I eat food. I consume beverages.
For that reason, I am certified to manage a Food and Beverage operation.
In examining the operations of numerous clubs/resorts monthly, I find that a person of the most badly operated, irregular locations of club/resort operations is Food and Drink. Especially in member owned environments, which are frequently supervised by a club board, people appear to think that because they eat in restaurants, they somehow have some level of expertise that enables them to make company decisions about this important aspect of the club. The reality is that this is one of the most intricate departments in a club to manage, control, and produce a constant experience.
Let's ask a couple of questions!
Is your Food and Drink experience appropriate for what your members/guests want to have in your club/resort? Are you priced correctly, too high, or too low? How do you know? Are you tracking cover counts by day? By shift? By hour?
Are your food choices stuck in yesteryear, a nice balance of old favorites and brand-new choices, or edgy? Is your menu designed 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 2 and end up being a club dinosaur? What are your item specifications and part sizes? Is every product on your menu costed? What is your objective for a la carte food cost? Do you know the contribution margin on every item on your menu?
What about your unique events. Are they truly unique? Do they develop a buzz in the Club? Are they excitedly anticipated or the very same thing that was done the last ten years with nothing more than the year changed in the newsletter and marketing piece promoting the event? Is what is it worth your personnel challenged every quarter to attempt brand-new occasions? Brand-new price points?
Got Value?
What about worth included shows? It's taking place every day in the hospitality industry. Chili's, Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, Flemings, Cody's Roadhouse, McDonalds, Quiznos, Train, and lots of other national franchises are actively programming to keep individuals can be found in. Any wonder the success rate of franchises is over 90% while the success rate of separately owned restaurants is about 10%?
What are you carrying out in your club to produce a "WOW" for your members/guests in your Food and Beverage offerings? Are you standing pat on your $32 filet and $28 sea bass questioning why you are doing so few covers? Or, are you trying new concepts that may provide "meal replacement" dining instead of only "unique event" dining?
Something as simple as Pleased Hour can generate extra use. Comfort food such as meatloaf, chicken casserole, lasagna, or comparable for" at $8 or $9 during the week are popular. Taco bars, pasta bars, hamburger night, half cost on bottles of house wine, Fresh Fish Fridays or a Friday Fish Fry, a Chef's selection at a special cost on slower evenings, sushi nights, appetizers at a special rate, entertainment, and lots of other ideas and events drive use, supply incremental earnings, and keep the personnel working. Are you try out brand-new events in your club/resort? Give it a try. You'll be amazed at the buzz it creates.
The Experience
How is your dining-room presented? With white tablecloths? No tablecloths? Placemats? Are you charging appropriately for the experience you are offering?
How are your buffets provided? Elegantly with skirting, floral screens, and glossy silver chafing meals? Or rudimentary 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 staff member wearing a tidy and pressed designated uniform? Is there a specific way to present menus, serve, food, mixed drinks, and white wine? Are members called by name? Are specific steps of service in place?
Does the service personnel understand the composition of every product, sauce, and part size from the menu? Is training provided a minimum of month-to-month? Is your staff offering suggestively?
The Technical Aspects
How frequently do you take a physical inventory? Is there "independence" in the stock procedure to ensure that the counts are precise? Is inventory pricing changed frequently to reflect the most recent cost the club is spending for all inventoried products or is the expense the club paid in 2015 still being utilized to identify inventory value?
Do you follow this mantra when receiving and inventorying items?
If you buy it by the pound, weigh it. If you buy it by the piece, count it. If you buy it by ounce or length, measure it? Under no scenarios, accept it blindly.
I am astonished at how typically shipments are accepted and signed for without even physically remaining in the exact same space as the products that were provided let alone examining the packaging slip or billing against the items got. Shipment people become smart really quickly to those who hold them accountable and those who don't. A couple of pounds of missing steak here or a few bottles of missing out on alcohol there costs a great deal of cash over an extended period of time.
Just how much unusable food is stashed away in the freezer, frequently a chef's buddy, and continues to be counted on a monthly basis throughout stock yet is essentially worth little or absolutely 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 particular monetary outcome, train the personnel, and preserve requirements? Or are they paid merely for revealing up?
How is your service staff paid? By hourly wage? Suggestion swimming pool? Some mix 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 very same for liquor, beer, and wine? Do you have specified pour sizes? Are they being abided by? Do you have pourers which enable only for the put size for which you are charging? Just how much of your club's resort's cash is tied up in white wine inventory? Have you established par stocks?
Do you have a Food and Drink minimum? Does it make good sense for your club? Do you have a minimum month-to-month service charge? Should you?
Do you offer a worker meal? How is it represented? Is it accounted for at all? Do you enable employees to eliminate food/beverage from the club? (A bad idea!). Do you permit your employees to take in alcohols at the end of a shift? (An even worse concept!!).
Personal Events
What about your Personal Events? Is your catering menu priced right? What does priced ideal mean? Have you assessed the competitive environment? What are you doing to bring weddings and meetings to the club/resort? Are you covering the costs of setting up and breaking down every space based upon the differing requirements of each occasion?
Do your personal event policies make good sense? When is the "warranty' due? When is payment completely required? Do you need a signed agreement? Do you even have a contract that you require be signed?
An Option
Lots of concerns! Get a management business that will work collaboratively with you to address all of these and any others and create a personalized food and drink experience that reflects your distinct scenario and offers what your members/guests want and are willing to spend for.