FOOD SERVICE AREAS (F & B OUTLETS)

1. Specialty restaurant

These restaurants deal in a particular type of cuisine like Chinese, Italian or French etc. Each
and every aspect of the restaurant is typical and related to the area of region of community
whose food is being served. The food, service, uniform, décor etc. are ethnic and authentic of
the area whose cuisine the restaurant specializes upon. When one enters into such kind of
restaurant one can feel the culture and tradition of that area. These restaurants may be
attached to a hotel or may independently exist. They have specific hours of function and
normally more expensive than ordinary restaurants.

Features

1. Concentrates on one special cuisine i.e. one particular type of food. Ex - Sea
food restaurant.

2. Open only for specific timings or for major meal- For example lunch and
dinner lunch is from 12pm to 3.30 pm and dinner is from 7.30 pm to 11.30 pm.
3. Special exotic dishes based on specialty cuisine are served
4. Menu is generally highly priced because of the following factors -
a. High Investment

b. Business hour is less

c. Platter to plate service
5. Low turnover for covers

6. High average check (A.P.C.) - Highly priced menu and less number of guests
so the average check OR the Average Per Cover is high
Theme Restaurant- Where the décor of the restaurant is based on a particular
theme.Ex-Theatre restaurant.
Ethnic Restaurant- Refers to a particular race of people. Ex-Chinese restaurant.
2. Coffee Shop

This is generally attached to a hotel. In a five star hotel the coffee shop operates round the
clock. It cannot independently exist. The service is very informal and emphasis is on pace of
service. Service is generally snacks and very light meals.

The meals part is not as elaborate as the restaurant. Prices are not as exorbitant as the
restaurants. Although the coffee shop is operational round the clock there are meal timings
when the certain items are available which are not available at other times. There are some
dishes, which are available all 24 hours.

Features
 1. 24hrs in operation,which is operated in various shifts for example a coffee shop
generally has 3 shifts morning shift: 6:00 am to 2:00 pm afternoon shift: 2:00 pm to
10:00 pm night shift: 10:00pm to 6:00am
2. Multi cuisine- serves more than one cuisine

3. All major meals are served - From morning tea to dinner and even late night service.
There are two sets of menu card in a coffee shop- Breakfast menu card and the main
menu card with timings (the meals are time specific).

4. Economically priced- The food served in coffee shop is not cheap but compared to other
F&B outlets it is economically priced

5. High turnover of guest

Note-Restaurants generally have prior guest reservations for specialty restaurants or fine
dining restaurants whereas Coffee shops generally do not have prior reservations.

3. Cafeteria

These generally independently exist and are found in railway stations and airports etc. The
service is generally self-service. Food is displayed in the counter and the guests helps himself
in picking up the food as per his liking as he moves along the counter and finally pays the bill
at the end of the counter. Sometimes payment of the bill may be through coupon also. Very
informal atmosphere exists in these outlets and prices are not very high.

4. Fast Food Outlets (QSRs)

They are generally not attached to a hotel and are found independently existing. They serve
fast foods, which are easy to prepare to easy to carry and eat. These outlets provide very
limited seating arrangements and people are not encouraged to sit and pass time in these
places. Service is done in disposable plates and packets. Customers are supposed to get their
food from across the counter. There may be one person to look after the clearance and
cleanliness of the place. Very limited service is provided or generally operated on “Self-
Service” Concept.

5. Grill Room

Basically grilled food items and dishes are served. Generally grilled over fire. People may get
the view of food being fired

These kinds of hotels are generally attached to the star hotels although they can be found
independently existing also. They specialize in grills and barbequed items only. The kitchen
is separated from the service area by a glass partition so that guest can see the chef preparing
the food. This give rise to impulse buying. The guests are normally assured of better hygienic
condition as they can see the actual food preparation.
6. Banquets

This outlet generally caters to a huge gathering of people who assemble in the banquet hall
for events like reception, marriage party, birthday, conference, seminar etc. The service is
generally from a buffet when a lot of guests have to be served within a short span of time.
Sometimes formal lunch, dinner etc also takes place in banquet halls. This is the highest
revenue producing F and B outlet in any commercial hotel. Sometimes banquet halls can
independently exist where an outside contractor does the catering part.

