Unit 09 Managing Food Production

Student Name:

Student ID:
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2

Part A.........................................................................................................................................2

Critically evaluate a range of food preparation and production systems...............................2

How have these systems been designed to help meet a diverse range of business and
customer requirements?..........................................................................................................3

Compare and contrast the differences....................................................................................6

Part B..........................................................................................................................................8

Appraise specific examples of different approaches and methods to planning food

preparation and production.....................................................................................................8

Compare specific examples of different approaches............................................................10

Determine the resources you need and explain how they will be managed.........................10

Produce some SOPs in line with key performance indicators (KPIs)..................................11

Explain how you are going to monitor your business..........................................................12

How you will identify the differences between planned and actual result...........................14

How you will react if things did not go according to plan and how these changes
(deviations) will affect the business.....................................................................................14

Appraise different approaches and provide recommendations............................................15

Conclusion................................................................................................................................16

References................................................................................................................................16

1|Page
 Introduction
Managing a restaurant or catering service, especially food production and preparation, can be
hectic. However, it's the most important thing to do because based on the food, the overall
business will be operated. That's why a critical analysis must be done, and all the options
must be evaluated before choosing any final approaches. Also, while selecting either the food
production and preparation system or different techniques for food preparation, the theme of
the restaurant, types and number of customers going to be served, and other important factors
must be considered. So that the overall planning perfectly suits the business and maximum
value can be achieved from that.

2|Page
 Part A

Critically evaluate a range of food preparation and production systems.

Food production and preparation refers to the processes by which different ingredients and
raw materials get converted into dishes that are consumable for humans. Food preparation
and production processes consist of scientific approaches, and different types of them exist.
Some of the famous systems are described below:

Cook-freeze.

The cook-freeze is a food preparation and production system where the full cooking is done
by fast freezing (C Beckford, 2016). The food is stored at a low temperature which is at least
minus 18-degrees or below. Here, from the first step of processing initial raw ingredients to
the final service, everything is done by cook-freezing. When the time comes for serving to
the customer, the food gets reheated. However, food preparation and production are mostly
done by food manufacturers rather than caterers. The process can be described as,

Foods are prepared Frozen Cold or hot plating.

Cook-chill.

The cook-chill food production and preparation system refers to the complete food
preparation, and the production system is done by fast chilling (Christou, 2013). The storage
is also done at a temperature above the freezing level, which is usually between 0-degree C
and 3-degree C. When the times comes to serving to the final customer, the food gets
reheated. Foods produced in this system have a short shelf-life compared to foods prepared in
the cook-freeze system. Caterers with low investment and minimum staffs use this type of
food production and preparation system. The whole process can be described as,

Foods are prepared Chilled Hot or cold plating.

3|Page
 Figure: Food Production and Preparation in a restaurant (Byjus, 2018)

Centralised

Centralised food production and preparation system is consisting of both production and
service components by using either place or time or both (Byjus, 2018). After the food is
centrally prepared, it gets delivered in satellite or receiving kitchens, either in a ready-to-
serve condition or in a semi-prepared condition, in centralised food production, two things
always need to be considered while transporting the food, that is temperature and packaging.

How have these systems been designed to help meet a diverse range of
business and customer requirements?
Each of the system described above has different characteristics and done by following
different processes. However, they have a distinctive design to meet a diverse range of
business and customer requirements. Those are described below:

Cook-freeze system design.

 Quality of the food: Maintaining the quality of the food should be measured under a
tight specification (Matthias Lütke Entrup, 2005). When the food is prepared in a
large batch, regular check and quality control procedures get done.
 Food storage: Food is kept and stored under a specific temperature level by ensuring
all the hygiene. Strict caution is followed to avoid cross-contamination.

4|Page
  Cooking: Food preparation under the cook-freezing process is done in batches. The
cooking must be done in a way so that heat reaches all the parts evenly and the
temperature is at least 70-degree C.
 Blast-freezing and storage: To maintain the food quality and restrict the growth of
bacteria, the food should be blast-frozen initially at minus 5-degree C and then it
should be lower down to minus 18-degree C (Pablo Cano Marchal , 2019). While
keeping the food on the clod storage, each container must have the information of
product, name, batch, manufacturing and expiry dates for better quality control.
 Distribution: The distribution is done by using chilled insulated containers for short-
distance and refrigeration for long-distance.
 Regeneration: For regeneration, the food should be heated to at least 70-degree C and
gets served within the next 90 minutes.

