Comparing the suitability of food production systems

Food and Beverage Operation Management

Contents

Task 1 Question

Task 1 Answer

Task 2 Question

Task 2 Answer

Task 3 Question

Task 3 Answer

Reference

Task 1 Question

1.1) Discuss the characteristics of food production and food and beverage service system

1.4) Justify the suitability of systems for particular food and beverage outlets

Task 1 Answer

I have been assigned by the management to turn up with a better method in the kitchen to enable the hotel to produce good production in order to cater customer demand. I understand that the hotel currently adopting a conventional traditional production method in the main kitchen as they believe the food must be prepared by experts to maintain quality and the originality of the food itself.

Conventional traditional production method is producing utilizing mainly fresh ingredients and traditional cooking methods (Foskett & Paskins, 2011). In this system, the organization of the kitchen is based around the division of tasks into areas or groups of people performing analogous task which is highly in cost such as salaries and their equipment although it allows for specialization and development of a high level of skill, however it is labour intensive.

Using conventional traditional convection method also means the production of the foods and beverages are masses and need to be similar or above the benchmarks which consume a lot of time to inspect the production and require more workers. In the traditional conventional system, they use the kitchen brigade where there can be many separate sections in the kitchen with staffs performing specific aspects of food production which is lead by the head chef.

The method I have chosen which is superior to the conventional method is cook-chill method. Cook-chill method is food production storage and regeneration method utilising principle of low temperature control to preserve the qualities of processed foods. (Foskett & Paskins, 2011)

It is based on the normal preparation and cooking of food followed by rapid chilling storage in controlled low-temperature conditions above freezing point of 0-3 degree Celsius and subsequently reheating immediately before consumption which is done in the finishing kitchen. It is also used in volume catering such as hospital. In cook-chill system, they also use a traditional partie system which includes the head chef, deputy chef, chef de partie and cook but less staffs because cook-chill system does not use a large area and require minimum staff to work.

The reason I chose Cook-chill systems because it requires low capital investment and minimum staff. Almost any food can be cook-chilled provided that the correct methods are used during the preparations. And the ingredients are already been prepared expect for the portioning unlike the traditional conventional method where they had to prepare everything from scratch for example they had to buy the meat fresh from the market or the supplier and send it to the section to cut the meats and preparing it for portioning. The purpose of using cook-chilled system is to prolong its storage life which is ideal since the hotel also caters for the Royal Brunei In-flight Catering.

The advantages of using cook-chill system to the customer are it increased variety and selection, where there is a wide range of cuisine to choose from. It also improved the quality of the food because the standards are well maintained. The services can be maintained at all time regardless of staff absences because the foods are already prepared. Furthermore using cook-chill systems are less dependence on price fluctuation.

The disadvantages of using cook-chill system are the textures and flavour may changes if the foods are not prepared carefully which can lead to customer dissatisfaction. When customers are not satisfied, they tend to spread the news that the hotel’s restaurant are not up to standard which lead to loss of customers.

The service I have chosen for the hotel is American service. American service is portions of food are plated in the kitchen and served to each guest by waiter or waitress. The advantages of using American service are it is fast and simple and also inexpensive because it require less staffs to served the guest. Lastly using American service does not require staff to be highly trained technical staff hence less cost.

The disadvantages of using American service are there is less showmanship which means the presentations are not beyond the customers expectation compared to silver service or English service. Finally using American service reduces personalized attention. This is because there is less staff to attend the customer which may affect the satisfaction of the customer.

I am going to compare the seven stages in food and beverages between the traditional conventional system and the cook-chill system.

Task 2 Question

1.2) Discuss factors affecting recipes and menus for specific system

Task 2 Answer

As the manager of the food and beverage for The Empire hotel and Country Club and as the supplier for the Royal Brunei In flight catering, I have to discuss the factors affecting recipes and menus for the food and beverage system.

The first factor is about the type of menu choose for the in flight catering. There are two types of menu which are ala carte and table d’hote. Table d’hote is a full course meal that offers a limited choice within each course and served at a fixed price (Free Dictionary, n.d). Most airlines use table d’hote because it offers limited menus and use both in the business class and economy class. The prices are fixed which is easier for the airlines to calculate their cost and include it in the ticket bills. Meals that are included in the table d’hote are appetizer such as salad, main course and desert.

Ala carte is where the dishes are listed separately and individually priced (A la Carte, n.d). It is not recommendable for airlines to utilize because it is inconvenient and maybe hard for the customers to pay because they may change their money currency to other and maybe it is insufficient.