Features

1. Highest revenue earning in Food & Beverage

2. Caters to a large number of people at a time – if possible under the same roof
3. Types of Function-
o Formal gatherings- are among people for some official purpose or any other serious
purpose where the guests have to follow many protocols. For example State banquet
(when the head of the state calls for any meeting). In such parties there is a head table
arranged with odd numbers of chairs so that the chief guest can sit in the middle.
Seating arrangements are made according to respective names of the guests and they
are escorted to their seats. The food is served at the table.
o Informal gatherings- are among friends and relatives where everyone knows each
other. The food is served mainly in buffet system.
4. Customized menu and facilities- The food served is multi cuisine. Facilities like
microphone needed or hall decoration etc.
5. Outdoor Catering Service

7. Bar

These foods and beverage outlets deal with the alcoholic beverages only. They may be
attached to a hotel or independently existing. They have certain specific hours of operation
and the law strictly governs the operation. Their hours of operation, inventory, location and
client to whom they should serve etc are governed and regulated by the law-enforcing agency

Features

1. Sells alcoholic beverages, also non- alcoholic beverages and snacks

2. Licensed premises

3. Entry restricted area- On the basis of age and time.

4. Rules of operations varies from state to state vary from state to state

5. Bar are of 2 types-

o ON SHOP- liquor are purchased and consumed on the same premise. Sold as per
glass, pegs or bottles
o OFF SHOP- Liquor are purchased and then taken out of the premise and consumed
elsewhere. Sold as per bottle
 6. Cozy comfortable environment with soothing music and dim lighting. The tables in the
bar are round with no edges

7. Service at the table and even at the bar counter

8. Vending Machine
Automatic dispensing machines- aerated beverage, coffee, tea etc. installed in cafeteria,
airlines, railways etc.
Such kind of a service involves service from a machine is requiring a coin or token of a
particular denomination and the product comes out through an outlet in the machine itself.
These machines are not extensively used in India and the use is still confined to tea, coffee
and packed milk etc.

9. Discotheque

It is an entertainment venue or club with recorded music played by Disc jockeys, rather than
an on-stage band serving alcoholic as well as non-alcoholic beverage along with light food
items.

This may be attached to a hotel or may independently exist. The ones, which independently
exist, are open to anybody who can pay but most allow only couples. The ones, which are
attached to the hotels, are not only opened to the members but guests accompanied by
members are also allowed. They also have specific hours of operations and are normally
attached with a bar.
ANCILLARY DEPARTMENT

Ancillary sections support the activities of the main department. There are many ancillary
areas behind the operations of the restaurant that are well managed, efficiently supervised,
and stored with suitable supplies and equipments. These sections must be strategically
located according to flow of work, well equipped, properly manned, well coordinated and
supervised effectively so that they can provide uninterrupted support to the restaurant during
service periods. It is necessary for all these factors to come together like a well oiled machine
to determine overall a successful back-up to the food and beverage operation. The size and
layout of each section depends on the volume of activities carried out and its workflow.

These ancillary sections contribute to the success of the total catering operation. Ancillary
sections are usually situated between the kitchen and food service areas.

The following Ancillary areas are found in Food & Beverage Operations :

F&B Ancillary
Areas

Silver Room /
Still Room Wash - up Hotplate Pantry Linen Store Dispense Bar
Plate Room
Stillroom

Still room is responsible for the provision of coffee, tea, fruit juices, breakfast egg
preparations, sandwiches, assorted breads, toasts, Melba toasts, breakfast rolls, and preserves
(jam, marmalade, honey) etc. It may function throughout the day depending on the size and
location of the hotel, and is very busy during breakfast time. Stillroom supervisor is in-charge
of the still room functions. He is assisted by semi- skilled staff to do the routine work of still
room.

