The Food and Beverage Sector

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Background
Current Situation
Quality of Services Offered
Services Offered
Regulations
Environmental Factors
Costs
Improvements
Nutritional Value
Food Safety
Food Reserves
Staff Etiquette
Technology and Diversification
Works Cited

Introduction

The hotel industry is a significant player in the world economy with an estimated staff of ten million employees who benefit directly or indirectly from its activities. The operations of this industry are influenced by macroeconomic factors like employment, security, inflation and food production.

It is evident that this sector relies on external factors to exist. Therefore, there must be a favorable environment for this sector to thrive. This essay is an evaluation of the current hotel and beverage industry and recommends possible remedies that may help improve its operations.

Background

There is no evidence to prove when this industry started but it has a long history that dates back to the beginning of life on earth. This is called hospitality industry since it offers accommodation and homage services to its clients. People used to travel in search of business or employment opportunities.

However, it was not possible to travel back home due to the complexity of their activities or the distance to be covered. Therefore, businessmen, workers and investors had to look for places to rest during the night before embarking on their journey back home. In addition, people on holidays wanted to enjoy and experience different environments and this necessitated the need to travel away from their residence.

However, it was impossible to travel back home due to long distances and exhaustion from the day’s activities (Waller 11). People took advantage of this situation and started offering rooms for travelers at a reasonable fee. Consequently, the need to have quality room services forced people to establish facilities meant to offer quality accommodation.

With time, drinks, foods and other personal and recreational services were introduced in these establishments. This was the beginning of an industry that now commands almost 10% of the world’s labor market. This industry controls more than 70% of investment services that are directly or indirectly related to it.

Current Situation

This industry is undergoing transformations that will give it a new face within this decade. It is necessary to state that while there is an unstable economy other factors are necessitating the growth of this industry. However, there are major concerns that this industry may experience a facelift and soon after become obsolete. The following is an overview of the current situation in this industry.

Quality of Services Offered

The introductory remarks outlined the evolutionary steps this industry has undergone to attain its present status. However, it is necessary to state that this sector is controlled by human lifestyle and trends. A service may be popular and fetch high prices in one market and the opposite becomes true in a neighboring country. There is no specific definition or requirement in terms of the services offered in this sector.

However, it is important to note that the services offered must be beyond reproach. This means that players must ensure they give their clients all that is within their abilities. There is no doubt that there are many substitutes to this industry and the best investors can do is to try to retain the available market by offering quality services.

The food and beverage industry is currently under fire due to the challenges facing its activities. Modern technology has without doubt been adopted in many companies and commercial agricultural firms are now using scientific methods to produce different food products.

Nonetheless, the use of modern technology is a vital aspect in this industry since clients are able to book various facilities without being forced to travel to the hotels.

Services Offered

The traditional hotel industry used to offer meals and accommodation facilities to travelers and people on holidays and business trips. However, it has now been transformed and offers a variety of other entertainment services like hosting musicians and other world celebrities.

It is clear that this industry has expanded its operations and included other lifestyle issues. The hotel and beverage sector has adopted a client based approach in providing its services. Investors are trying to woe more clients to like their products by offering extensional services like exceptional room services, home delivery and tailor made products that meet clients’ demands.

In addition, the modern hotel investor is looking for clients and conducting research to establish consumer needs that play vital roles in shaping this industry. Those that have succeeded in analyzing market trends and observing consumer needs have managed to meet their demands and challenge their competitors.

McDonalds is a master piece in this industry and has a multitude of followers. This company has invested in consumer food products and this is why all its products are fetching good markets and attracting clients from all walks of life.

Lastly, this industry has become an one stop shop for various services and products. People are no longer moving from market to market looking for fresh farm products since they are available at these establishments. Clients appreciate the fact that they are able to save time and energy by making huge purchases at one place compared with shopping at various malls.

This explains why most restaurants have established subsidiary outlets in not only their countries but also in international markets. Good examples of hotels that have managed to spread their operations to other territories include McDonalds, Subway, Arby’s, Wendy’s, Nando’s and Dairy Queen among others.

Regulations

This is the most important aspect of this sector since it determines the future and levels of operations of many investments. It is necessary to note that this industry has the highest number of regulators compared to other industries. Almost all other factors that influence the economy also have significant impacts on this sector.

First, the availability of employment opportunities and the rate at which they are created determines the future of this sector. It is necessary to state that this industry relies heavily on employees that work away from homes and those that make long distance trips out of their usual locations. In addition, people on holiday spend their hard earned money in these hotels and without jobs they cannot have money for another holiday.

Secondly, security threats are major concerns that influence clients’’ activities. Whenever there are security risks people fear to travel outside their countries while most locals prefer home made meals than visiting restaurants.

It is apparent that the human mind is motivated by desires that bring joy, happiness and satisfaction and no one will dare to risk his or her life at terrorist prone countries. This explains the reasons why the united states’ travel advisory against touring some world destinations are taken seriously by both domestic and foreign tourists (Adamson 122). This usually has a significant negative impact on the local hotel industry.

