INTRODUCTION
There are many ways in which food and beverages are served to customers in the catering industry. This may range from full silver service in a fine dining restaurant, where the dishes are served at the table by waiters with service spoon and fork, to a self-service cafeteria where guests collect their own food from the counter. Food and beverage service styles can be broadly classified into three main groups:
1. Waiter service
2. Self-service
3. Assisted service
Waiter Service
In this method of service, food and beverages are served to guests by waiters at the guest's place. It may be at a table in a restaurant, in a hotel room, on a flight, in a hospital, and so on. This service is further classified into the following:
English service
It is also known as silver service. In this method, dishes are presented and transferred to the guest's plate using service spoon and fork from the left-hand side of the guest while beverages are served from the right-hand side. It is regarded as a formal service. The waiter brings plates and dishes to the sideboard, places the plate before each guest from his/her right-hand side, moving clockwise. He/she presents the main dish to the host and serves each guest, starting from the one seated to the right of the host. The server moves counter clockwise while serving food. This kind of service is implemented in upscale restaurants. Points to remember
v Serve food from dish/platter on to guest's plate using service spoon and fork from the left-hand side
v Conduct clearance from the right-hand side
v Serve beverages from the right-hand side Advantages
v Personalized service
v Customer satisfaction
v Waiters have scope to exhibit their service skills
v No plate wastage
Limitations
v Calls for high level of service skills, hence more labour cost
v More staff required
v Low seat turnover
v Slow service
American service
This is a simple and informal form of service. It is also termed as plated service. In this style, dishes are neatly plated in the kitchen by the kitchen staff and placed at the guest's cover from the right-hand side. The waiter should be able to carry at least three dished out full plates to speed up the service. For a group of more than three guests, the waiter and the assistant waiter work as a team to place the plates. Using trays for transporting plates is not recommended. Trays are used to carry dished out cups and bowls. Cups are placed on the saucers and bowls on quarter plates with the appropriate spoons.
Let us assume that a waiter is carrying four bowls of minestrone soup to a table. He/she carries a pile of four quarter plates, a bunch of four soup spoons, and four bowls of minestrone soup on a tray. On reaching the table, standing at the right of the guest, the waiter places the bowl on a quarter plate, positions soup spoon on the plate, and keeps it at the guest's cover from the right-hand side in such a way that the spoon is to the right of the guest. He/she moves to the next guest and repeats the same.
The server moves clockwise while placing plated food. Dishes such as prawn cocktail, salads, soups, masala dosa, vada sambar, sandwiches, burgers, ice creams, and so on, are served in this way. This style of service is followed in restaurants located in busy areas where service needs to be very quick. Coffee shops, fast food outlets, casual dining restaurants, and restaurants located in busy areas follow this style of service.
Points to remember
v All plated food is served from the right-hand side of the guest
v Beverages are also served from the right
v Clearance is done from the right-hand side
v Tray is used to carry cups, bowls, saucers, and underplates
v Tray should not be used to carry full and half plates
v Move clockwise when you work from the right-hand side and counter clockwise when you work from the left hand.
Advantages
v Service skill is not required
v Low labour cost
v Needs fewer waiters
v Quick service
v High seat turnover as service is fast
v Kitchen staff has Scope for demonstrating their plating skills Limitations
v No personalized service
v Chances of plate wastage
v Skilled waiters do not have scope to show their service skills
v Food may become cold
v More of kitchen time and labour.
French service
This is also known as family service. In France, this service is found in family pensions (pension de famine) and banquets, where the dish is presented to each guest from the left-hand side to help himself/herself. For a small party of two to three guests, dishes ordered by them are placed on the table with service implements and plates for the guests to help themselves. For larger parties of more than four guests. a side table or trolley can be used. The waiter keeps plates, service tools, and dishes on the trolley/sideboard. He/she places plates at guests' covers and then presents the dishes with service tools to each guest from the left-hand side to help themselves. Alternatively, all dishes may be placed on the table and the host may serve all his guests at the table first or assist them in service and serve himself finally. This method is widely practised in ethnic restaurants, especially in Chinese and Indian restaurants. Indian breads and accompanying dishes are kept on the table for guests to help themselves. If assistance is required, the waiter may help the guests in passing and serving the dish.
Advantages
v Service skills not required
v Low labour cost
v Seat turnover is more compared to silver service
v Quick service
v No plate wastage Limitations
v Service staff will not be able to demonstrate their service skills
v Food may go cold
v Guests may spill or burn himself
v Needs more area on the table
v Guests may feel neglected
Russian service
This is a very elaborate service and may also be termed as sideboard service. In this style, large joints roast poultry, whole fish, and so on, that have elaborate garnish, are neatly arranged on a platter, presented to the host, taken back to the sideboard, carved, portioned, and served to the guests with service spoon and fork. After service, dishes are kept on a hot plate in the sideboard to keep them warm. Each course is served from the sideboard. This service is not practised much in recent times.