Responsibilities of the head of the still room are:

· Ordering supplies of goods from stores through requisition sheet.
· Maintaining adequate stock of fresh beverages.
· Preparing beverages.
· Ensuring uninterrupted supply of dishes ordered.
· Ensuring highest standards of hygiene.
· Allocating work to subordinates and ensuring adequate staff is available to carry
out the work.
· Stock taking
Functions of still room.
· All hot beverages, toasts preserve, cereals & breads are dispensed from still room.
· Tea, coffee, tisanes & preserves are stored in the stillroom.
· Assorted juices, biscuits, crackers & digestives are also dispensed from here.
· Smaller establishment also dispense egg preparation & porridge from pantry.
· Sandwiches: plain or grilled.
Almost all the items required during breakfast and high tea service are provided by
still room.
Still room equipment’s:

The nature of activities carried out in the still room determines the equipment used in
still room.
Some basic equipment’s are:
· Work tables with stainless steel top and cutting board.
· Salamanders
· Coffee and tea making machine
· Cooking range to prepare eggs, waffles
· Refrigerators
· Sink with hot and cold-water facility with draining board
· Racks to store glassware, hollowware, and other service equipment
· Cabinets for storage
· Blender/juicer
To avoid duplication of machinery, these machines may be shared with other
departments by placing them in common place.
Silver room/ Plate room

Silver room stores and maintains the complete stock of silver and other service equipment
required for catering operations, together with a slight surplus stock in case of emergency. It
maintains record of stock received and issued to various outlets. Surplus stocks are stored
neatly and item wise for easier access and control. Other than the main hotel stores there are
satellite stores, which are attached to the food and beverage outlet itself. Weekly or monthly
requirements are brought from the main store and kept here. Silver required for the restaurant,
room service, banquets, etc. may be of different design and kept separately, specifically for
that purpose.

The storage of silver is most important. Large silver such as flats, entrée dishes, salvers, soup
tureens, chafing dishes, water pitchers etc. are stored on shelves, with all the flats of one size
together and so on. These shelves are labelled to show where each item is stored. This makes
it easier for control purpose and for stacking. When stacking silver the heavier items should
go on the shelves lower down and smaller and lighter items on the shelves higher up. This
helps to prevent accidents. All cutleries-spoons, knives, and forks are made into a bunch of
20 pieces per item for easier counting and are stored in cutlery box or drawer lined with
baize. This helps to prevent noise and stops the various items sliding and being scratched and
marked in the drawer when it is opened and closed.

Smaller items such as budvase, ashtrays, cruet set, menu holders, butter dishes, etc are stored
separately in a cupboard. Extra glassware for function catering is stored separately upside
down on a paper lined shelves or racks specially designed for the purpose of storing different
glasses. These racks are also very useful for transporting glassware without damaging them.

The Inventory is judiciously maintained. Inventory registers and stock registers are
maintained. The manager in charge of the restaurant is responsible for the stores. The service
equipment in stores should be cleaned and polished periodically.

The service equipment’s in stores should be cleaned and polished periodically. There are
many methods available for cleaning silverware:

1. Burnishing method: It consists of revolving drum half filled with small ball
bearings. The silver to be cleaning is placed in the drum, which is then half filed with
water, detergent and is closed tightly and machine is switched on for 10 minutes. This
method is not suitable for forks and knifes.
2. Polivit Method: In this method, Polivit plate which is made up of Aluminum is
placed in a container with washing soda and silverware is dipped in the container,
with at least one piece touching the plate. Piping hot water is poured to cover the
silverware and chemical reaction cleans the utensils. This method is suitable for large
pieces of silverware.
3. Silver Dip Method: In this method, the silver to be cleaned is kept in a wire basket
and is immersed in silver dip, which is a pink colour liquid. It is left in the solution for
a very short period and is rinsed afterwards. This method is quick but may damage the
silverware sue to chemical reaction.
4. Plate Powder Method: This method is ideal for the articles that cannot be cleaned by
the above methods. In this method, plate powder (which is pink in colour) is mixed
 with spirit and is rubbed over the surface of the article. Once the paste is dry, it is
rubbed with a clean cloth and is rinsed with hot water. This method demands more
labour and time and is suitable for cruet, toast rack etc.

