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Hotel Foodservice
Description:
Hotel foodservice is complex, with many departments under Food and
Beverage. There are Directors of Catering, Restaurants, Room
Service, Beverage, Banquets and Kitchen, all reporting to the Food
and Beverage Manager in the largest operations.
Unlike the majority of foodservice operations, hotel
foodservice works with, and is dependant on, other departments
within the business: Housekeeping for linen, Human Resources for
hiring, and Purchasing to get the OK for purchase orders before
placing orders to vendors.
There are many different types of hotels, from airport, luxury,
resort, convention, boutique, budget, city and the list goes on.
Each has their own pros and cons.
Typical career path:
Entry would most likely be as one of the outlet managers or
assistant directors of one of the above F & B departments.
After experience in several different departments, you could
advance to Assistant Food and Beverage Director, then on to the
Food and Beverage Director.
In the hotel world, the jump to Food and Beverage Director, or
even Assistant F & B Director, is substantial. It may require
several years of work; even then it's likely you will need to
transfer to another hotel location, or even another company, to
make it happen.
If you wanted to continue to rise in the hotel organization, it
would be best to go into overall hotel management. This would mean
progressing to the Rooms division, then to Assistant General
Manager, to General Manager.
Lifestyle: This varies greatly with the department that
you are in. A hotel is a round-the-clock operation, with banquets,
room service and meals for its guests. You can expect to work five
10-12 hour days per week. The catering manager might be the
exception, in that the catering manager generally has an 8-5 type
of job unless there is a function, when they will need to ensure
that all is going well for their client.
Most of the managers of the hotel, regardless of the
department, will work periodic MOD (manager on duty) shifts that
usually last for an entire weekend. During these weekends you are
in charge of the entire hotel and will stay in the hotel for the
entire weekend.
Best Part:
- It's very people oriented.
- Ability to be creative and work with many different areas of
the hotel, who are professionals in their own area.
Worst Part:
- The hours; when the hotel is busy, you're very busy.
- Can also be frustrating to work with so many different
departments to get things done.
Pay, Perks and Benefits:
There is usually a quarterly bonus based on either sales or
performance, or both. The Catering Director usually has an expense
account for client entertainment since they are also responsible
for selling, as well as execution.
At most hotels, employees can stay free (comp) at any of the
same brand hotels in the world, based on availability.
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