What is a catering establishment
An organization providing Food and Beverage is called a catering establishment. Catering establishments are broadly classified into primary catering establishment and secondary catering establishment.
Primary Catering Establishment
Hotel, Restaurants and fast food outlets, which are primarily concerned with the provision of food and beverage as a main source of revenue, are called primary catering establishment.
Secondary Catering Establishment
In this case the provision of food and beverage is a part of another business such as welfare catering and industrial catering.
Hotels: – The main purpose of hotels is to provide accommodation, which may or may not include the service of food and beverage .A hotel may be a small family run unit providing a limited service in one restaurant, or a large luxury hotel providing service through a number of outlets such as the coffee shop, room service, banquets, specialty restaurant, grill room, and cocktail bars. The service in these types of hotels is usually personalized and the tariff is very high, as they generally cater to persons of a high social standing. Medium class hotels are similar to luxury hotels, though there surrounding are less luxurious and the facilities are not of the same standard as those available in the luxury category.
Restaurant: – They are of various standards .A specialty or an A graded restaurants; objective is the provision of food and beverage of a particular region. The food service and prices are often comparable to those similar restaurants in luxury hotels. They offer a wide choice from an elaborate menu and a very high quality of service.
Bars & Pubs: – The idea is fairly new in India and borrowed from the concept of public houses in England .The are geared to provide service of all types of alcohol with an emphasis on draught beer and good music. Foods may also be served from a limited menu.
Popular Catering RESTAURANT: – The objective of popular catering restaurant is to provide a quick and economic meal, in a clean and standardized dining room and is very popular among urban population of India. They are of various styles and categories. Some restaurants serve only vegetarian food while some specialize in the food of a particular region such as the Punjab or Andhra Pradesh etc.
Fast Food Restaurant: – This is basically an American concept .The service of food & beverage is at a faster pace, than an “a la cart Restaurant” as the menu is compiled with a special emphasis on the speed of preparation and service, and to make this type of service financially viable, a large turnover of customers is necessary .The investments is rather large due to the specialized and expensive equipment needed and high labour costs involved.
Outdoor Catering: – This means catering to a large number of people at a venue of their choice. Hotels, restaurants and catering contractors meet this growing demand .The types of food and set up depends entirely on the price agreed upon outdoor catering includes catering for functions such as marriages parties and convention.
Departmental Store Catering: – Some departmental stores apart from carrying on their primary activity of retailing their own wares provide catering as an additional facility. This type of catering evolved when large departmental stores wished to provide food and beverages to their customer’s as a part of there retailing concept. It is in convenient and time consuming for customer to take a break from shopping and have some refreshments at a different location. Thus arose the need of some sort of a dining facility in the departmental location. This style of catering is becoming more popular and varied nowadays.
Club Catering: – This refers to the provision of food and beverage to a restricted clientele. The origin of this service can be trace back to England where membership of a club was considered prestigious. Today, in India there is a proliferation of clubs to suit different needs. Clubs for people with similar interests such as golf clubs and cricket clubs, to name a few, have sprung up. The service and food in these clubs tend to be of a fairly good standard and are economically priced.
Nightclubs: – are usually situated in large cities that have an affluent urban population. They offer entertainment with good food and expensive drinks.
Transport CATERING: – The provision of food and beverages to passengers, before, during and after a journey on trains, aircraft, ships and in buses or private vehicles is termed as transport catering.
The major forms of modern day transport catering are airline catering, railway catering, ship catering and surface catering in coaches or buses, which operate on long distance routes.
Airlines Catering: – Catering to airline passenger on flight as well as at restaurants situated at airport is termed as airlines catering and catering to passengers en route is normally contracted out to a flight catering unit of a reputed hotel as to a catering contractor.
Civil aviation progressed rapidly after 2nd World War when large number of surplus, D.C.-III, C-47 aircraft were available for disposal. From 1946 private commercial Airlines began with subsequent food requirement. Initially food was provided in boxes pre-packed as the majority of aircraft where without facilities of in-flight catering services. The international carriers operating through India had no flight kitchen so they were largely dependant on the Airport Restaurants or hotels situated in nearby cities to cater to their requirements.