KITCHEN STEWARDING / WASH UP AREA

The wash up is the most important and integral part of F & B service area and should be
located in such a way that staff can work efficiently and speedily when passing from the food
service areas to the kitchen. This is the first section where the waiter enters from the food
service area. Here, the waiter deposits all the dirty plates and silverware properly. Glasses
may also be left here for washing in specially designed racks. The server must place any
debris into the bin or bowl provided.

The objective of cleaning utensils is to remove any material from them on which micro-
organisms can develop, and to destroy any micro-organism which is already present in the
service ware by sterilizing. The wash up area is divided into two sections.

1. Pot wash: This area is also known as “Scullery”. It is a place for cleaning kitchen
pots, pans and other kitchen utensils. It is usually located near the main kitchen.
2. Ware wash / dish washing area: This section is responsible for cleaning off all types
of service equipment’s. It is generally located near the restaurant and room service
elevator to minimize the distance of carrying soiled equipment by the waiter. In dish
washing area, all cutlery, crockery and glassware are kept separately (to avoid any
breakage) and all food debris is put into wet garbage bin and all dry garbage like
paper doilies, paper napkin in a separate garbage bin known as dry garbage bin.

DISH WASHING METHODS

When washing the crockery and cutleries one must make sure that the temperature of
the water being used is around 75oC. This is done for two reasons:-
1) To sterilize the plate and remove oil stains
2) The china ware or crockery will dry by itself (because of high temperature) without
using a wiping cloth therefore being more hygienic
1) Manual or tank method: - This method is used in smaller hotels where the
turnover of the crockery’s and cutleries is not very high. In manual wash, two sink
method or three sink method is used.
In the cleaning process, washing of equipment with hot water and detergent and
rinsing takes place in first sink (in case of three sink method; washing and rinsing in
separate sinks). These are then transferred to another sink for sanitization. This
method tends to have higher breakages.
2) Automatic conveyor method or Dish washing Machine: - This is used in hotels
where turnover is very high. To operate the machine continuous supply of water is
required.
In the cleaning process, Plates are arranged on the racks and are rinsed before placing
them on the conveyor belt, where it enters the machine. The machine comprises of
three chambers. In 1st chamber, the equipments come in contact with water at high
pressure from top as well as bottom. In 2nd chamber, the equipments come in contact
with a spray of mixture of soap and water at 85oC from above and below and in
3rd chamber the equipments are sprayed with hot water at 90-95oC from top and
bottom and sterilization takes place. The cleaning cycle is completed in 21/2 to 3
 Minutes.

FOOD PICK UP AREA/ HOT PLATE

This area is also known as Hot Plate Area. The hot plate may be regarded as the
meeting point between the food service staff (F&B) and the food preparation staff
(kitchen). This is a place where all the crockery required for service will be kept
warm. Care should be taken to make sure that the amounts of chinaware required are
properly stacked in the hot case. In some hotels the silver required will be placed on
top of the hotplate and used as required. Normally an ‘ABOYEUR’ (a barker) is in-
charge and controls the hotplate over the service periods. The hotplate is usually gas
or electricity operated and should be lit well in advance of the service to ensure all the
china and silver are sufficiently heated. Once a dish is ready to serve the Aboyeur will
announce it loudly so that the respective waiter can pick it up. Once the food has been
picked up the KOT (kitchen order ticket) is put into a control box which can be
operated only by a member of the control department who for control purposes makes
the copy of the food check from the kitchen.

