Food & Beverage Operations: Cordis Hotel & W Hotel Restaurant Analysis

This report offers a comparative analysis of the food and beverage (F&B) operations at two prominent Hong Kong hotels: Cordis Hotel (Ming Court) and W Hotel (Sing Yin Cantonese Restaurant). The report examines two key service areas: the Front of House (FOH) F&B attendants and the Back of House (BOH) kitchen staff. It contrasts the fine dining experience of Ming Court, a two Michelin-starred restaurant, with the casual dining atmosphere of Sing Yin, focusing on service styles, equipment used, and advantages/disadvantages of each approach. The analysis covers the roles of FOH attendants, their knowledge requirements, and the differences in order-taking systems. The BOH section compares kitchen facilities, staff expertise, and the influence of dining style on kitchen operations. The report highlights the similarities and differences in service delivery, equipment, and staff training, providing insights into the distinct characteristics of fine dining and casual dining F&B operations within the context of these two Hong Kong hotels.

Running head: FOOD AND BEVERAGE OPERATIONS
Food and Beverage Operations: Cordis Hotel, Hong Kong and W Hotel, Hong Kong
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author note:

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Executive summary
Food and beverage operations are based on many service areas. It is a part of the hospitality
industries and service is the major function in it. The following research report discusses two
different services areas in two popular and big restaurants in Hong Kong. Ming Court is a two
Michelin star restaurant, located in Cordis Hotel and Sing Yin Cantonese Restaurant is located in
W Hotel. The FOH F&B attendants and BOH Kitchen service areas for both the restaurants are
compared in this report. Ming Court is a fine dining restaurant serving veru high quality food at a
very high price, while Sing Yin is a casual dining restaurant offering good quality local
Cantonese food at a moderate price. It is seen that the both the service areas are very high quality
for Ming Court as it maintains a status of two Michelin Star restaurant.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Area 1: FOH F&B Attendant...........................................................................................................5
Area 2: BOH Kitchen......................................................................................................................8
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................9
References......................................................................................................................................10

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Introduction
The origin of food and beverage industry dates back to history. When the ancient people
started travelling to different places for different purposes, they stopped at various places for
having food, drinks and rest. This opportunity was grabbed by some local people and they started
supplying the basic amenities to the travellers. The food and beverage industry grew from this
concept and now it has gone global from local. In recent times, the operations in the food and
beverage industry have become extremely diverse in terms of cuisines, service, deliveries,
ingredients and equipment (Xiao, O’Neill and Mattila 2012).
The research report is aimed to make a comparison between two different food and
beverage businesses or operations. Food and beverage sector is comprised of institutions that are
engaged in the making of several and diverse types of food and drinks, for instant or late
consumption, for buffet or a la carte service and, on or off the premises (Riley 2005). The food
and beverage sector operations include a number of undertakings that engage the staff with
purchase of ingredients and raw materials, inventory management, equipment, presenting and
serving the food and beverages and maintaining quality of the services. The nature and size of
the management of the food and beverage operation regulate the size of the service areas and
also influence the style of delivery service (Waller 2009). Different types of services include
different types of equipment. This is a large industry operating all over the world and is endlessly
growing.
The thesis statement of the research report is to make a comparison between the two
types of service areas in the food and beverage sections of two renowned hotels in Hong Kong. It

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aims to highlight how the services areas are different or similar in styles, type of equipment
needed, the advantages and disadvantages of the service styles across the two hotels.
Cordis Hotel and W Hotel in Hong Kong are chosen for this research report. Both the
hotels are quite popular and luxurious and offer great food and beverage to the guests. Cordis
Hotel is situated in the heart of the Kowloon city, Hong Kong with 664 suites and rooms in a 42
storied building. It has a collection of contemporary and innovative restaurants and bars, state-of-
the-art banquets and conferences halls, and excellent work out provisions
(virtualfieldtrips.edu.au 2018). The restaurants are almost always full. There are open kitchens,
where the customers can see the food prepared by the chefs. It is very popular among the guests,
as they prefer unwinding, indulging and having fun in Cordis Hotel. In the 6th floor, it has placed
the Ming Court Restaurant, which is two Michelin Star restaurant in the city. It houses the finest,
organic, boutique, unique and vintage wines. The Ming Celler has around 380 wines from 20
different countries over 100 regions. Other than that, they also have The Place Restaurant, Alibi
Bar, The Backyard Bar, which are all very popular in Kowloon (cordishotels.com 2018).
W Hotel has themed its lobby as per the story of Alice in Wonderland to provide the
guest a fantasy and luxurious experience in West Kowloon, Hong Kong. It is situated in the third
tallest building, W Hong Kong (virtualfieldtrips.edu.au 2018). The hotel provides an excellent
scope for relaxing and experiencing great food and drinks. It offers many restaurants and bars,
such as, WooBar, The Kitchen Restaurant, Sing Yin Cantonese Restaurant and main kitchen,
situated in various floors. The Kitchen Restaurant offers continental cuisine, in a la carte and in
buffet, while the Sing Yin Cantonese Restaurant has specialty in Cantonese food (w-
hongkong.com 2018).

