Features include: 1. The way of catering consumption is becoming more and more diversified and modernized. 2. The orientation of catering operation will become more and more grouped and branded. 3. The connotation of catering service will become more and more humanized and ecological. 4.

Catering management refers to enterprises, hospitals, schools, hotels, etc. according to the need for catering management services contracted to the professional catering company to manage, and then choose the catering company to provide a variety of dishes to eat.

Catering management is a set of operation and management, technology and art, adherence and innovation in one of the business work, compared with the management of other sectors, has different characteristics, the requirements of the hotel in the catering management should also be unique to adapt to the requirements of the main body of management.

Production and sales immediacy, income elasticity

Catering business management is through the production of dishes and the process of guest services such as planning, organization, coordination, command, supervision, accounting and other work to be completed. Its business process is manifested in the production, sales, service and consumption is almost completed in an instant, that is, with a short production time, with the production of sales, service and consumption at the same time.

This requires the Ministry of Food and Beverage must be produced immediately according to the needs of the guests, produced immediately sales, can not be made in advance, otherwise it will affect the color, aroma, taste, shape, and even rot and spoilage, resulting in economic losses. It can be seen, do a good job of predictive analysis, grasp the needs of the guests, improve efficiency, strengthen the site control, is an important topic of hotel restaurant management.

Not only that, hotel catering as the main income-generating departments, compared with the guest rooms, with the characteristics of the income elasticity. Rooms revenue comes from the resident guests, the number of rooms and room rates remain relatively unchanged, room revenue is relatively fixed, and its maximum revenue is often a predictable constant.

And catering service object in addition to the resident guests, there are non-resident guests, and the per capita consumption of the guests is also a more elastic variable. The hotel can improve work efficiency, strengthen the catering promotion, improve service quality and other means to improve per capita consumption of food and beverage, so that the operating income of food and beverage has been more substantial increase. Therefore, food and beverage is often the key project of the hotel operating income more or less.

Mixed business content, high management difficulty

Catering business is complex, including both external sales, including internal management; not only to consider the internal conditions of the hotel and external market changes, choose the right business objectives, policies and strategies, but also to rationalize the organization of internal people, money and materials, improve quality and reduce consumption. In addition, from the point of view of the composition of personnel and the nature of work, the catering department has both technical trades and service trades; both operational techniques, but also cooking, service art, is a combination of technology and art.

This will inevitably add a certain degree of difficulty to the catering management, requiring us to organize the catering operation and management activities according to the objective law, to enhance the scientific; but also from the practical point of view, tailored to the local conditions, and flexible treatment to improve the art. At the same time, catering costs constitute a wide range of changes. From the cost of raw materials, some are fresh commodities, some dry goods, some semi-finished products, some vegetables and fruits.

These raw materials picking and washing, slaughter, disassembly, up hair, cut with the method and proportion of configuration there are obvious differences in the degree of loss in the process, and some of the prices of raw materials tend to follow the market, the magnitude of change is large. But the restaurant's food prices can not be changed frequently.

In addition, there are fuel, power costs, labor wages, tableware and other consumables consumption, furniture, equipment depreciation, etc., some of which are fragile, loss control is more difficult. Therefore how to strengthen the catering cost control, reduce consumption, is often an important topic of catering management.

Multiple influencing factors, quality fluctuations

Catering quality is the center of catering management, but due to the influence of catering quality factors are more, so that the catering quality control is more difficult. First of all, catering is based on manual labor. Whether it is the production of dishes, or the improvement of service, mainly rely on human intuitive feeling to control, which is highly susceptible to the constraints of human subjective factors. Employee experience, psychological state, physiological characteristics, will have an impact on the quality of catering.

This is a clear difference with the operation of the guest room department, to achieve the standardization of service is more difficult. Secondly, the guests are very different. As the saying goes, "many mouths are difficult to adjust", guests from different regions, their habits are different, taste requirements are different. This will inevitably appear the same dishes and services, produce very different results. Once again, strong dependence.

The restaurant's food quality is a comprehensive indicator of the quality of food and beverage, not only rely on the supply of the market, but also by the hotel in all aspects of the relationship between the constraints. How the quality of dishes, with the quality of raw materials directly related to the requirements of collaboration is also very strict.

From procurement and supply to roughing, cutting, stove, service, etc., are required to ring tightly, close cooperation, the slightest tug of war, will produce inferior products. Not only that, it also requires close cooperation with other departments such as engineering.

Low brand loyalty, patent protection is difficult

In general catering consumption, guests seeking new and different, strange and special consumer psychology in the catering consumption, constantly chasing new products, new flavors, new services, there will often be a "eat new store, eat new products". A swarm of "with the new trend of consumption" phenomenon. On the other hand, it is difficult to apply for patents for their own decoration, service mode, etc. Therefore, if a product or service can attract guests, there are many imitators.

Many of the "mystery diners" in the urban catering, in fact, is the major hotels, social restaurants to send the "intelligence spies", they shoulder the "collection of new food and beverage products, pretty products, special products "The important task, according to the information collected by simple imitation, or first imitation after the creation. All of this has brought great challenges to catering management, how to cultivate brand loyalty, how to seek patent protection has become an important topic of hotel catering research.