Learn about Food and Beverage Management Find rewarding employment in the food service, hotel or tourism Industries

Topics covered include kitchen and food management, planning a menu, restaurant staffing and waiter/waitress skills

Course Aims:

• Explain the role of different food types in human health.
• Understand the alternative cooking processes, in order to make appropriate decisions about the cooking of different foods
• Manage the provision of kitchen facilities, and the handling of foodstuffs (including food storage and preparation), in order to maximise efficiency, hygiene and service with the restrictions of facilities available.
• Plan menus or list of food products for sale, appropriate to different situations.
• Manage the provision of alcoholic beverages appropriately, in different situations
• Manage the provision of non-alcoholic beverages appropriately, in different situations.
• Describe differences in appropriate management for catering in a range of varying situations.
• Discuss how to manage staff in the food and restaurant industries.
• Consolidate skills developed throughout this entire course into an overall understanding of management of catering services.

There are 9 Lessons in this course:

1. Human Food and Nutrition

• • Quality of ingredients
  • Range of ingredients
  • Cooking methods used
  • Eating
  • Major food groups
  • Carbohydrates
  • Fats
  • Proteins
  • Grains
  • Vegetables
  • Vitamins and minerals
  • Food allergies
  • Terminology
  • Weight and energy conversions
  • Resources
  • Networking – for restaurant managers, food industry employees

2. Cooking

• • Nutritive value in cooking and processing
  • Cooking different types of foods
  • Meat
  • Fish
  • Milk
  • Plant foods
  • Effect of cooking methods on nutrients
  • Baking
  • Blanching
  • Braising
  • Grilling
  • Poaching and boiling
  • Pressure cooking
  • Roasting
  • Sautéing
  • Steaming
  • Preparing vegetables
  • Benefits of cooking
  • Preserving nutrient value in food
  • Managing different nutrients -heat sensitivities, etc.
  • Canning and pasteurisation
  • Homogenisation and pasteurization of milk
  • Freezing
  • Dehydration

3. Kitchen and Food Management

• • Effect of cooking on nutrition
  • Managing food contamination
  • Contaminants during food processing
  • Pathological contamination
  • Preventing food poisoning
  • Food laws and labelling
  • Labelling
  • Dating
  • Special purpose foods
  • Ethics of food additives
  • Allergies, sensitivities and poisoning
  • Common food allergies
  • Kitchen design
  • Equipment design
  • Criteria for selecting equipment
  • Equipment inventory
  • Managing a freezer
  • Preparation areas
  • Vegetable preparation
  • Salad preparation
  • Meat preparation
  • Fish preparation
  • Pastry preparation
  • Cooking area
  • Central range
  • Convection ovens
  • Microwave oven
  • Cleaning area
  • Waste disposal
  • Food service equipment
  • Food service management
  • Traditional kitchen staff roles -types of chefs, divisions of larder, pantry, tournants etc
  • Menu and production planning
  • Types of production – A la Carte, Table d’Hote, Call-Order, etc
  • Activities in cook-freeze operation

4. Planning A Menu

• • Needs of special groups
  • School children
  • Adolescents
  • Expecting mothers
  • Nursing mothers
  • The elderly
  • Immigrants
  • Vegetarians
  • Menu planning
  • Assessing diets
  • Assessing your own dietary intake
  • A typical diet at a residential school
  • Plate waste
  • Assessing plate waste
  • Diet formulation
  • Food additives
  • Preservatives
  • Additives for enhancing appearance and colour
  • Flavouring agents
  • Sweetening agents
  • Emulsifying agents and stabilisers
  • Anti caking agents
  • The menu
  • Planning
  • Types of menus
  • Menu composition
  • Beverages
  • Wine and alcohol lists
  • Non alcoholic drinks

5. Alcoholic Beverages

• • Wine
  • Common white grape varieties
  • Common red grape varieties
  • Wine processing
  • Fortified wines -sherry, port, marsala, maidera, vermouth.
  • Beer
  • Types of beer
  • Beer tasting and characteristics
  • Spirits – Brandy, Whisky, Gin, Rum, Vodka
  • Liqueurs
  • Liqueur coffees

6. Tea, Coffee and Non-Alcoholic Beverages

• • Water
  • Providing water
  • Soft drinks
  • Fruit juices
  • Non alcoholic cocktails
  • Coffees
  • The coffee blend
  • Grinding coffee
  • Making coffee
  • Problems with coffee
  • Non alcoholic coffee substitutes
  • Teas
  • Specialty teas
  • Green tea
  • Common herb teas

7. Scope and Nature Of Catering Services

• • Vending machines
  • Popular catering
  • Hospital catering
  • Airline catering
  • Function catering

8. Personnel Management

• • Reservations and bookings
  • Reservation systems
  • Direct or indirect reservations
  • Contracts
  • Cancellation procedure
  • Refund policy
  • Basic waiting techniques
  • Holding a Service Spoon and Fork
  • Carrying Plates
  • Using a Service Salver
  • Using a Service Plate
  • Carrying Glasses
  • Carrying Trays
  • Using a Waiter’s Friend
  • Interpersonal skills
  • Addressing customers
  • Dealing with complaints
  • Staff recruitment
  • Advertising a position
  • Interviewing
  • Training staff
  • Different ways of learning the job
  • Self esteem and motivation
  • Assessing training needs

9. Management Of Catering Services

• • Restaurant marketing
  • Feasibility research
  • Competitive analysis
  • Market analysis
  • Financial analysis
  • Advertising and PR
  • Food purchasing
  • Purchasing methods
  • Tendering