Figure: Cook-freeze production (Yıkıcı, 2015)

Cook-chill system design.

 Cooking: The cooking is done by ensuring that heat has penetrated all the parts of the
food equally and there has been the destruction of non-sporing pathogens.
 Portioning: After cooking, the food gets portioned in either single or multi-batched
containers with a depth of a maximum of 50mm (Yıkıcı, 2015). It gets done within 30
minutes of the food got prepared.

5|Page
  Blast-chilling and chill storage: The chilling of the food will be at a temperature level
of 0 to 3-degree C to preserve the quality. The shelf-life of the food is a maximum of
5-weeks. So, all the containers get the labelling with proper information while storing.
 Distribution: For long journeys, the distribution is done in a refrigerator system at 0 to
3-degree C (Pablo Cano Marchal, 2019). On the other hand, containers are used in
short-journey, and the temperature level remains at 5-degree C.
 Regeneration: Before regeneration, the food temperature must reach 5 to 10-degree C,
and after the regeneration, the food must be consumed or destroyed within the next
twelve hours.

Figure: Cook-chill production (Yıkıcı, 2015)

Centralised system design.

 The finishing kitchen and regeneration process: It depends on the structure of the
kitchen. If the food is distributed in trolleys or ovens under the thermal heating
system, such as in hospitals, then it is a finishing kitchen (Katz, 2003). On the other
hand, kitchens with ovens, microwaves, refrigeration, storage etc., are considered
regeneration kitchens.

6|Page
  The distribution and transportation: Depending on the food type and distance, the
transportation method is chosen that can maintain a desired level of temperature.
Otherwise, the temperature fluctuation may affect the food's condition and taste.
 Container and storage: For storage and distribution, contains made with metals and
ceramic are chosen (Grófová and Srnec, 2012). The containers' depth also needs to be
considered depending on the food condition that is fully cooked, semi-cooked, etc.

Figure: Centralised food production system. (Yıkıcı, 2015)

7|Page
Compare and contrast the differences.
The differences and comparisons of each of the food preparation and production system are
described below.

No Food Advantages Disadvantages Business &

. Production Customer
Process Suitability
 Offers more  It needs to be This system is
shelf-life. consumed or suitable for food
 It can be done destroyer after manufacturer rather
uniformly. reaching a than any caterer or
1. Cook-freeze  Lower labour certain restaurants.
System cost. temperature. Caterers and

 Better quality  Not suitable restaurant may buy

management. for all recipes. from the

 Food safety manufacturers
issues occur. based on customer
demand.
 It offers a  Specialised The process is
uniform equipment is suitable and used
workflow. needed. by hospitals or big
 Labour and  Higher utility hotels and
food cost in cost. restaurants where
2. Cook-chill minimum.  Hard to large batches of
System  Ease of on-site maintain cooking are
catering. customer required.

 The amount of satisfaction.

food needed  Some recipes
can be are not
forecasted. applicable.
 Separation in  Requires high This system is
production and capital followed in food
distribution investment. factories and
activities  If not properly satellite kitchens

8|Page
 ensures utilised, the with less manpower
efficiency. cost of the and capital take
3. Centralised  Bulk purchase meal services from those
System reduces raw increases. factories and serve
material cost.  No real-time the final customers.
 The storage feedback.
stage  Production
maximises issues or
efficiency by failures cause
utilising staff the entire
and equipment. process to
 Less energy stop.
consumption.

9|Page
 Part B

Appraise specific examples of different approaches and methods to

planning food preparation and production.
There're different approaches and methods for planning food preparation and production that
are used by food services. The planning is set based on the number of people they're going to
serve, the theme of the restaurant, capital and equipment etc.

Menu

Food preparation and production planning must require one thing that is the menu
(Saffarionpour, 2019). It works as a guideline of what to produce and how to produce. So,
here's how one can plan a menu.

Step-1: The first step is to determine the function. For example, deciding if the menu is for
restaurant, hotel room service, catering, wines or drinks or dessert.

