Hospitality Interview: Analysis of Front and Back House Operations

This report is based on an interview with Sanjeev Khattar, owner and manager of Jai Ho Indian Restaurant. It analyzes the front and back house operations of the hospitality industry, including cost control, daily business operations, and more.

Running head: HOSPITALITY INTERVIEW
Hospitality Interview
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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Table of Contents
Analysis of the Interview Findings..................................................................................................3
Type of Hospitality Enterprise Managed.....................................................................................3
Cuisine Offered and Reason Behind this Cuisine........................................................................3
Front House Operations...............................................................................................................3
Cost Control of the Front House Operations...............................................................................4
Back House Operations................................................................................................................4
Cost Control of the Back of the House Operations......................................................................5
Daily Business Operations Financial Control..............................................................................5
References........................................................................................................................................7
Appendix..........................................................................................................................................8

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Analysis of the Interview Findings
Type of Hospitality Enterprise Managed
There are five different sectors of the hospitality industry or enterprises out of which food and
beverages form the most important and crucial enterprise (Pizam, Shapoval and Ellis 2016). Jai
Ho India located in the coastal suburb of Hallet Cove is one of the most famous restaurants
which is owned and managed by Sanjeev Khattar (Jai Ho Indian Restaurant, 2018), the person
interviewed and this report is based on the same interview.
Cuisine Offered and Reason Behind this Cuisine
Located at Melbourne now, the restaurant offers delicious Indian Cuisine and adds to the varied
culture and caters to the tastes and demands of not only the Indians residing there but also the
other people that demand new cuisines on an everyday basis(Jai Ho Indian Restaurant, 2018) is
what has been asserted along the course of the interview.
Front House Operations
Front house operations of any restaurant include the operations and maintenance of any area
inside the premises of the restaurant where the customers are allowed to use or access (Sachs et
al. 2014). These areas include the dinning, bar, restrooms, the front desk and even other areas
that the customers are allowed to access and use. It is very essential to manage the activities and
operations of this area with precision and quality. These activities and operations include,
customer servicing, hiring, training and managing the staff so that they are able to provide the
best quality of customer services in terms of satisfaction (Günzel and Holm 2013). The other
management operations associated with the front house of a restaurant include designing,

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maintaining a particular ambience that either attracts new customers or keeps up to the
expectations of the already existing customer group (Rowbotham, Azhashemi and Galloway
2012). There are still other activities involved with maintenance and management including
promotions and stocking of the front house so that the essentials are always available to the
audience. All of these particulars and components should be well taken care of as per the
discretion of Sanjay Khattar and is in fact catered to on a daily basis as per the interviewee’s
views.
Cost Control of the Front House Operations
According to the script attached in the appendix based on the interview at Jai Ho Indian, the front
house operations of the restaurant are varied and yet collated sometimes so that the cost involved
is minimized (Walker and Walker 2016). For example, the human resources costs are reduced
both by the usage of automation and self service options at the counter. Moreover, the use of
most updated technology for most purposes like cleaning, decorating, billing and even generating
reviews from the customers in order to build their trust also help in managing and reducing the
costs of the front house operations and management.
Back House Operations
The back of the house operations especially in the context of a restaurant involves the operations
and functions involved in the kitchen where the raw materials and ingredients are converted into
finished dishes that are in turn served to the customers by the staff involved at the front house
(Sachs et al. 2014). According to Sanjeev Khattar (the interviewee), the management of the back
house operations is also equally important and involves maintenance of codes of conduct and
human resources management so that the food is prepared with the best quality of both tastes and
hygiene (DiPietro et al. 2012). Thus the costs involved with the management of the operations

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ongoing in the kitchen or the back of the house are very different which are discussed in the
subsequent portions of the essay based on the interview conducted.
Cost Control of the Back of the House Operations
According to the script attached again, it is observed that the cost controlling of the back house
operations include efficient supply chain management (Ferguson and Souza 2016). This is done
efficiently with the help of proper supplier relationships so that the raw materials and other
goods including equipments and machineries can be obtained at a cost lower than the supply
costs facing other firms which in turn helps in generation or higher levels of profit. Further, the
firm also utilizes the concept of automation and better allocation of allocation of work to reduce
human resources cost in the workings of the kitchen (Ma et al. 2012). In fact the type of
equipments and utensils as well as infrastructure used for cooking and producing the finished
dishes as well as garnishing all use the most updated forms of technology as well as human skills
so that both cost and time is reduced and this is the exact strategy that is followed at Jai Ho
Indian.
Daily Business Operations Financial Control
According to Sanjeev Khattar, the owner and manager of the Jai Ho Indian, it is very important
to manage and monitor the financial status and workings of the firm on a daily basis. As is
presented in the script of the interview attached in the appendix, it is very important to monitor
the amount of savings in the bank, the levels of the stocks and the total amount of expenditure
incurred by the firm on a daily basis. It is equally important to keep track of the customer
payments (Melnick et al. 2012). This can be done by the implementation and usage of properly
formed invoices that are very accurate and make sure that the customers are made to pay on time.
Further, for smooth functioning of the firm on a daily basis, it is very important to keep a check

