After months of lockdowns, which brought India’s hospitality sector literally to its knees, the industry is taking baby steps towards business recovery. F&B outlets, once amongst the highest revenue contributor in a hotel, have especially taken a massive hit.
Balancing restrictions related to occupancy, social distancing and limited operational timing along with limited customer footfall is a challenging task. However, it has become par for course.
Many hotels are rethinking their F&B strategies to boost revenue from this vertical. Chef Jean Christophe Fieschi, Culinary Director, Grand Hyatt Mumbai Hotel and Residences tells Vinita Bhatia about the various techniques they can adopt to maximise their restaurant’s profitability, while enhancing the guest experience.
As hotels open up partially, what are some smart strategies that they can use to boost their F&B revenue?
I can’t comment about other hotels. However, at Grand Hyatt Mumbai Hotel and Residences, we have combined the culinary offerings from our signature outlets into one restaurant. This has resulted in the creation of a multi-cuisine menu that offers comfort food along with some old favorites.
How important is it for F&B outlets to identify and analyse their potential target customer, their palate preferences and spending power?
When you understand who your customers are, it becomes easy to attract and retain them. F&B outlets can then have tailor-made promotions or create value-added packages. This kind of personalisation is the key experience that we believe in offering at our hotel and residences.
It is always imperative to reevaluate or re-invent the more profitable and popular items in the menu by attaching value to it.
How should culinary and F&B directors reengineer their menu to balance profitability and popularity?
It is always imperative to reevaluate or re-invent the more profitable and popular items in the menu by attaching value to it. This kind of reengineering can help F&B heads to increase the price of selective dishes, while offering their guests better value for their money.
A good example of this approach is creating thematic and seasonal menus. These can add to the variations in the food offerings. Moreover, guests today seek value while dining out, and hotels can provide this with set meals as well.
How can examining their P&L statements help hotels to identify F&B related strengths and weaknesses?Â
A closer look of the P&L will help hoteliers identify where they should, or could, do better. This is across various areas of their business – be it staffing, F&B cost or utility expenses.
So, if the P&L shows that food contributes to majority of the F&B revenue loss, what should the culinary and F&B director do?
They can use this data to monitor wastage, analyse their purchase patterns and manage inventory as well as improper cutting of produce, storage or portion control. Several technology tools can support them in this endeavour. For instance, when it comes to food production, they can use the sous vide machine, which can help many restaurants control their cost and portion control.
How can they also factor other elements like labour or material cost while planning food costing and menu pricing?
In many countries, outsourcing top quality products, which are ready-to-cook, easily allows restaurants to save on manning and expensive equipment. This can be emulated in India too, and is already being done to a certain extent.
How can the culinary and F&B Director analyse food wastage on a regular basis?
They can start with the basics, which is train servers to avoid overserving. This is a good way to control wastage. There are also use tech tools to keep track of food waste.
Morever, food wastage can’t be completely stopped, so they can cross utilize it. For instance, they can use the waste for alternative environmentally friendly techniques like composting. This can produce energy that could be used for various functions in the hotel, including the kitchen.
