Learning Objectives

1. Identify the three main divisions of activity found in restaurant operations, and summarize their respective roles.
2. Describe the main responsibilities and jobs associated with each of the following: front of the house, back of the house, and office.
3. Identify the two basic approaches in increasing profits and the primary tools used to measure financial results in food service operations.

Chapter Overview

This chapter has two sections. The first describes restaurant operations and offers students a useful way of organizing their observations about their experience in operations. It also gives an overview of how work is organized in restaurants. For students who do not have food service experience, the section offers some basic information about the work done and how it affects the success of the operation.

The last section is concerned with the financial side of restaurant operations. Much of the section aims at giving the student a bare bones vocabulary. The sections on increasing sales and reducing costs offer class discussion opportunities related to effective techniques-and pitfalls-experienced by students at work in efforts to raise sales or lower costs.

Key Concepts

1. Discuss front-of-the-house responsibilities, tasks, and roles.
• Front-of-the-house responsibilities include guest satisfaction, as well as check and cash control.
• Guests are greeted by a hostess, host, headwaiter, head waitress, maître d'hôtel, or, in a QSR, a counter-person (who is also order taker and change maker).
• Bus-persons are responsible for clearing and setting tables.
• Cashiers accept payment.
2. Identify the employees responsible for supervising the front of the house.
• The senior manager on duty usually supervises the front of the house, although some supervisory responsibility may be delegated.
• Managers in the front of the house supervise the service staff, cleaning staff, and cashiers, as well as the opening and closing procedures.
3. Discuss back-of-the-house responsibilities, tasks, and roles.
• Back-of-the-house responsibilities include the quality of food served to guests, as well as cost control with respect to food, labor, and supplies.
• Chefs, cooks, short order cooks, grill people, and salad-preparation workers are responsible for food production and related activities.
• Dishwashers wash both dishes and wares.
• Receivers are responsible for accepting shipments and checking them for accuracy and quality.
4. Identify the employees responsible for supervising the back of the house.
• Chefs, executive chefs, and food production managers supervise food production in the back of the house.
• In small, simple operations, food production is supervised by the head cook or by whoever serves as cook.
• The closing manager oversees the major cleanup of the food-production areas each day and is responsible for storing and securing food and beverage products at day's end.
5. Discuss office responsibilities, tasks, roles, and supervision.
• The office is responsible for administrative coordination and accounting.
• The manager's secretary or an administrative assistant often functions as office manager.
• The person who supervises on-premise clerical work usually reports to the general manager.
6. Focus on general management.
• Someone must be in charge whenever an operation is open.
• Managers, general managers, closing managers, unit managers, assistant managers, and supervisors handle management duties.
7. Discuss the daily routine of a typical restaurant.
• The divisions of a restaurant's daily routine include the opening, the periods before and after the rush, meal periods, and the closing.
8. Review opening activities.
• At opening, the assistant manager or lead employee unlocks the door.
• Storage areas and walk-ins are unlocked.
• The first manager on duty inspects the restaurant for cleanliness and sanitation.
• Equipment is turned on.
• Appropriate action is taken to cover the stations of employees who cannot come to work that day.
• Increased safety strategies have been applied during opening and closing procedures.
9. Describe activities in the periods before and after the rush.
• Before and after the rush, back-of-the-house staff prepares the food that will be needed during the next meal period.
• Servers perform side work tasks.
• Management staff performs or supervises the preparation of cash deposits and reports on the previous day's business at meal periods.
• Managers also perform or supervise the preparation and posting of work schedules.
10. Discuss meal periods.
• Employees are scheduled to meet the levels of business.
• Each meal has its own characteristics, and the service offered must be adapted to that style.
11. Review closing activities.
• At closing, front-of-the-house staff eases the last few guests out of the restaurant or waits until they are ready to leave.
• The closing manager oversees cleanup and secures storage of valuable food and beverage products and locks the restaurant after all employees have left.
12. Examine working conditions and management salary levels in the restaurant business.
• Weekend and holiday work is common in the restaurant business, as are workweeks of fifty to sixty hours.
• The work is exciting and rewarding but often physically demanding.
• There are many opportunities in the restaurant business to make customers feel good.
• Average annual salary levels for restaurant general managers was just over $35,000 in 2001. Bonuses can add $2,000 to 10,000.
• Median salary for assistant managers was $28,000.
• Chefs' earnings range from $30,000 to $48,000 for executive chefs (including a bonus of $5,000) per year.
13. Discuss the approaches to increasing profit.
• The two basic approaches to increasing profit are to increase sales and reduce costs.
• To increase sales, sell to more people and sell more to your present customers.
• Effective ways to increase average checks are menu redesign, bundling, and suggestive selling.
• To reduce costs, carefully schedule employees, improve portion control, and improve monitoring of supplies.
14. Define cost of sales, controllable expenses, and capital costs.
• Cost of sales refers to the cost of products consumed by guests, including food costs and bar or beverage costs.
• Controllable expenses are costs that are expected to vary and that operating management can exercise some control over. They include payroll costs, employee benefits, and other variable costs.
• Capital costs vary with the value of fixed assets: The higher the value, the higher the cost.
• Two key operating statistics are covers (the number of guests) and check average (the average amount of a check).