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Area 1: FOH F&B Attendant
The first service area chosen for the report is the FOH F&B Attendant. The Ming Court
Restaurant from the Cordis Hotel and Sing Yin Cantonese Restaurant from the W Hotel are
chosen for the comparison.
Being a two Michelin Star restaurant, Ming Court is one of the most expensive as well as
very popular restaurants in Hong Kong (cordishotels.com 2018). It offers a great combination of
most authentic Cantonese cuisine with most exclusive wines, collected from around the globe.
Since, it is a fine dining restaurant, the décor and menus are prepared to maintain the luxury of
the place and sophistication of the food. On the other hand, Sing Yin Cantonese Restaurant in W
Hotel is not a Michelin star restaurant, but it belongs to the same genre of food like Ming Court,
that is, the Cantonese cuisine. It is a casual dining restaurant. Both the restaurants follow pre-
plated service or American service style. Ming Court also offers private dining while Sing Yin
has options of takeout, special occasion dining, private dining and local cuisines. Ming Court and
Sing Yin both have only lunch and dinner options.
The role of FOH F&B attendant is very crucial in both of these restaurants. Their job is to
welcome the guests, ask them to wait in the waiting area if the dining area is full, handing the
menu to the guest and take the order, communicate to the kitchen staff about the orders and if
any specific requirement is mentioned by the guests and have detailed knowledge about the
menu, so that, they can guide the guests through the menu and suggest if necessary (Enz 2012).
Their job is similar in both the restaurants.
The service style in MingCourt is fine dining while that in Sing Yin is casual dining. In
fine dining, full services are provided with dedicated meal courses, priced very high. Décor of

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the fine dining is made of very high quality materials and it maintains exclusive style. It usually
has a set of codes for the guests to follow, which often includes a dress code. On the other hand,
in casual dining, moderately priced food is served. It can be a buffet service or a table service.
The atmosphere is casual and usually there is no dress code. MingCourt has highly detailed a la
carte menu with numerous options, hence, the attendants need to have a great knowledge about
the each item in detail. Sing Yin has a limited and small menu of a la carte menus for lunch and
dinner and special occasions and the attendants must have a detailed knowledge on the
ingredients of the items in the menu.
The FOH F&B attendant requires tablet for taking the orders and checking the vacancy
status in MingCourt. They also use wireless headphones for internal communication. The
attendants in Sing Yin use pen and paper for taking the food order and check the available table
status through electronic system. The equipment for taking the order is different but checking the
availability of tables is done using similar device. The headphones are not used in Sing Yin for
internal communication. In both restaurants, the attendants must wear uniforms.
The primary advantage of fine dining is to gain an exclusive experience from dining. The
quality of authentic food, ambience, service quality, attention from the attendants, privacy, all
contribute in making the experience. However, the biggest disadvantage of fine dining is the
extreme high cost. Secondly, sometimes, the rigidity of the restaurant codes does not allow the
guests to unwind and enjoy. On the other hand, casual dining does not offer the best authentic
cuisine, a very high quality interior, privacy, which can be disadvantageous for some, but the
major advantage is the cost effectiveness. Many casual restaurants, like, Sing Yin provides high
quality food and service at a moderate price, in a casual atmosphere, which makes these more
popular among the masses.