Advantages
v High level of guest satisfaction
v Personalized service
v Waiters have scope to exhibit carving, portioning, and service skills
v Good presentation
Limitations
v Calls for highly skilled staff, hence higher labour cost
v More wait staff required
v Low seat turnover, as time taken for service is more
Guéridon service
This is also termed as trolley service. In this style of service, dishes are prepared, carved, dressed, or flambeed on a trolley in front of the guests and served with service spoon and fork. It is a very effective tool for merchandising. Restaurant may have trolleys specially constructed for various such as carving, flambeing, and presentation. The design of a trolley varies according to its purpose. Carving trolley, flambe trolley, hors d'oeuvre varies trolley. cheese trolley, and liqueur trolley are some of the trolleys found in restaurants offering gueridon service. This type of service is practised in luxury, upmarket restaurants.
However, one should not confuse this service with the trolleys used for clearing dirty dishes and those facilitating service. For example, trolleys used in flight catering for carrying portioned food trays and trolleys used in casual dining restaurants for clearing soiled tableware do not constitute gueridon service.
Advantages
v Highly personalized service
v High level of customer satisfaction as the dishes are prepared, carved, or flambeed in their presence
v Good merchandising device
v Wait staff can exhibit their culinary, carving, and service skills
v High average spending power (high revenue/cover)
Limitations
v Slow service
v Low seat turnover o Expensive style of service as it requires more service area and highly skilled staff o Chances of accidents are more
v More investment on service equipment
v Cooking in the service area may leave odour
Tray service In this form of service, the dishes ordered by guests are neatly portioned and arranged on a tray with necessary cutlery and taken to their rooms/beds/seats by waiters. Special trays are available to retain temperature of dishes. This style is practised in room service, hospitals, flights, and institutional catering.
Guests in hotels at times call for service of dishes in their rooms. Their orders are taken by room service order takers, dishes are arranged on a tray and served quickly in their rooms. Orders can be collected either from the kitchen or floor pantry.
In hospitals, patients are given a diet recommended by dieticians. These dishes are arranged on trays and wheeled to their rooms on trolley. Passengers who are confined to their seats in flights are given their meals on trays. The menu is decided by the flight operator and catering contractor.
Advantages
v Service skill is not required, hence low labour cost
Limitations
v Tray area may not be adequate to accommodate more dishes unless the number of dishes and portion size are predetermined, as in case of flight catering
v Waiters will not be able to exhibit their service skills
v No personalized service
v Food may go cold unless insulated trays are used
Self-Service
This is the simplest form of service methods where members of service staff do not serve guests. Customers help themselves with the dishes they would like to consume. Self-service is classified into:
1. Cafeteria
2. Counter service
3. Vending
Cafeteria service
There are two types of cafeteria service in practice. They are
Traditional cafeteria
This form of service is widely followed in institutional and industrial catering establishments. It consists of a straight line of counters containing a variety of hot and cold dishes displayed in order. The customer starts from one end of the line, picks up a tray and moves along the length of the counter as he selects dishes he wants to have. A tray rail.is attached to the full length of the counter to rest tray while selecting dish and passing along the line. The cashier who is seated at the end of the counter makes the bill and collects payment. This is not required if the meals are pre-paid. Formally, the service counter is separated from the dining area. Traditional cafeteria system tends to build up long queues, due to some/all of the reasons outlined below:
v Too many dishes on display may draw the attention of guests in line, thus making guests move slowly
v Customers may not be familiar with the layout of the cafeteria
v Delay in replacement of trays, service equipment and dishes
v Speed of the customer while serving himself
v Speed of the cashier
Flow of activities in traditional cafeteria system:
1. Guest enters
2. Picks up the tray
3. Joins queue at the counter
4. Picks up the dishes of his choice as he moves along
5. Pays to the cashier at the end of the counter (not necessary, if pre-paid)
6. Picks up cutlery and napkin
7. Goes to the dining hall to eat
The traditional 'one line-cafeteria' system is modified to speed up service and make customers select dishes of their choice quickly without having to wait long in queues.
Free-flow cafeteria
In modern 'free-flow cafeteria' system, counters are segregated according to the type of dishes offered—hot or cold, appetizers, soups, breads, sandwiches, entrées, salads, pastas and so on. Customers can move at will to any service point to select dishes and exit through the payment point. Trays and other essential service equipment are kept on tables at convenient places. Guests pick up trays and go to counters of their choice and select whatever dishes they want. The cashier collects payment for the dishes collected at the entrance of the dining hall.
In this system, counters are not arranged in a straight line, but in shapes such as hollow-square, U, echelon or saw-tooth, and so on, depending on the number of dishes on offer and shape and size of area available. However there are two main types of layout—hollow square and echelon.
In the hollow-square layout, counters are placed around three sides of service area forming a U-shape. Each side has counters of different dishes, with an open end for customers to enter and leave. This style is suitable for department stores, shopping malls, exhibition sites, and so on, where there is a steady flow of customers. In echelon or saw-tooth layout, a series of counters are positioned at such angles that customers can flow within free flow area and also to save space. A customer reaches the counter of his/her choice to help himself/herself. This method is suitable for serving large number of people arriving almost at the same time, as in the industrial catering.
While positioning counters of various categories of dishes in free-flow cafeteria system, adequate thought should be given on the traffic flow of guests, location of most preferred category of dishes, ease of replenishment especially to counters that are centrally located, and so on. Arrangement of counters should not lead to too much cross-flow of customers, should be convenient for guests to help themselves and for service staff to refill the stations. These counters should have signs posted for quicker identification by customers.
Beverage counters may be located either in service hall or dining area. Free-flow cafeteria may also extend call order services where guests place orders for grilled, roasted, and fried items, which are then cooked as per the order.
