Strategic and Operational Issues in Conference and Banqueting Sector

The assignment provides an in-depth analysis of the conference and banqueting sector, highlighting various factors that impact its development. It discusses strategic and operational issues, such as administrative, legal, and financial concerns, that affect event management. The report also explores techniques for reviewing performance, including Total Quality Management (TQM).

CONFERENCE AND BANQUETING
MANAGEMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
L O 1................................................................................................................................................3
1.1 Size and Scope of conference and banqueting sector. .....................................................3
1.2 Factors that influences the development of the Industry..................................................4
L O 2................................................................................................................................................5
2.1 Strategic and Operational issues in management of Banquet or Conference...................5
2.2 Techniques to review performance of conference and banqueting sector. .....................6
L O 3 & L O 4 (Covered in PPT.)....................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Hospitality Industry is one of the field of service industry. It involves various facilities
such as food and drink, transportation, travelling, event planning etc. The industry depends upon
the disposable income of customers, leisure time etc. Hospitality industry of UK offers various
services through restaurants, hotels, leisure firms etc. Conference and Banqueting is one of the
important part of Hospitality sector (Bouchon, Hussain, K. and Konar, 2017). It helps in
conducting various events and get together like birthday parties, conferences and dinner,
seminars etc. The Report will be based on a catering firm that is “Service on a plate”. The Report
will outline size and importance of conference and banqueting industry in UK, different factors
that influences the development of industry, various techniques for reviewing the performance of
industry.
TASK 1
L O 1
1.1 Size and Scope of conference and banqueting sector.
Conference group plays an important role in providing space for conducting official and
formal events. Whereas, Banqueting provides the facility to the customers for organizing family
functions, birthday parties etc.
As compared to past years, the conference and banqueting sector of Hospitality Industry
in UK has shown growth and it is giving tough competition to Hospitality Industry of other
countries. The industry helps to promote growth, revenue and productivity of ventures in UK. In
year 2018 (Wood, 2017).
The scope of Event sector of Hospitality industry is vast because in year 2018 the sector
has contributed approximately £42.3 billion to the economy of UK due to the spending by
attendees etc. More than 25000 firms are offering services of organizing events it includes
venues, organizers, exhibition contractors etc. Most of the facilities are offered by top hotels in
UK such as Marriott, Hilton etc.
Conference and Banqueting sector helps in conducting large number of events in UK and
approximately 1.3 billion events are organized in the country per year. London is among top city
in terms of the activity of events and meetings. Hotels in UK are playing an important role in
developing many conference venues. Large number of Hotels are offering the facilities of

conducting conferences and meetings, birthday parties and family events etc. For Example –
Purpose built centres in UK are promoting conferences, meetings, exhibitions, banqueting
facilities etc. They are also offering catering services etc. In year 2015, the size of a conference is
2758 (Sadd, D. and Musikavanhu, 2018). Conference and Banqueting sector offers various
facilities like proper seating arrangements, necessary things to the attendees etc. The size of
Hospitality increasing is day by day increasing and it helps to conduct different types of events
and conferences.
The Conference and Banqueting sector in UK is providing facility for conducting public
conference, virtual conference. It also offers facility of Banqueting like Formal dinner, Buffets,
Outdoor catering etc. The Conference and Banqueting sector of Hospitality Industry is showing
growth and success due to the effective role-played by event organizers and managers.
1.2 Factors that influences the development of the Industry.
There are different types of factors that can influence the development of conference and
banqueting sector in UK these are as follows -
Political factors -
The Government of UK is playing a major role in supporting the development of
Hospitality Industry of the country. Government is framing various types of policies for
Hospitality Industry. This will directly impacts various sectors of Hospitality Industry such as
Conference and Banqueting sector. The policies and regulations of the Government will impact
the clients of Service on a plate firm (Owusu - Mintah, S.B. and Dacosta, 2017).
Economic factors -
There are various types of economic factors that can impact the business of
Conference and Banqueting sector of Hospitality Industry these are rate of interest, level of
unemployment in the country etc. For example- In January 2019, approximately 4,73,000 people
are having jobs it means that level of employment in UK will positively impact the Catering
firms like Service on a plate etc. that are operating their business in Hospitality sector.
Socio-cultural factors -
One of the major factor that can impact the development of Hospitality Industry is change
in the demands of customers. Service on a plate firm should modify their menu according to the
change in taste and preferences of the customers. The attitude and lifestyle of people will also
affect Conference and Banqueting sector of Hospitality Industry. Service on a plate firm should

understand the attitude of clients towards the services of firm because this will affect the sales
and profitability of the company.
Technological factors -
There are various changes emerging in Hospitality Industry that will impact the business
of the companies that are operating in Conference and Banqueting sector. Changes in technology
will affect the process of production and distribution system of Service on a plate firm. Firm
should provide the facility of online booking of the Banquet to the customers this will help to
attract large number of clients.
Legal factors -
There are some legal factors that has to be considered by companies that are operating in
Hospitality Industry such as Law related with health and safety, rights of customers, quality of
the products etc. Example- Service on a plate firm should comply Health and Safety Law not
only for customers but also in respect of employees that are working in the company.
Environmental factors -
There are various laws that are formed by Government of UK that has to be complied by
companies in Hospitality sector for protecting the environment. Service on a plate firm should
adopt environment friendly techniques for providing catering services to the customers (Hwang,
S.N. and Chang, 2016).
L O 2
2.1 Strategic and Operational issues in management of Banquet or Conference.
There are various types of issues that companies involved in Conference and Banqueting
events may have to face while managing the events. These are as follows -
Strategic issues -
The employees of Service on a plate should have clarity in respect of the task they have
to perform while providing catering services to the clients. If they does not have clarity regarding
their job roles in that case, it will create confusion and impacts the performance of the company.
Operational issues -
Catering firm may face issue regarding effective management of inventory for providing
food and other services to the clients. If the management is not having clarity regarding the

