Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Food and beverage service areas fall into two categories, those for customers and
staff usage and those for staff usage only. Staff and customer usage areas include
consumption areas such as dining areas and service areas such as in
cafeterias, bars and the associated services. Staff areas include stillroom, washup, storage and cellar areas. The general considerations for staff usage areas are:
Appropriate siting and with logical layout of equipment
Ease of delivery access
Ease of service
Ensuring hygiene, health and safety requirements are met
Ease of cleaning
Sufficient storage space for service equipment and food items
Security.
The general considerations for areas used by both customers and staff
include first the general considerations for staff-only areas as above and in
addition also take into account the meal experience factor of atmosphere, This
includes consideration of:
Decor and lighting
Heating and ventilation
Noise, and
The size and shape of the areas.
Decor and lighting
The general considerations on decor are:
Appropriateness to the type and style of the operation
Sufficient flexibility especially where the space has multi-usage, e.g.
function
rooms
Functional reliability
Ease of maintenance
Industrial rather than domestic quality
Ease of cleaning and general housekeeping needs.
Lighting, itself an architectural feature, is a pivotal ingredient in
foodservice operational design. Contemporary lighting and colour designs tend
towards versatile system of lighting by which a food and beverage service area may
have brighter lighting at lunchtime and a more diffused form of lighting in the
evening. Lighting can create image, generate atmosphere and seamlessly
communicate a marketing and merchandising message. In tandem it can determine
quality, price, and speed of turnover. The principal rule in lighting provision is that
it be neither too bright nor too dark. Brilliant lighting does not create comfortable
or intimate surroundings. Dim lighting limits sensory evaluation and may inhibit
safe working practices. It can also be an advantage to be able to change the colour
of the lights for special functions and todays technology enhances these
possibilities.
Furniture
Chairs
Chairs come in an enormous range of designs, materials and colours to suit
all situations and occasions. Because of the wide range of styles, the chairs vary in
height and width, but as a guide, a chair seat is 46 cm (18 in) from the ground, the
height from the ground to the top of the back is 1 m (39 in) and the depth from
the front edge of the seat to the back of the chair is 46 cm (18 in).
Additional purchasing considerations are the size, height, shape and the variety of
seating required banquette, armchairs, straight-backed, actionbacked and
padded chairs, giving the customer a choice, and also including high chairs for
toddlers and kiddy boosters or cushions for children. Care also needs to be taken in
matching chairs and seating generally with table heights, especially where
chairs and tables in both metric and imperial measurements are being used.
Sideboards/workstations
The style and design of a sideboard or workstations vary from establishment to
establishment. The majority of commercially available sideboards are insufficient
in strength of construction, storage capability and worktop provision. It is now
more usual for operations to design and build their own sideboards or
workstations, often incorporating them as part of the design of the dining area.
Linen
There are many qualities of linen in present-day use, from the finest Irish linen and
cotton to synthetic materials such as nylon and viscose. The type of linen use
would depend on the class of establishment, type of clientele and cost involved
and the style of menu and service to be offered. Operations need to make
arrangement to ensure the availability of linen to meet operational
requirements. Decisions need to be made on whether the operation should:
increasing use of more modern service ware such as that made from glass
or plastics and also in a variety of shapes other than rounds. When purchasing
service ware key considerations is:
The extent to which there is to be common usage of items thus reducing the
level of stock, e.g. using one size of plate for fish and sweet courses or
using one bowl for items such as soup, fruit and cereal.
The extent to which different service areas and different service times
might have different crockery. For example different banqueting crockery
from coffee shop crockery or larger cups for breakfast.
The extent to which the various crockery items should match. It has become
quite common to have differing designs of crockery according to
different types of dishes and also to mix complementary patterns.
Tableware
The term tableware traditionally covers:
Disposables
The main varieties of disposable available are often used in the following areas:
Storage and cooking purposes
Service of food and beverages, e.g. plates, knives, forks, cups
Decor napkins, tablecloths, slip cloths, banquet roll, place-mats
Hygiene wipes
Clothing, e.g. aprons, chefs hats, gloves
Packaging for marketing and presentation purposes.
A considerable advance in the range of disposable available has been the
introduction of disposables whose approximation to crockery and tableware
is very close. For instance, they may have a high quality, overall finish and
a smooth hard white surface. The plates themselves are strong and rigid with no
tendency to bend or buckle, and a plasticising ingredient ensures that they are
grease and moisture proof, even against hot fat and gravy. Oval luncheon plate,
snack trays and compartment plates are all available to the caterer.
Advantages of disposables include:
Equipment and labour: disposables reduce the need for washing-up
equipment, staff and materials.
Hygiene: usage improves the standard of hygiene in an establishment.
Capital: usage reduces the amount of capital investment.
Cost: disposables are cheaper than hiring conventional equipment.
Disadvantages of disposables include:
Acceptability: customer acceptability may be poor.
Cost: disposables can be more expensive than some conventional
equipment.
Storage: back-up quantities are required.
Supply: there is heavy reliance on supply and delivery time.
Bar areas
There are certain essentials necessary in the planning of bars. These are outlined
as follows:
1. Area: The bar staff must be given sufficient area of space in which
to work and move about. There should be a minimum of 1 m from the back
of the bar counter to the storage shelves and display cabinets at the rear of
the bar.
2. Layout: Careful consideration must be given, in the initial planning,
to the layout. Everything should be easily to hand so that the bar staff do
not have to move about more than necessary.
3. Plumbing and power: It is essential to have hot and cold running water for
glass washing. Power is necessary to provide the effective working of cooling
trays, refrigerators and ice-making machines.
5. Micro-vend system: Provides a range of hot or cold foods from which the
customer may make a selection and heat in an accompanying microwave
oven.
The numbers and types of machines required depends on their location, the type
and number of people they are providing a service for, the cost factor and
the variety of food and beverage items required.
The machines required might be installed either individually or in small
groups, to supplement the conventional catering establishment or to cover a
small scale demand that does not warrant the expense of employing the
extra labour and plant. The opposite to this would be the installation of a
complete vending service where demand is highly volatile, space is limited and the
use of staffed operations would be uneconomical. Automatic vending machines are
not self-cleaning, self-maintaining or self-filling. Therefore, regular service
maintenance is required and should be guaranteed if the vending service is to run
smoothly and without the problems of mechanical breakdown. The type of vending
machine and the service demand upon it will help to determine the regularity of
the service requirements. All vending machines come with instructions about
cleaning, maintenance and stocking, which do need to be followed for the
machines to perform at optimum efficiency levels.