Payment for dishes collected is made at any of the cash points located in many places in the hall which makes it convenient for customers to pay quickly and leave for dining. Flow of activities in free-flow cafeteria system:
1. Guest enters
2. Picks up tray
3. Goes to counter of his choice
4. Picks up the dishes
5. Pays to the cashier
6. Picks up cutlery and napkins
7. Goes to the dining hall to eat
In both traditional and free-flow cafeteria systems, the provision of cutlery, condiments, accompanying sauces, and water is made available after the cash point, to avoid delays. In some establishments these may be placed on the dining tables.
Clearing of tables may be done either by staff or by customers. Mostly it is done by a team of staff. Tables should be cleared and cleaned as quickly as possible and chairs should be positioned properly as guests always look for free tables.
Advantages
v Visually good
v Low labour cost
v Low service skills required
v More number of people can be served
v Less staff needed
Limitations
v Food may go cold while guests wait
v Dependent on quick replenishing/preparation system and the efficiency of the cashier
The carousel
This system consists of a number of rotating shelves at different heights on which food and drinks are presented. Each shelf is approximately 6' in diameter and rotates at one revolution per minute. Food is loaded from the table at the server side as and when necessary.
In this style, customers do not move as in the case of free-flow cafeteria system. They stand and pick up the dishes of their choice from the revolving shelf and pay the cashier seated near carousel in the dining area. One half of the carousel is in the serving area for customers to pick the food and other half is in pantry for kitchen staff to load the shelf.
Dishes are arranged in the carousel as mentioned below:
Top shelf: Bread rolls, bread, butter, and so on
Middle shelf: Hot food Bottom shelf: Cold foods such as salads, sweets, and so on
Trays, cutlery, napkins, and beverages are kept separately to avoid overcrowding at the carousel.
This system is not in use widely.
Advantages
v Serves 8-10 people per minute
v Needs less area for installation
Limitations
v Customers may not be so quick in making selections and have to wait for a complete revolution.
v Food should be restocked correctly and quickly.
v Customers should have knowledge of arrangement of dishes on carousel for quicker selection. A new person may take more time, thus causing congestion at the carousel.
Counter service
Guests select the dishes they want to have from the menu displayed, buy tokens, and collect dishes over the counter against the tokens. They may consume the dishes either in the premises or get them packed as takeaway. Cafeteria, fast food outlets, canteens, food courts, kiosks, and so on, follow this style.
Advantages
v Quick service
v Low labour cost
v Service skill not required
v High seat turnover
v Less staff required
Limitations
v No personalized service
v No scope for talented wait staff to show their skill
Vending machine
In this style, guests get the dishes from machines. Customers buy tokens or coins and insert them into the vending machine and get whatever they wish to have by selecting appropriate option. A wide variety of hot and cold dishes are available in this system.
The most important products dispensed are
v Soups
v Hot and cold meals
v Sandwiches, biscuits, cookies, and snacks
v Hot and cold beverages
v Confectioneries
Vending machines are installed in busy areas such as railways and bus stations, airports, schools, hospitals, and so on.
Advantages
v Effective portion control
v No wastage
v Reduces labour
v Hygienic
v Service is available throughout the day
v Low cost of operation
v Good food cost control
Limitations
v Absence of interaction with guests
v Limited selection of dishes
v Unreliability
v Power dependence
v Not suitable for large-scale operations
v Calls for regular servicing during which period service is not available and leads to customer dissatisfaction
Assisted Service
This is a combination of waiter and self-service. It is used extensively in hotels and restaurants. Service staff assist customers in service of water, accompanying vegetables, sauces, sweets, and so on. The following are the examples for assisted service:
1. Buffet
2. Carvery
Buffet service
In buffet style of service, dishes are neatly displayed with garnish in the appropriate containers and arranged attractively on the buffet table in a proper order for guests to help themselves. Dishes at buffet are available at a set price and all dishes are kept ready for service at a set time. The display has wide choice of both hot and cold dishes. Hot dishes are kept in chafing dishes and the cold ones in glass/metal/wood containers. Necessary crockery and cutlery are kept on the buffet table. Pile of clean plates is kept at the head of each line and cutlery and napkins are kept at the end. Disposable napkins, if used, are placed between plates.
Buffet can be broken into many sections such as soup, non-vegetarian, vegetarian, salads and cold cuts, sweets, coffee/tea, and so on, depending on the menu to avoid congestion at the table. Each section has appropriate service equipment. Soup section has soup bowls, quarter plates, and soup spoons. At times, soup spoon may be laid at the table. Sweet counter will have adequate half plates and bowls. Cutlery for dessert is either laid at the table or kept in the buffet.
Carvings of ice, tallow, vegetable, fruits, and so on, may be used as the centre piece to depict the theme if any, and to enhance appearance of the buffet. Buffet should have dishes of different colours and should be presented in varying heights to make it eye-catching. Sauces and accompaniments must be placed next to the dishes which they are to complement. The dishes should be arranged in such a way that they are easy for guests to reach. All dishes must be kept covered till guests arrive.
During service, the hot dishes should be stirred regularly to ensure an even temperature throughout. As and when the dish's quantity gets reduced in the food container, it should be replaced quickly. The operators should not allow food to remain in 'danger zone' (5°C to 63°C) for a long time during service as bacteria multiply rapidly at this temperature range.
