1-
Characteristics of the food production and food and beverage sector are:
A vital part of everyday life
Major contributor to the national economy
Creates employment
Promotes diversity through many different food concepts & cuisines
An opportunity to enjoy the company of friends, family and colleagues
Fulfils basic needs
Food is a basic need for everyday life
Self-service(the customer is required to collect their own drinks)
The cafeteria(the beverage are included in the main counter line)
Bar or counter service(this method is most commonly found in public house, hotel, restaurants)
Room service(most commonly in hotel)
The buffet(is usually waiter service, sometimes they may be on display on the buffet table)
Take-away(food and drink has been prepared it is packed and served)
Waiter service

2-Factors affecting recipes and menus for specific systems are:
Size of operation
Objectives of the operation
Quality of the operation
Nature of the menu
Quality of customers
Budget of the customers
Customer needs
Availability of resources
The others factors affecting menu and recipes for specific system are: size of the kitchen, customers satisfaction, price of items listed, management decisions- costs, availability of items, type of service, customers value, and demographic characteristics, food habits and preferences, flavour and appearance of dishes, nutritional value.
Menu can be an excellent selling tool to supplement the suggestive selling of staff.
Customer perceptions: keeping your customers happy can be harder than you think.
Happy customers result in: (repeat sales, positive company image, and high quality customer’s referrals);
Space and equipment in the kitchen will influence the composition of the menu;
Each establishment has a target food cost to be achieved, the cost, preparation and production of the food items, have to fit the target. Business stands for profit; it is difficult for menu designer to make a customer and business friendly menu, to cover all costs.
Availability of ingredients in seasonality and suppliers need be taken into consideration.
Colour balance is important; customers should be able to ‘eat with their eyes’.
Ethnicity and nutritional value: Nutritional balance is important to ensure that the dishes are produced as nutritiously as possible (protein, carbohydrates, and vitamins). Menu is made for customer satisfaction, but if the items do not suit customer’s ethnicity and nutritional value then it is a big difficulty.
As we have only 60 guests, a medium kitchen is enough, the ingredients we use in our menu are easy to find, and two or three waitress will be enough.
Buffet/Counter service has the next advantages: can be serve a large number of people, customer have choice, customers are part of the process, fewer staff required, service staff require less skills, fewer complaints due to their decision-making;
Disadvantages: queuing, food presentation can be affected; food can run out, food quality affected due to temperature and mixing service cutlery.
Plate service has the next advantages: presentation, placed on individual plates, quality, portion control;
Disadvantages of Plate service are: need high quality and highly skilled chefs; customers sometimes have to wait for food delivery.

3

Staffs have a critical influence on the success of a foodservice operation. Staff selection process is given appropriate consideration in terms of: requirements, skills, knowledge and experience required.
A smooth running of a food and beverage operations depends on the following qualities of staff:
Efficiency means the skill of delivering a service to the customers conveniently.
Behaviour is how staffing behaving or communicate with customer, polite behaviour is a great quality for staff.
Attitude is something which holds the values of person and the operation. The attitude of staff symbolises management attitude.
A very good communication skill of staffs can enhance the sale of the operation, recommendation of items from serving staff can help the same to improve the sales and to raise the satisfaction level of customers.
Staffing is a major resource, and maximising the potential of this of this resource requires the management of staffing to be considered. Staff willingness to learn is also very important. With more and more individuals entering the industry with improved educational qualifications it is easy to see that those individuals require higher maintenance.
Labour and skills involved: skills, de-skilling, re-skilling, up-skilling.
In order for the catering cycle to be carried out efficiently, it is essential that all managers and members of staff fully understand their: responsibilities, skills required, have been trained to carry their duties.