The best meal for in flight would be poultry because chicken is easy to prepare in a healthy way by grilling, roasting, sauteing, poaching, stir-frying and baking. According to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, we should be eating lean sources of protein, including chicken. However chicken are likely contaminated with Salmonella. Salmonella is a bacterium that occurs mainly in the gut of the poultry which causes food poisoning (Foskett & Paskins, 2011). But we make sure it doesn’t happen by checking with our supplier and make sure that our supplier has a certificate that shows they can legally and certified from the government to operate.

Healthy eating has become a trend nowadays as according to a study conduct by Nielsen (2015). The percentage of adults around the world is overweight with an increase of 30% over the past 30 years while children are 47%. According to statistic World Health Organization, WHO, shown that 1.6 billion adult are facing overweight and 400 million people are obesity. This is serious problem to the people in the world. Due to this problem, consumers from around the world are starting to become more health conscious. Therefore we will modify the food into more healthier such as using less oil, grilling and using olive oil instead of palm oil.

Different people have different needs. Some people have different outcome when consuming food or beverages. The dangerous thing is when they have food allergy which may be fatal if consume. Apart from that, the individual consumer need such as those with special diets for example; consumers with high cholesterol will need low a cholesterol meal while vegetarians will be offered a vegan meal. Other examples are gluten free meal, non lactose meal, low sodium meal, bland meal, high fiber meal, low protein meal, children and infant’s meal (Royal Brunei Airlines, n.d.). That is why individual customer needs special diets such as no sugar or no peanuts. The customers should tell the staffs or in their booking reservation that they need special dietary to ensure that they will receive exceptional meals with special dietary.

In accordance to Islamic law, any Islamic airlines are not allowed to serve pork or alcohol unless it is requested by the consumers. But since the Empire Hotel and Country Club Brunei’s restaurant has Halal certification, we will not serve any pork or alcohol.

Task 3 Question

1.3) Compare the cost and staffing implications for different systems

Task 3 Answer

Before I present my proposal to the management, I will make as any changes will incur cost, therefore I will compare the cost and staffing implication for each system which is the traditional conventional method and cook-chill method.

From the table above, cook-chilled has proven to be better than traditional conventional method. From the cost associated with products, in conventional method, the ingredients have to bought daily and they need to prepare the ingredient right after it arrives unlike the cook-chill, ingredients are already been cut from the supplier and ready to be chilled to ensure its quality are not degraded which save a lot of time and energy of the staff. Also the finished product of the conventional method cannot last long unlike the cook-chill method where the product can last at least 5 days (Foskett & Paskins, 2011).

Although the machinery for cook-chill are expensive but for long term investment it is worth because there are less staff needed to operate in the kitchen which means it is easier to handle the kitchen. In addition, there are lesser equipments needed because most of the ingredients are already been prepared (James, 2012).

And lastly, only few staffs needed for cook-chill which means fewer salaries to pay to the employee unlike the conventional method where they need more staff to operate in different part of the kitchen and it is hard to keep track of their well being and the work time in the conventional method is longer because they have to prepare the ingredients from scratch (Royal Brunei Airlines, n.d.).

Therefore the method I have chosen is better than the hotel current method because it is effective and more efficient working environment to the hotel.

Reference

BusinessDictionary.com,. ‘What Is American Service? Definition And Meaning’. N.p., 2015. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.

Culinarylore.com,. ‘What Is The Kitchen Brigade? – Culinarylore.Com’. N.p., 2015. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.

Hotelambassador.co.uk,. ‘Table D’hote Menu // Wine & Dine @ Theambassador Hotel Llandudno’. N.p., 2015. Web. 28 Apr. 2015.

Singh, Hemant. ‘AMERICAN SERVICE ~ FOOD & BEVERAGE’.Fnbclasses.blogspot.com. N.p., 2010. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.

TheFreeDictionary.com,. ‘Family Style’. N.p., 2015. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.

Yourdictionary.com,. ‘Saucier Dictionary Definition | Saucier Defined’. N.p., 2015. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.

table d’hote. (n.d.)Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged. (1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003). Retrieved April 23 2015 fromhttp://www.thefreedictionary.com/table+d%27hote

a la carte. (n.d.)Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged. (1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003). Retrieved April 23 2015 fromhttp://www.thefreedictionary.com/a+la+carte

Eat, We. ‘Reports | We Are What We Eat | Nielsen’.Nielsen.com. N.p., 2015. Web. 23 Apr. 2015.

Flyroyalbrunei.com,. ‘Inflight Meals – Royal Brunei Airlines Australia’. N.p., 2015. Web. 23 Apr. 2015.

Yourdictionary.com,. ‘Saucier Dictionary Definition | Saucier Defined’. N.p., 2015. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.

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