Types of Restaurant services

Restaurants fall into several industry classification based upon menu style, preparation
methods and pricing. Additionally, how the food is served to the customer helps to determine
the classification.

Historically, restaurant referred only to places that provided tables where one sat down to eat
the meal, typically served by a waiter. Following the rise of fast food and take-out restaurants, a
retronym for the older "standard" restaurant was created, sit-down restaurant. Most
commonly, "sit-down restaurant" refers to a casual dining restaurant with table service rather
than a fast-food restaurant where one orders food at a counter. Sit-down restaurants are often
further categorized as "family-style" or "formal".

In British English, the term restaurant almost always means an eating establishment with table
service, so the "sit-down" qualification is not usually necessary. Fast food and takeaway
(takeout) outlets with counter service are not normally referred to as restaurants. Outside of
North-America the terms Fast casual-dining restaurants, Family style, and Casual dining are not
used. Junk food establishments would also not often be referred to as a 'restaurant'.

Fast-food restaurants

Fast-food restaurants emphasize speed of service and low cost over other considerations. A
common feature of newer fast-food restaurants that distinguishes them from traditional
cafeteria is a lack of cutlery or crockery; the customer is expected to eat the food directly from
the disposable container it was served in. One popular variation in North America is the deli or
delicatessen, offering made-to-order sandwiches and/or salads from behind a counter. Fast-
food operations range from small-scale street vendors with carts to franchised mega-
corporations like McDonald's. Although traditionally serving unhealthy food made with pre-
prepared ingredients, there are now many fast food restaurants such as Subway and Au Bon
Pain that offer fresh and nutritional food.

Fast casual restaurants do not offer table service, but may offer non-disposable plates and
cutlery. The quality of food, and price point, are higher than those of a conventional fast-food
restaurant.

Family style

Family style restaurants are restaurants that have a fixed menu and fixed price, usually with
diners seated at a communal table such as on bench seats. True to their name, these
restaurants tend to be single-family businesses.
Casual dining

A casual dining restaurant is a restaurant that serves moderately-priced food in a casual

atmosphere. Except for buffet-style restaurants, casual dining restaurants typically provide
table service. Casual dining comprises a market segment between fast food establishments and
fine dining restaurants.

Casual dining restaurants usually have a full bar with separate bar staff, a larger beer menu and
a limited wine menu. They are frequently, but not necessarily, part of a wider chain, particularly
in the United States.

Entrepreneur Norman Brinker was the "father" of casual dining.

Fine dining

Fine dining restaurants are full service restaurants with specific dedicated meal courses. Décor
of such restaurants feature higher quality materials with an eye towards the "atmosphere"
desired by the restaurateur. The wait staff is usually highly trained and often wears more
formal attire. Fine-dining restaurants are almost always small businesses and are generally
either single-location operations or have just a few locations. Food portions are smaller but
more visually appealing as well.

Others
Most of these establishments can be considered subtypes of fast casual-dining restaurants or
casual-dining restaurants.

Café

Cafés and coffee shops are informal restaurants offering a range of hot meals and made-to-
order sandwiches. Many cafés are open for breakfast and serve full hot breakfasts. In some
areas cafés offer outdoor seating. The major difference with a café and most other casual
dining establishments is how the guest orders and pays. A café can offer table service, but many
times the guest orders at the front, and the food is brought out to the table. Then, while at
most casual dining restaurants the guest pays with the server, at a café the guest most often
times pays with a single cashier.
Cafeterias

A cafeteria is a restaurant serving mostly ready-cooked food arranged behind a food-serving

counter. There is little or no table service. Typically, a patron takes a tray and pushes it along a
track in front of the counter. Depending on the establishment, servings may be ordered from
attendants, selected as ready-made portions already on plates, or self-serve their own portions.

In the UK, a cafeteria may also offer a large selection of hot food similar to the American fast
casual restaurant, and the use of the term cafeteria is deprecated in favour of self-service
restaurant.

Coffeehouse

Coffeehouses are casual restaurants without table service that emphasize coffee and other
beverages; typically a limited selection of cold foods such as pastries and perhaps sandwiches
are offered as well. Their distinguishing feature is that they allow patrons to relax and socialize
on their premises for long periods of time without pressure to leave promptly after eating, and
are thus frequently chosen as sites for meetings.

Pub

Main article: pub

Mainly in the UK and other countries influenced by British culture, a pub (short for public
house) is a bar that serves simple food fare. Traditionally, pubs were primarily drinking
establishments with food in a decidedly secondary position, whereas the modern pub business
relies on food as well, to the point where gastropubs are often essentially fine-dining
establishments, known for their high-quality pub food and concomitantly high prices. A typical
pub has a large selection of beers and ales on tap.