quantity of raw material required for providing services in that case, this will affect the business
of Service on a plate firm.
There are various administrative, legal, marketing and financial issues that can impact the
services of Conference or Banqueting sector. These are as follows -
Administrative procedures -
Service on a plate company should have a proper procedure of maintaining the diary that
should contain the details in respect of the arrangement of the event. It should also consider
different responsibilities of each and every employee for effective management of the event.
Catering firm should consider the requirements of the customer then it should provide the best
quotation. If, the firm will not consider the requirements of client in that case, they will shift
towards other companies. Service on a plate should also consider the emotional factors of the
customers while fixing the price and it should give some discount as well (Popovic, C. and
Campbell, 2018).
Legal and financial –
There are various laws and regulations that company have to follow while providing
catering service to the clients. The Manager should follow the requirements of Health and Safety
Act, 1974 etc. Service on a plate should take efforts for safety of workers otherwise they will not
work for a long time. Company should properly follow the Budget so that, it can reduce the cost
and increase the profits.
Etiquette and Protocols-
Firm should clearly know about the culture and religion of the client while providing
catering service for weddings, official events etc (Berners, 2018).
2.2 Techniques to review performance of conference and banqueting sector.
Performance and Quality review techniques refers to the techniques that are used by
firms for measuring the performance of the workers that are working in the organization. Service
on a plate firm should adopt different tools for controlling the performance of the employees
such as workers that are working in the kitchen for preparing food for clients etc. Company
should comply all the safety laws while providing catering service to the clients.
There are various types of quality and performance review techniques that are used by
Conference and Banqueting sector of Hospitality Industry. These are as follows-
Total Quality Management -

Service on a plate company follows Total Quality Management technique for improving
the quality of food service it provides to the guests. Under this method, the company ensures that
all the workers of the firm will work for improving the quality of service as well as also helps to
improve the process of producing and distributing the food to the clients during the event.
Benchmarking -
Service on a plate firm uses the technique of Benchmarking for monitoring the
performance of the business. Under this, the company determines the that whether it has
achieved better performance and quality of the service or not. Company compares its
performance and quality with the performance of other companies that are operating in
Conference and Banqueting sector of Hospitality Industry (Heyes, Beard, C. and Gehrels, 2015).
Procedure to evaluate clients and guests -
Service on a plate should adopt for monitoring and reviewing the quality and
performance of the firm. Company should develop the system of collecting feedback from the
clients in respect of the event held or Conference or Banquet by conducting survey or it should
also provide questionnaire. This will help to collect review of guests in respect of services of
firm.
Quality and Performance review techniques will help Service on a plate company to improve the
customer experience, this will also help the firm to retain its loyal customers. As a result, it will
gain competitive advantage over competitors.
TASK 2
L O 3 & L O 4 (Covered in PPT.)

CONCLUSION
The above Report has outlined that Conference and Banqueting sector of Hospitality
Industry plays a major role in development of the economy and it is related with organizing
events such as official gathering, birthday party etc. It was concluded that there are various
factors that affects the development of Conference and Banqueting sector such as political,
technological etc. Further, the Report has described various strategic and operational issues that
affects the management of the event such as administrative, legal and financial issues etc. It has
also explained the techniques for reviewing the performance of the Service on a plate such as
TQM etc.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals -
Bouchon, F., Hussain, K. and Konar, R., 2017. Event management education and event industry:
A case of Malaysia. MOJEM: Malaysian Online Journal of Educational
Management. 3(1). pp.1-17.
Gerritse, D., Bergsma, F. and Groen, B.H., 2014. Exploration of added value concepts in
facilities management practice: learning from financial institutes. International Journal
of Facilities Management: advancing knowledge in facilities management, European
Facility Management Network (EuroFM), pp.52-63.
Heyes, A., Beard, C. and Gehrels, S., 2015. Can a luxury hotel compete without a spa facility?–
Opinions from senior managers of London’s luxury hotels. Research in Hospitality
Management. 5(1). pp.93-97.
Hwang, S.N. and Chang, T.Y., 2016. Formulating Management Strategy for International Tourist
Hotel Using DEA. In Data Envelopment Analysis (pp. 289-316). Springer, Boston, MA.
Owusu - Mintah, S.B. and Dacosta, F.D., 2017. A study of events organised by hospitality
industries in Accra, Ghana.
Popovic, C. and Campbell, F., 2018, May. During the Conference. In Learning from
Academic Conferences (pp. 20-41). Brill Sense.
Sadd, D. and Musikavanhu, R., 2018. A Comparison of Event Impacts: Zimbabwe and the
UK. Event Management, 22(2), pp.199-212.
Wood, R.C. ed., 2017. Hotel Accommodation Management. Routledge.
Online -
UK Event Industry. 2018. [Online] Available Through :
<https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/blog/academy/uk-event-industry-in-numbers-ds00/>