Conference and Banqueting Management: Strategic Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive overview of conference and banqueting management within the hospitality industry, focusing on the UK market. It begins by defining the size and scope of the industry, differentiating between various venue types such as conference and convention centers, and hotels with dedicated facilities. The report then analyzes the factors influencing industry development using a PESTEL analysis, considering political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal factors. Key strategic and operational issues, including administrative procedures, financial considerations, function etiquette, and protocol, are critically assessed. The report also discusses performance and quality review techniques, such as venue appraisals and profit realization, employed within the industry. The assignment incorporates Service on A Plate as a case study, examining how these concepts apply in practice. The conclusion summarizes the key findings, emphasizing the multifaceted nature of conference and banqueting management.

Conference and
banqueting
management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
1.1 Discuss the size and scope of the conference and banqueting industry in the UK...............3
1.2 Analyse factors that have influenced its development..........................................................4
2.1 Critically assess the key strategic and operational issues involved in the effective
management of a given conference or banquet...........................................................................5
2.2 Discuss performance and quality review techniques used by the Conference and
banqueting industry.....................................................................................................................6
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................7
(Covered in PPT).........................................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................7
REFRENCES...................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Conference and banqueting is one of the leading sector of hospitality industry at United
Kingdom. It is those sector in which several events are conduct such as wedding gigs, parties,
conferences, dinner and many more. It also help in enhancing economy of country by creating
job for local, national and international candidates (Boje, 2016). Organization taken for this
assignment is Service on A Plate which is conducting its business in hospitality industry. It
mainly provide catering services for conference, banqueting and events. Along with this they
also offer their services at local contracts with huge organisation. Topics covered in this report
are size, scope of conference and banqueting in UK, factor which impact respective industry
development, issues involves in it and techniques used for performance and quality review.
Along with this it will include food production system, style and serving style, factors which are
consider while off site conference or banquet, keys factors include in menu designing and
ergonomic considerations for respective industry.
TASK 1
1.1 Discuss the size and scope of the conference and banqueting industry in the UK
Diversity of venues:
 Conference Centre: Conference centre or Convention centre is a place where large
meetings, exhibition, host conferences, training sessions, seminars and many other
activities are held (Brennan, 2012). Along with this it also provide office facilities to
conduct interviews. It also provide space to large number of people to gather at venue for
discussion to share common interest. In todays world many resorts consist of conference
room in their hotel especially for business people to conduct their meetings.
 Specific conference and banqueting facilities with hotel: There are various hotel which
provide facilities of conference as well as banqueting in order to provide extra and
attractive services to clients. In it they also provide special services which are based on
budget of client and number of guest. Along with this they also provide or decide services
according to occasion and event.
Nature of industry:

 Size: The size of conference and banquet industry is medium because it is a one part of
hospitality industry. There are various sectors where facilities of conference as well as
banquets are offer such as restaurant, hotel, airlines and many more.
 Type of Event: There are various type of events which are conducted in conference and
banquet industry which are according to company's client requirement. Through this
company also able to enhance their profitability ratio, goodwill and market shares. Some
of the major events which are conducted in Service on A Plate are weeding, award
ceremonies, office conferences, birthday parties, regional events, sports events and many
more (Butterworth, 2012).
1.2 Analyse factors that have influenced its development
There are various factors which influence development of conference and banqueting
industry. For the evaluation of this Service on A Plate adopt PESTEL analysis, which is
mentioned below:-
 Political Factor: Political factor has a direct impact on hospitality industry because of
changes in government rules and regulation. Political stability is good for this industry as
it does not affect its environment. Such as Service on a Plate is a conference and banquet
hall which organise events on a large scale. So any changes in political laws or regulation
does not affect its functioning. Along with this, they should consider the political factor
such as political laws to conduct their business in effective and legal manner.
 Economic Factor: Economic factor does not affect the conference and banquet services,
as it keeps on growing stronger with customer spending on it. As per Service on a Plate,
the organisation should consider the economic factor such as demand and supply, tax rate
and so on and operate their functions accordingly.
 Social factor: In context of A Service on a Plate, the company must focus on the
customer and fulfil their needs and demands regarding food quality, proper organization
of events or conference and so on (Butterworth, 2014). Moreover by considering this
factor respective event company must maintain their quality of food and services.
 Technological factor: In respect of A Service on a Plate, the company must make the
use of advance technology in conferences or events such as LCD TV with projector, Wi-
Fi connection with high speed, siren in case of any emergency and so on. Along with this

