Managing Food and Beverage Operations: A Comprehensive Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the food and beverage (F&B) industry, focusing on the operational aspects of managing restaurants and food service businesses. It begins with an overview of the F&B industry, its different business types (restaurants, dairy, catering), and various rating systems used both nationally and internationally. The report delves into current and future trends affecting F&B businesses, including changing consumer preferences, food safety, and the increasing use of artificial intelligence and digital marketing. It further explores the factors influencing consumer decisions when choosing F&B outlets, such as service quality, ambiance, and pricing. The report also examines strategies used by F&B outlets to attract and retain customers, including offering Wi-Fi, organizing events, and utilizing online services. The effectiveness of these strategies is evaluated, along with the impact of digital technology on consumer buying behavior, emphasizing the role of mobile applications and online ordering. The report concludes with a discussion on building customer loyalty and the importance of adapting to technological advancements to improve operational efficiency and enhance the customer experience.

Managing Food and
Beverage Operations

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Activity 1.........................................................................................................................................1
Demonstrating F&B industry knowledge....................................................................................1
Different types of business in F&B industry...............................................................................1
Different rating system used in F&B industry both nationally and internationally.....................2
Current and future trends affecting the F&B businesses.............................................................2
Activity 2.........................................................................................................................................3
Activity 3.........................................................................................................................................6
Evaluating ways to use technology..............................................................................................6
Different operational and marketing technology used to improve the efficiency.......................6
Digital technology in improving operational efficiency..............................................................7
Activity 4.........................................................................................................................................7
Demonstrating professional food and beverage service standards in a real working
environment.................................................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Operations of Food and Beverage service industry consists of number of activities which are
need to be managed in most effective and efficient manner so as to capture current market
opportunities. Managing food and beverage industry is related with staff engagement, purchasing
of ingredients & raw material, preparation of food and delivering quality service etc. The present
report is based on Heath-row Airport Restaurants and Lounges Ltd. which is engaged in Food
and Beverage services. Report will provide emphasis on 'The Modern F&B Industry' along with
its different rating system and trends. Furthermore, analysis of customer motivation and behavior
in context of selection of outlets will be defined. At last, explanation about use of different
technologies for improving operational efficiency will be provided.
MAIN BODY
Activity 1
Demonstrating F&B industry knowledge.
The F&B industry stands for food and beverages and it includes all the grocery related
items, packaged food, nutritional food, oil, wheat, animal food, alcoholic drinks, soft drinks,
juices and water. The F&B industry in the United Kingdom is basically divided into two
segments, production and distribution. Production is basically concerned with growing and
processing of food items and beverages whereas distribution is concerned with transportation of
finished goods to the consumers (Wang and et.al., 2017).
The future trends in the F&B industry states that there can be a decline in the sales of
restaurants and other food outlets as they people have become more cautious about their health
and it can potentially affect the sales and market share of these companies.
Different types of business in F&B industry.
Food and beverage industry consists of various business like restaurants, farming, bakery,
dairy, sugar and confectionery and beverages. Some of them are
 Restaurants: Restaurants, food outlets and hotel constitute a major share in the food and
beverage industry. As of 2019, there are more than 90,000 restaurants in the United
Kingdom under the category of fast food outlets, bars, coffee shops and street stalls.
 Dairy: Dairy farming is the single largest farming industry in the United Kingdom and is
valued at around 3.8 billion GBP. Dairy industry includes production and distribution of
milk, cheese, butter and yogurt.
1