Guests can have any dish they want in any quantity from the buffet, but are prohibited from sharing, packing, and carrying. In this form of service, a large number of people can be served within a short duration of time. Buffet service does not need too many service staff or much service skills. This type of service is suitable for function catering. A lot of restaurants today favour this style of service for all three meals.
There are three types of buffet—sit down buffet, fork buffet, and finger buffet.
In sit down buffet, tables are laid with necessary cover. Customers select the dishes they want to have from the buffet and eat at the table set with necessary cutlery and crockery. Wait staff may help in the service of water, soup, sweet, and coffee and clear the table. They may also extend any other assistance required by the guests.
In fork buffet, customers are expected to stand and eat the food using only one piece of cutlery, normally a fork. A few spoons may also be kept on the buffet. Dishes included in the menu should be such that it can be easily managed with one piece of cutlery. In standing buffet, it may be difficult for guests to hold the soup bowl and eat with a spoon. To make it convenient for guests, a soup mug may be used, which does not need a spoon. However, if soup mugs are to be used, the soup should not have heavy garnish as this requires a soup spoon. Meat, chicken, fish preparations for this type of buffet should be without bones and the pieces should be bite-size. Many establishments select fruit salad with ice cream, ice cream, souffles, puddings, or Indian sweets such as gulab jamun, rasgullas, rabri, gajar halwa, beet root halwa, and so on, for sweet course which can be eaten with one piece of cutlery.
A few chairs may be available for aged guests.
In finger buffet, dishes are collected from the buffet and eaten with fingers. Dishes as burgers, sandwiches, and so on, are ideal for finger buffet. A washing facility with hand drier and napkin dispenser is essential.
Buffet service is becoming increasingly popular in modern times in all hotels and restaurants.
Advantages
v Service skill is not needed
v Low labour cost
v Less service staff
v More guests can be served in a short period of time
Limitations
v No personalized service
v Skilled wait staff may lose interest as it does not give them scope to demonstrate service skills
v Dishes may lose eye-appeal after repeated servings
v Possible congestion
v Poor food control
Carvery
This style is practised in large chain of hotels and restaurants all over the world. The basic concept is that the roast joints are carved by the trancheur (carver) at the carvery counter and the customers help themselves.
Carvery is open for luncheon and dinner and it also serves alcohol. Table d'hôte menu is used in carvery which consists of three courses with a selection of starters, three or four roast meats, and a selection of sweets. Waiters serve first and third courses, while guests help themselves for roasts at the carvery counter. Carvery may have three or four varieties of roast meat and poultry. Each variety of roast will have separate carving tools for carving to ensure food hygiene. Accompanying sauces should be presented in sauceboats and placed near the appropriate roast with ladle. Accompanying vegetables and potatoes are kept in bain-marie. These vegetables may either be served at the table by waiters or collected by guests from the carvery. Roasts are kept under infra-red lamps throughout service to retain heat. The temperature of roasts being carved should be 63°C or above.
Bread and butter are placed at the table.
If guests need assistance, waiters may serve them at the table.
Service sequence at carvery
1. Guests are greeted
2. Guided to the table and seated by the service staff
3. Menu is presented (table d'hôte menu of three courses, normally)
4. Water is served in the meantime
5. Preference for first course is taken
6. First course is served with necessary accompaniment
7. First course is cleared and accompaniment of the first course is taken away
8. Guests are guided to carvery. They choose the meat and get their portion from carvery. They collect accompanying vegetables and sauces and return to their tables
9. Bread and butter are placed on the table when the guests are at the carvery
10. Main course plate is cleared along with side plate
11. Bread and butter are taken away and cruets are removed
12. Crumbing is done
13. Menu is offered to take preference of guests for sweets
14. Cutlery for sweets is adjusted
15. Sweet is served by the service staff
16. Sweet is cleared
17. Coffee is served by the service staff
18. Bill is presented
19. Payment is received
Advantages
v Carvery ensures hot main course as it is being carved in the presence of guests
v No wastage since customers take what they will be able to consume
v Effective marketing tool
v Guests feel more value for money since the meat, the main course of the meal, carved in their presence is hot and they can choose the portion size
v As menu is limited, it needs smaller kitchen area and fewer production staff
v Not many service staff are required
v Less labour cost
Limitations
v Operation depends on a talented carver that costs money
v Portion control and pricing is difficult as guests help themselves to as much as they want
v Retaining appearance and palatability of the pre-cooked joints may be difficult shows the various service styles and food service sectors where these are implemented
Service Styles and Food Service Sectors Where Implemented
Style Method Where Normally Followed
Waiter English Upscale restaurants
American Fast food outlets, coffee shops, popular restaurants
French Specialty restaurants, upscale restaurants
Russian Upscale restaurants, banquets
Gueridon Fine dining restaurants
Tray Room service, hospitals, air catering, rail catering, drive-in
Self-service Cafeteria Institutional and industrial catering, shopping malls, canteens, theatres
Counter Canteens, fast food outlets, snacks and sweet shop, pastry shop, kiosks, food courts, and so on
Vending Located in busy areas where the installation of vending is justified by the frequent usage
Assisted Buffet Hotels, resorts, restaurants
Carvery Rotisserie, buffets where roasts are carved, carvery restaurants
There are many ways in which food and beverages are served to customers in the catering industry. This may range from full silver service in a fine dining restaurant, where the dishes are served at the table by waiters with service spoon and fork, to a self-service cafeteria where guests collect their own food from the counter. Food and beverage service styles can be broadly classified into three main groups:
1. Waiter service
2. Self-service