It was necessary to improve and to expand the kitchen service inside the airport to provide passengers with a comfortable service along with the food within the cost of the Airline ticket.
Several flight kitchens have been established in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata to cope with the needs of the International Carriers. Air India floated a subsidiary company with a view to operate flight kitchen known as “CHEF -AIR” and also accommodate travelers in five star category hotels at major airports (The Centaur Group of Hotels).
Now a days several flight kitchens are being established near the major airports of India such as, Taj Sats Airlines Catering, Oberoi’s Flight Kitchen, Ambassador Sky Chef, Sky Gourmet, Chef Air which are catering to the various domestic and International Airlines.
Railway Catering: – Catering to railway passengers both during the journey as well as during halts at different railway station is called railway catering. Traveling by train for long distances can be very tiring; hence a constant supply of a verity of refreshment choice helps to make the journey less tedious.
In the mid 19th century the railway network began in India with an operation the was to grow the length and breadth of the vast sub-continent with travel made easier, people were transported from one part to another part of country.
At most of the larger stations of the big cities refreshment rooms were established. The trains would halt to an appropriate length of time so that the passengers could have a light and simple meal.
Third class passengers were unable to afford the luxury food eating in the refreshment room would avail themselves from the numerous venders on the station platforms.
Railway companies even went to extent of the city hotels attached to the stations so that the passengers who are changing from one region to another region could spend the night before and after in relative comfort. The luxury of sleeping cars and restaurant cars were a much later development.
The present railway catering service is managed both departmentally and through the licensed contractors. Catering facilities are available 2995 stations in India and the licensed contractors cater the most numbers. Recently the India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) has appointed consultant for the improvement of railway catering. In this new type of service the meals are served in a disposable aluminum foil casseroles. The foods are cooked in base kitchen (in major stations) and kept in hot cases in pantry cars.
Indian railway also owns several railway city hotels at Ranchi, Puri, Howrah, Tatanagar, Cochi and Tiruvanantapuram.
Ship Catering: – Voyages by sea were once a very popular mode of traveling, but with the on set of air travel, sea voyages have declined sharply. However, recently it has again become popular with a large number of people opting for pleasure cruises. Cargo and passenger ships have kitchens and restaurants on board .The equality of food, service and facilities offered depends on the class of the ship and the price, and the passengers are willing to pay.
These are cruises to suit every pocket. There are cruises of two to five days duration which offer budget accommodation comparable to a limited service hotel, while luxury cruises of seven days to three months duration offer luxuries state rooms and various other facilities that are comparable to first class resort. Luxury cruises prepares travelers with deluxe accommodation and attentive and specialized service at a very high provision.
All these ships provide a verity of food and beverage service outlets, to cater to the individual needs of the passengers. They range from room service and cocktail bars to specialty dining restaurants .The ships to specialty that caters to the cruise sectors today, are virtually floating palaces with every conceivable guest service available aboard them. This sector has been growing in popularity in recent times, and has become affordable to a large cross section of people.
Surface Catering: – Catering to passenger traveling by surface such as buses and private vehicles is called surface catering. These catering establishments are normally located around a bus terminus or on a highway. They may be either government run restaurants, or privately owned establishments of late there has been a growing popularity of Punjabi style catteries called Dhabas on the highways.
Welfare Catering: – The provision of food and beverage to people to fulfill a social need, determined by a recognized authority, is known as welfare catering. This grew out of the welfare state concept, prevalent in western countries. It includes catering in hospitals, schools, colleges, the armed forces and prisons.
Industrial Catering: – The provision of food and beverage to people at work, in industries and factories at highly subsidized rates is called industrial catering .It is based on the assumption that better fed employees are happy and more productive.
Catering for a large work force may be undertaken by the management itself, or may be contracted out to professional caters. Depending on the choice of menu suggested by the management, catering contractors undertaken to face the workforce for a fixed period of time at a predetermined price.
Leisure –Linked Catering: -This types of catering refer to the provision of food and beverage to people engaged in leisure. This includes the provision of food and beverage includes stalls and Kiosks at exhibition, theme parks, galleries and theaters.