Food and Beverages - Assignment Example

fered, there are numerous choices to undertake in the processes involved such as planning for the services, securing of orders, delivering the orders, preparing and settling the bills, washing of equipments and planning the next service. Customer process refers to procedure a customer follow when receiving food or beverages. Generally the customer process system involves; serving customer at a laid table, customer self-service from the counter, assisted service where the customer is serviced with some meals and then practice self-service with other parts of the meal, single point service where placing of order, clearing the bill and receiving the service occurs at the same point) and then specialized service where the orders are delivered to the clients wherever they are located (Kotler, Bowen & Makens, 2006. P. 46).

Food and beverages have unique characteristics that manipulate the production and service decision. For example, the demand for food and beverages is intermittent because during breakfast, lunch and dinner the demand is at the climax while the rest of the time demand remains low. Demand for food and beverages varies with seasonal of the year and may be affected by other factors such as production and competitive activities (Adcock, Halborg and Ross, 2001.p. 85). The production of food and beverages is labour intensive hence shift in cost of labour will have a serious effect on the service systems.

The perishable nature of food and beverages affects the handling processes during and after preparation. Season: Most of the food and beverage are available for a limited period during the year. Therefore, when supplies are on the season they will be available for sale to the customer but will become unavailable during the off season (Reid and Botanic, 2006. P. 31). Equipment, personnel and storage facilities: even if conventional service system would be economic because food could be stored during the production season, there is limited capacity for