Front- and Back-of-the-House Food and Beverage Industry

Front- and Back-of-the-House

• Front-of-the-House: area you can see, direct contact with customers, work closely with BOH employees

• Back-of-the-House: area that is not seen, contact with customers is rare, focus on preparation of food and work with FOH employees

General Manager

Restaurant Manager

Assistant Manager

Executive Chef

Servers Bussers Host Cashier

Sous- Chef

Chef

Steward

Dish- washer

Restaurant Organization

General Manager

• Responsible for the overall operation of the restaurant.

• Oversees the FOH and BOH operations, supervises other managers, hire qualified and competent managers

• If the restaurant is a chain, responsible for communication with the corporate headquarters.

Front-of-the-House Responsibilities

• Seating Guest

• Selling Food

• Transmitting orders to the kitchen

• Serving Customers

• Bussing Tables

• Obtaining Payment

Seating

• The process of finding seats for customers in a restaurant.

• Performed by the host or hostess

• Need to be seated as soon as possible

• Customers need to be evenly distributed throughout the stations

• Use of computer management system- pagers

Reservations and Walk-Ins

• Reservations: Promise to hold something for a customer until the customer needs it.

• Walk-Ins: Customers who arrive at a restaurant but do not have a reservation. Common in casual restaurants.

• Open Seating: seating on a first come, first serve basis

Booking a Reservation

• Advantage for Customers: tables is ready when you arrive. If you don't show within 15 minutes, your table is given away.

• Advantage for Business: know the exact number of people you are serving

• Disadvantage for Business: lose money if person doesn't show up. To avoid this, they take more reservations than there are tables. (Overbooking)

Residence Time

• The time that it takes a party to eat a meal, pay the bill and leave the restaurant.

• 90 minutes needed for a party of 4 to eat a complete meal including appetizers, beverages, main course and dessert.

• Reservations scheduled 2 hours apart- extra time is included for cleaning the table

Call-Ahead Seating

• Also called Priority seating

• Customers call the restaurant and have their names added to the waiting list.

• Doesn't guarantee a table at a certain time, but does put them on the list and decrease wait time in the restaurant.

Sales

• Occurs when the server takes the customer's food order.

• Use suggestive selling- recommend items from the menu

• When suggestive selling is used, increases sales and servers tips

• Another way to increase sales- desserts.

Transmitting Orders

• Critical part of the business is getting the correct orders to the kitchen and back to the customer.

• Process of Transmitting Orders:

1. Taking the order.

2. Transmitting the order.

3. Preparing the order.

4. Checking the order.

5. Retrieving the order.

Taking Orders

• Each table is numbered.

• Waiter has a paper tablet or notepad to write down the orders and table number.

• After order is taken, enters order into the point-of-sales system. This is a computerized system for recording an order at the place where the order is taken.

• POS improves ordering and transmission accuracy, calculates and prints checks and keeps record of products in the restaurant.

Transmitting Orders to the Kitchen

• Non-computerized: servers goes to the kitchen, places order on a spindle, cook gets paper and prepares order.

• Computerized: at least one printer in the kitchen, order is sent to the printer, cook gets order and prepares the order.

Preparing the Orders

• When order enters kitchen, culinary staff takes over.

Culinary- related to kitchens and cooking

• Staff consists of the chefs, cooks, and anyone else involved in the food preparation process.

• All guests should be served their meals at the same time- chef needs to make sure food that takes longer is started first.

• Expediter- organizes and monitors the timing of the orders.

Checking the Orders

• Before it is served, it needs to be checked for accuracy and appearance.

• Can be checked by a member of the culinary team or the server.

Retrieving Orders

• Should be served quickly after it is finished.

• Placed in the pass-through under a hot lamp to keep it warm

• Alerting the server: number displayed or paging system

Serving

• Primary responsibility of FOH employees

• Quality service is achieved when customers doesn't have to ask for anything.

Bussing

• Setting the place settings on the table, clearing the dirty dishes from the table and assisting servers whenever needed.

Payment

• Check should be given to the host of the party

• If host can't be determined, check is placed face down in the center of the table.

• Pay at counter or server processes payment

Front-of-the-House Staff

Managers

• Restaurant Manager: responsible for everything that happens in the front of the house, hiring FOH staff, training and supervising, guest relations

• Small Restaurants- general manager and restaurant manager are the same person

• Large Restaurants- may have assistant restaurant managers, service and sales managers

•

Host or Hostess

• Manage the flow of customers in the dining room, make customers feel welcome and seat them quickly.

• Keeps track of what tables are occupied, which ones are ready and which ones will be ready soon

• May have additional tasks- cashier or serve beverages

Servers

• Three Main Responsibilities:

1. Representatives of the restaurant

2. Sell the dining experience

3. Delivering the dining experience

• Also hear the complaints and must handle them appropriately.

Cashiers

• Handle payments for the meal, record money collected and prepare bank statement

Back-of-the-House Functions and Staff

Heart-of-the-House

7 Responsibilities

• Food Production

• Purchasing and Receiving

• Marketing and Sales

• Human Resources

• Accounting

• Security

• Engineering and Maintenance

Managers

• Two generals areas to manage: menus and operations.

• Menu includes planning menu, developing standardized recipes, creating new recipes

• Operations includes kitchen safety and sanitation, hiring, training and supervising all back-of-the-house staff, food quality, food quantity, coordination with FOH and cost controls.

Executive Chef

• Coordinate kitchen activities

• Direct kitchen staff's training and work

• Plan menus

• Set and enforce nutrition requirements

• Set and enforce safety and sanitations standards

• Preparation and presentation of the menu

• Ensure quality standards are maintained

• Purchase food items and equipment

Sous-Chef

• Make sure the food is prepared, portioned, garnished and presented according to the executive chef's wishes.

• May be responsible for producing menu items and supervising the kitchen, serve as the expediter and fill-in where needed.

Steward

• Supervises dishwashing, pot washing and clean up

• Purchasing of the glassware, flatware and plateware

• Managing inventory, inspecting products and proper storage

Dishwasher

• Operating the dishwashing machine

• Hand washes large items

• Keep all dishes and utensils sanitary to prevent the spread of bacteria or diseases.

Food Preparers

• Chefs

• Cooks

• Expediters

Chefs

• Professional cook, requires a lot of training and experience

• Kitchen Brigade system- Auguste Escoffier

Cooks

• Line cooks, station cooks or short-order cooks

• Organized into two groups: hot food cooks and cold food cooks (sometimes there is a prep cook)

Expediter

• Gets the orders from the servers, gives them to station chefs or line cooks, checks the order before it is picked up