Food and Beverage Department within Hilton Hotel - Research Paper Example

Running head: food and beverage department within hilton Key internal and external relationships The success of food and beverage department within Hilton hotel has been achieved as the result of strong positive relationships between the employees, other departments, guests, managers and suppliers among other stakeholders. The department serves unmatched food and beverage and according to the managers, the food and beverage division is maintained in order to help the guests. One of the key issues that make Hilton to be a top brand in the international market is the strong positive relationship that the hotel maintains with its customers. The management team insists that if any customer is looking for a positive dining experience, food and beverage division offers the best opportunity that will leave the customer satisfied. In addition to assisting Hilton to increase its revenue and profits, the department aims at attaining a perfect balance between guest satisfaction and its activities. As the result of the strong and quality brands that the department offers in the market, customers make repeated purchases an aspect that makes the hotel to increase its revenue. Apart from providing the guests with first class services, food and beverage division has a strong connection with the brands restaurant concept departments. The department ensures that they provide solutions to all the customers’ demands while at the same time they provide unique brands that cannot be easily imitated by the competitors. According to James Glover, the vice-president of food and beverage division in Europe, the department provides a great opportunity that allows the workers, suppliers, managers and consumers to closely interact. While working in the food and beverage department all the stakeholders are guided by six concepts that include authenticity, profit, quality, connectivity, simplicity and pleasure. The department ensures that the six concepts are noted by stakeholders through job training programmes that are undertaken on regular basis either through the classrooms or via the department intranet as well as in the notice boards. Additionally, the food and beverage front-of-house teams in conjunction with the highly experienced chefs ensure that the six aspects are achieved with a deep emphasis on the three key issues namely quality, profitability and authenticity. Hilton has more than 540 hotels and resorts in 78 countries with the same number of food and beverage departments. In order to ensure that all the branches are strongly connected, the department has adopted modern technology including internet to ensure that communication is effective. Another key issue that contributes to the success of the department is the consultation that exists among the managers. Thus, major strategies being undertaken by the department are as the result of the ideas from various managers thus resulting to strong motivated teams. Key management competencies required within this department Hilton Food & Beverage department aims at providing guest satisfaction and increase the company revenue by providing services that are of high standards. Being one of the largest operators of restaurants in the world, the food and beverage department provides services approximately to 22 million guests. Thus, the division has identified skilled and experienced work force in order to provide services that meet the needs of their consumers. One of the major management competencies required in this department is to have food safety and management skills as well as fire and life safety standards. It is worth to note that in order to meet the international health standards and make Hilton retain its competitive position, the department senior managers have adequate skills as far as food safety is concerned. Additionally, the workforce in the food and beverage department must have an extensive knowledge on food and beverages available in all the sections of the department. In this way, the managers will be in a position to adopt adequate policies that are in line with the objectives of the hotel (Manfred, 2003). Experience in coordinating operations is another factor that is needed in this department. Mostly importantly, managers must be able to monitor and ensure that in the food division operations are run in a smooth way. Additionally, the management team should ensure that all the sections within the department are able to coordinate while at the same time they are effectively controlled. Based on the high number of guests that are served by Hilton annually, if there is poor coordination in the food and beverage department, other functions of the hotel will be adversely affected due to the importance of the department in the entire hotel Managers must be in a position to make regular tours of back as well as front food operations. Another key competency is effective planning. In order to meet the needs of the high number of guests, it is essential for the department managers to have the skills of making improvements that are based on the market demand (Gunder, 2003). This implies that the managers must be able to undertake market surveys and come up with effective plan on how to implement changes in order to ensure that the guests are left satisfied. In order to ensure that the plans put in place are in line with the changes in the contemporary business environment, managers must be always updated on emerging technology in order to improve the efficiency of the department. For example, menu planning is vital competency among the managers and chefs. Precisely, the chefs must adopt five tips in order to be successful. These includes resolving to make efforts, picking a planning style that meets the needs of the guests, making a shopping list, making strategic purchases and grading ones effort (Yiftachel, 1998). Based on the large number of employees in various sections within the food and beverage department, it is vital that the senior managers are able to emulate effective staffing skills. For instance, managers emulate effective staff management skills that include hiring, transfers, compensation as well as termination. Taking into consideration the importance of the workforce in ensuring that the department attains is objectives as well as those of the entire hotel, it is fundamental that the employees are maintained in a motivated state. This can de done by undertaking regular training. Thus, training skill is another major competency that has significant impact on the productivity and performance of the food and beverage department of the Hilton hotel. Through undertaking divisional staff training, it does only motivate the employees but also it improves their skills thus making them to be productive leading to the hotel attaining a competitive edge (Diane, 1995). Another aspect that relates to the staffing skills is the ability to undertake employee’s evaluation, staff appraisals, creating proper working environment, employee’s hygiene and proper sanitation and fire safety measures as well as disaster preparedness. Effective communication skills are additional competencies that are imperative for the departmental. For example, the food and beverage assistant must emulate good communication skills in order to deliver first class member experience as well as an excellent guest. Additionally, through effective communication among the workers, it is possible for the employees to effectively deliver customer orders thus ensuring that the targets of the department are achieved. In addition to the proper communication skills, the workforce must depict positive attitude that is vital in creating strong relationship with the guests. Other related competencies include high standard grooming standards, ability to relate positively with other team members and strong customers service. One of the major advantages of proper communication skills is that the department is able to effectively handle the guest’s complaints. The competency of quality and cost control cannot be overlooked in food and beverage department within Hilton hotel. On the part of the quality control, the department ensures that the quality of food and beverages provided by the department is maintained. In this way, Hilton has been able to effectively face off its competitors in the hotel industry. Another area that quality control is essential is in the equipment and materials used. Being responsible for preparing the good and beverages in the hotel, the department advocates for the use of quality machines as well as technology in order to produce services and products are of quality value that makes the guests to experience the value of their money. To ensure that the department significantly contributes to the profitability of the hotel, it is important that cost control as a strategy is adopted. This includes taking inventory, use of low costs but quality materials, use of modern technology among other aspects. Conclusion Based on the above discussion, it is clear that food and beverages department in Hilton is a major division that has significantly contributed to the competitive position of Hilton hotel. Being responsible for providing quality foods and beverages, the department success is not only contributed by strong relationship among the employees but also due to the high level of competency among the managers. The department that serves more than 22 million guests ensures the production of various brands that are highly demanded by the average income earners as well the executives. As an international company, Hilton has a strong relationship with its guests due to strong brand position an aspect that has made it to put at bay its competitors in the hospitality industry. Notable competencies that are required within the department includes food safety and management skills, proper coordination of the department services, planning, staff management skills, strong communication skills, quality and cost control and administrative skills. References Diane, A. (1995). Training and Development. Managing Human Resources in Small & Mid-Sized Companies. AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn. Gunder, M. (2003). Passionate Planning for the Others' Desire: An Agonistic Response to the Dark Side of Planning, Progress in Planning, Vol. 60, no. 3. Manfred, R. (2003). The Dark Side of Leadership. Business Strategy Review 14(3). Yiftachel, O. (1998). Planning and Social Control: Exploring the Dark Side, Journal of Planning Literature, vol. 12, no. 4. Read More