STUDY MATERIAL
COURSE
SEMESTER
PAPER
: BSC CATERING SCIENCE & HOTEL MANAGEMENT
: I
: FOOD & BEVERAGE SERVICE
UNIT
: I
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Introduction to catering – Different types of catering establishment. Scope for caterers in
hotel industry, relationship of catering industry with other industries. Status of a waiter &
waitress in the catering industry.
Attributes of a waiter: personal hygiene, punctuality, personality, attitude towards guest,
Appearance, salesmanship, sense of urgency.
HOTEL
Hotel is defined by British law as “a place where a bonafied traveler can
receive food & shelter provided he is in a position to pay for it & in a fit condition to be
received.
INTRODUCTION TO HOTEL INDUSTRY
The hotel & catering or hotel & food service industry is now becoming widely known as
hospitality industry. The dictionary definition is friendly reception treatment if strangers, the
industry are usually defined by its output of products, which is safety demand of food.
The word hotel has been derived from the Latin word “hospitium’s”. It means “a large hall”.
In England the terms inns & taverns are in use to denote public houses.
The hotel industry is perhaps, one of the oldest commercial endeavors in the world. The
first & earliest inns were ventures of husband & wife team who provided modest wholesome
food, entertainment & recreations. This condition continued for several years. The
Europeans inns evolved later were basically taverns in which travelers could rent a cot for a
night. Men & Women live with a shared accommodation in the same room with no
provision of privacy.
The real growth of the hotel industry took place in U.S.A. with the beginning of “CITY
HOTEL IN NEW YORK in the year 1794”. This eventually led to real competition
between different cities and resulted in the development of hotels.
In Europe, Switzerland leaded the hotel industry. But the birth of the organized hotel
industry took place in Europe in the form of the small chalets that provided a variety of
services in around 1760A.D.
In the of the 19th century Scotland also started providing cheap but well furnished rooms for
travelers, by this time the concept resort hotel developed in Europe.
DIFFERENT TYPES OF CATREING ESTABLISHMENT
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The catering industry has been divided in to different sectors. They are as follow.
Commercial sector
General market
Restricted sector
Welfare sector
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SECTORS IN CATERING INDUSTRY
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PROFIT ORIENTED/COMMERCIAL
WELFARE MARKET
│
MARKET
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GENERAL MARKET
RESTRICTED MARKET
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FAST FOOD
TRANSPORT
INSTITUTIONAL
HOTELS
PRIVATE WELFARE
CATERING
RESTAURANTS
CLUBS
COLLEGE
TAKEAWAYS
INDUSTRIAL
UNIVERSITY
PUBS/BARS
SCHOOLS
PPOPULAR CATERING
BANQUETING/CONFERENCE
AIR FORCES
MOTOR WAY SERVICE
PRISONS
OUT DOOR CATERING
VENDING MACHINE
SNACK BAR/ MILK BARS
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COMMERCIAL SECTOR:
It is a sector where the food & beverage service is open to the public
& the society
Peoples. These public sectors are run under a profit motive. The commercial sectors are
under taken both by the public as well as private sectors. In the commercial sector we can
see two different markets. They are as follows
 General Market
 Restricted Market
GENERAL MARKET:
General market is open to the public. The customers have there own choice in receiving
the food & beverage service. These General markets are all profit-oriented markets.
RESTRICED MARKETS:
In the restricted market the customer may not have more choice. The
market is not open to all; there is a restriction in the usage of such markets. Its main motive
is to earn profit by rendering the service to a limited number of customers. For example the
transport catering has a number of characteristics not commonly associated with other food
& beverage outlets. Usually in transport catering the food service involves for a large number
of customers for a specific period of time. So the transport catering would serve the food &
beverage only for the customers who travel.