3. Assisted service
Waiter Service
In this method of service, food and beverages are served to guests by waiters at the guest's place. It may be at a table in a restaurant, in a hotel room, on a flight, in a hospital, and so on. This service is further classified into the following:
English service
It is also known as silver service. In this method, dishes are presented and transferred to the guest's plate using service spoon and fork from the left-hand side of the guest while beverages are served from the right-hand side. It is regarded as a formal service. The waiter brings plates and dishes to the sideboard, places the plate before each guest from his/her right-hand side, moving clockwise. He/she presents the main dish to the host and serves each guest, starting from the one seated to the right of the host. The server moves counter clockwise while serving food. This kind of service is implemented in upscale restaurants. Points to remember
v Serve food from dish/platter on to guest's plate using service spoon and fork from the left-hand side
v Conduct clearance from the right-hand side
v Serve beverages from the right-hand side Advantages
v Personalized service
v Customer satisfaction
v Waiters have scope to exhibit their service skills
v No plate wastage
Limitations
v Calls for high level of service skills, hence more labour cost
v More staff required
v Low seat turnover
v Slow service
American service
This is a simple and informal form of service. It is also termed as plated service. In this style, dishes are neatly plated in the kitchen by the kitchen staff and placed at the guest's cover from the right-hand side. The waiter should be able to carry at least three dished out full plates to speed up the service. For a group of more than three guests, the waiter and the assistant waiter work as a team to place the plates. Using trays for transporting plates is not recommended. Trays are used to carry dished out cups and bowls. Cups are placed on the saucers and bowls on quarter plates with the appropriate spoons.
Let us assume that a waiter is carrying four bowls of minestrone soup to a table. He/she carries a pile of four quarter plates, a bunch of four soup spoons, and four bowls of minestrone soup on a tray. On reaching the table, standing at the right of the guest, the waiter places the bowl on a quarter plate, positions soup spoon on the plate, and keeps it at the guest's cover from the right-hand side in such a way that the spoon is to the right of the guest. He/she moves to the next guest and repeats the same.
The server moves clockwise while placing plated food. Dishes such as prawn cocktail, salads, soups, masala dosa, vada sambar, sandwiches, burgers, ice creams, and so on, are served in this way. This style of service is followed in restaurants located in busy areas where service needs to be very quick. Coffee shops, fast food outlets, casual dining restaurants, and restaurants located in busy areas follow this style of service.
Points to remember
v All plated food is served from the right-hand side of the guest
v Beverages are also served from the right
v Clearance is done from the right-hand side
v Tray is used to carry cups, bowls, saucers, and underplates
v Tray should not be used to carry full and half plates
v Move clockwise when you work from the right-hand side and counter clockwise when you work from the left hand.
Advantages
v Service skill is not required
v Low labour cost
v Needs fewer waiters
v Quick service
v High seat turnover as service is fast
v Kitchen staff has Scope for demonstrating their plating skills Limitations
v No personalized service
v Chances of plate wastage
v Skilled waiters do not have scope to show their service skills
v Food may become cold
v More of kitchen time and labour.
French service
This is also known as family service. In France, this service is found in family pensions (pension de famine) and banquets, where the dish is presented to each guest from the left-hand side to help himself/herself. For a small party of two to three guests, dishes ordered by them are placed on the table with service implements and plates for the guests to help themselves. For larger parties of more than four guests. a side table or trolley can be used. The waiter keeps plates, service tools, and dishes on the trolley/sideboard. He/she places plates at guests' covers and then presents the dishes with service tools to each guest from the left-hand side to help themselves. Alternatively, all dishes may be placed on the table and the host may serve all his guests at the table first or assist them in service and serve himself finally. This method is widely practised in ethnic restaurants, especially in Chinese and Indian restaurants. Indian breads and accompanying dishes are kept on the table for guests to help themselves. If assistance is required, the waiter may help the guests in passing and serving the dish.
Advantages
v Service skills not required
v Low labour cost
v Seat turnover is more compared to silver service
v Quick service
v No plate wastage Limitations
v Service staff will not be able to demonstrate their service skills
v Food may go cold
v Guests may spill or burn himself
v Needs more area on the table
v Guests may feel neglected
Russian service
This is a very elaborate service and may also be termed as sideboard service. In this style, large joints roast poultry, whole fish, and so on, that have elaborate garnish, are neatly arranged on a platter, presented to the host, taken back to the sideboard, carved, portioned, and served to the guests with service spoon and fork. After service, dishes are kept on a hot plate in the sideboard to keep them warm. Each course is served from the sideboard. This service is not practised much in recent times.
Advantages
v High level of guest satisfaction
v Personalized service
v Waiters have scope to exhibit carving, portioning, and service skills
v Good presentation
Limitations
v Calls for highly skilled staff, hence higher labour cost
v More wait staff required
v Low seat turnover, as time taken for service is more
Guéridon service
This is also termed as trolley service. In this style of service, dishes are prepared, carved, dressed, or flambeed on a trolley in front of the guests and served with service spoon and fork. It is a very effective tool for merchandising. Restaurant may have trolleys specially constructed for various such as carving, flambeing, and presentation. The design of a trolley varies according to its purpose. Carving trolley, flambe trolley, hors d'oeuvre varies trolley. cheese trolley, and liqueur trolley are some of the trolleys found in restaurants offering gueridon service. This type of service is practised in luxury, upmarket restaurants.