Step-2: Then comes the state where meal type or time is determined. For example, if the
menu is getting prepared for breakfast, lunch, dinner or happy hour.

Step-3: While planning a menu selecting the cuisine or style of service is important. Such as
American, Mexican, Indian, Italian, etc., depending on the theme.

Step-4: The pricing of each food category needs to be determined based on the material,
production and other costs.

Step-5: Finally, it's important to decide how many and what choices the customer is going to
get under each food category so that the food preparation will be done based on that.

Equipment and supplies

Food preparation and production can't be done without proper equipment and supplies
(Deutsch, 2020). So, here's how one can plan equipment and supplies.

Step-1: Before buying equipment and supplies, it is important to know about the equipment's
quality and features. If possible, it's better to visit a restaurant and gather some knowledge
about these.

10 | P a g e
Step-2: It's important to make a list of which equipment's and supplies are needed for the
food preparation. Some common equipment is refrigerators, slicers, cooking lines, mixers,
sinks, shelves, utensils, etc.

Step-2: It's important to consider the space of the building or area where the production and
preparation of food will happen. So that buying unnecessary and oversized equipment can be
avoided.

Step-3: Consider the price of different equipment according to the budget, and then the final
decision should be made.

Step-4: Ensure that the staff are comfortable and known with the equipment and supplies'
functions and operating panel. If then its better to either switch to another option or educate
the staffs.

Production Scheduling

In product scheduling, it gets decided that what amount of each item on the menu will be
prepared, time, additional instruction, staff responsibility, etc. (Hotelier Tanji, 2013). So,
here's how one can plan the product scheduling,

Step-1: The first step of production scheduling is pre-preparation. Here, the raw materials get
handles for the cooking such as cutting, peeling, blanching etc. Depending on the recipe and
amount of food going to be produced, the pre-preparation gets done.

Step-2: Then comes the step where the caterer or restaurant cooks the food. After deciding
the menu, arranging equipment and pre-preparation, now it's time for cooking the food.

Step-3: The next step is to hold or preserve the food after cooking. It's a critical step because
without holding or preserving the food, the food's quality and taste with decrease.

Step-4: The last step of the production schedule is serving. All these forecasting and food
preparation becomes completed after it gets served to the final customer.

Compare specific examples of different approaches.

Above, it has been discussed on the different approaches and methods of planning food
preparation and production. The discussed methods were menu preparation, planning
equipment and supplies and production scheduling (Bower, 2009). Here, the step-by-step

11 | P a g e
process has been explained. However, it doesn't mean that the approaches can't be done or
applied in a different way. For instance, in the menu preparation approach, it can happen that
the caterer or chef decides to develop multiple menus for each food item category, such as
one for the appetiser, one for the main course, one of drinks and beverages, one of the deserts
etc. Manus can also be differentiated based on the categories such as fixed, cyclic or single-
use.

Then come the equipment and supplies. If the caterer to restaurant owner wants, they can hire
a kitchen expert who will design the whole structure and necessary equipment and supplies
for the kitchen, which will help cut many steps and hassle (Dashuk, 2020). Also, in product
scheduling, it is possible to do some alteration is cooking, serving and holding steps based on
the theme and food of the restaurant or caterer. There are different types of each approach. It
should be the manufacturer, caterer, or restaurant of how they want to plan their food
preparation and production based on their suitability.

Determine the resources you need and explain how they will be managed.
To manage food production and preparation for a restaurant, some resources must be
planned, managed and coordinated. Because without those resources, it won't be possible to
handle the overall process. So, here're some of those resources and the processes and
procedures of managing them.

Human Resources

Without the right human resources, no planning could be implemented and that why
recruiting and hiring the right people is mandatory (Razinkova, 2020). A food production and
preparation business will require different staff types for different job responsibilities, such as
kitchen staff, managerial staff, floor staff, bar staff, delivery staff, etc. Each of the employee
and workers needs to be managed properly. For instance, the kitchen staff is the core
members of a food production business. Before recuring, it is important to know their
cooking skills, experimenting, creativity, etc. (Chavez and Seow, 2012). These qualities will
help to ensure for which kitchen staff position the person is qualified, such as Gourmet Chef,
Sour Chef, Commis, helpers etc. The same goes for managerial staff who will manage the
whole workflow, floor staff who will ensure the people are getting all the services, the bar
staff who will prepare exotic drinks etc.