HOTEL:
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Hotel is the place where food & drinks are provided in spite he is in a position to pay
for it & he should be in a fit condition to receive it. Some examples for hotel are as follows
 Commercial Hotel
 Motels
 Boatels
 Suburban Hotel
 Casino Hotel
 Conference Hotel
FAST FOODS:
Fast foods are a combination of popular catering & take aways. These outlets
provide food & beverage in highly specialized environment characterized by high
investment, high labour cost, & high customer turn over. In these places the food is pre prepared & kept. As soon as the customer orders the food is prepared & it is served faster.
RESTAURANTS:
Restaurants are the food & beverage outlets where food & drink is provided
generally at a high price with high levels of service. This may be a part of a Hotel or of a
private ownership. They provide seating arrangements & it also provides a personalized
service. Restaurants are of two types.
a) Specialty Restaurants:
The atmosphere is more sophisticated & caters to people who can eat leisurely
& the entire décor & atmosphere is glazed to a particular region or country’s cuisine.
Examples:
 Indian Restaurants
 Chinese Restaurants
 Italian Restaurants
 Thai Restaurants
b) Multi cuisine Restaurant:
These restaurants offers dishes more than one cuisine. This offers a good
selection. In India the usual multi mixes of Indian, Chinese, & Continental cuisines are
being included.
TAKE AWAYS:
These take away outlets have developed from the fish & chips concept. Here
the customer orders & then he is being served from a single point, at counters. The
customer can even take away the food.
Some examples of take away are as follows.
o Sandwich bars
o Kentucky fried chicken outlets
PUBS / BARS:
These outlets provide snacks & drink to the customer. They provide snacks
like chicken tikka, fried chicken, vegetable pakoras, omelets, scrambled eggs etc.. They also
provide alcoholic beverage & non-alcoholic beverages to the customer. The food &
beverage are served in a highly specialized environment with music in the background.
Special themes would be a added advantages to these outlets.
POPULAR CATERING:
They consist of a varied group of establishments, which mainly offers
food & drink at low or medium price. The range of food item offered mainly being of the
convenience food type, but times extending to fresh food items. The levels of service will be
limited.
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E.g. Cafes, pizzas, steak house etc.
BANQUETING / CONFERENCES:
They provide food & drink to people on a large scale, usually prebooked by the customer. These include the service of food & beverage to social functions
such as wedding, cocktail dinners, business functions like conference & meeting. In large
hotels the food & beverage will be served inside the banquet halls or inside the conference
halls.
MOTORWAY SERVICE STATIONS:
These outlets provide food for motorway travelers and are often
located in isolated places. They provide fuel and other accessories to the vehicles also.
OUTDOORS CATERING:
These are developed through need to provide services at special
events. These “Off Premises” catering of food & beverage are always away from the home
base & suppliers. The term ODC misleading as little as catering actually takes place outside.
MILK BAR / SNACK BAR:
Here non-alcoholic beverages & snacks are served with customer
service or limited table service. The décor is relatively less expensive.
VENDING MACHINE:
These are small outlets of business; automate with coins, tokens or
money card. It is semi-automated with single point service according to the denominated
values it operates. The advantages of automotives machines are
 24 hrs service
 Low cost
 Increase in productivity
 Food cost control
 Economy of labour
 Fresh beverage
 Variety
 Reduced wastage
 Easy to maintain
TRANSPORT CATERING:
 Railway Catering
 Flight Catering
 Ship Catering
a) RAILWAY CATERING:
Provision of food & drink to travelers in many forms, form fast food,
snack bar in the station concourse to meals served in the first class dining-car of an intercity
train, or a gourmet meal as on the oriental express. Service is done in disposable containers.
b) FLIGHT CATERING:
This is of two types
o Air –Line Catering for first class passengers
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o Charter airlines
In flight catering, prepared tray of food is passed to travelers & disposables knives, forks,
spoons, cups & glasses any be used. But this may extend to the service from gueridon
trolleys for first- class passengers.
c) SHIP CATERING:
Marine catering provides food & beverage to a large cruise liners &
passenger ships. On the cruise liners the standard of service, facilities & food would be high
because they are an important sales feature in business. The service provided in small ships
& ferry will be of fast food type.
