MS 3304 HM: CH.5 Food & Beverage Operations - Trends and Challenges in F&B Operations

For any hotel that operated its own food and beverage division within the hotel, it can be a great addition to a bottom line as well as the feature that helps building up the hotel’s image. However, there are certain challenges connected with it:

In-room dining

In-room dining is by far one of the most challenging tasks in F&B. A customer who orders private dining all the elements, and particularly mistakes, will be very noticeable, as often in-room orders are made for special occasions. Everything from the quality of food to the punctuality of its delivery, and just an advance call to make sure the guest is able to get the order at a given time, can make a lasting impression and convert a customer into a loyal one. Alternatively, any small mistake can destroy the whole customer experience.

F&B in Hotel

The hotel F&B industry declined by 4% annually over the past four years, making it one of the greatest declines over that period. The recession hit the hospitality industry hard, including its F&B operations. In these circumstances, the hotel management should make vital decisions on what strategies to pursue. The majority of new entrants decide to offer either limited, or no food and beverage service at all. At the other end are hotels with multiple restaurants, lounges, and banquet facilities, for which food and beverage operations are not just about serving food and increasing revenues, but more about being a means to position themselves in the market among competitors.

Following trends are expected in hotels’ F&B

natural

In the recent past, hotels’ owners were using celebrity status of the chefs to attract customers to F&B divisions. However, the trend reverses in the way that guests do not care too much anymore about the name of the chef, but rather about the food on their plate. People want more organic and natural options, also more options for those with special dietary requirements. F&B directors should pay more attention to the food origin, as food from local farmers and vendors can help create an emotional connection for a customer with the property and restaurant. This “local” focus is another powerful trend.

Hospitality industry gets more internationalized, which means that the choice of food in restaurants should expand to cater for tastes and requirements of people with different origin.

On a beverage side, there is a big trend towards mixology – hotels rival the best bars in their offers of various cocktails. Having an experiences sommelier and a good wine list remains an important feature. However, recently hotels started to experiment with different kinds of beers to make menus more accessible for guests.