Mock Interview for Food Business

This assignment presents a mock interview transcript for a position in the food industry. The interviewee discusses topics such as their business's competitive advantage (cheap rates), commitment to customer wellbeing (security software and safety measures), and future plans (meeting with the Director about new security software). The interview emphasizes the importance of customer service, security, and cost-effectiveness in the food business.

Running head: FOOD AND BEVERAGE MANAGEMENT
Food and beverage management
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

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Table of contents
Analysis of the interview findings...................................................................................................2
Evaluation of the findings and its effectiveness on the foodservice operations..............................3
Appendix..........................................................................................................................................6
References........................................................................................................................................9

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Analysis of the interview findings
The Food and Beverage Manager of Beyond India seemed to be a busy person. The
interviewer had to beg for giving a time from his busy schedule. Shedding light on his
personality, he is a proud manager of Beyond India of an Indian outlet in Australia, Beyond
India. He looks after the efficient functioning of the outlet, which includes checking the orders
of the customers; preparation of the dishes; performance appraisals among others
(Beyondindia.net.au 2017). This is not an arduous task for him as he has skilled and efficient
assistants to support him in the Front and Back Office operations. He provides enough
encouragement and support to his assistants, so that they can perform their operations in an
efficient and effect manner (Davis et al. 2013). The customer care executives handle the Front
Office operations, where the needs, demands and requirements of the guests are dealt with. On
the contrary, Back Office operations are managed by the officers who are flexible with Excel
functions. He annually checks the reports of employee performance for properly appraising
them. Coordination is maintained in both these operations. Data from the Front Office is sent
to the Back Office for creating budgets.
Sometimes he personally supervises the performance of the employees to mitigate the
instances of errors. One of the interesting facts is the training, which enhances the preconceived
skills, expertise and knowledge of the employees regarding the basic management skills (Yang et
al. 2014). The courses of the training include basic hospitality operations, ethical
considerations, policies, and finance among others.
One of the other findings of the interview is the cash for regulating the finance in the
business operations. According to the statements of the Food and Beverage Manager of Beyond

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India, the payments of the online orders are made through the means of account transfer. For
this, when the customers make payments for the orders, their email IDs are taken, so that the
news of special discounts and offers, can be transmitted to them (Wu, Huang and Chou, 2014).
Within this, one of the important issues is the security of the customers’ and organizational
profile. For ensuring the security of the customers’ profile, the manager of Beyond India along
with the Board of Directors, is conducting meetings. The main topic of these meetings is to adopt
latest and modern security software.
Evaluation of the findings and its effectiveness on the foodservice operations
The manager of Beyond India is entrusted with a huge and diversified hospitality
enterprise to manage. This aligns with the functions he is expected to perform in terms of his
qualifications (McNally and Tophoff 2015). As a matter of specification, looking after the
efficient execution of the business operations is the most important function of the manager of
Beyond India. Feeling proud about his designation is good on one hand; however boasting about
the post might be harmful in terms of his professionalism.
Ensuring coordination between the Front and Back Office operations aligns with the
responsibilities of a manager of Beyond India. Delving deep into the operations, front and back
are the two parameters of the outlet. Having assistants for these operations reflects the practice
of partnership working, which saves a lot of time regarding the achievement of successful
completion of the projects in hand. Supervising the reports of the published data reflects the
awareness of the manager of Beyond India towards the performance of the employees in terms of
the allocated duties (Beyondindia.net.au 2017). Approval of the drafts of these data projects the
participative management style, which enhances the stability in the relationship between

