Food Preparation: Managing Suppliers, Equipment, and Work Areas

This assignment details the processes involved in food preparation within a restaurant setting. The student outlines a schedule of tasks, including checking the freshness of food items and ingredients, receiving and storing orders from suppliers, and inspecting suppliers, equipment, and work areas for cleanliness and functionality. The assignment emphasizes the importance of quality control, proper storage, and hygiene to ensure customer satisfaction and operational efficiency. Specific activities include checking food attributes, inspecting raw materials, and managing auxiliary ingredients. The student also discusses the importance of inspecting suppliers to ensure high-quality materials, maintaining equipment, and ensuring the cleanliness of work areas. References to relevant academic sources are included to support the practices described.

Running head: PREPARATION OF FOOD
Preparation of Food
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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PREPARATION OF FOOD
1st March to 16th March: Freshness checking of food and ingredients:
I first check the freshness of the food items prepared the previous day. While checking
the freshness aspect of the food items, I check the attributes of the food like flavor, colour, taste
and other typical attributes which the guests would expect from them (Canny 2014).
The next stage is checking the ingredients of the food like the basic raw materials which
go into the preparation of the food. The main ingredients which are perishable like chicken and
also form the basic raw material for most of the food items are have very short shelf life in spite
of refrigeration. So, I would ensure that items like these are fresh and are not showing any sign
of degeneration (Ramanathan, Di and Ramanathan 2016). Then I would check the vegetative
parts of the food items like lettuce which are subject also to degeneration but stay fresh longer
than their non-vegetarian counterparts. Then I would check auxiliary food items like
mayonnaise, cheese and other ingredients which are added to render taste to the dishes.
Proper storage is very important to keep food items (finished products) fresh, intact and
consumable for longer time period. This enables the hotels and restaurants reduce their wastes
and save costs of ordering supplies frequently. This enables them to consume maximum supply
of raw materials and work in progress items to make finished products. This in turn helps the
food manufacturing companies generate maximum revenue and reduce costs, thus increasing
their financial sustainability (Hair 2015). That is why I check the storage systems on regular
basis to ensure that the storage attributes like temperature are also up to the mark. I, on regular
basis ensure that the storage area is free from pests like rats which are easily attracted to these
areas due to availability of food. I would immediately inform the store manager or any other
responsible person if I find any defect in the area (Nitiwanakul 2018).

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PREPARATION OF FOOD
17th March to 30th March: Receive and store orders from suppliers:
I receive orders on regular basis and store the suppliers in appropriate places. For example, the
chicken is stored in the refrigerator to prevent degeneration while the spices are stored in
appropriate containers to keep them fresh and free from moisture (Ramanathan, Di and
Ramanathan 2016).
1st April to 15th April: Inspect suppliers, equipments and work areas for cleanliness and
functionality:
The following are the steps which I have to do to ensure the two previous steps discussed are
achieved:
16th April to 2nd May: Inspect suppliers:
Inspection of suppliers is an important duty which I do to ensure that the supplies of raw
materials and intermediary goods I receive are of high quality. High quality raw materials and
WIP ensure superior food items which meet the expectations of the customers. These food items
help the hotel create a niche for itself among the customers which in turn helps it to generate
huge revenue and goodwill. The restaurants today in order to retain and expand their consumer
bases rely on offering food products from specific regions of the world like Mexican and
American dishes. Hence, it is very important for them to acquired special ingredients from
specific suppliers to give their dishes authentic tastes. These ingredients lend the authentic tastes
and flavours to the offerings (Joyce and Paquin 2016). Thus, it is equally important to inspect
and manage suppliers to ensure that they offer the right ingredients of high quality. I inspect the
suppliers to ensure that they supply high quality raw materials and ancillary ingredients like
exotic spices. I first inspect the stock of raw materials and WIPs available with the restaurant

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PREPARATION OF FOOD
against the estimated numbers of future orders receivable. Then I point out the requirements for
materials and communicate it with the store managers. They place orders well ahead of time so
that the food preparation can commence smoothly. This ensures that the restaurant orders
optimum quantity of materials and thus, is able the continue food preparations smoothly (Hugos
2018).
17th April to 2nd May: Equipments:
Inspection of equipments is equally important to ensure preparation of high quality food items as
inspection of materials. I inspect the equipments which aid in preparation of food items like the
oven, the vegetable washers and the grinders. I ensure that they are in proper state and function
efficiently. This ensures proper maintenance of these machineries and timely preparation of food
(Hair 2015).
3rd May to 15th May: Work areas for cleanliness and functionality:
I inspect the work areas to ensure that they are clean and function smoothly. The work areas
include the kitchen, the restaurant floor and the lobby. I ensure that the staffs maintain these
places efficiently to ensure superior customer services (Ramanathan, Di and Ramanathan 2016).

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PREPARATION OF FOOD
References:
Canny, I.U., 2014. Measuring the mediating role of dining experience attributes on customer
satisfaction and its impact on behavioral intentions of casual dining restaurant in Jakarta.
International Journal of Innovation, Management and Technology, 5(1), p.25.
Hair, J.F., 2015. Essentials of business research methods. ME Sharpe.
Hugos, M.H., 2018. Essentials of supply chain management. John Wiley & Sons.
Joyce, A. and Paquin, R.L., 2016. The triple layered business model canvas: A tool to design
more sustainable business models. Journal of Cleaner Production, 135, pp.1474-1486.
Nitiwanakul, W., 2018. A Comparative study of customer perceived value as a driver for fine
dining restaurant selection. AU Journal of Management, 12(1), pp.1-13.
Ramanathan, R., Di, Y. and Ramanathan, U., 2016. Moderating roles of customer characteristics
on the link between service factors and satisfaction in a buffet restaurant. Benchmarking: An
International Journal, 23(2), pp.469-486.