Marnus@Hospitality: FOOD AND BEVERAGE SERVICES (9 WEEKS) :)

F&B

The day I started at F&B:

02/04/2011

My first day in food and beverage it was a quite time at Sondela and not a lot of guest on the farm because of all the school,public holidays I think everyone is a bit sick and tired of being on vacation...

So on my first day I met all the staff and students( second& third years) that I will be working with for the next 9 weeks. After meeting everyone my 3rd year(Melissa Booysen) showed us around, what to do each morning(sweeping,moping on bistro area) Filling up the earn and switch it on for water to boil and fill up filter coffee jug ect.

After that she explained to us about the order system on the computer and where to find different drinks,mixes,cordials,different meals and specials. I got the hang of the system real quick because of my previous experience of waitering at Dros restaurant Warmbaths.

The rest of the day my manager(Melissa Booysen) gave us all our paper work,learning material explained all the exact order it must be in and our log books.

The rest of the week we did all our theory first on how to be a good waiter and procedures to be followed to give good customer service.

09/04/2011

My second week at F&B

I started with the early duty list(sweeping and moping of bistro area.)

After that I prepared the coffee station where I refilled all the sugar bowls,made sure that all the stock was enough for the day(coffee,milk,sugar,jams,juice ect.) And about at 10:00am I got my first table to waiter. It was a big success and really enjoyd it, I got all the orders correct,served all the mise on plus and meals and drinks quick and did not let the guest wait for nothing more than their expected time limit. I really enjoyed waitering again and just motivated me more to become what I want to become in life.

(Hotel/Resort manager)

Week 3:

16/04/2011

We now started going into more detail about F&B.

We learned more about food and safety hazards.

Personal hygiene

Portion control

Cutlery and crockery

Security at work

Fire prevention

And many more.

We wrote 2 test so far.

Safety at work
Food poisoning

And there is still many more to come.

Week 4:

23/04/2011

NOW my "job" got interesting!!!!!!!!!!

IT FELT LIKE NATIONAL CONFERENCE WEEK

On Tuesday 24th May 2011 we did our first conference. Now we've done all our theory work on conferences and how to set up different styles of setup's but still I was really nervous, because what if the customers expected something else or you did not reach their expectations, but that's what makes Hospitality such an interesting,hard and fun industry to work in because of you always want to get guest to make use of your service, then you want to maintain the guest for repeated use of your service, and then finally you want to EXCEED GUEST EXPECTATIONS!!!!

So we started of with a conference for 30 people.
Everyone work together helped each other out if there was any opinions about any tasks and it was really fun to work together as a group and make our first conference a big success.

So the next day when our conference guest arrived we welcomed them each with a cup of hot coffee/tea and a rusk, just to give them a little preview of what good service they will be getting from Sondela.
Each person got his own bottle of our own Sondela still water with a glass and a couple of peppermints and chocolates just to eas their mood while having their conference.

At 10'O clock(am) they got their tea break where we served them with a platter of biltong,cheese,mini sausage rolls,mini pies and some fruits for the vegetarians, and also there was juice,coffe and tea available for them.

At 12'O clock(am) they got their lunch. We set tables up for them at the restaurant boma in the wonderful bush sunlight (it was a breeze day) for them to sit back relax and enjoy a warm filling lunch to get them trough the day. It was a buffet lunch where the chefs prepared a venison potjie, vegetables, rice, and chicken ballentines. There was also a nice couple of salads prepared. So while they had their lunch we rushed in to the conference centre cleaned up all sweet papers,empty bottles of water and replaced it for them with new one's. rearranged all their chairs neatly and made sure the hall looked like there's never been someone before.

The rest of the week we learned how to improve and react if there is any customer complaints,faulty equipment etc.

Week 5:

30/04/2011

This week it was more than a theory day than a work place exposure week. I got the chance to work on my workbook, get my Portfolio Of Evidence in order and also got my logbook up to date.
I learned how to make cocktails like:
1. Blue Monday-