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employee, employers, manager of restaurant outlets like Beyond India and the directors (Kotas
2014). Along with this, it also enriches the aspect of professional communication.
Financial aspect gains an important position among all the issues projected in the
interview. Consciousness towards this parameter enables the companies and organizations to
strengthen the productivity. Here, there is a need for indulging in relationships and contracts
with the members of the Trade Union. The major drive behind this is to avert encountering
instances of financial crisis, inflation and fluctuating prices of the raw materials. One of
effective methods in this direction is to prepare the budget much in advance, so that additional
requirements can be met before the actual execution of the tasks (Ivert et al. 2015).
In view of the increased online orders, the need for security software is justified. This has
several connotations. On one hand, it reflects the business expansion of the outlet; on the other
hand, it aggravates the risk of cyber crimes. Countering this, the discussion here needs to be on
the methods used for regulating the finance. As per the statements of the manager of Beyond
India, the payments are made through account transfer, which requires less time and efforts.
For this, the account numbers and email IDs need to be valid and authentic (Kafetzopoulos
and Gotzamani 2014). The GPS trackers in the profile of the manager of Beyond India are
effective in terms of controlling the cash flows from the internal environment to the external
ones. The alert button is vital in terms of identifying the third party interference.
One of the other aspects of the budget is the shareholder investment. It is not possible for
the organization alone to handle all the aspects of business. Some investments are made by the
shareholders. Herein lays the reference of suppliers, distributers, agency partners among others,
who play a major role in conveying the latest trends and activities of the outlet to the customers

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(Dopson and Hayes 2015). Estimations regarding the investments by shareholders help the
manager of Beyond India to plan the revenue generation as well as addition of value to the
profit margin. This estimation is the keystone for predicting the market share, which enhances
the clarity of the managers of Beyond India regarding the position within the competitive
ambience.
Adherence to the competitive policies helps Beyond India to indulge in fair trade and
transaction amidst the competitive ambience (Beyondindia.net.au 2017). This fairness is the
cornerstone towards the achievement of customer satisfaction and retaining it. In terms of
account transfer, this fairness is of utmost importance in terms of proper transmission of the
message from the sender to the receiver. The presence of Responsibility Centers helps the outlet
Beyond India to control the budget (Dopson and Hayes, 2015). This Centre takes the help of
various systems, which automatically excavates the errors within the budgets. There are three
subdivisions of the Responsibility Centre- Cost Centre, Revenue Centre, Profit Centre and
Investment Centre. Pondering upon the names of the Centres, all play an important role in
regulating the budget of the outlet, Beyond India. Tracking the Cost of the raw materials in the
market enhances the Clarity of the foreign delegates to make investments (Dopson and Hayes,
2015). This regulation is a further assistance in estimating the revenue and value, which would
be added to the profit margin.
From the findings, it can be concluded that, encouragement and motivation of the
manager inspires the employees to expose better performance. Along with this, conscious
attitude towards the regulation of finance reflects the attempts towards achieving customer
satisfaction. The Responsibility Centers acts assistance for the outlet, Beyond India in terms of

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practicing financial control, the main item of which is the cost, revenue, investments and the total
profit achieved (Dopson and Hayes 2015).

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Appendix
Interview questions script (Here the interviewee is the Food and Beverage Manager of Beyond
India of Beyond India, an Indian culinary outlet in Australia)
Interviewer: Hello sir
Interviewee: Hello
Interviewer: I know you are a busy person; therefore I will not take much of your time. I just
want to know few things regarding your business.
Interviewee: I have to check the report of the dishes prepared in the last few weeks and the
customer reactions towards the dish, which I have left unfinished. Please can I finish it and
come?
Interviewer: I am afraid; I do not have much time.
Interviewee: (looking confused) Oh…..yes…….OK. After sometime………Yes, now I am
ready.
Interviewer: Ok, let’s begin. First tell me about the hospitality enterprise that you manage.
Interviewee: It gives me immense pleasure to tell you that I am the Food and Beverage Manager
of Beyond India. I look after the proper functioning of the outlet. This includes supervision of the
dishes being prepared, budgets and the performance of the junior and senior chefs towards the
allocated tasks.

