TYPES OF SERVICE

The quality of food service in a restaurant is an important as the food itself. Thus to ensure the successful running of a restaurant, the style of food service to be adopted must be carefully chosen keeping in mind the following points.

  • Standard of the establishment
  • Standard of the guests.
  • Time available for service
  • Turnover of guest
  • Type of menu
  • Cost of the meals served
  • Location of the establishment
  • The number of staff employed
  • The amount of money involved in use of different equipment.

 

Service of Food & Beverage in the hospitality industry is broadly classified into three segments.

  1. Table Service
  2. Self Service
  3. Assisted Service
  4. Single point service
  5. Specialized service or service in situ

 

  1. TABLE SERVICE:

It means service to the customers at a laid cover. This type of service is also divided into seven categories. They are as follows:

  • Platter to plate or Silver service
  • Family service
  • Pre plated or American service
  • Butler service
  • Russian service
  • Gueridon or flambé service
  • Bar counter service

 

  • PLATTER TO PLATE OR SILVER SERVICE:

Description

Presentation and service of food by the staffs from oval, flat dishes or portion bowls from the left hand side.

Uses

High-class establishments, cruise liners, first class travel catering and formal banquets.

Advantages

Dishes look good and the service is of very high class by the skilled staffs.

Disadvantages

Required skilled staffs, cost are increased, service is slow and lots of cutleries and crockery are used.

 

  • FAMILY SERVICE:

Description

Main courses are plated with vegetables, placed in multi-portioned dishes for customers to help themselves. Sauces are offered.

Uses

Some functions, private parties, clubs and institutions.

Advantages

Staff requirements & skills are decreased. It is timesaving. Customers can decide portions and accompaniments.

Disadvantages

Service is impersonal and wastage may occur.

 

  • PRE-PLATED OR AMERICAN SERVICE:

Description

Service of pre-plated food direct from the kitchen.

Uses

Semi-formal outlets, café, coffee shops, fast-food outlets.

Advantages

Economy of equipment, speed & simplicity, saves labour, increases turnover, labour may be semi skilled but it reduces cost.

Disadvantages

Kitchen timings & staffs are increased. Appearance may be affected due to over crowding of plates.

 

  • BUTLER SERVICE:

Description

Presentation of food & beverage by the highly skilled staffs to the V.I.P. resident guests in their room or in the V.I.P. lounge.

Uses

High class establishments and in Royal functions

Advantages

Personalized and good presentation.

Disadvantages

Required highly skilled staffs, increases costs, suitable for small gathering.

 

  • RUSSIAN SERVICE:

Description

Table is laid with food for guests to help themselves.

Uses

At functions and private parties but limited use.

Advantages

Staff requirements & skills are decreased. It is timesaving. Customers can decide portions and accompaniments.

Disadvantages

Service is impersonal and wastage may occur.

 

  • GUERIDON OR FLAMBÉ SERVICE:

Description

Food is served from the side table or trolley, may include carving, cooking and flambéing, preparation of salads and their dressing.

Trolley type

Gueridon or flambé, horsd`oeuvre, salads, sweets or pastries, deserts, cheese, wines & liqueur, cold cuts.

Uses

Specialty restaurants, high-class establishments, nightclubs.

Advantages

Help in merchandising, foods are spectacular and classy.

Disadvantages

Required highly skilled staffs, time consuming, special & costly equipments, Portion control is difficult.

 

  • BAR COUNTER SERVICE:

Description

Service to the customers at bar counter. Seated on bar stools.

Uses

Bars, pubs & nightclubs.

Advantages

Quick and personalized service.

Disadvantages

More pressure on staffs, staffs need to be efficient.

 

2) ASSISTED SERVICE:

    It is a combination of Table & Self service. It is of two types.

  • Buffet Service
  • Carvery Service

 

  • BUFFET SERVICE:

Description

It is a service where guests select food & beverage from the display; consumption is either at the table or standing or in the lounge area.

Uses

Banquets, private parties.

Advantages

Staff requirements are low.

Disadvantages

Possible queue, delays and erratic food control.

 

  • CARVERY SERVICE:

Description

Some parts are served and some are to be self-served. Also used for breakfast service.

Uses

Banquets, private parties.

Advantages

Staff requirements are low.

Disadvantages

Possible queue, delays and erratic food control.