 Catering: Catering services are basically concerned with providing food related services
in a hotel, hospital, event, cruise ship or an entertainment site. As of 2019, there are more
than 20000 catering companies registered in the United Kingdom and the number is said
to grow even further in the near future.
Different rating system used in F&B industry both nationally and internationally.
UK based rating system
 Food hygiene rating: It is a UK based rating system that helps the guests in
identifying the health and hygiene standards of different restaurants and fast food
outlets. For instance, the Heath-row Airport Restaurants and Lounges Ltd. Were
rated 4 out of 5 stars which means that the restaurant had good hygiene standards
but can definitely improve in the near future.
 UK star rating system: Under this system the hotels are rated and managed by
four boards, the AA, visit Britain, Visit, Scotland and Visit Wales. It helps in
identifying the hotels and restaurant according to their ratings and the level of
services they offer. The Minster Mill, Oxford shire are provided with AA 3 star
ratings as they provide additional services like WI-Fi and personal butler in
addition to two star hotel facilities.
International rating system
 Green globe rating system: Green globes rating system is an international rating
system given to restaurants and enterprises for adopting Eco-friendly initiatives
and for taking care of the environment. For example, the MGM hotels and resorts
have received 4 green globe certifications for their extra ordinary care in relation
to the protection of environment.
Current and future trends affecting the F&B businesses.
F&B industry operates in a dynamic environment therefore it is subject to various
changes. Also, with the increasing use of technology and digital platforms, there have been
certain changes in the F&B industry.
Current trends
 Changing consumer preferences: There has been a slight change in consumer's taste
and preferences regarding their buying and consuming habits. The people have now
become more aware towards their health and have started avoiding junk food. Also,
2

majority of the people in the United Kingdom are turning vegan which has hugely
impacted the business of meat, poultry and seafood companies.
 Food safety and transparency: The increasing use of technology and internet has made
customers more aware about the food safety and their hygiene. Thus, the current trends
require restaurants and food companies to mention complete information about the
ingredients, calorie intake, fats and also the manufacturing and expiry date of the food
package (Chang and et.al., 2019).
Future trends
 Use of Artificial intelligence: The AI can play a major role in reshaping the restaurant
business. The technology can help in cost cutting for the restaurants, fast food chains and
grocery stores. Some of the features of AI are voice recognition, integrated inventory
management, facial recognition that can help in ordering your favorite drink
automatically and self-serve options. YO SUSHI, a restaurant in UK provides interactive
menu to their guests and allows them to play Nintendo at their table (Scholar, 2018).
 Digital marketing: Digital marketing will not only help in promoting the restaurants
online but will also help in increasing the consumer base of these companies. Also, with
the help of digital marketing, restaurants and other companies would be able to identify
the needs and wants of the consumers digitally and provide them with the particular
goods and services.
Activity 2
Consumers decision related to choosing of particular food and beverage outlets.
Decision of many consumers regarding the selection of Food & Beverage outlets mainly
gets affected by the quality of its service, ambience, cleanliness as provided by a restaurant.
Also, the atmosphere, dining space, artwork and its unique feature becomes sometime point of
attraction for many customers while making decision related to choosing of a particular outlet.
Pricing policy of evert food and beverage outlet should be kept in line with the quality of service
being provided. Prices charged for own services and products should be of reasonable,
affordable nature and capable of been entertained by every individual customer as well.
While making decision about selection of a particular outlet, most of the customers
considers attributes as provided by that Food and Beverage centre. Value for money and
performance of restaurant in making its consumers happy and satisfied contributes a lot in
3

making choice as well. Marketing and promotional activities including advertisement about new
services, product range helps such outlets in attracting new customer and thus increases their
market as well as profit share.
Factors influencing decision of consumers while choosing a particular F&B outlet
Consumer while choosing a particular outlet gets influenced by number of factors which
includes taste, quality of food and service being served, nutrition factor it is having in its service.
Also, hygiene and cleanliness of restaurant and its surrounding plays and important role in
changing the decision of consumer regarding opting for a specific F&B outlet. From the
perspective of many restaurant, by providing different variety in menu can help attracting every
age group customer. It is very important for every restaurant, Food and Beverage outlet to ensure
that location of restaurant or outlet is easily accessible and having convenience option to reach
such place.
Customer service, specialised cuisine and its tariffs are main focus of many customers
which helps these outlets and restaurant in making them visit again. A highly satisfied and happy
customer will add to brand loyalty and contributes to marketing of such outlet to its social group
which will in turn increases customer base thereby providing high revenue.
Strategies used by different F&B outlets to attract customers
Food and Beverage outlet makes use of different strategies for attracting their customer
as well as market share along with focus on improving productivity and operational efficiency of
business as a whole. It is important for both new and existing restaurants to adopt some
marketing as well as other operational strategies which can contributes to their profitability level.
Following are the strategies used:
1. Offering of free Wi-Fi facility is one of the strategy which is like by most of customers
while hanging out at any outlet.
2. Live music concert, theme parties, conference and business get together are some of the
ways by arrangement of which a particular restaurant or outlet can do its promotional and
marketing activity.
3. Providing services online i.e. by making use of internet. Coming up with the idea of
mobile application has helped most of the restaurant in improving their customer base as
well. Also, it has ease customers in getting their order from any place.
4