However, one should not confuse this service with the trolleys used for clearing dirty dishes and those facilitating service. For example, trolleys used in flight catering for carrying portioned food trays and trolleys used in casual dining restaurants for clearing soiled tableware do not constitute gueridon service.
Advantages
v Highly personalized service
v High level of customer satisfaction as the dishes are prepared, carved, or flambeed in their presence
v Good merchandising device
v Wait staff can exhibit their culinary, carving, and service skills
v High average spending power (high revenue/cover)
Limitations
v Slow service
v Low seat turnover o Expensive style of service as it requires more service area and highly skilled staff o Chances of accidents are more
v More investment on service equipment
v Cooking in the service area may leave odour
Tray service In this form of service, the dishes ordered by guests are neatly portioned and arranged on a tray with necessary cutlery and taken to their rooms/beds/seats by waiters. Special trays are available to retain temperature of dishes. This style is practised in room service, hospitals, flights, and institutional catering.
Guests in hotels at times call for service of dishes in their rooms. Their orders are taken by room service order takers, dishes are arranged on a tray and served quickly in their rooms. Orders can be collected either from the kitchen or floor pantry.
In hospitals, patients are given a diet recommended by dieticians. These dishes are arranged on trays and wheeled to their rooms on trolley. Passengers who are confined to their seats in flights are given their meals on trays. The menu is decided by the flight operator and catering contractor.
Advantages
v Service skill is not required, hence low labour cost
Limitations
v Tray area may not be adequate to accommodate more dishes unless the number of dishes and portion size are predetermined, as in case of flight catering
v Waiters will not be able to exhibit their service skills
v No personalized service
v Food may go cold unless insulated trays are used
Self-Service
This is the simplest form of service methods where members of service staff do not serve guests. Customers help themselves with the dishes they would like to consume. Self-service is classified into:
1. Cafeteria
2. Counter service
3. Vending
Cafeteria service
There are two types of cafeteria service in practice. They are
- Traditional cafeteria
- Free flow cafeteria
Traditional cafeteria
This form of service is widely followed in institutional and industrial catering establishments. It consists of a straight line of counters containing a variety of hot and cold dishes displayed in order. The customer starts from one end of the line, picks up a tray and moves along the length of the counter as he selects dishes he wants to have. A tray rail.is attached to the full length of the counter to rest tray while selecting dish and passing along the line. The cashier who is seated at the end of the counter makes the bill and collects payment. This is not required if the meals are pre-paid. Formally, the service counter is separated from the dining area. Traditional cafeteria system tends to build up long queues, due to some/all of the reasons outlined below:
v Too many dishes on display may draw the attention of guests in line, thus making guests move slowly
v Customers may not be familiar with the layout of the cafeteria
v Delay in replacement of trays, service equipment and dishes
v Speed of the customer while serving himself
v Speed of the cashier
Flow of activities in traditional cafeteria system:
1. Guest enters
2. Picks up the tray
3. Joins queue at the counter
4. Picks up the dishes of his choice as he moves along
5. Pays to the cashier at the end of the counter (not necessary, if pre-paid)
6. Picks up cutlery and napkin
7. Goes to the dining hall to eat
The traditional 'one line-cafeteria' system is modified to speed up service and make customers select dishes of their choice quickly without having to wait long in queues.
Free-flow cafeteria
In modern 'free-flow cafeteria' system, counters are segregated according to the type of dishes offered—hot or cold, appetizers, soups, breads, sandwiches, entrées, salads, pastas and so on. Customers can move at will to any service point to select dishes and exit through the payment point. Trays and other essential service equipment are kept on tables at convenient places. Guests pick up trays and go to counters of their choice and select whatever dishes they want. The cashier collects payment for the dishes collected at the entrance of the dining hall.
In this system, counters are not arranged in a straight line, but in shapes such as hollow-square, U, echelon or saw-tooth, and so on, depending on the number of dishes on offer and shape and size of area available. However there are two main types of layout—hollow square and echelon.
In the hollow-square layout, counters are placed around three sides of service area forming a U-shape. Each side has counters of different dishes, with an open end for customers to enter and leave. This style is suitable for department stores, shopping malls, exhibition sites, and so on, where there is a steady flow of customers. In echelon or saw-tooth layout, a series of counters are positioned at such angles that customers can flow within free flow area and also to save space. A customer reaches the counter of his/her choice to help himself/herself. This method is suitable for serving large number of people arriving almost at the same time, as in the industrial catering.
While positioning counters of various categories of dishes in free-flow cafeteria system, adequate thought should be given on the traffic flow of guests, location of most preferred category of dishes, ease of replenishment especially to counters that are centrally located, and so on. Arrangement of counters should not lead to too much cross-flow of customers, should be convenient for guests to help themselves and for service staff to refill the stations. These counters should have signs posted for quicker identification by customers.
Beverage counters may be located either in service hall or dining area. Free-flow cafeteria may also extend call order services where guests place orders for grilled, roasted, and fried items, which are then cooked as per the order.