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Figure 1: Ming Court dining area
(Source: cordishotels.com 2018)
Figure 2: Sing Yin dining area
(Source: w-hongkong.com 2018)

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Area 2: BOH Kitchen
The kitchens of the restaurants are situated in the back of the house. None of the
restaurant has open kitchen. The kitchen in both places are made with state-of-the-art facilities,
however, the kitchen of Ming Court has more expensive and more high quality interior than that
in Sing Yin. They provide made to order service. However, W Hotel has a main kitchen for all
the restaurants in the building and Sing Yin is a part of that (w-hongkong.com 2018). Thus, Sing
Yin has a shared kitchen unlike Ming Court that has its own kitchen.
The primary function of the kitchen staff is to make the food. Along with making the
food, they also present the food in the best possible manner to make it look attractive and
delicious. The chefs in the kitchens are the ultimate responsible people for creating the best
memory for the guests, who come to these restaurants. If the guests had a good time in the
restaurant, experienced a high quality food and amazed by the presentation of the food, it is
likely that they would come back to the restaurant. The chefs remain at the back of the house
kitchen, but they are the ones who do the most critical job in a restaurant. The kitchen staff in
Ming Court has more expert knowledge on authentic Cantonese cuisine and as a two Michelin
Star restaurant; they maintain the quality of the Michelin Star food and service quality. On the
other hand, the kitchen staff of Sing Yin is more experienced in local Cantonese food. Sing Yin
has a smaller menu than Ming Court and hence, the staff of Sing Yin does not have much scope
for experimenting and enhancing their skills with more dishes.
Both the kitchens have the basic kitchen equipment, such as, freezers, utensils,
microwave, ovens, refrigerator, and many more. However, Ming Court has more high quality,
costly and state-of-the-art utensils, while Sing Yin and other kitchen staff of W Hotel use

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moderately priced appliances in the main kitchen. In both the restaurants, the kitchen staff is
required to wear uniforms and chef hats.
The kitchen service area for the both the restaurants are almost similar but they differ in
quality, price, size and trained staff. Ming Court requires more trained staff in the kitchen as per
the Michelin guide. They hire extremely qualified chefs with degrees in hotel management and a
good amount of experience in food making. Creativity is more important in Ming Court than in
Sing Yin.
Conclusion
The report discusses about the similarities and differences of two major service areas,
namely, FOH F&B Attendant and BOH Kitchen of two major restaurants in Hong Kong, Ming
Court and Sing Yin Cantonese Restaurant. The basic nature of service is different in the two
restaurants, as the first is fine dining and the latter is casual dining. However, the basic functions
of the F&B attendants and the kitchen staff in both the restaurants remain same, only the style of
delivery and facilities are slightly more sophisticated in Ming Court. In Ming Court, every
facilities and services by the F&B attendants are of very high quality, such as, using of tablets for
taking orders, personalized services, private dinner facilities, information regarding food
ingredients are paid high attention. The chefs and staff in kitchen are highly experienced in
authentic Cantonese food as they maintain their Michelin star status. On the other hand, Sing Yin
also provides high quality service in casual dining options but not with high level of technology
for attendants and a private kitchen for the chefs. However, Sing Yin has also gained a reputation
for itself as one of the best places for Cantonese food in Hong Kong at a moderate price.

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References
cordishotels.com, 2018. Michelin Star Fine Dining Cantonese Restaurant | Cordis, Hong Kong.
[online] Cordishotels.com. Available at: http://www.cordishotels.com/en/hong-kong/restaurants-
and-bars/ming-court/ [Accessed 4 May 2018].
Enz, C.A., 2012. Strategies for the implementation of service innovations. Cornell Hospitality
Quarterly, 53(3), pp.187-195. [Available at: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?
doi=10.1.1.685.2983&rep=rep1&type=pdf]
Riley, M., 2005. Food and beverage management: A review of change. Management, 17(1),
pp.88-93. [Available at:
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virtualfieldtrips.edu.au, 2018. Virtual Field Trip. [online] Virtualfieldtrips.edu.au. Available at:
http://www.virtualfieldtrips.edu.au/vft/cordis.html#cordis_mingrestaurant [Accessed 4 May
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virtualfieldtrips.edu.au, 2018. Virtual Field Trip. [online] Virtualfieldtrips.edu.au. Available at:
http://www.virtualfieldtrips.edu.au/vft/whotel.html#whotel_kitchen [Accessed 4 May 2018].
Waller, K., 2009. Improving food and beverage performance. Taylor & Francis. [Available at:
https://books.google.com.au/books?

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w-hongkong.com, 2018. SING YIN Cantonese Restaurant. [online] W Hong Kong. Available at:
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