Bistros and brasserie

In France, a brasserie is a café doubling as a restaurant and serving single dishes and other
meals in a relaxed setting. A bistro is a familiar name for a café serving moderately priced
simple meals in an unpretentious setting, especially in Paris; bistros have become increasingly
popular with tourists. When used in English, the term bistro usually indicates either a fast
casual-dining restaurant with a European-influenced menu or a cafés with a larger menu of
food.
All-you-can-eat buffet and smorgasbord

This form of restaurant offers patrons a selection of food at a fixed price. Food is served trays
around bars, from which customers with plates serve themselves. The selection can be modest
or very extensive, with the more elaborate menus divided into categories such as salad, soup,
appetizers, hot entrées, cold entrées, and dessert and fruit. Often the range of cuisine can be
eclectic, while other restaurants focus on a specific type, such as home-cooking, Chinese,
Indian, or Swedish. The role of the waiter or waitress in this case is relegated to removal of
finished plates, and sometimes the ordering and refill of drinks.

In the United States, Buffets, Inc., is a large buffet chain corporation which owns Old Country
Buffet, Country Buffet, and HomeTown Buffet. HomeTown Buffet popularized the "scatter
buffet", which refers to the layout of separate food pavilions. Other American restaurant chains
well-known for their buffets include Golden Corral, which features food products presented in
pans, Souplantation/Sweet Tomatoes (known in particular for its soups and salads), Gatti's
Pizza, Barnhill's Buffet, Cici's Pizza, Fresh Choice (a smaller competitor of Souplantation),
Pancho's Mexican Buffet, Ryan's and Ponderosa Steakhouse. Sizzler is another prominent
restaurant offering a buffet.

Teppanyaki-style

In North America, many restaurants specializing in Japanese cuisine offer the teppanyaki grill,
which is more accurately based on a type of charcoal stove that is called shichirin in Japan.
Diners, often in multiple, unrelated parties, sit around the grill while a chef prepares their food
orders in front of them. Often the chef is trained in entertaining the guests with special
techniques, including cracking a spinning egg in the air, forming a volcano out of differently-
sized onion slices, and flipping grilled shrimp pieces into patrons' mouths, in addition to various
props.

Mongolian barbeque

Despite the name, this form of restaurant is not Mongolian, actually derived from Taiwan and
inspired by Japanese teppanyaki. Customers create a bowl from an assortment of ingredients
displayed in a buffet fashion. The bowl is then handed to the cook, who stir-fries the food on a
large griddle and returns it on a plate or in a bowl to the consumer.

Destination restaurants

A destination restaurant is one that has a strong enough appeal to draw customers from
beyond its community.

"Types of service"
A restaurant is a commercial establishment committed to the sale of food and beverage. A
restaurant may be a licensed part of a hotel operation, whereby the sales of the restaurant
contribute to the sales performance of the hotel as a whole. Restaurants may also be
independent business entities under individual ownership and management.

There are different types of restaurants:

Coffee Shop -A concept borrowed from the United States, distinguished by its
quick service. Food is pre-plate and the atmosphere informal.
Table cover layouts are less elaborate and have basic essentials
only.

Continental -The atmosphere is more sophisticated and caters for people

Restaurant who can eat at leisure. The accent is on good continental food
and elaborate service.

- The entire atmosphere and décor are geared to a particular

Specialty type of food or theme. Thus restaurants, which offer Chinese,
Japanese, Indian cuisine would be termed “specialty
Restaurant
restaurants”. The service is based more or less on the style of the
country from which the particular cuisine originates.

FOOD SERVICES

There are some basic principles in food and beverage service that a waiter must know:

· When food is served by the waiter at the table from a platter onto a guest plate, the
service is done from the left.
· When food is pre-plated the service to the guest is usually done from the right, though
modern convention permits service from the left also.
· All beverages are served from the right.
· Soups are served from the right unless it is poured by a waiter from a large tureen into a
soup cup in which case it is done from the left of the guest.
· Ladies are always served first and the remaining guests clockwise. Soiled plates should
always be cleared from the table from the right. Empty

crockery and fresh cutlery are always served from the right. Never reach across a Customer.
Hence, when a guest is present at the table, all items

and equipment on the right of guest must be placed from the right and that on the left from
the left

TYPES OF SERVICE

English Service: Often referred to as the "Host Service" because the host plays an active role in
the service. Food is brought on platters by the waiter and is shown to the host for approval. The
waiter then places the platters on the tables. The host either portions the food into the guest
plates directly or portions the food and allows the waiter to serve. For replenishment of guest
food the waiter may then take the dishes around for guests to help themselves or be served by
the waiter.