Payment for dishes collected is made at any of the cash points located in many places in the hall which makes it convenient for customers to pay quickly and leave for dining. Flow of activities in free-flow cafeteria system:
1. Guest enters
2. Picks up tray
3. Goes to counter of his choice
4. Picks up the dishes
5. Pays to the cashier
6. Picks up cutlery and napkins
7. Goes to the dining hall to eat
In both traditional and free-flow cafeteria systems, the provision of cutlery, condiments, accompanying sauces, and water is made available after the cash point, to avoid delays. In some establishments these may be placed on the dining tables.
Clearing of tables may be done either by staff or by customers. Mostly it is done by a team of staff. Tables should be cleared and cleaned as quickly as possible and chairs should be positioned properly as guests always look for free tables.
Advantages
v Visually good
v Low labour cost
v Low service skills required
v More number of people can be served
v Less staff needed
Limitations
v Food may go cold while guests wait
v Dependent on quick replenishing/preparation system and the efficiency of the cashier
The carousel
This system consists of a number of rotating shelves at different heights on which food and drinks are presented. Each shelf is approximately 6' in diameter and rotates at one revolution per minute. Food is loaded from the table at the server side as and when necessary.
In this style, customers do not move as in the case of free-flow cafeteria system. They stand and pick up the dishes of their choice from the revolving shelf and pay the cashier seated near carousel in the dining area. One half of the carousel is in the serving area for customers to pick the food and other half is in pantry for kitchen staff to load the shelf.
Dishes are arranged in the carousel as mentioned below:
Top shelf: Bread rolls, bread, butter, and so on
Middle shelf: Hot food Bottom shelf: Cold foods such as salads, sweets, and so on
Trays, cutlery, napkins, and beverages are kept separately to avoid overcrowding at the carousel.
This system is not in use widely.
Advantages
v Serves 8-10 people per minute
v Needs less area for installation
Limitations
v Customers may not be so quick in making selections and have to wait for a complete revolution.
v Food should be restocked correctly and quickly.
v Customers should have knowledge of arrangement of dishes on carousel for quicker selection. A new person may take more time, thus causing congestion at the carousel.
Counter service
Guests select the dishes they want to have from the menu displayed, buy tokens, and collect dishes over the counter against the tokens. They may consume the dishes either in the premises or get them packed as takeaway. Cafeteria, fast food outlets, canteens, food courts, kiosks, and so on, follow this style.
Advantages
v Quick service
v Low labour cost
v Service skill not required
v High seat turnover
v Less staff required
Limitations
v No personalized service
v No scope for talented wait staff to show their skill
Vending machine
In this style, guests get the dishes from machines. Customers buy tokens or coins and insert them into the vending machine and get whatever they wish to have by selecting appropriate option. A wide variety of hot and cold dishes are available in this system.
The most important products dispensed are
v Soups
v Hot and cold meals
v Sandwiches, biscuits, cookies, and snacks
v Hot and cold beverages
v Confectioneries
Vending machines are installed in busy areas such as railways and bus stations, airports, schools, hospitals, and so on.
Advantages
v Effective portion control
v No wastage
v Reduces labour
v Hygienic
v Service is available throughout the day
v Low cost of operation
v Good food cost control
Limitations
v Absence of interaction with guests
v Limited selection of dishes
v Unreliability
v Power dependence
v Not suitable for large-scale operations
v Calls for regular servicing during which period service is not available and leads to customer dissatisfaction
Assisted Service
This is a combination of waiter and self-service. It is used extensively in hotels and restaurants. Service staff assist customers in service of water, accompanying vegetables, sauces, sweets, and so on. The following are the examples for assisted service:
1. Buffet
2. Carvery
Buffet service
In buffet style of service, dishes are neatly displayed with garnish in the appropriate containers and arranged attractively on the buffet table in a proper order for guests to help themselves. Dishes at buffet are available at a set price and all dishes are kept ready for service at a set time. The display has wide choice of both hot and cold dishes. Hot dishes are kept in chafing dishes and the cold ones in glass/metal/wood containers. Necessary crockery and cutlery are kept on the buffet table. Pile of clean plates is kept at the head of each line and cutlery and napkins are kept at the end. Disposable napkins, if used, are placed between plates.
Buffet can be broken into many sections such as soup, non-vegetarian, vegetarian, salads and cold cuts, sweets, coffee/tea, and so on, depending on the menu to avoid congestion at the table. Each section has appropriate service equipment. Soup section has soup bowls, quarter plates, and soup spoons. At times, soup spoon may be laid at the table. Sweet counter will have adequate half plates and bowls. Cutlery for dessert is either laid at the table or kept in the buffet.
Carvings of ice, tallow, vegetable, fruits, and so on, may be used as the centre piece to depict the theme if any, and to enhance appearance of the buffet. Buffet should have dishes of different colours and should be presented in varying heights to make it eye-catching. Sauces and accompaniments must be placed next to the dishes which they are to complement. The dishes should be arranged in such a way that they are easy for guests to reach. All dishes must be kept covered till guests arrive.
During service, the hot dishes should be stirred regularly to ensure an even temperature throughout. As and when the dish's quantity gets reduced in the food container, it should be replaced quickly. The operators should not allow food to remain in 'danger zone' (5°C to 63°C) for a long time during service as bacteria multiply rapidly at this temperature range.