Lastly, the economy and fiscal policies also regulate the activities of this industry by a significant percentage. These include currency exchange rates, housing market trends and strengths and inflation. These aspects have a direct impact on the hotel industry since it relies on clients from various regions.

It is necessary to note that the hotel industry is not localized even though it may be offering its services to the local population. Major business activities are regulated by world happenings and this makes this industry to rely heavily on decisions made by major world trade power houses.

Environmental Factors

This sector is facing a lot of criticism from environmental conservationists due to its impacts on the local and foreign settings. It is evident that most packaging materials used by most of these companies are non biodegradable polythene bags. Poor disposal methods lead to littering and an environmental soar in many urban centers.

It is also evident that most local and foreign hotels release their waste materials into nearby rivers or forests. This has minor consequences to the environment even though its over accumulation leads to serious complications. Many animals have died due to ingesting polythene bags that interfere with their digestive systems.

Secondly, hotel and beverage industries require constant supply of farm products like fruits, vegetables, cereals and animal products. There is land scarcity due to the high population growth rate and farmers are clearing natural vegetation to establish new farms.

It is necessary to highlight the fact that even though recent innovations have contributed to an increase in food supply this is not sufficient to provide cheap food to the population. In addition, some hotels own large farms that are underutilized and these just offers scenic views to clients but do not have any tangible value to the society.

Costs

This industry is just line any other investment that must incur operating and other costs. However, compared with other businesses this activity is largely affected by changes in world economy with regard to fuel prices and inflation. This sector relies heavily on other sectors like agriculture, tourism and transport without which it cannot succeed.

It is important to explain that whenever there is an increase in fuel prices farmers pass this burden to consumers through increased food prices. Additionally, an increase in transport costs becomes inevitable and all these costs are transfer to consumers (Haves 67).

Food and beverage industries are not necessarily final consumers but they play a significant role in the distribution chain. The impact of an increase in costs is reflected in increased food prices.

Ironically, most consumers cannot sacrifice their hard earned money to buy expensive hotel foods. It is only a handful clients on holidays or those on inevitable trips that spare p[art of their money to dine in hotels. Most people will prefer to eat fast foods or prepare meals at home as a way of reducing food expenses.

In addition, some will just take snacks during lunch time and drink home made fresh juice as a way of eliminating unnecessary costs. This means that the hotel industry is left with few clients whose contributions cannot even finance the daily operational costs.

In addition, this industry employs many people directly and indirectly. When cost of living goes up these workers demand an increase in their salaries and allowances since it is their constitutional right. This means these hotels must spend additional unplanned money in salary increments. This means that a hotel must be prepared to pay extra fees for reasons beyond its control limits.

Improvements

The food and beverage industry is here to stay despite the many challenges facing its operators. It is important to note that all investments have challenges but what matters most is how these issues are handled in a positive manner.

People may complain of inflation, high fuel prices and unmanageable transport costs yet at the same time they are making huge profits. This means that despite the presence of challenges people can develop mechanisms of dealing with the anticipated problems and downplay them to their advantage.

The following are some of the recommendations that may help in improving the efficiency and operations of a hotel and beverage investment.

Nutritional Value

People eat to keep their bodies fit by providing energy, protecting them against diseases and facilitate growth. This means that even though a hotel and beverage investment is aimed at making profits this should not override the nutritional value of its products. People are becoming conscious about what they eat and soon they will be seeking explanations on how various foods are prepared before buying them.

Therefore, as much as people lack time to prepare whole meals this should not be taken advantage of by offering substandard foods in hotels. Most hotels are now becoming aware of the need to prepare nutritious foods in order to attract clients.

This mean that they have noticed clients’ attitudes towards fast foods are changing and many of them are looking for quality ad not quantity (Venison 23). A hotel must ensure it hires staff that is qualified to prepare a variety of nutritious foods. There are many institutions that offer hotel and catering courses and his should be taken advantage of by investors.

Even though, the high population growth rate and demand for food is becoming a reality in most nations this should not compromise the quality of food prepared. One challenge that most of these investments face is that when they start their operations they set very high standards that attract clients.

However, an influx in their clientele base renders them unable to offer quality services since they compromise the quantity of products with their qualities. As a result, clients will not hesitate to notice a change in the quality of products and this automatically betrays their trust in an establishment.

However, it is necessary to state that it is better to run out of stock than to overproduce what will not be consumed due to compromised standards. People are becoming concerned about their health due to complications like blood pressure, diabetes and cancer; therefore, hotels should set high standards as far as nutritional values are concerned.

Food Safety

This refers to the quality of food prepared with regard to hygienic standards. Food is a delicate substance since it is exposed to many poisoning risks. Most people will refer paying a lot of money and getting quality food than buying from roadside vendors and risking their health. This is why all food premises must be inspected by health officers before they are allowed to operate (Gallo 67).

In addition, there are regular inspections conducted in all food premises to establish the level of hygiene ion them. Most operators have closed their businesses due to failure to observe public health acts.