French Services: It is a very personalized service. Food is brought from the kitchen in dishes and
salvers, which are placed directly on the table. The plates are kept near the dish and the guests
help themselves.

Silver Service: The table is set for hors d'oeuvres, soup, main courses and sweet dish in sterling
silverware. The food is portioned into silver platters at the kitchen itself which are placed at the
sideboard with burners or hot plates to keep the food warm in the restaurant. Plates are placed
before the guest. The waiter then picks the platter from the hot plate and presents the dish to
the host for approval. He serves each guest using a service spoon and fork. All food is presented
in silver dishes with elaborate dressing.

American Service: The American service is a pre-plated service which means that the food is
served into the guest's plate in the kitchen itself and brought to the guest. The portion is
predetermined by the kitchen and the accompaniments served with the dish balance the entire
presentation in terms of nutrition and color. This type of service is commonly used in a coffee
shop where service is required to be fast.

Cafeteria Service: This service exists normally in industrial canteens, colleges, hospitals or hotel
cafeterias. To facilitate quick service, the menu is fixed and is displayed on large boards. The guest may
have to buy coupons in advance, present them to the counter waiter who then serves the desired item.
Sometimes food is displayed behind the counter and the guests may indicate their choice to the counter
attendant. The food is served pre-plated and the cutlery is handed directly to the guest. Guests may
then sit at tables and chairs provided by the establishment. Sometimes high tables are provided where
guests can stand and eat.

Counter Service: (Snack-bar Service) Tall stools are placed along a counter so that the guest may eat the
food at the counter itself. In better establishments, the covers are laid out on the counter itself. Food is
either displayed behind the counter for the guests to choose from, or is listed on a menu card or
common black board.

Grill Room Service: In this form of service various meats are grilled in front of the guest. The meats may
be displayed behind a glass partition or well decorated counter so that the guest can select his exact cut
of meat. The food comes pre-plated.

Room Service: It implies serving of food and beverage in guest rooms of hotels. Small orders are served
in trays. Major means are taken to the room on trolleys. The guest places his order with the room
service order taker. The waiter receives the order and transmits the same to the kitchen. In the
meanwhile he prepares his tray or trolley. He then goes to the cashier to have a cheque prepared to
take along with the food order for the guests’ signature or payment. Usually clearance of soiled dishes
from the room is done after half an hour or an hour. However, the guest can telephone Room Service
for the clearance as and when he has finished with the meal.

There are two types of Room Service:

· Centralized: Here al the food orders are processed from the main kitchen and sent to the rooms by
a common team of waiters.

· Decentralized: Each floor or a set of floor may have separate pantries to service them. Orders are
taken at a central point by order-takers who in turn convey the order to the respective pantry.

Mobile Pantries: Some hotels have pantries installed in service elevators. Orders are received by a
central point that convey it to the mobile pantry. The pantry has to just switch on the floor and give
instant service. For the sake of information, in countries, which have a shortage of manpower, large
hotels install mechanized dispensing units in rooms. The guest inserts the necessary value of coins into
the machine, which will eject pre-prepared food and beverages for guest consumption.

Buffet Service: A self-service where food is displayed on tables. The guest takes his plate from a stack at
the end of each table or requests the waiter behind the buffet table to serve him.

For sit-down buffet service, tables are laid with crockery and cutlery as in a restaurant. The guest may
serve himself at the buffet table and return to eat at the guest table laid out. The waiter may serve a few
courses like the appetizer and soup at the table.
Russian Service: An elaborate silver service much on the lines of French service except that the food is
portioned and carved by the waiter at the gueridon trolley in the restaurant in full view of the guests.
Display and presentation are a major part of this service. The principle involved is to have whole joints,
poultry, game and fish elaborately dressed and garnished, presented to guests and carved and
portioned by the waiter.

Gueridon Service: This is a service where a dish comes partially prepared from the kitchen to be
completed in the restaurant by the waiter or, when a complete meal is cooked at the table-side in the
restaurant. The cooking is done on a gueridon trolley which is a mobile trolley with a gas cylinder and
burners. The waiter plays a prominent part, as he is required to fillet, carve, flambé and prepare the
food with showmanship. The waiter has to have considerable dexterity and skill.