PRIVATE WELFARE HOUSES:
A private welfare house provides food & beverages for some particular
customers who stay in the private welfare house. The customer would be like MD of some
company or might be executives.
CLUBS:
Clubs are establishment that offer food & drink & at times accommodation to the
members of the club and bonfide guests. Different types of clubs include working men’s
club, club of the political parties; social clubs, sports club etc. Only the member of the club
can use facilities.
INDUSTRIAL CATERING:
These catering establishments provide food & drink only to the workers
who work in that particular company or industry. This industrial catering service would
provide the required service at a minimum cost.
WELFARE SECTOR:
The welfare catering is the catering service, which is not dependent on the
profit. Its main motive is to serve the people. This type of catering service is done in the
college, universities, schools, hospitals etc. In the welfare sector the customer have no
choice. This denotes the provision of food & drink to the people for social needs. An
authority will determine the entire catering service.
INSTITUTIONAL CATERING:
o Schools
o Colleges/ Universities
SCHOOLS:
These provided nutritious diet for students either for breakeven/ meager profit.
COLLEGES/ UNIVERSITIES:
The canteens, which are open in educational institutions, function with a meager
profit/ breakeven
HOSPITALS:
Here the diet food is prepared in wholesome for the patients who are admitted
in the hospital. The food is served usually on a no profit no loss basis.
PRISONS:
Here the meals are provided only for the prisoners. It is not run on a profitoriented motive.
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THE FORCES:
The army, navy & the Air force provide meals to its staff member on a subsidy
rate.
SCOPE FOR CATERERS IN THE CATERING INDUSTRY.
If you want to find out about the opportunities within the catering industry. There
are number of people who will be happy to help you. In all sectors of the industry, how well
you progress will to a large extent depend on you. Of course your technical skills are of great
importance, and the more you can develop them the better, but you will be unlikely to work
in isolation, so a lot of other attributes which relates to working with people will be just as
important. All this can be summed up in one word “professionalism”. Your aim should be
to become a good professional caterer.
Career opportunities with in the catering industry can be divided in to four areas.
They are as follows
o Food Production
o Food & Beverage Service
o House Keeping
o Front Office
Food Production:
The career opportunities are best in food production department is considered
to be the best.
The way in which food production staff is organized in a kitchen will depend on the type of
operation. Progress with in the staff would depend upon the performance shown during the
training period & the performance shown during on the job training. If you would like to
join as Chef De Parties then you should train up with the technical skill as well as the basic
knowledge about food production. If you perform well in your area then you will be
promoted as a senior supervisor. It all depends on your technical skill & your attributes
towards the work given to you.
Food & Beverage Service:
In a traditional hotel or restaurant, a trainee or commis waiter would assist a
station waiter who is responsible for the food & beverage service in part of a restaurant. After
a period spent as a station waiter you might be promoted as a headwaiter if you have
excelled in your work area.
As a supervisor in a restaurant you should have the full knowledge about all the
aspect in the restaurant. Many supervisor have worked in their own way up through the
company, having first gained experience in taking order, service of food & beverage, taking
with the customer courteously, politely etc.
House Keeping:
The house keeping involves of job like up keeping cleanliness of the hotel,
rooms & the surrounding of the hotel. A new entrant to this area of work might begin by
doing some housekeeping & general cleaning duties. The next stage could be that of a floor
housekeeper, who is responsible for one section in a particular floor. He should maintain
the cleanliness of that particular area. The head housekeeper is responsible for the
accommodation of the whole operation & may have an assistant head housekeeper. In the
case of large hotel an executive housekeeper is appointed to look after the house keeping
departments. There are number of positions held in the house keeping department like
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executive housekeeper, assistant executive housekeeper, floor supervisor, public area
supervisor etc.
Front Office:
The front office work will vary with the size of the operation. A trainee
receptionist might begin by dealing with advance reservations & simple clerical tasks. This
might be followed by duties at the reception desk itself, which may involve attending to
customer need & dealing with cash & billing. The next stage could be that the shift leader,
where responsibility is taken for a period of the day. A reception manager is responsible for
the whole of the reception operation.