12 | P a g e
Physical resources

The physical resources of food production and preparation consist of the building, equipment,
supplies, machinery, etc. While choosing these things, first, it is needed to consider the theme
of the food and how and where it is going to reach the final customer. Some of the common
physical resources that are needed by every food production and preparation are cooking
equipment that includes oven grill, deep fryer, holding equipment, toaster, range, griddles,
broiler, microwave (Wentz, 2009). Refrigeration and storage equipment includes a
refrigerator, freezer, ice machine, beverage dispenser, shelving, unitality carts, sheet pan
racks, food storage containers etc. Food preparation equipment includes, food processor, prep
table, mixers, blender, and utensils include chef knives, cutting boards, spoons, whisks, pans,
mixing bowl etc. Besides these other physical resources are display and décor, transport
supplies, serving equipment, furniture and seating etc.

Financial Resources

No one can start a food production and preparation business without an adequate number of
financial resources. However, this resource requires the utmost cautious planning and
management. The panning and management of financial resources include start-up costs that
include security deposit or down payment, construction and renovation, purchasing or leasing
kitchen equipment, furniture's, food inventory, licensing, employee salaries, etc. (Judina,
2019). These things must be determined according to the budget, size of the business and
potential.

Produce some SOPs in line with key performance indicators (KPIs).

Standard Operating Procedures or SOP in the food industry defines some detained and
written instruction developed for the food safety system and ensures balance in daily
activities (Byjus, 2018). There could be many SOPs for the food preparation and production
business.

Handwashing

Purpose: To reduce and prevent the possibilities of food, raw and packaging materials
contamination by employees.

13 | P a g e
Responsibility: All the employees and workers of the facility, suppliers, contractors who have
permission to visit according to the company policy must follow the rules.

 Expose the wrists by rolling up the sleeves.

 Use warm water to wet hands and apply soap/liquid soap up to the wrists.
 Rub the hands for up to 30 seconds. Scrub properly all over and between the fingers,
palm, wrists.
 Properly rinse the hands with warm water.
 Wipe the hands with a clean paper towel and dry them.
 Turn off the faucet and clean it using a paper-towel.
 Throw off the used paper-towels in the garbage bin.

Purchase the raw materials for cooking.

Purpose: Ensure purchasing raw materials and food from the approved and authentic vendors
and suppliers.

Responsibility: All the assigned employees and workers must follow the rules and check
properly before purchasing.

 Understanding the need for specific ingredients for food preparation and production.
 Purchasing packaged food from the listed supplier of the company.
 Check the product's packaging to ensure authenticity and reputable licensing.
 Check the freshness of the products.
 Observe the transportation to ensure that the products will be delivered with safety
and desirable temperature level.
 Collect information of the delivery man and driver. Ask for the authentic ID.
 Recheck the product list to ensure buying all the necessary items from the selected
vendors and suppliers.

Explain how you are going to monitor your business.

Only planning and starting a business isn't enough. There must be regular monitoring to
evaluate the performance of the business. Here's how the food preparation and production
business can be monitored.

14 | P a g e
Planning and analysing production

The planning and analysing production includes what type of food preparation and
production system is going to be applied, what would be the menu, how the production
forecasting will be done, whom to hire, what equipments will be used etc. (Yıkıcı, 2015).
Here the overall structure of the business is determined that works as the outline for further
monitoring.

Inventory management

The inventory should be monitored so that it can be ensured that all the raw materials and
ingredients are available according to the menu and customer demand for specific food, and
there are enough items available for the time being.

Focusing on recipe management

It's important to evaluate if the dishes are getting prepared by following the right recipe, and
if the result of the final outcome is the perfect just way it was expected (C Beckford, 2016).
Regular recipe management helps to identify issues in the food preparation so that necessary
step can be taken.

Waste management

While food production and customer serving, a lot of leftovers and waste gets produced. And
it's very important to ensure waste management for those leftovers. It can be done by using
appropriate waste containers, securing waste areas, taking steps for adequate waste removal
etc. It helps to maintain food safety and prevents contamination.

Managing shelf-life

It's never desirable to use expired or rotten products, and not each product and dishes have a
different shelf life. In the inventory, each item must have correct information on its labels
regarding the manufacturing and shelf life (Christou, 2013). Also, while using any of the
ingredients, the information should be checked before the final usage.