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Interviewer: Wow, you have a wide domain to manage. How do you manage it? Tell me
specifically about the Front Office and Back Office operations?
Interviewee: I have assistants, who perform the front and back office operations. The back office
operations are managed by the assistants, who make the data entries for the budgets and the list
of the raw materials and the required labors. This is done through the means of Excel sheets,
which automatically performs the calculations. On the contrary, the front office operations are
managed by the customer care executives, who are entrusted with the responsibility to deal with
the queries and needs of the guests coming to use our services. Reports about the performance of
the employees are sent to me for their appraisals. We actually encourage the employees to
envision customer satisfaction prior to the other business aspects. Apart from this, I personally
take trainings of the employees, so that they get the motivation to expose better performance.
Interviewer: That sounds great. Now tell me about the methods which you use for controlling the
finance?
Interviewee: I am very proud to say about the cash, which we follow for regulating the financial
parameter. See….. In simple words we have a cashier, who takes care of the budgets. We sit in
meetings to discuss about the prices of the raw materials, required labor. This is done well in
advance, so that there is enough time for two-three evaluations. This saves a lot of time and
reduces errors within the preparation of the dishes and presentations. Along with this, we ask the
customers to subscribe to our webpage, where they have to give all their bank details, email IDs
among others. Information in this regards helps us in gaining firm insight into the specific tastes
and preferences of the customers. Having the email ID of the customers, we pass on the news of

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the discounts, offers and schemes on the menus. This is obviously during the time, when there is
easy availability of the raw materials at cheap rates.
Interviewer: Really impressive. I am sure the profiles of the customers are filled with security
software?
Interviewee: Yes sure. In response to the increased cyber crimes, we have installed security
software in our webpage as well as the profiles of the customers. Here is not all. We are holding
a meeting this Sunday with the Director regarding the latest security software, which would
ensure the safety, security and privacy of the customers’ profile and our webpage.
Interviewer: Relieved to hear that you are conscious about the wellbeing of the customers. Wish
you all the best for your future. May your business prosper to the peak of success. Thank you for
your precious time.
Interviewee: Welcome. It was nice meeting you.
Interviewer: Thank you.

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References
Beyondindia.net.au (2017). About us. Available at: http://www.beyondindia.net.au/ [Accessed
on 15th September 2017]
Davis, B., Lockwood, A., Pantelidis, I. and Alcott, P., 2013. Food and beverage management.
Routledge.
Dopson, L.R. and Hayes, D.K., 2015. Food and beverage cost control. John Wiley & Sons.
Fried, G. and Mumcu, C. eds., 2016. Sport Analytics: A Data-driven Approach to Sport Business
and Management. Taylor & Francis.
Ivert, L.K., Dukovska-Popovska, I., Kaipia, R., Fredriksson, A., Dreyer, H.C., Johansson, M.I.,
Chabada, L., Damgaard, C.M. and Tuomikangas, N., 2015. Sales and operations planning:
responding to the needs of industrial food producers. Production Planning & Control, 26(4),
pp.280-295.
Ivert, L.K., Dukovska-Popovska, I., Kaipia, R., Fredriksson, A., Dreyer, H.C., Johansson, M.I.,
Chabada, L., Damgaard, C.M. and Tuomikangas, N., 2015. Sales and operations planning:
responding to the needs of industrial food producers. Production Planning & Control, 26(4),
pp.280-295.
Kafetzopoulos, D.P. and Gotzamani, K.D., 2014. Critical factors, food quality management and
organizational performance. Food Control, 40, pp.1-11.
Kotas, R., 2014. Management accounting for hotels and restaurants. Routledge.

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McNally, J.S. and Tophoff, V., 2015. Stacked in your favor: you can increase your chances for
organizational success by upgrading your risk management and internal control. Strategic
Finance, 96(10), pp.30-40.
Wu, P.H., Huang, C.Y. and Chou, C.K., 2014. Service expectation, perceived service quality,
and customer satisfaction in food and beverage industry. International Journal of Organizational
Innovation (Online), 7(1), p.171.
Yang, C.L., Huang, R.H. and Liao, S.J., 2014. Customer Requirement Based on Quality
Planning and Improvement for Food and Beverage Management. Service Science and
Management Research, 3, pp.25-33.