In addition to these fairly clear-cut positions in the different areas of the catering
industry- that of course may be in any sector of the industry there are other areas they are
common to many industries. Personnel & training & sales & marketing are important aspects
of the catering industry, which presents opportunities for suitably, qualified people with
experience of the industry.
Qualification:
The catering industry places great emphasis on appropriate qualifications. These are
obtainable by a number of methods such as full-time or part-time college courses & training.
Scheme arranged by catering board, travel agency, hotel & others.
ATTRIBUTES OF A WAITER OR WAITRESS:
Any food service staff coming in contact with the customer is also a pert of the
product. No matter how good the quality of the food, beverage, décor & equipment, poorly
trained staff can destroy the customer’s potential satisfaction with the product. It is also true
that well trained, smart & helpful staff can sometimes make up for aspects that are lacking
else where in the operation.
They should develop right habits & should possess right qualities, which include
certain in born social graces that cannot be installed by training.
The waiter is the prime person around whom the actual services of food &
beverage are carried out. A food & beverage staff / waiter should mainly have some
 Mental attributes
 Physical attributes
 Personal attributes
 Social & welfare skills
 Communication skill
 Knowledge
 Manipulation skill
1.MENTAL ATTRIBUTES:
a) Good Memory:
Good memory can help to improve work performance brought about by
being better organized because small but important details are not forgotten. Customer
satisfaction can be increased by a waiter being able to put a name to a face because of having
served him on a previous occasion. This Can be taken further by placing the customer at his
preferred table & is his favorite seat & better skill, remembering his likes & dislikes regarding
food & wine.
b) Observation:
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A waiter should observe and should be able to observe and able to classify
customers. So being able to treat them in the way they should wish & to address them in the
most appropriate manner.
2. Physical Qualities:
All the time a waiter is on duty he is continuously under observation by a
customer who is watching how he holds himself, & how quickly he moves around
a) Grooming & Personal Hygiene:
This is of almost importance because waiters work near the guest & are
always handling food materials. The men & women should be having trimmed nails & clean
hands. The points to be noted are.
1) Wash hands after handling raw foods, using W.C, sneezing, coughing, using a
handkerchief, & before starting any food preparation.
2) Men should be properly shaved. Females should either have a short haircut or the
hair should be tied properly.
3) Uniform should neat & clean.
4) Uniform worth should be physically fit to accomplish his work that involves long
duration of standing, walking around.
3. Personal Attributes:
a) Honesty:
A waiter should possess this quality in dealing with both the customer and the
management. The staff working should also be very honest with the executives & staffs
working with him. Then there will be a atmosphere of work which would encourage
efficiency & good spirit amongst the food & beverage service operators.
b) Loyalty:
The staff obligations & loyalty are firstly to the establishment in which they are
employed & its management & the customer.
c) Punctuality:
This particularly refers to the punctuality towards the duty. The staff should report
at correct time since the whole work done in a restaurant is manual & presence of workers in
proper time is necessary. Once a waiter is late for duty. He shows lack of interest & lack of
respect towards the management.
d) Conduct:
The waiter’s conduct should be impeccable all times, especially in front of
customers. The rules & regulations or an establishment must be followed, and respect
shown to all senior members of staff.
e) Personality:
The staff must be tactful, courteous, good humored & of an even temper. They
must convenes with the customer in a pleasing & well spoken manner & the ability to smile
at the right times pays dividends with these attributes the staff will help the management by
becoming good sales people.
4. Social & Technical Skill:
a) Attitude to customers:
The correct approach to the customer is of at most importance. The staff must not
be servile, but anticipate the customer’s needs & wishes. A careful watch would be kept on
customer’s at all times during the service with out sharing.
b) Sales Ability:
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The waiter should have the fair ability to sell the product. Since he is the front line
sales personnel of the organization, this can promote by recommending dishes (suggestive
selling) & giving the right service.
c) Sense Of Urgency:
A busy executive would need a quick service for a business luncheon & the waiter
must serve the main course immediately the first course is cleared. The same executive may
be patronized the restaurant for dinner but will expect a more released service & would wish
to make it a social rather than a business occasion.
