I eat food. I consume beverages.
For that reason, I am certified to supervise a Food and Drink operation.
In assessing the operations of many clubs/resorts every month, I find that one of the most improperly run, inconsistent areas of club/resort operations is Food and Beverage. Particularly in member owned environments, which are typically managed by a club board, people appear to believe that because they eat in restaurants, they somehow have some level of knowledge that enables them to make organization choices about this important 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 couple of questions!
Is your Food and Drink experience appropriate for what your members/guests want to have in your club/resort? Are you priced properly, 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 yesteryear, a nice balance of old favorites and new selections, or edgy? Is your menu designed for function or fashion? Do you change your menu quarterly, or at least semi-annually to keep it fresh? Or is it altered every year or more and end up being a club dinosaur? What are your item requirements and part sizes? Is every item on your menu costed? What is your goal for a la carte food cost? Do you know the contribution margin on every product on your menu?
What about your special occasions. Are they truly unique? Do they produce a buzz in the Club? Are they excitedly anticipated or the same thing that was done the last 10 years with absolutely nothing more than the year altered in the newsletter and marketing piece touting the occasion? Is your staff challenged every quarter to attempt new events? New rate points?
Got Worth?
What about worth added programming? It's occurring every day in the hospitality market. Chili's, Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, Flemings, Cody's Roadhouse, McDonalds, Quiznos, Subway, and many other nationwide franchises are actively setting to keep individuals coming in. Any question the success rate of franchises is over 90% while the success rate of individually owned dining establishments has to do with 10%?
What are you carrying out in your club to produce a "WOW" for your members/guests in your Food and Drink 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 attempting brand-new principles that may supply "meal replacement" dining instead of only "unique event" dining?
Something as basic as Delighted Hour can generate extra usage. Home cooking such as meatloaf, chicken casserole, lasagna, or similar for" at $8 or $9 during the week are popular. Taco bars, pasta bars, burger night, half cost on bottles of house wine, Fresh Fish Fridays or a Friday Fish Fry, a Chef's selection at a special rate on slower nights, sushi nights, appetisers at an unique price, home entertainment, and many other principles and occasions drive usage, supply incremental revenue, and keep the personnel working. Are you try out new occasions in your club/resort? Provide it a shot. You'll be shocked at the buzz it develops.
The Experience
How is your dining room provided? With white tablecloths? No tablecloths? Placemats? Are you charging properly for the experience you are providing?
How are your buffets presented? Elegantly with skirting, flower screens, and shiny silver chafing meals? Or primary with little or no frills? Does it make sense?
Do you have requirements of operation to ensure the food and beverage experience for your members/guests? Is every employee using a tidy and pushed designated uniform? Exists a specific way to present menus, serve, food, mixed drinks, and red wine? Are members called by name? Specify actions of service in location?
Does the service personnel know the composition of every product, sauce, and portion size from the menu? Is training offered at least month-to-month? Is your personnel selling suggestively?
The Technical Aspects
How often do you take a physical stock? Is there "independence" in the inventory process to make sure that the counts are accurate? Is stock pricing adjusted regularly to reflect the most current cost the club is paying for all inventoried items or is the cost the club paid last year still being utilized to figure out inventory worth?
Do you follow this mantra when getting and inventorying items?
If you buy it by the pound, weigh it. If you purchase it by the piece, count it. If you buy it by ounce or length, measure it? Under no scenarios, accept it blindly.
I am astonished at how often shipments are accepted and signed for without even physically being in the exact same space as the products that were delivered not to mention checking the packaging slip or invoice against the items received. Shipment people become smart very quickly to those who hold them liable and those who do not. A couple of pounds of missing steak here or a few bottles of missing alcohol there costs a lot of money over a prolonged amount of time.
Just how much unusable food is stored in the freezer, often a chef's buddy, and continues to be counted monthly during inventory yet is essentially worth little or absolutely 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 particular monetary outcome, train the personnel, and keep standards? Or are they paid just for revealing up?
How is your service personnel paid? By hourly wage? Suggestion swimming pool? Some mix of both? Does your pay structure promote tenure 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 red wine? Do you have defined put 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 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 fee? Should you?
Do you supply a staff member meal? How is it accounted for? Is it accounted for at all? Do you permit staff members to remove food/beverage from the club? (A bad concept!). Do you allow your workers to household cleaning tools take in liquors at the end of a shift? (An even worse idea!!).
Personal Occasions
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 weddings and meetings to the club/resort? Are you covering the expenses of establishing and breaking down every space based on the differing needs of each occasion?
Do your personal event policies make good sense? When is the "assurance' due? When is payment in full needed? Do you need a signed agreement? Do you even have a contract that you need be signed?
An Option
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 personalized food and beverage experience that shows your distinct circumstance and supplies what your members/guests want and are willing to spend for.