Food and Beverage Essay

In most hotels, Food and Beverage can be a heart. Man cannot live without her/his own heart, as well as a hotel cannot shine and lasting without a good Food and Beverage section. http://fandbfood. com/fb-mean-food-and-beverage/. However, food and beverage outlets are usually less profitable than their outstanding counterparts. According to Kirby D. Payne, CHA , there are many reasons why hotel Food and Beverage profits are not what we would like them to be. This is quite understandable, after all why should we focus so heavily on Food and Beverage when for the time and money spent it will never be as profitable as the Rooms Division. http://www. hotelonline. com/Trends/Payne/Articles/IncreasingFoodBeverageRevenues. html. If we have a deep understanding about the role of food and beverage within hotels, as well as the factors effecting its profitable ability in hotels, it will help us to not only find the appropriate solutions for these factors, but also to make the Food and Beverage section within hotels more profitable than its current status. First of all, we need to understand the role of Food and Beverage within hotels. As we know, a hotel has to have twenty four hours a day service to have a star rating – a key measurement to evaluate the success of a hotel. In order to become a five star hotel, restaurants in Food and Beverage section within hotels have to open twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, and three hundred and sixty five days a year. Or in a four star hotel, the in room dining has to open at least from sixteen to eighteen hours a day. Michael Haynie, SR. President, Parkway Hospitality Management mentioned that full service hotels mean that they are included a restaurant. Limited service simply describes hotels without a restaurant. (http://parkwaymgt. com/news/25-hotel-food-and-beverage-a-profitable-venture. The food and beverage services that a hotel has will contribute to the star rating that a hotel can earn. Moreover, food and beverage outlets can enhance guests’ experience about the hotel, as well as make guests more enjoyable about the hospitality service that they are using. Doug Fiedler, an associate of The Hotel Solutions Partnership Ltd indicated that food and beverage can be either a revenue enhancer, or a drag on the finances of any hotel or resort. Emotional connections are more important than ever with guests. Guests are seeking experiences, not just a functional meal in a restaurant. Thus, any good food and beverage operation has a focus on three key things – financial performance, guest satisfaction and employee engagement http://www. hospitalitynet. org/news/4053355. html. There are numerous reasons why food and beverage section is less profitable than other freestanding counterparts. First is the effect of star rating concept on food and beverage service. As mentioned above, food and beverage section within hotels has to open twenty four hours a day. They don’t have choices to have operation hours like normal standardized restaurants which can have options to open and close their business when they want. Hour of operation requirement makes food and beverage section within hotels cost more in staff training, food inventory and menus choices. The second effect of food and beverage profit is the management and staffing structure. In a hotel, there are multiple food and beverage outlets such as bars, banquet, cafe, restaurants, room service IRD, etc†¦Each outlet needs different management team and different staffing structure . As food and beverage management â€Å"A review of change† by Michael Riley, School of Management, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK, food and beverage management as an activity resides in many roles and carries various labels across different outlets. By contrast, a standardized restaurant just needs a manager, few supervisors and some bartenders to run the business. Some restaurants just has a manager as a chief. Thus, the complex management and staffing structure can reduce the profitable ability that a food and beverage section can bring to a hotel. The last but not least effect of food and beverage profit is the location and design of outlets. According to Hanson, 1984; Siguaw & Enz,1999, hotel food and beverage managers do not generally have the freedom to select locations within the property as the construction or layout of the building is more likely to dictate this. This disadvantage prevents outlets having a great view to attract customers coming to earn more profit for them.