Forecasting & recording sales

It's important to forecast or predict a certain number of sales for the food that is going to be
prepared. It helps to meet the goals. Also, regular monitoring must be done to record the sales

15 | P a g e
to compare the actual data with forecasted data to get an overall idea of how the business is
going on.

How you will identify the differences between planned and actual result.
Even though identifying the difference between the planned and actual result seems difficult
and complicated, it doesn't mean it always has to be the same (Matthias Lütke Entrup, 2005).
If it's a small business, then the owner himself/herself or with the help of a manager or
assistant can calculate the difference. However, a big business might require help from an
outsider professional to understand the overall result. The simple way to understand the
difference is to set a standard for each activity. After monitoring them, compare the
monitored result with the standard, and then it'll be clear if there're any differences. For
instance, the standard for inventory management can be setting a specific inventory turnover
and then compare the result after a certain period. Similarly, for recipe and waste
management, it should be monitored that if things are happening the way they should be, and
if not, then what's the issue.

Usually, the difference gets easily noticed when the same mistakes for troubles are repeatedly
happening and then it a must to take a deep look at that matter and find out the causes (Pablo
Cano Marchal, 2019). However, one most important thing to monitor and identify the result
is of the sales and profit performance is happening the way it was desired or expected. The
variance calculation should be done wither in a weekly, monthly, or quarterly basis. It gives
the idea of the business operation and gives insights into which areas of the business or
management requires improvement to reduce the variance and gain more profit and sales
margin.

How you will react if things did not go according to plan and how these
changes (deviations) will affect the business.
It's natural if the business doesn't go as planned because uncertainty and risk are part of every
initiative. However, except a few exceptions, the changes or deviations can always be settled
by taking some wise steps (Katz, 2003). So, by not being hyper or overwhelming, it's better
to react according to the following steps.

16 | P a g e
Finding out the actual issues

When a change or deviation gets identified, it usually comes in a group or combination,

which means there's always a multiple cause that affects each other. However, to solve or
reduce the variation, it's needed to look for the actual or major cause that made all other
things to change. To do that, proper monitoring is mandatory. For example, if the number of
customers is getting reduced, it must be happening for the food quality or serving issues that
need to be identified.

Measure the amount of deviation.

After finding out the actual causes now, it's time for measuring the amount of deviation.
There are many statistical and scientific approaches and methods by which one can measure
the amount of deviation or changes (Grófová and Srnec, 2012). If it can't be done by the
owner alone, he/she can seek help from someone else or any professional. So that, the
solution can be implied depending on the depth of the deviation. For example, if the customer
is getting reduced, it affects regular sales and profit margin.

Search for ways to solve the issues.

Only finding the causes and measuring the depth of the issues won't work for any good
without finding any solutions. It may not be difficult to look out for the solutions if the owner
adequately finds the issues and measures the variance because it will give an insight into
what is happening and how it can be stopped (Saffarionpour, 2019). For example, suppose
the number of customers is getting reduced, and the problem is in the food recipe. In that
case, the owner can choose to upgrade the menu and recipe or instruct the chef for more
creativity in the food preparation.

Setting precautions for future problems.

It's important to take lessons from the mistakes and apply necessary precaution so that the
same thing doesn't happen again. However, it can't be done overnight and requires lots of
time and analysis (Deutsch, 2020). But whatever it takes, setting precautions for future
problems is worth it so that there's no need to deal with the same problem repeatedly, and the
focus could be shifted to any new arising issues for better handling.

Now comes the question of how the changes or deviations will affect the business. Indeed,
ever change or deviations cause some lose and damages to the business, but if it gets pointed

17 | P a g e
out at an early stage, it's possible to avoid anything big. However, the changes can affect a
food production and preparation business in many ways (Hotelier Tanji, 2013). For instance,
it can turn down the food quality, increase customer dissatisfaction, hamper the stakeholder's
relationship, decrease the sales and profit margin, etc. All of these are never expected from
any business, but it's not unusual for these to happen. But better monitoring and risk
management can help the business to survive from these issues.

Appraise different approaches and provide recommendations.

