I consume food. I drink beverages.
Therefore, I am certified to oversee a Food and Drink operation.
In evaluating the operations of lots of clubs/resorts monthly, I find that a person of the most inadequately run, irregular locations of club/resort operations is Food and Drink. Particularly in member owned environments, which are typically overseen by a club board, individuals seem to think that because they dine out, they in some way have some level of know-how that enables them to make business choices about this crucial aspect of the club. The truth is that this is among the most intricate departments in a club to manage, control, and produce a constant experience.
Let's ask a couple of concerns!
Is your Food and Beverage experience appropriate for what your members/guests wish to have in your club/resort? Are you priced properly, too expensive, or too low? How do you understand? Are you tracking cover counts by day? By shift? By hour?
Are your food choices stuck in the past, a good balance of old favorites and brand-new selections, or edgy? Is your menu created for function or style? Do you alter your menu quarterly, or at least semi-annually to keep it fresh? Or is it changed every year or more and become a club dinosaur? What are your product requirements and portion 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 events. Are they really unique? Do they produce a buzz in the Club? Are they eagerly prepared for or the exact same thing that was done the last ten years with nothing more than the year changed in the newsletter and promotional piece promoting the event? Is your staff challenged every quarter to attempt new occasions? Brand-new rate points?
Got Worth?
What about value added programs? It's occurring every day in the hospitality market. Chili's, Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, Flemings, Cody's Roadhouse, McDonalds, Quiznos, Train, 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 separately 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 wondering why you are doing so couple of covers? Or, are you trying brand-new concepts that may provide "meal replacement" dining instead of just "unique event" dining?
Something as easy as Happy Hour can create additional usage. Home cooking 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 cost on bottles of house white wine, Fresh Fish Fridays or a Friday Fish Fry, a Chef's choice at a special cost on slower evenings, sushi nights, appetizers at a special rate, home entertainment, and lots of other ideas and occasions drive use, supply incremental profits, and keep the personnel working. Are you experimenting with new events in your club/resort? Provide it a try. You'll be amazed at the buzz it produces.
The Experience
How is your dining-room provided? With white table linens? No tablecloths? Placemats? Are you charging properly for the experience you are offering?
How are your buffets provided? Elegantly with skirting, floral displays, and shiny silver chafing meals? Or basic with little or no frills? Does it make good sense?
Do you have requirements of operation to make sure the food and drink experience for your members/guests? Is every team member wearing 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? Are specific steps of service in place?
Does the service staff know the composition of every item, sauce, and portion size from the menu? Is training provided at least regular monthly? Is your staff offering suggestively?
The Technical Aspects
How often do you take a physical inventory? Exists "independence" in the stock procedure to ensure that the counts are precise? Is stock rates changed routinely to reflect the most current expense the club is spending for all inventoried products or is the cost the club paid last year still being used 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 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 impressed at how often deliveries are accepted and signed for without even physically being in the same room as the items that were delivered not to mention examining the packing slip or billing versus the products got. Shipment people become smart very quickly to those who hold them accountable and those who do not. A few pounds of missing out on steak here or a couple of bottles of missing liquor there costs a great deal of cash over an extended amount of time.
How much unusable food is stored in the freezer, often a chef's buddy, and continues to be counted every month during stock 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 monetary result, train the personnel, and preserve requirements? Or are they paid simply for showing up?
How is your service personnel paid? By per hour wage? Tip 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 same for liquor, beer, and red wine? Do you have defined pour sizes? Are they being complied with? Do you have pourers which enable only for the put size for which you are charging? How much of your club's resort's money is bound in wine inventory? 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 month-to-month service charge? Should you?
Do you provide a worker meal? How is it represented? Is it accounted for at all? Do you permit workers to eliminate food/beverage from the club? (A bad idea!). Do you permit your workers to take in alcoholic beverages at the end of a shift? (An even worse concept!!).
Personal Occasions
What about your Private Events? Is your catering menu priced right? What does priced best mean? Have you evaluated the competitive environment? What are you doing to bring weddings and meetings to the club/resort? Are you covering the costs of establishing and breaking down every room based on the differing needs of each event?
Do your private event policies make sense? When is the "guarantee' due? When is payment in full required? Do you require a signed agreement? Do you even have a contract that you need be signed?
An Option
Lots action figure of concerns! Get a management business that will work collaboratively with you to respond to all of these and any others and develop a tailored food and beverage experience that shows your special circumstance and provides what your members/guests want and are willing to pay for.