I consume food. I consume beverages.
For that reason, I am qualified to oversee a Food and Drink operation.
In assessing the operations of numerous clubs/resorts every month, I discover that a person of the most improperly operated, irregular areas of club/resort operations is Food and Beverage. Particularly in member owned environments, which are frequently overseen by a club board, people appear to believe that because they dine out, they somehow have some level of know-how that permits them to make organization choices about this important element of the club. The reality is that this is one of the most intricate departments in a club to handle, control, and produce a constant experience.
Let's ask a couple of questions!
Is your Food and Beverage experience suitable for what your members/guests want to have in your club/resort? Are you priced properly, 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 yesteryear, a nice balance of old favorites and new selections, 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 two and become a club dinosaur? What are your product specifications and portion sizes? Is every item on your menu costed? What is your goal for a la carte food cost? Do you understand the contribution margin on new phone every product on your menu?
What about your special events. Are they really special? Do they develop a buzz in the Club? Are they excitedly anticipated or the exact 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 try brand-new events? Brand-new cost points?
Got Worth?
What about worth added shows? It's occurring every day in the hospitality market. Chili's, Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, Flemings, Cody's Roadhouse, McDonalds, Quiznos, Subway, and numerous other nationwide 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 has to do with 10%?
What are you carrying out in your club to develop 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 new concepts that may offer "meal replacement" dining instead of only "special event" dining?
Something as simple as Pleased Hour can create additional use. 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 home red wine, Fresh Fish Fridays or a Friday Fish Fry, a Chef's choice at an unique rate on slower evenings, sushi nights, appetizers at an unique rate, entertainment, and many other principles and events drive use, offer incremental income, and keep the staff working. Are you try out new events in your club/resort? Provide it a shot. You'll be surprised at the buzz it produces.
The Experience
How is your dining-room presented? With white table linens? No table linens? 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 meals? Or fundamental 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 staff member using a clean and pressed designated uniform? Exists a particular way to present menus, serve, food, mixed drinks, and red wine? Are members called by name? Specify steps of service in place?
Does the service staff understand the structure of every product, sauce, and portion size from the menu? Is training provided a minimum of regular monthly? Is your personnel offering suggestively?
The Technical Aspects
How frequently do you take a physical inventory? Is there "self-reliance" in the stock procedure to ensure that the counts are precise? Is stock prices changed frequently to show the most current cost the club is spending for all inventoried products or is the cost the club paid in 2015 still being utilized to determine stock value?
Do you follow this mantra when getting and inventorying items?
If you purchase it by the pound, weigh it. If you buy it by the piece, count it. If you purchase it by ounce or length, measure it? Under no situations, accept it blindly.
I am surprised at how often shipments are accepted and signed for without even physically remaining in the exact same space as the products that were delivered not to mention inspecting the packaging slip or invoice versus the products received. Delivery individuals become smart really rapidly to those who hold them liable and those who do not. A couple of pounds of missing out on steak here or a couple of bottles of missing out on liquor there costs a great deal of money over an extended time period.
Just how much unusable food is stashed away in the freezer, typically a chef's friend, and continues to be counted every month during inventory yet is essentially 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 financial outcome, train the personnel, and keep standards? Or are they paid just for showing up?
How is your service staff paid? By hourly wage? Idea swimming pool? Some mix of both? Does your pay structure promote period or turnover? What about overtime? Are you paying overtime? Lawfully?
In addition to costing every product on every menu, have you done the exact same for alcohol, beer, and wine? Do you have specified put sizes? Are they being adhered to? Do you have pourers which enable just for the put size for which you are charging? Just how much of your club's resort's money is tied up in wine stock? 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 charge? Should you?
Do you supply a staff member meal? How is it accounted for? Is it accounted for at all? Do you permit workers to remove food/beverage from the club? (A bad concept!). Do you allow your employees to consume alcoholic beverages at the end of a shift? (An even worse idea!!).
Private Events
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 wedding events and conferences to the club/resort? Are you covering the expenses of establishing and breaking down every room based on the varying needs of each occasion?
Do your personal occasion policies make sense? When is the "warranty' due? When is payment in full required? Do you require a signed contract? Do you even have a contract that you need be signed?
A Solution
Great deals of concerns! Get a management company that will work collaboratively with you to answer all of these and any others and develop a customized food and beverage experience that reflects your special scenario and supplies what your members/guests desire and are willing to spend for.