Guests can have any dish they want in any quantity from the buffet, but are prohibited from sharing, packing, and carrying. In this form of service, a large number of people can be served within a short duration of time. Buffet service does not need too many service staff or much service skills. This type of service is suitable for function catering. A lot of restaurants today favour this style of service for all three meals.
There are three types of buffet—sit down buffet, fork buffet, and finger buffet.
In sit down buffet, tables are laid with necessary cover. Customers select the dishes they want to have from the buffet and eat at the table set with necessary cutlery and crockery. Wait staff may help in the service of water, soup, sweet, and coffee and clear the table. They may also extend any other assistance required by the guests.
In fork buffet, customers are expected to stand and eat the food using only one piece of cutlery, normally a fork. A few spoons may also be kept on the buffet. Dishes included in the menu should be such that it can be easily managed with one piece of cutlery. In standing buffet, it may be difficult for guests to hold the soup bowl and eat with a spoon. To make it convenient for guests, a soup mug may be used, which does not need a spoon. However, if soup mugs are to be used, the soup should not have heavy garnish as this requires a soup spoon. Meat, chicken, fish preparations for this type of buffet should be without bones and the pieces should be bite-size. Many establishments select fruit salad with ice cream, ice cream, souffles, puddings, or Indian sweets such as gulab jamun, rasgullas, rabri, gajar halwa, beet root halwa, and so on, for sweet course which can be eaten with one piece of cutlery.
A few chairs may be available for aged guests.
In finger buffet, dishes are collected from the buffet and eaten with fingers. Dishes as burgers, sandwiches, and so on, are ideal for finger buffet. A washing facility with hand drier and napkin dispenser is essential.
Buffet service is becoming increasingly popular in modern times in all hotels and restaurants.
Advantages
v Service skill is not needed
v Low labour cost
v Less service staff
v More guests can be served in a short period of time
Limitations
v No personalized service
v Skilled wait staff may lose interest as it does not give them scope to demonstrate service skills
v Dishes may lose eye-appeal after repeated servings
v Possible congestion
v Poor food control
Carvery
This style is practised in large chain of hotels and restaurants all over the world. The basic concept is that the roast joints are carved by the trancheur (carver) at the carvery counter and the customers help themselves.
Carvery is open for luncheon and dinner and it also serves alcohol. Table d'hôte menu is used in carvery which consists of three courses with a selection of starters, three or four roast meats, and a selection of sweets. Waiters serve first and third courses, while guests help themselves for roasts at the carvery counter. Carvery may have three or four varieties of roast meat and poultry. Each variety of roast will have separate carving tools for carving to ensure food hygiene. Accompanying sauces should be presented in sauceboats and placed near the appropriate roast with ladle. Accompanying vegetables and potatoes are kept in bain-marie. These vegetables may either be served at the table by waiters or collected by guests from the carvery. Roasts are kept under infra-red lamps throughout service to retain heat. The temperature of roasts being carved should be 63°C or above.
Bread and butter are placed at the table.
If guests need assistance, waiters may serve them at the table.
Service sequence at carvery
1. Guests are greeted
2. Guided to the table and seated by the service staff
3. Menu is presented (table d'hôte menu of three courses, normally)
4. Water is served in the meantime
5. Preference for first course is taken
6. First course is served with necessary accompaniment
7. First course is cleared and accompaniment of the first course is taken away
8. Guests are guided to carvery. They choose the meat and get their portion from carvery. They collect accompanying vegetables and sauces and return to their tables
9. Bread and butter are placed on the table when the guests are at the carvery
10. Main course plate is cleared along with side plate
11. Bread and butter are taken away and cruets are removed
12. Crumbing is done
13. Menu is offered to take preference of guests for sweets
14. Cutlery for sweets is adjusted
15. Sweet is served by the service staff
16. Sweet is cleared
17. Coffee is served by the service staff
18. Bill is presented
19. Payment is received
Advantages
v Carvery ensures hot main course as it is being carved in the presence of guests
v No wastage since customers take what they will be able to consume
v Effective marketing tool
v Guests feel more value for money since the meat, the main course of the meal, carved in their presence is hot and they can choose the portion size
v As menu is limited, it needs smaller kitchen area and fewer production staff
v Not many service staff are required
v Less labour cost
Limitations
v Operation depends on a talented carver that costs money
v Portion control and pricing is difficult as guests help themselves to as much as they want
v Retaining appearance and palatability of the pre-cooked joints may be difficult shows the various service styles and food service sectors where these are implemented
Service Styles and Food Service Sectors Where Implemented
Style Method Where Normally Followed
Waiter English Upscale restaurants
American Fast food outlets, coffee shops, popular restaurants
French Specialty restaurants, upscale restaurants
Russian Upscale restaurants, banquets
Gueridon Fine dining restaurants
Tray Room service, hospitals, air catering, rail catering, drive-in
Self-service Cafeteria Institutional and industrial catering, shopping malls, canteens, theatres
Counter Canteens, fast food outlets, snacks and sweet shop, pastry shop, kiosks, food courts, and so on
Vending Located in busy areas where the installation of vending is justified by the frequent usage
Assisted Buffet Hotels, resorts, restaurants
Carvery Rotisserie, buffets where roasts are carved, carvery restaurants
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