4. Updating website with new and innovative ideas, special offerings including discount etc.
adds to profitability aspect of such business.
F&B outlets build loyal customer base
For every business organisation, building customer base and its retention is one of the
most important objective after earning high profit. Building customer loyalty can help such
outlets in gaining competitive advantages as prevailing in the marketplace. By adopting
following measures, base of loyal customer can be build:
1. By maintaining good and healthy customer relationship both before and after rendering of
services aids to customer loyalty.
2. Seeking feedbacks and reviews related to service quality, menu variety, ambience can
help such outlets in retaining high level of customer.
3. By organising loyalty programs, conducting promotional activity of specific events,
offering time oriented coupons are some means which boost customer visits thereby
attracting them and building loyalty.
4. Another factor which can help is by evaluating customer needs and requirements from
outlets such as quality of product & service, environment and family friendly atmosphere,
cuisine prices etc.
5. Offering membership cards with discounts, rewards enhances loyalty factors as well.
6. Providing personalised services, suggestions to customer as per their needs & tracking
buying activities with the help of appropriate software attracts more customers.
Evaluating effectiveness of strategies adopted by different F&B outlets with aim of
attracting and building of loyal customer base
For running a successful business, focus is required to be made on customer retention
along with attracting of new customer. Thus, for managing the operations of food and beverage
service industry in an effective and efficient manner it is required to formulate best and effective
strategies and plans. With the help of feature of Free Wi-Fi Zone, more customers get attracted
especially of young age group as it provides ease of getting socialised along with nice dining
option. Offering of online services i.e. via mobile application has assisted large number of people
without need of going anywhere. Also, by offering facility to regular customer in form of
membership cards covering huge discounts, reward etc. has resulted in building of customer
5

loyalty base to a large extent thereby improving overall business operations and productivity
with increasing profitability aspects.
By starting live music concerts, it attracts more customers as it makes outlets the place as
preferred and fun to hang out with. This can help outlets in getting customer involved with more
interest thereby repeating customer visits and building of loyalty base.
Influence of digital technology on consumer buying behaviour
With the help of adoption of digital technologies, many food and beverage outlets has
inculcated such trend so as to seek benefits from competitive marketplace. Many supportive
innovative and creative business application has been developed with the help of which
customers nowadays can evaluate value of services focusing on its quality, price, atmosphere,
ambience, location etc. Zomato, Uber eats, Swiggy etc. are some of the digital technologies with
the use of which customers can easily search, browse about specific item before going for direct
purchase option as it provides reviews, feedbacks about quality and nature of services being
offered by different types of restaurants.
Activity 3
Evaluating ways to use technology.
Technology has played a huge role in the growth of F&B industry. It has helped all the
players in the industry in reducing their cost and increasing their profitability(Alhelalat,
Ma’moun and Twaissi, 2017).
Different operational and marketing technology used to improve the efficiency.
Marketing technologies: Marketing technologies basically aim towards increasing the
sales and profitability of the company. Digital marketing has played an important role in the
growth of restaurants. Various marketing technologies used by the restaurant companies are
online ordering, digital inventory tracking, Bluetooth temperature and sensors, online table
booking, digital promotion and other such activities. They not only help the restaurants in
increasing their customer base but also helps in reducing their promotional and other costs(Lee,
Sardeshmukh and Hallak, 2016).
Operational technologies: Operational technologies on the other hand aim towards
increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of the business by working with full productivity.
6