the respective company also need to adopt new advance technology at their place such as
robotic technology for serving.
 Environmental factor: There are various environmental factors that affect the
conference and banquet services such as flood , heavy rains which result in spoilage of
food, unhygienic and so on (Islam and Schulman, 2017). In respect of Service on A Plate
they need to develop their products and services which must be environment friendly.
Along with this they must also develop or design their interior which is eco friendly.
 Legal factor: The company A Service on a plate, should follow the legal factors such as
laws and regulations such as health and safety laws, consumer law, hygiene law and so
on which will assist them to prepare food and serve consumers accordingly. For Service
on A Plate it is essential to follow legal factors because there are various legislation
which are develop by government for respective industry such as food and safety Act,
hygiene Act and many more.
2.1 Critically assess the key strategic and operational issues involved in the effective
management of a given conference or banquet
There are various key strategies and operational problems which are included in proper
management of activities at Conference and banquet industry. It will also impact on their
operations and functions, some major of the factors in respect of Service on A Plate are given
below:-
Administrative procedure:
 Booking date: It refers to issues which is faced by an event company such as some time
there is situation occur when Service on A Plate get so many bookings on a similar date.
Due to which they face various issues in managing it in effective way.
 Discount initiatives: Along with this they also face issue related to discount because
there are some customers who ask for huge discount which is not possible for respective
company.
Financial and legal consideration:
 Health and Safety Act,1974: This act was introduced by Secretary of State for
Employment Michael Foot on 22 March 1974 (Kumar and Harnett, 2016). This act is
define about the heath and safety of employees at workplace within the United Kingdom.

The main focus of Health and Safety Act is to assure organisations their role to adopt
health and safety at workplace which is reasonably practicable.
 Hygiene legislation: According to this rule and regulation every company which are
dealing in hospitality industry is necessary to maintain proper hygiene at their workplace.
This is so because if they will not maintain effective hygiene it will directly impact on
health of their customer or visitors. That will impact on their image and goodwill as well
as it will also leads to decline in profitability ratio.
Function etiquette and protocol:
 Religious and cultural guidelines: It refers to problems which is face by respective
company while organizing event because they have to follow their cultural as well as
religious guidelines. Due to which they have to update their strategy or plan new
strategies which is little taking.
2.2 Discuss performance and quality review techniques used by the Conference and banqueting
industry
It is necessary for a company to take feedback of there performance because through it
they able to identify their weakness and strength in appropriate manner for this a firm may adopt
various techniques such as feedbacks, venue appraisal, analysis profits and many more (Matsuo,
Fukushima and Iwamoto, 2015). Some of the major performance and quality check techniques
adopted by Service on A Plate are given below:-
 Venue appraisal: According to this method respective industry staffs or manager will
take feedback about venue from their guest through which they able to know about
guest's true opinion about the place and event. In respect of Service on A Plate they ask
for proper feedbacks from their guest as well as they also adopt observation method in
order to identify views of guest about the venue.
 Profit realisation: According to this strategy company need to analysis its profit which
help in identifying whether guest like the venue, food and overall event or not. This is so
because if guests not like the offerings they will not visit it again that will directly impact
on company's profitability and market shares (Nath, 2015). In respect of Service on A
Plate they compare their yearly or annually profit which help them in analysing where
their company's goodwill and profit is increasing or not. This will help them in
developing decision so that they will improve profit ratio.

TASK 2
(Covered in PPT)
CONCLUSION
By analysing above mentioned points it can be summarised that there are various sub
sectors which are operating in hospitality industry and from it one of the leading sector is
conference as well as banquet sector. There are various factors which impact on respective
company development such as political, economical and so on as well as they also face several
problems while conducting business. Along with this there are several techniques which can be
use by conference and banquet sector in order to maintain performance and quality. There are
also various food production style and system which help a company in offering their food as
well as beverage through diverse serving style. There are several factors which are consider by
respective industry while conducting their business off site and they also need to consider several
factors while planning for menu. Moreover, in respective sector there are also some ergonomic
consideration so that they conduct their work in effective manner.