Pantry
The pantry or service room is located between the kitchen and the restaurant. It stores items
such as hollowware, special service equipment, glassware, linen, condiments, disposables etc.
that are not stored in sideboards or hotplate. Pantry as a specific area means a place where the
mis-en-place is carried out. This department is very essential for all food & beverage outlets,
mostly for coffee shop as it’s round the clock operations. Hence there is no need for mis-en-
place to be carried out in the restaurant unlike the specialty restaurants where the mis- en-
place is carried out during non-operational hours when it is closed for the guest in the
restaurant itself.
Two swing doors connect the pantry to the service area. One is to enter the restaurant and the
other to return to pantry. Using wrong doors may lead to accidents.
The equipment required in the pantry depends on its location. Sometimes one of the waiters
or steward is put in charge of the pantry to carry out and keep tab on day-to-day operations.
Some of the common equipments in the pantry are:-
· Cupboards – for glassware, condiments, disposables, linen etc.
· Linen Box – For soiled linen.
· Stainless steel work table
· Plate warmer
· Bain-marie
· Range for making tea coffee
· Refrigerator
· Sink for washing service equipment. etc.
Some of the tasks performed in the pantry are as follows:
· Wiping of crockery, cutlery and glassware
· Refilling of sauce, jam etc bottles & cruet set
· Storage of excessive crockery, cutlery and glassware
· Fresh linen is stored here
· Folding of serviettes
· Storing dirty linen
· Polishing silver articles
· Briefing is conducted in the pantry area
· Storage of required stationary
· Washing of small items
Before the start of service pantry staff must ensure
· Plate warmer, bain-marie is on.
· Adequate supply of disposables, condiments( butter, lemon, olives, sauces etc) beverages,
linen is available.
At the end of service staff must ensure that
· Pantry is thoroughly clean, including equipment and floor
· Plate warmer and Bain- marie is turned off
· Soiled linen is counted, recorded, and sent to the housekeeping department for ewashing
and fresh linen is collected.
Waiters should be encouraged to wash their hands frequently during service.
Appropriate planning of the pantry is necessary from design stage to ensure an effective mis-
en- place for a successful operation in the long run.

Linen Room

This is a sub department which stores, dispenses and keeps a record of the restaurant linen.
The spare linen room stocks the linen that is required for operations as one cannot run to the
housekeeping/laundry for new linen whenever requirement arises. The linen room is located
near the food service area for emergency. The restaurant linen may include tablecloth, throw
over, serviette, etc. The linen room exchanges soiled linen for fresh ones. One of the senior
stewards in every shift exchanges linen at the end of his shift, the room is kept locked for
control purposes.
At the end of the day, once restaurant operations are closed, the waiter collects, classifies, and
bundles all the dirty linen after checking for tears and burns. The waiter enters the number of
soiled linen into the ‘Linen Exchange Register’ in duplicate which includes the type and the
total number of soiled linen. He then takes them to housekeeping department where these are
checked by linen keeper in his presence; linen keeper verifies the record in the linen book and
exchanges the soiled linen with fresh ones. The top copy of the linen book is signed by the
linen keeper and retained. The duplicate remains in the book for restaurant reference. Any
discrepancy must be recorded so that missing linen can be collected later. The book that
keeps record of the same has to be counter signed by the manager of that outlet.

DISPENSE BAR

A dispense bar means any bar situated within a food and beverage service area and that
dispenses alcoholic beverages to be served to guests having meal in the restaurant, which has
license to sell alcoholic beverages. However, in some establishments wine and other
alcoholic drinks for consumption with a meal are sometimes dispensed from bars situated
outside the food and beverage service area itself because of the planning and layout, e.g. one
of the public bars. Beverages are issued against authorized BOT (bar order ticket/token). At
the end of operations closing stock is recorded and requisition for fresh supply is made to the
storeroom according to the par stock level maintained. There should be check on pilferage
and malpractices.