I eat food. I drink beverages.
Therefore, I am qualified to manage a Food and Drink operation.
In examining the operations of lots of clubs/resorts every month, I find that a person of the most improperly run, irregular locations of club/resort operations is Food and Beverage. Especially in member owned environments, which are typically managed by a club board, people appear to think that because they eat in restaurants, they somehow have some level of proficiency that enables them to make service decisions about this essential aspect of the club. The reality is that this is among the most complex departments in a club to manage, control, and produce a constant experience.
Let's ask a couple of questions!
Is your Food and Beverage experience appropriate for what your members/guests want to have in your club/resort? Are you priced effectively, too 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 nice balance of old favorites and new selections, or edgy? Is your menu developed for function or fashion? Do you change your menu quarterly, or a minimum of semi-annually to keep it fresh? Or is it changed every year or more and end up being a club dinosaur? What are your product specs and part sizes? Is every product on your menu costed? What is your goal for a la carte food cost? Do you understand the contribution margin on every item on your menu?
What about your unique events. Are they actually special? Do they produce a buzz in the Club? Are they excitedly expected or the very same thing that was done the last 10 years with absolutely nothing more than the year changed in the newsletter and marketing piece promoting the event? Is your staff challenged every quarter to attempt new events? New rate points?
Got Value?
What about value added shows? It's taking place every day in the hospitality market. Chili's, Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, Flemings, Cody's Roadhouse, McDonalds, Quiznos, Train, and many other national franchises are actively setting to keep people coming in. Any wonder the success rate of franchises is over 90% while the success rate of separately owned dining browse around these guys establishments is about 10%?
What are you performing in your club to develop 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 few covers? Or, are you trying new concepts that may supply "meal replacement" dining rather of just "unique event" dining?
Something as basic as Pleased Hour can create extra usage. Comfort food such as meatloaf, chicken casserole, lasagna, or comparable for" at $8 or $9 throughout the week are popular. Taco bars, pasta bars, hamburger night, half rate on bottles of home wine, Fresh Fish Fridays or a Friday Fish Fry, a Chef's choice at a special rate on slower evenings, sushi nights, appetizers at an unique cost, entertainment, and many other concepts and events drive usage, offer incremental earnings, and keep the personnel working. Are you try out brand-new occasions in your club/resort? Offer it a try. You'll be shocked 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, flower displays, and shiny silver chafing dishes? Or rudimentary with little or no frills? Does it make good sense?
Do you have requirements of operation to ensure the food and drink experience for your members/guests? Is every employee using a clean and pressed designated uniform? Exists a specific way to present menus, serve, food, cocktails, and red wine? Are members called by name? Are specific steps of service in location?
Does the service staff understand the composition of every item, sauce, and portion size from the menu? Is training offered at least regular monthly? Is your personnel selling suggestively?
The Technical Aspects
How frequently do you take a physical stock? Is there "self-reliance" in the stock process to guarantee that the counts are accurate? Is inventory pricing adjusted frequently to reflect the most current cost the club is spending for all inventoried products or is the expense the club paid in 2015 still being used to identify inventory worth?
Do you follow this mantra when receiving and inventorying products?
If you purchase it by the pound, weigh it. If you purchase it by the piece, count it. If you purchase it by ounce or length, determine it? Under no circumstances, accept it blindly.
I am impressed at how typically shipments are accepted and signed for without even physically being in the exact same room as the products that were provided let alone inspecting the packaging slip or invoice against the items got. Delivery people become savvy extremely rapidly to those who hold them responsible and those who don't. A couple of pounds of missing out on steak here or a few bottles of missing out on alcohol there costs a lot of money over an extended time period.
Just how much unusable food is stashed away in the freezer, typically a chef's buddy, and continues to be counted every month during inventory yet is basically worth little or nothing?
What does the organizational structure appear like in your club's F&B operation? How are your managers compensated? Are they incented to produce a particular financial outcome, train the staff, and keep requirements? Or are they paid merely for showing up?
How is your service personnel paid? By hourly wage? Suggestion pool? Some combination of both? Does your pay structure promote period or turnover? What about overtime? Are you paying overtime? Legally?
In addition to costing every item on every menu, have you done the exact same for liquor, beer, and red wine? Do you have defined pour sizes? Are they being stuck to? Do you have pourers which allow just for the put size for which you are charging? How much of your club's resort's cash is tied up in white wine inventory? Have you recognized par stocks?
Do you have a Food and Beverage minimum? Does it make good sense for your club? Do you have a minimum month-to-month service charge? Should you?
Do you offer an employee meal? How is it accounted for? Is it accounted for at all? Do you permit workers to get rid of food/beverage from the club? (A bad idea!). Do you enable your employees to take in alcohols at the end of a shift? (An even worse concept!!).
Personal Occasions
What about your Personal Events? Is your catering menu priced right? What does priced ideal mean? Have you assessed the competitive environment? What are you doing to bring weddings and meetings to the club/resort? Are you covering the costs of setting up and breaking down every room based upon the varying requirements of each occasion?
Do your private occasion policies make sense? When is the "assurance' due? When is payment in full needed? Do you need a signed contract? Do you even have a contract that you require be signed?
An Option
Lots of questions! Get a management company that will work collaboratively with you to address all of these and any others and create a tailored food and beverage experience that shows your distinct scenario and offers what your members/guests want and are willing to spend for.