Different types of F&B business using marketing and operational technology.
 L'Enclume, United Kingdom: L'Enclume is a UK based 2 Michelin star restaurant and is
famous for its food and usage of digital technology in day to day operations. It offers
interactive menus, live kitchen and other real time services.
 YO! Sushi: It is another famous and technology savvy restaurant in the United Kingdom
that provides food to its guests in a remote controlled flying tray and uses other artificial
intelligence features to make their service more interactive.
 Inamo restaurant: The restaurant provides online food services and delivery to its
customers 24/7 and also uses digital marketing as a potential tool to identify their target
customers and then providing them services effectively.
Digital technology in improving operational efficiency
Operational efficiency is concerned with the ability of a restaurant to provide high quality
services to their customers in the most cost-effective manner. Use of technology has improved
the profitability in the food and beverages industry and also reduced the wastage in these
restaurants. Use of live kitchens, automatic display of order and other digital services and
integrated inventory management have improved the production facilities in the entire F&B
industry (Ababio and et.al.,2016).
Activity 4
Demonstrating professional food and beverage service standards in a real working
environment
It can be stated that professional food and beverage standards in relation to real working
environment are imperative in F&B industry. In my opinion, time management is the most
important skill in a restaurant and hotel if they wish to grow. Multi-tasking is also very important
in order to manage the customers effectively and efficiently and it also helps in projecting a
professional image of the business. Also, all the skills must be paid adequate attention to and the
company must also select additional human resource with different skills to increase the
productivity of their f&b related businesses.
7

Professional Food & Beverage Service Standards: Checklist and Questionnaire Form
1 What are 5 skills that an effective Restaurant Supervisor or Restaurant Manager
must have in order to run an efficient business?
 Time management
 Problem solving
 Dedication for customer service
 Communication skills
 Business awareness
2 What are 5 important skills for maintaining standards and projecting a
professional image in the F&B industry?
 Attention to detail
 Cultural awareness
 Multi tasking
 Adaptability
 innovation and differentiation
Beverage Service Skills:
1. What are 3 different types of beverage service encounters?
 Tray service
 Velvet service
 Bottle sales service
2. What are 3 pre-service and 3 post-service duties?
Pre-service
 Cleaning the table before the arrival of guests
 Present the menu
 Decorating items
Post-service
 Cleaning the table
 Providing the guests with tissue papers
 Providing them with the bill
Equipment Management Skills:
1. How should equipment be cleaned and maintained pre and post-service?
8

The equipments must be cleaned by the use of lukewarm water and cleaning solution both pre
and post service. Also, the staff must makes sure that the equipments look clean and shiny as
well.
2. Why is it important that equipment should be cleaned and maintained?
It is compulsory for restaurants and hotels to clean the equipment’s for the purpose of health
and hygiene. If the silverware and other equipment’s are not cleansed properly then it will
hamper the brand image of the company and reduce their profitability.
Legal and Regulatory Requirements:
1. What are the legal requirements and regulatory standards in connection with the
cleaning and maintenance of equipment that Food & Beverage service outlets must
comply with?
It is important for all the restaurants and fast food chains in UK to have food hygiene certificate
as having this certificate states that the restaurant complies with all the health, hygiene and
safety regulations. It is mandatory for all the restaurants in UK to get this certificate.
2. What are some of the other the legal requirements and regulatory standards that Food &
Beverage service outlets must comply with?
The restaurants must also have an Alcohol on-license, if they have alcohol on their menu. Also,
if the restaurant offers any dairy products or meat, fish and eggs then it is mandatory for them to
obtain Food premises approval through proper inspection.
3. What are the implications of failing to meet the legal and regulatory requirements of
Food & Beverage standards in terms for overall operational performance?
If the restaurant fails to meet legal requirements and licenses then they must face legal
consequences and may also face fine, penalty or imprisonment,
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded that for managing operations of food and beverage industry, different
strategies are required to be adopted for gaining competitive edge. Furthermore, by using digital
technologies for marketing and promotional activities it has assisted F&B outlets in increasing
their customer base & loyalty as well. It had been analysed that due to ongoing and changing
9

market trends as well as customer demands, it is required by Heathrow Airport Restaurants and
Lounges Ltd. To keep pace with it for improving its operational activities.
10