Total Sales -- Total dollars received from food and beverages (All the guest checks added together with food and alcoholic beverages separated out)

Cost of Sales -- What it cost us to purchase all the food and alcohol that we served

Covers -- Refers to the number of guests or the total number of people who were served

Food cost percentage -- Cost of food divided by total food sales -- this number is rounded to the tenth of a percent. For example, a food cost percentage of 33.67 would be rounded to 33.7% not 34%. [Audio Version]

Beverage cost percentage -- Cost of beverages divided by total beverage sales -- this number is also rounded to the tenth of a percent. [Audio Version]

Check Average -- Average dollar amount of a check (Total sales divided by total number of checks). [Audio Version]

Average sale per guest -- Divide total sales by the number of guests. [Audio Version]

Average number of guests per check -- total number of covers divided by the number of guest checks. This number may not be a whole number -- it can be 3.2 as an example. This means that on the average, there were 3.2 people for every guest check issued. [Audio Version]
Example

Statement of Income and Sales

SALES
Food$962,400
Beverage237,600
Total Sales1,200,000

COST OF SALES

Food$348,400
Beverage66,100
Total cost of sales414,500

# of Covers: 139,211
# of Guest Checks: 54,168

Calculate

Average sale per guest: Total sales ÷ number of guests = $1,200,00 ÷ 139,211 = $8.62

Average check: Total sales divided by total number of checks = $1,200,00 ÷ 54,168 = $22.16

Average number of guests per check: Total covers ÷ Number of guest checks = 139,211 ÷ 54,168 = 2.57

Food Cost Percentage: Cost of food divided by total food sales = $348,400 ÷ $962,400 = .362 or 36.2%

Beverage Cost Percentage: Cost of beverages divided by total beverage sales = $66,100 ÷ 237,600 = .278 or 27.8%


Now You Try

Statement of Income and Sales

SALES
Food$1,350,268
Beverage452,795
Total Sales1,803,063

COST OF SALES

Food$459,092
Beverage104,143
Total cost of sales563,235

# of Covers: 139,211
# of Checks: 63,821

Calculate

Average sale per guest

Average check

Average number of guests per check

Food Cost Percentage

Beverage Cost Percentage

Click here for answers to this question.

You must know the formulas and how to do these 5 calculations. They will be on the next exam.

Study Questions

1. If you want to be promoted rapidly in the hospitality industry, what is your best avenue?
2. What are the responsibilities of the front of the house?
3. What is empowerment?
4. What do you control in the front of the house?
5. What are the responsibilities of the back of the house?
6. What is portion control and how does it affect costs?
7. What are the major functions of the restaurant "office"?
8. What does "management presence" mean?
9. Who are the stakeholders in a restaurant?
10. How can you increase sales using a restaurant's existing customer base?
11. How do you reduce costs in a restaurant?
12. What is cost of sales?
13. What are controllable expenses?
14. What are capital costs?
15. What is prime cost?
16. How do you increase profits in a restaurant?
17. What are the opening duties in a restaurant? Closing duties?
18. What is the best way to increase check average?
19. What is considered the "office" in a restaurant?
20. What is side work?

PowerPoint Notes for Chapter 4