FOOD AND BEVERAGE SERVICE

Food and beverage service is a major factor in hotel operation. Every modern hotel offers some form of food and beverage service.

The food and beverage manager is a key member of the management staff. He has the overall responsibility for planning the food and drink operation and purchasing the hundreds of items that are necessary for the restaurants and bars. Because food can spoil quickly, ordering supplies is a daily routine. The food and beverage manager’s staff nay also include a store-keeper, who stores and issues food, beverages, and restaurant and kitchen supplies.

The kitchen itself is a separate kingdom within the hotel. The head cook, who is almost always called by the French word chef, is the boss of this area. The chef is responsible for planning the menus, and for supervising the work of the other chefs and cooks.

Under the chefs are the cooks who actually cook the food and then place it on the plate for the waiters to pick up.

Under the cooks’ supervision are the kitchen helpers who peel potatoes, cut up vegetables, and bring food from the storeroom to the kitchen. The kitchen staff also

Includes dishwashers.

In the restaurant, as well as in the kitchen, there are also different kinds of jobs. The person who seats the guests is called a captain or maître d’hôtel, or a hostess, if a woman. The waiters and waitresses take orders and serve the meals. Most restaurants also employ busboys, who pour water, clear and set tables and so on.

In an elaborate restaurant, there is often an employee called the wine steward, or sommelier, who takes orders for wine and sometimes for other alcoholic drinks. Finally, there are cashiers who receive payment or signed bills from the guests.

In addition to a restaurant, most hotels also have a bar or cocktail lounge where drinks are served. Bartenders work behind the bar which is a long counter. They mix drinks and serve them to the customers at the bar. Additional waiters or waitresses are needed to serve customers who are seated at the tables. The bar or cocktail lounge may also offer food service, although it is usually simpler than the food served in the hotel dining room. Fast food, such as sandwiches or hamburgers is customary.

MARKETING AND PROMOTION IN TOURISM

Marketing

Every day of our life we can see examples of travel and tourism marketing around us – adverts on TV, adverts in newspapers and magazines, brochures in travel agencies, internet pages, posters in stations, etc. This is because all tourism businesses need to market their products if they hope to be successful. But marketing is not just advertising; it is about researching and identifying the needs of a specific group of customers, and then creating a product that satisfies them.

Once the company has the right product, it will use different promotional techniques to let its clients know about it. All travel and tourism products need good marketing. The marketing process includes four stages:

1) customers’ needs and wants;

2) create your products and services;

3) promote your products and services;

4) obtain and evaluate feedback.

The marketing process does not end after a product has been sold, however. Customers might not be happy with it, and, of course, people’s tastes change with time. Because of this, it is essential to evaluate how customers feel about a product. It is then possible to improve your product, and in this way continue to meet your customers’ expectations.

Promotion

The idea of promotion is to sell your product. How do we do this? The answer begins with awareness, with making the customer aware that the product exists. It’s also about creating a demand. Another use of promotion is to make customers understand that your product is better than other similar products.

Creating a demand is a question of promotional techniques. Advertising is one of the things we do in promotion, but it’s not the only technique. Apart from advertising – you know, magazines, TV, the media in general – there’s also PR. There’s also what we call direct marketing. The provider – that could be a tour operator with a package holiday, or an airline with a special offer – the provider contacts the customer directly, usually by mailing information and news directly to the customers on their database. A lot of small tour operators use email, but for most big companies, direct marketing is letters through your door. There’s also personal selling. It is a travel agent sitting with a client. Personal selling’s your smile. It’s the human touch.

Date: 2015-12-24; view: 2479