HospitaliTALK: The Future of Digital Food Studies

On December 6, 2021, the webinar “HospitaliTALK: The Future of Digital Food Studies''
aired on the Les Toque Society Facebook page. We were greeted by Prof. Lailie Uy-Sicdawag
on the first part of the webinar. Professor Lailie welcomed us with the talk about the Internet
as a general whole; what it does, how it works, how the people need it more in this time, etc.
Together with that, Professor Lailie also gave a brief background of who the main speakers
are. She also shared a summary of what the topics of the webinar will be. Next up is Ms. Alyssa
Fargas, who is a BSHM Student at St. Scholastica’s College Manila, who generously explained
the overview of the whole event. Meanwhile, Ms. Mary Limocon and Prof. Leofel Vergara were
the ones who introduced the main speakers. The first speaker, Mr. Jonatan Leer, is the head of
Food and Tourism Studies at the University of College of Absalon in Denmark. He has also
published widely on food culture, including food and age, alternative food politics and
previously contributed to the anthology food and media. The second speaker, Ms. Stinne
Gunder Strom Krogager , is an associate professor at the Department of Communication and
Psychology at Alberg University in Denmark. Both of the speakers discussed the book they
edited which is called: Research Methods in Digital Food Studies. Mr. Jonathan Leer started his
discourse with the importance of a review. Nowadays, majority of the people primarily read
reviews online rather than trying a food for the first time. Mr. Leer also emphasized how
owners can reply to the reviews made by the customers. This goes to show how people rely on
digital information. As fascinating as that is, there are also cons in these online reviews and
one of those things that Mr. Leer mentioned, is questioning the authenticity of it. The next
thing after that was Ms. Stinne Gunder explaining the goals of their book. It is very difficult to
separate the online life to the offline life; it’s everything kind of put together and
interdependent in new ways, as the two speakers professed. With this digital age, we can see
what people discuss, what they value in food, and what they find problematic. Another thing is
that it’s easier to collaborate internationally. After all the discussions, a little intermission
happened; the choir sang “Beautiful Life” by The Crush. Later on, Mr. Leer and Ms. Stinne
catered and answered questions from the audience. Most of the questions are from students
and relate on how social media and food are involved with each other. The speakers explained
that technology will only be a much more in our everyday lives and also within the hospitality
industry. When the open forum ended, the hosts requested a photo op with everyone together
with both speakers and then they proceeded to award the speakers with their certifications.
Finally, the closing remarks ceremony was handled by Dr. Mylene Anwar, who is the Dean of
the College of Human Ecology in Central Mindanao University.
International Chefs Day: Seasoning The New Season

Before the overall ceremony started, Ms. Nicole Ivan Daligdig, the chairman of the
event, had a walkthrough of the opening remarks. Meanwhile, the welcome remarks were given
by the president of St. Dominic College of Asia, Dr. Gregorio A. Andaman, Jr. There were many
discourses within this webinar as it is a 4-hour-long series. The first speaker was Chef Alpesh
Patel, a sous chef from a public restaurant in an independent food company. He is also from
Dubai, United Arab Emirates. He talked about how an individual can express oneself in the
kitchen and how serving people with food just makes him glad. Chef Alpesh shared his situation
and what was it like being a chef. Chefs usually supervise the kitchen and the cooking, although
they perform less of the day-to-day cooking. They frequently supervise food preparation and
manage several workstations, and they contribute to the smooth operation of a restaurant by
allocating jobs, ordering supplies, organizing meals, and calculating prices. He said that being
a chef is a physically and psychologically demanding job. It's physically demanding since one
has to stand in a hot kitchen for long periods of time. Mentally, it's difficult because of the long
hours and attention necessary to get the meals out on time. Furthermore, working as a chef
provides an individual with more flexibility and allows them to be more creative than almost
any other profession. Cooking also inspires them to experiment with flavors and develop new
ones. The next speaker, Chef Charlotte Joy Pagulayan, expressed herself on the topic of women
leadership in the culinary industry. The culinary world has always been a hard sector, but it is
also one of the most lucrative in terms of peer acknowledgment, whether you are a man or a
woman, said the chef. Women are perceived by society as home cooks rather than professional
chefs. Chef Charlotte shared about how most of the time, women are just expected to look out
for others and never on the planning side of the table. She exclaimed that women have a more
difficult time obtaining informal mentors, resulting in a dearth of mentorship. Women may
prevent problems inside a workplace by seeking the advice of mentors and expressing their
ideas for better communication. This type of interaction is critical for women's advancement in
the workplace. In the end, it doesn’t matter if your food is prepared by a male or female chef,
as long as it is the best meal you have ever had. Lastly, the final speaker, Mr Kittikun Daniel
Upakote discussed the English language and its global use, especially on its business side. He
said that adopting a worldwide language strategy is not straightforward, and businesses
almost always make mistakes along the way. Many people may feel at a disadvantage if their
English isn't as excellent as others'; team chemistry and performance may deteriorate as a
result, and country pride may interfere. As for Mr Kittikun’s final sharing, he contrasted what he
said before. However, in order to live and succeed in a global market, businesses must
overcome linguistic barriers—and English will virtually always be the common ground, at least
for the time being, added Mr Kittikun.
Basic Cost Control in Food Service Operations

Any firm that attempts to market a product will almost certainly incur fees in order to
do so. These expenses are mostly borne by restaurants and other food-service establishments
in the form of food, drinks, and labor. Restaurant owners and operators buy food and drinks in
the form of raw materials and then pay for the work of chefs and cooks to turn those
components into salable finished goods. Cost control that is meticulous and thorough assists a
restaurant operator in setting precise menu pricing, which is critical for operational success and
profitability. Food and beverage expenses represent the value of food and beverage goods
purchased and consumed in an operation over a specific time period, such as weekly, monthly,
or yearly. Consumption is determined mostly by the raw ingredients required to make menu
items, but it is also determined by usage or waste for other reasons, such as free employee
lunches, food spoilage, or theft. While the cost of products sold includes all food and beverage
prices, these costs are frequently further classified. Food prices are frequently analyzed
individually from beverage costs since drinks typically have greater profit and require
significantly less work to produce. Food cost is the ratio of how much it costs you in raw
ingredients to prepare a dish to how much money you generate from it. Food costs may be
calculated by taking the cost of a dish and breaking it down into individual units and pricing
them appropriately. You may also calculate the cost of food by calculating the worth of your
assets, such as inventories. Furthermore, because the cost of liquor might be significantly
higher than the cost of any other component used in the restaurant, these goods frequently
have their own distinct inventory to guarantee rigorous tracking of consumption and to avoid
pilferage. To better control critical cost-cutting variables, food industry experts should
compute and monitor a variety of percentages. These statistics range from determining your
restaurant's overall food cost percent to calculating the actual cost against the desired cost
percentage. Eighty percent of restaurants close during the first five years, and sixty percent
close within the first year. Long-term cost control is essential for food business specialists in
order to sustain a successful restaurant operation. It is critical to prioritize cost-cutting
measures. With labor and food eating more than half of a restaurant's earnings on average, it
is clear that efficiently controlling expenses is critical in determining a restaurant's fate.
Without a doubt, cost reduction must be a top goal for every food and beverage organization.
Operators may boost efficiency while lowering the human work required to achieve maximum
control by employing technology to manage labor, inventory, and loss, freeing up time for
other priorities.