselves. Sometimes wrongly referred to as gueridon service.
Gueridon service: This service involves preparation of food gueridon or the side table infront of the full view of the guests. Gueridon service involves operations like filleting, flambeying, carving, jointing etc. This kind of service generally requires special skills and generally seen in very high class restaurant. One of the most common item which is prepared on the gueridon is salads. In gueridon service the main preparations are done in the kitchen and the final touch is given on the gueridon inside the restaurant in the full view of the guests.
Bar counter service: hear the service is done on the semicircular counter to the guest who are seated on the other side of the counter. Generally seen in the bars. Now a days seen in some fast food oulets as well.
Buffet service: this service involve presentation of food on the buffet counter in chafing dishes and large.platters and the guest are supposed to help themselves
A stand of buffet the only cutlery kept on the buffet is fork the guest have to help themselves from a separate counter for water as well. The guest are supposed to keep their dirty plate at a designet place and the stewards are supposed to clear them at a time.when a lot of guests are to be served in a short span of time this service is carried out.
Room service: this is done from the room service dept. of the hotel to guests staying in the room of the hotel only. Here the service is done with the help of trayes and trollies.the trollies are generally attached with hot cases to keep the food hot. Here the food is pre plated from kitchen and when it is carried on a tray the plate is covered with the plate cover.
Cafeteria service :hear the food are displayed in the counters the guest are supposed to move around the counter to pick up the food as per they liking and pay at the end pf the counter. In certain cases the payment is done in way of coupons. Such kind of a service is generally seen in railway station and air ports.
Free flow: Here the guest can freely move to any service point but the exit is generally through one particular point where the bill may be paid. The adwantage is that the guest does not hase to stay in a queue for his
Automatic vending machine: such kind of a service involves service from a machine is require a coin or token of a particular denomination and the product comes out through an outlet in the machine itself. These machine are not extensively used in India and the use is still confined to tea,coffee and packed milk etc.
Echelon: conters are at an angle in a free flow area for saving of space and expedite the service
Food court: there are counter of different cuisine and separate dining area . food can be picked up from the choosen area and it can be eaten in the dining area.
Super market: here there are island service counters and a separate dining area . here food can be picked up from any counter without having to wait or stand in a queue and can be eaten in the designated dining area.
Tray and trolley service: (in situ)this refer to service in an area which is not desined for the proper service of food and beverage like hospital and office premises. Here the service is done with the help of tray and trolley.