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on the cash flow management so that the targets in the business plan are achieved on a monthly
basis (Pizam 2012). The restaurant also uses the concepts of customer accounts that help in
maintaining the payment status of the customers on a daily basis. The other most important
method in which the daily business operations are controlled at Jai Ho Indian includes the
maintenance of enough stock and supply especially for the front house operations. In doing this,
the managers working under Sanjay Khattar also try to make sure that the investments are also
happening effectively and on time and that the firm is able to reinvest the profits generated in a
recurring manner.

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References
DiPietro, R.B., Crews, T.B., Gustafson, C. and Strick, S., 2012. The use of social networking
sites in the restaurant industry: Best practices. Journal of Foodservice Business Research, 15(3),
pp.265-284.
Ferguson, M.E. and Souza, G.C. eds., 2016. Closed-loop supply chains: new developments to
improve the sustainability of business practices. CRC Press.
Günzel, F. and Holm, A.B., 2013. One size does not fit all—understanding the front-end and
back-end of business model innovation. International Journal of Innovation
Management, 17(01), p.1340002.
Jai Ho Indian Restaurant. (2018). Home. [online] Available at: http://www.jaiho-indian-
restaurant.com/ [Accessed 4 Jun. 2018].
Ma, J., Qin, J., Salsbury, T. and Xu, P., 2012. Demand reduction in building energy systems
based on economic model predictive control. Chemical Engineering Science, 67(1), pp.92-100.
Melnick, E.L., Nayyer, P.R., Pinedo, M.L. and Seshadri, S. eds., 2012. Creating value in
financial services: Strategies, operations and technologies. Springer Science & Business Media.
Pizam, A. ed., 2012. International Encyclopedia of Hospitality Management 2nd Edition.
Routledge.
Pizam, A., Shapoval, V. and Ellis, T., 2016. Customer satisfaction and its measurement in
hospitality enterprises: a revisit and update. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality
Management, 28(1), pp.2-35.

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Rowbotham, F., Azhashemi, M. and Galloway, L., 2012. Operations management in context.
Routledge.
Sachs, C., Allen, P., Terman, A.R., Hayden, J. and Hatcher, C., 2014. Front and back of the
house: Socio-spatial inequalities in food work. Agriculture and Human Values, 31(1), pp.3-17.
Walker, J.R. and Walker, J.T., 2016. Introduction to hospitality management. Prentice Hall.

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Appendix
The Script –
Interviewee – Jai ho India has been operating for quite some time now. How do you ensure the
smooth and efficient running of the restaurant?
Sanjeev Khattar- As the owner and manager of this and many other outlets of Jai Ho, I think it is
very important to keep a good balance in between the operations on the front and back office as
well as the variety of food and quality of food offered to the customers.
Interviewee- What is the most important aspect of controlling the costs of the front house
operations as per your discretion?
Sanjeev Khattar- The most important aspect of running the front and back office operations
involve activities that help reduce the costs of operations and help in financial analysis so that the
objectives are regularly reached based on the business plans in place. I think that for both front
and back office operations it is very important to apply the usage of the most up to date
technology and automation so that a lot of work can be completed in a comparatively shorter
span of time and with less cost incurrence. Further in the context of back of the house operations,
it is important to note that the relations maintained with the suppliers and the cost of the raw
materials used from the supply chain, should be maintained in order to keep the costs under
check.
Interviewee – Apart from these what are the other activities that are important to be monitored on
a daily basis in order to ensure smooth financial functioning of your restaurant?

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Sanjeev Khattar- I think keeping a check of the accounts, especially the stocks and the payments
from the customers maintaining the customer accounts accurately and also keeping a check on
the daily costs is very important.