I eat food. I consume beverages.
Therefore, I am certified to manage a Food and Drink operation.
In assessing the operations of lots of clubs/resorts every month, I find that a person of the most inadequately run, inconsistent areas of club/resort operations is Food and Beverage. Especially in member owned environments, which are typically overseen by a club board, individuals appear to believe that because they dine out, they in some way have some level of proficiency that allows them to make business decisions about this important element of the club. The reality 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 appropriate for what your members/guests wish to have in your club/resort? Are you priced correctly, expensive, or too low? How do you understand? Are you tracking cover counts by day? By shift? By hour?
Are your food selections stuck in yesteryear, a great balance of old favorites and brand-new choices, or edgy? Is your menu developed 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 item requirements and portion sizes? Is every product on your menu costed? What is your objective for indoor lighting a la carte food cost? Do you know the contribution margin on every product on your menu?
What about your unique occasions. Are they actually unique? Do they produce a buzz in the Club? Are they excitedly prepared for or the very same thing that was done the last 10 years with absolutely nothing more than the year changed in the newsletter and promotional piece promoting the occasion? Is your staff challenged every quarter to try brand-new events? Brand-new rate points?
Got Worth?
What about value included programming? 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 nationwide franchises are actively setting to keep individuals being available in. Any question the success rate of franchises is over 90% while the success rate of separately owned dining establishments is about 10%?
What are you performing 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 couple of covers? Or, are you attempting brand-new principles that may offer "meal replacement" dining rather of just "special celebration" dining?
Something as basic as Delighted Hour can generate extra use. Comfort food such as meatloaf, chicken pot pie, lasagna, or similar for" at $8 or $9 during the week are popular. Taco bars, pasta bars, burger night, half cost on bottles of home red wine, Fresh Fish Fridays or a Friday Fish Fry, a Chef's selection at an unique price on slower nights, sushi nights, appetizers at an unique cost, home entertainment, and lots of other ideas and occasions drive usage, provide incremental revenue, and keep the personnel working. Are you explore brand-new occasions in your club/resort? Provide it a shot. You'll be amazed at the buzz it creates.
The Experience
How is your dining-room presented? With white tablecloths? No tablecloths? Placemats? Are you charging properly for the experience you are supplying?
How are your buffets presented? Elegantly with skirting, floral displays, and shiny silver chafing dishes? Or rudimentary with little or no frills? Does it make good sense?
Do you have standards of operation to guarantee the food and drink experience for your members/guests? Is every staff member using a tidy and pressed designated uniform? Is there a particular manner to present menus, serve, food, cocktails, and red wine? Are members called by name? Specify actions of service in place?
Does the service personnel know the structure of every product, sauce, and part size from the menu? Is training supplied a minimum of month-to-month? Is your personnel selling suggestively?
The Technical Aspects
How typically do you take a physical stock? Is there "self-reliance" in the inventory procedure to ensure that the counts are precise? Is stock pricing adjusted frequently to show the most current cost the club is spending 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 getting and inventorying products?
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 scenarios, accept it blindly.
I am surprised at how typically deliveries are accepted and signed for without even physically being in the very same space as the items that were delivered let alone checking the packing slip or billing against the products received. Delivery individuals become savvy very rapidly to those who hold them responsible and those who don't. A couple of pounds of missing out on steak here or a couple of bottles of missing out on alcohol there costs a lot of cash over a prolonged time period.
Just how much unusable food is stored in the freezer, frequently a chef's best friend, and continues to be counted monthly during stock yet is basically worth little or absolutely 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 standards? Or are they paid simply for showing up?
How is your service personnel paid? By hourly wage? Tip swimming pool? Some combination 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 same for alcohol, beer, and wine? Do you have specified put sizes? Are they being stuck to? Do you have pourers which enable only for the put size for which you are charging? Just how much of your club's resort's cash is bound in wine stock? Have you recognized 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 offer a worker meal? How is it accounted for? Is it accounted for at all? Do you allow staff members to eliminate food/beverage from the club? (A bad idea!). Do you allow your workers to take in liquors at the end of a shift? (An even worse concept!!).
Private Occasions
What about your Private Occasions? Is your catering menu priced right? What does priced ideal mean? Have you evaluated the competitive environment? What are you doing to bring weddings and conferences to the club/resort? Are you covering the costs of establishing and breaking down every room based upon the differing needs of each occasion?
Do your personal event policies make good sense? When is the "warranty' due? When is payment completely needed? Do you require a signed contract? Do you even have an agreement that you need be signed?
An Option
Lots of questions! Get a management company that will work collaboratively with you to respond to all of these and any others and produce a personalized food and beverage experience that shows your distinct situation and offers what your members/guests want and want to spend for.