The overall food production and preparation monitoring require different approaches because
of the multiple components that make up the whole system. Each of the approaches has
different characteristics and applied for different aspects (Bower, 2009). For example, the
monitoring approach of inventory management is different from the monitoring approach of
sales forecasting. Each of them works with different elements. However, the goal is the same
that is measuring the effectiveness and identifying the issues. But no monitoring approach
will be efficient and effective if not done properly. That's why while planning the monitoring
approaches and setting the standard against which the results will be compared, it's better to
set the rules and policies for monitoring handling so that the maximum values can be
achieved from those approaches.

18 | P a g e
 Conclusion
Planning and managing a whole business system isn't an easy thing to do. It requires
countless consideration and analysis. Especially when it's a food and production business,
one must be more careful because one mistake can greatly affect the overall business
operation. Selecting the perfect system, approaches, SOP, monitoring, problem-solving etc.,
are one of the major things that every kitchen manager or assistant should include in the
planning. However, when the planning turns to be perfect, the chances of success rise even
more than one can expect.

References
Admin (2018). Food Production. [online] BYJUS. Available at:
https://byjus.com/biology/food-production/.

‌Bower, J.A. (2009). Statistical methods for food science : introductory procedures for the
food practitioner. Chichester, U.K. ; Ames, Iowa: Wiley-Blackwell.

‌C Beckford (2016). Domestic food production and food security in the caribbean : building
capacity and strengthening ... local food production systems. Palgrave Macmillan.

‌Chavez, P.J.A. and Seow, C. (2012). Managing Food Quality Risk in Global Supply Chain: A
Risk Management Framework. International Journal of Engineering Business Management,
4, p.3.

‌Christou, P. (2013). Sustainable food production. New York, Ny: Springer.

‌Dashuk, S. (2020). Contents of standard operating procedure "Hygienic processing of hands."

Medsestra (Nurse), (4), pp.64–66.

19 | P a g e
‌Deutsch, J. (2020). Culturally informed approaches to food product development. Food,
Culture & Society, 23(3), pp.427–433.

‌Grófová, Š. and Srnec, K. (2012). Food crisis, food production and poverty. Agricultural
Economics (Zemědělská ekonomika), 58(No. 3), pp.119–126.

‌Hotelier Tanji (2013). Hotel housekeeping training manual with 150 SOP : a must read
guide for peofessional hoteliers & hospitality students.

‌Jacobi, D. (2010). Cook & freeze : 150 delicious dishes to serve now and later. Emmaus, Pa.:
Rodale.

‌Judina, O.I. (2019). Management system the sustainable development of enterprise of hotel
and restaurant business based on cost monitoring. European Journal of Management Issues,
27(1-2), pp.21–28.

‌Katz, S.H. (2003). Encyclopedia of food and culture. New York: C. Scribner's Sons Thomson
Gale.

‌Matthias Lütke Entrup (2005). Advanced Planning in Fresh Food Industries : Integrating
Shelf Life into Production Planning. Heidelberg: Physica-Verlag Heidelberg.

‌Mintzer, R., Lynn, J. and Entrepreneur Media, Inc (2016). Start your own restaurant business
and more : pizzeria, coffeehouse, deli, bakery, catering business. Irvine, California:
Entrepreneur Press.

‌Pablo Cano Marchal, Juan Gómez Ortega, Javier Gámez García and Springer International
Publishing Ag (2019). Production Planning, Modeling and Control of Food Industry
Processes. Cham Springer International Publishing Springer.

‌Razinkova, M. (2020). STAGES OF MARKETING PLANNING IN RESTAURANT

BUSINESS. Ekonomika ta derzhava, (2), p.62.

‌Saffarionpour, S. (2019). Preparation of Food Flavor Nanoemulsions by High- and Low-

Energy Emulsification Approaches. Food Engineering Reviews, 11(4), pp.259–289.

20 | P a g e
‌Wentz, B. (2009). Food service management : how to succeed in the high-risk restaurant
business by someone who did. Ocala, Fla.: Atlantic ; Lancaster.

‌Yıkıcı, I. (2015). CULA 211 F&B Management- Food Production. [online] . Available at:
http://ilgin.weebly.com/uploads/1/6/9/6/16968746/f_b_operations_ii-_production.pdf.

21 | P a g e