It is necessary to state that there is nothing important on this earth than human health since it is irreversible once compromised with dearth. Many nations spend billions of money equipping their health facilities in order to offer quality medical services to their citizens. This explains how important human health is to the nation and its citizens.

Research has proved that most human diseases are acquired through food, water and other substances eaten. This means food based infections account for more than sixty percent of all infections.

Therefore, a food and beverage establishment should keep and maintain high hygienic standard s to ensure all clients get clean uncontaminated food. Health officers should not be used to monitor hygienic conditions in various food premises, but investors should make this a habit since hygiene has no alternative.

Food Reserves

This sector relies heavily on farm products like vegetables, cereals, fruits and animal products like milk, eggs and meat. It is saddening to note that most of these products are perishable and should be kept in safe places. Any form of contamination can spoil tones of these products and leads to wastage or food poisoning. In addition, most of these products are naturally produced on a seasonal basis.

This means that there is an over supply to the market during harvesting and this leads to reduced prices. On the other hand, when this season is over prices escalate to unmanageable levels making these hotels to incur heavy costs (Sturman 67). Therefore, it is advisable that these establishments develop their storage facilities to ensure they have a constant food supply.

Moreover, it is recommended that if possible these businesses should have their own farms in order to control food supply to their departments. Over reliance on middlemen to supply food products usually leads to frustrations since they are out to make money regardless of the consequences their prices will have on consumers’ pockets.

Having food reserves will ensure the prices of commodities remain relatively stable while there is a constant supply of products to the hotel. However, this issue should be approached carefully to avoid concentrating on food production and neglecting preparation.

Staff Etiquette

A hotel is largely run by etiquette rather than all other factors. This means that even though a business may be producing quality and cheap products they may lack market due to poor staff etiquette. Hotel employees deal directly with clients and thus must be very efficient in their services.

This means the hotel must invest heavily in training employees to have good relations with their clients (Michelle 32). A disciplined employee will attract more customers compared to a television advertisement that costs a lot of money to prepare and air.

Employees communicate directly with clients and are able to express the hotels ideals to them without doubts. Therefore, investors should spend more money in training employees than they spend in other forms of advertisements.

Secondly, staff motivation is necessary to ensure employees do their best to promote the company’s image. This should be done in terms of salary increase and good terms of service. No matter how much a hotel generates in terms of profits this will never make employees happy than an extra dollar added in their pay slips.

As a result, a good salary is not all that determines an employee’s output (Harris 77). Hotel owners must ensure that employees work without pressure and are able to enjoy their jobs (Laws 32). The greatest happiness of employees is attained when they know that their bosses and work mates acknowledge and appreciate their contributions.

Lastly, hotels must hire employees according to guidelines regarding qualifications. Interviews should be conducted to assess candidates’ qualifications and select the best person for the job (Godoi 45).

This will ensure professionalism is maintained in terms of recruitment and management of the hotel. Nothing should compromise the quality of services offered in the hotel since this will be a major performance setback.

Technology and Diversification

Modern technology has become a compulsory requirement in all business operations. This means that the hotel industry is not exempted from this requirement. Modern hotels should have state of the art facilities and services. It is necessary to state that hotel services go hand in hand with trends and fashions (Spector 65).

Therefore, investors should ensure they are not left behind as far as technology issues are concerned. Clients should make orders through internet or mobile communication and the company should reciprocate this by computerizing their processing and delivering of placed orders.

Efficiency in terms of order placement, preparation and receipting of payments will be facilitated by the use of modern computing services.

In addition, these companies must diversify their services and offer other hotel related products. Some companies have established supermarkets near them to ensure they take advantage of their clients’ needs. Other related services may include a gym, swimming pool, and spar and sports facility.

Works Cited

Adamson, Mathew. The Zippos Experience: 5 Principles to Inspire, Engage, and WOW. New York: McGraw-Hill. Print.

Gallo, Carmine. The Apple Experience: Secrets to Building Insanely Great Customer Loyalty. New Jersey: prentice Hall, 2009. Print.

Godoi, Adalto. Hospitality and Humanization at Hospitals: How to Make Your Hospital More Human. New York: CreateSpace, 2012. Print.

Harris, Joanne. Improving paradise: Security Management in the Hotel Industry. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2012. Print.

Haves, David. Hotel Operations Management. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2009. Print.

Laws, Erick. Improving Tourism and Hospitality Services: Analysis Design Management. Michigan: Thomson Learning, 2009. Print.

Michelle, Joseph. The New Gold Standard: 5 Leadership Principles for Creating a Legendary Customer Experience. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2008. Print.

Spector, Robert. The Nordstrom Way to Customer Service Excellence. New York: Wiley, 2010. Print.

Sturman, Michael. The Cornell School of Hotel Administration on Hospitality: Cutting Edge Thinking and Practice. New York: Wiley, 2011. Print.

Venison, Peter. 100 Tips for Hoteliers: What Every Successful Hotel Professional Needs to Know and Do. Indianapolis: iUniverse, 2009. Print.

Waller, Keith. Improving Food and Beverage Performance: Hospitality Managers’ Pocket Books. London: Taylor and Francis, 2011. Print.

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