5. Communicative Skill:
He should have a good command over English language & should present himself
well. Knowledge of local language & foreign language is always desirable. An important part
of the social skill required of a waiter is that of being confident when he talks to important
people who are patronizing the restaurant.
6. Knowledge:
The knowledge required by a waiter is of the basic methods of cooking & the kinds
of food cooked by each method, of those special commodities, which are seasonal in use &
a basic knowledge of nutritional value of a range of food. If specialization as a sommelier,
then he should know which food can accompany which type of drink. The waiter should
also have the full knowledge of food being served to the customer.
7. Manipulative Skill:
The waiter should know the basic requirement of service, use of equipment. This
must be observed & practiced as an integral part. Manipulative skills even involve basic
judgment & calculations to conduct the entire service.
STATUS OF WAITER IN CATERING
Today in many food & beverage outlets do not provide any waiting service at all, and
the take away restaurants also eliminate the waiter. In the social & economical conditions of
to day, more & more people eat away from home. Thus there can be few who do not have a
general nation of the work of the waiter & waiters and its board purpose. The waiter not
only serves food, but does, play an important part as, in effect, a salesman of food one who
assists materially in merchandising and its accompanying service. Waiter & Waitress are
sales staff in a firm, just as the chef is its manufacturer, turning raw materials in to palatable
dishes.
A successful hotel, restaurant or café is one which guests are anxious to visit again, a place
where they feel as comfortable as their own homes. This pleasant atmosphere is produced
by courteous, good well cooked food; advice in selecting from the available dishes; a
knowledge of how they are prepared; given by staffs working in the restaurant. By this way
both the buyer & seller are satisfied & good of the business is also increased.
The partner:
A successful catering establishment depends on three partners – management, cooks &
the sales staff. They have different parts to play, but they belong to a united team. All must
have an interest in work, feeling of pride in the concern & a sense of loyalty towards it with
this attitude of mind, there is no drudgery in any of the work.
Much of the catering & hotels success, therefore depend on the skills, interest &
personal qualities a h individual staff has. The efficiency of a waiter reacts upon the success
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of the hotel restaurant or other catering establishment for which he is working. His work, his
attitude to those above
Advancement:
Nearly all post of head waiter, maitre d hotel or restaurant manager, are obtained by
those who have spent years of service in waiting, and have learned, by training & experience,
the best ways to do the work which they organize & direct. This applies also to many of the
most successful owners who run the catering establishment.
Conditions Of Work:
As in all industries, government acts controlling the hours, wages, & conditions exist
in the catering industry. Wages boards have been formed, so that the minimum rates pay
(and other conditions of service) may be regulated for the various sections of the industry.
The following statements should be taken as an indication of the conditions that apply in
industry generally.
The waiter is in favored position of spending the greater part of his time in the public
rooms (restaurants), which are clean, comfortable, lighted & carpeted. Food has to be
brought from the kitchen to the restaurant. Where there are service elevators, or the
kitchen is on the same floor as the restaurant, service can be straightforward with out any
strain to the staff, many kitchen the food has to be carried from upstairs to down stairs or
from down to up according to the kitchen lay out.
The waiter is nearly always on his feet, for he has to stand or walk about for many
hours daily.
The hours he will work vary according to the establishment. In a hotel that is open from
early morning until late at night, the staff must be on duty (probably shifts) at all the times
necessary to prepare for & serve the visitors.
The working hour normally for a room service & coffee shop staffs are
Morning shift
7.00am to 4.00pm
Evening shift
3.00pm to 12.00am
Night shift
10.00pm to 7.00am
The working hour for the bar staff are as follows
Break shift
11.00am to 3.00pm
7.00pm to 11.00pm
Straight shift
2.00pm to 11.00pm
The working hour for the restaurant staffs
Break shift
11.00am to 3.00pm
7.00pm to 12.00pms
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