 

3) SELF SERVICE:

It is a service by the customers themselves. It is also known as counter service or cafeteria service.

  • CAFETERIA OR COUNTER SERVICE.

Description

The guest’s queue passes by a service counter, select their menu requirements and pay the cashier at the end of the counter.

Uses

Institutional catering, fast food establishments.

Advantages

Clean, quick and economical for the staffs.

Disadvantages

Speed depends on the cashier and the back up staffs, cost of equipment is high.

 

Types of table service

  • French or Silver service

The fundamental of true French service is that here the guest gets the opportunity to be helped to the restaurant staff. To the dishes. In French service the waiter fulfils the rule that is he serves the food and divides the potion for the guests. Generally French service is also known as silver service. The portion are individually served from electroplated silver or earthenware containers and served on the plates placed on the table before the guest.

This form of service can also be done from a gueridon trolley. In this case the waiter places the dishes on the cover immediately after it is prepared. Sometimes flambé dishes are also served from the gueridion trolley.

For this type of service movement space is required inside the restaurant, which adds to the luxury. It requires more number of waiters hence this is a very expensive type of service.

 

· English Service or host or family service

The basic of the English service is that it gives the opportunity to help themselves to the service of the dishes. This form of service originates from the English tradition of the master of the family or the host carving and portioning at the table. For large parties certainly, for a family of four or more, a sideboard should be used. But for a small party the food may be placed directly on the table. In this case the waiter brings the plates and dishes to the sideboard or to the table and sets them in front of the host. The host then portions the food and distributes it. Sometimes this service is also known as the carving and the service of the food is the responsibility of the host.

Note:- It is interesting to note that silver service is claimed to be of French origin by the British as well as the French people and hence is the point of controversy regarding the actual origin of silver service.

 

  • Russian service

The basic element in Russian service is derived from the old Russian style of having large joints, whole fish or whole birds, often decoratively treated in dishes with their elaborates garnishes kept on the side board visible to the guest to help themselves as an English service. The Russian service is still seen for the service of whole birds, meat joints and whole fish to be presented in large portion after carving from the sideboard. Otherwise Russian service as a distinctive and separate form of service of this style no longer exists.

 

  • American service

Fundamentally, this is a simplified form of service evolved in recent years

(Depending upon the pre plating and pre setting of tables with the silver needed throughout the meal). Plated food is brought from the kitchen by a waiter on a tray, which is then placed on a tray stand, beside a guest’s table.

 

  • Plate service

This service cuts down the cost of labour (and there by its high priced). The clients or guests here get pre-plated food. The food is directly served from the kitchen. This is also a form of personalized service as waiters serve the guests. This kind of service is usually used in canteen, boarding houses and fast food restaurants and coffee shop.

 

types of Self Help or cafeteria service

The second type of service is self-help or cafeteria service. This service cuts down the cost of labour and thereby the high price food. The clientele or the guest here waits on himself or herself. This indicates that if the service is of their own. Here the customer takes a tray or plate and moves along-selecting the dishes from the display counter, and arrives at the place where the cashiers totals up the trays contents and the customer having made his payments carries the tray to the table. The used dishes are collected and returned to the washing up area by the cafeteria staff. Mobile trolleys are convenient for this purpose.

Layout is a very important to ensure that the service is quick. Sufficient tables and chairs are provided in the dinning hall. The cafeteria unit must have a hot plate, refrigerator, a water cooler and a display counter. There should be a rail to rest and slide the trays upon. Some units have conveyer belts upon which the trays are placed. The service may be table d’hôte or a la Carte and the courses are provided in proper sequence. A strict supervision is very essential for a high-class cafeteria service. A spoon and knife and a fork wrapped in a napkin may be kept at one end of the counter for the customers to pick up.

 In India two types of cafeteria service are in operation. From the point of view of sales, in the first case coupons are sold at the beginning and the customers buy food equal to the value of the coupons, but he is restricted from buying anything more unless he goes again to get the additional coupons. Many a times the customers feel lazy to do this and so in such cases it sometimes results into a loss of the business.

In the second case the guest collects whatever he likes from the counter and pays at the end. If the cashier is not vigilant enough he can make mistakes in totaling, which may result into a loss of the business. But from the customers point of view this is a better arrangement.