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Wondering what the F&B industry entails? What does F&B stand for, and is it just an abbreviation for Food & Beverage? This article will unravel all those questions—an incredibly promising service sector. Highly beneficial for those looking to work or invest in the restaurant culinary field.
What is F&B?
1. What does F&B stand for?
- F&B is an abbreviation for “Food and Beverage Service,” referring to restaurant and beverage counter services.
2. What is the F&B industry?
- The F&B industry encompasses restaurant, hotel, tourism, and beverage counter services.
- F&B business involves operations in the culinary, restaurant, and dining sectors.
- F&B enterprises are businesses operating in the culinary, restaurant, and dining sectors.
In reality, we often encounter two forms of business operations: 1 is F&B departments within hotels, and 2 - independent F&B units outside (which are restaurants, bars, cafes, lounges, pubs,...). However, due to the inherent combination of Food and Beverage in F&B, the term is more commonly used within hotels.
The F & B industry, or Food & Beverage industry, encompasses restaurant and beverage counter services.
In hotels, F&B Service is the department responsible for meeting guests' dining needs during their stay. Additionally, the F&B department provides supplementary services such as organizing birthday parties, receptions, buffets for conferences, and organizing customized events upon request. In large-scale hotels (typically 3-4 stars and above), the F&B department also caters to the dining needs of its staff.
However, F&B Service in hotels differs from F&B services at standalone businesses. In hotels, F&B may refer to a fine dining restaurant within the hotel premises, a late-night café, or even a quaint poolside bar serving exquisite cocktails,...
>> In this article, we will discuss F&B services in general (including F&B services in hotels and standalone businesses). Stay tuned for valuable insights for your f&b business endeavors!
3. Origins of the F&B Industry
For centuries, from medieval times, inns, taverns, and eateries have been indispensable in any town, region worldwide. You can easily spot these scenes in World War era films or ancient period dramas.
However, the concept of F&B truly flourished in the early 19th century, with Nicholas Appert inventing canned food and Louis Pasteur developing pasteurization. Since then, with the ability to preserve and store food and beverages for longer periods, the F&B industry has experienced significant growth.
The F&B industry originates from the medieval period and has flourished since the early 19th century.
Don't confuse the service industry with the F&B industry
So, the F&B industry is essentially a service-oriented sector. But that doesn't mean the service industry and the F&B industry are the same.
The service industry is a broad, general concept referring to the sector encompassing both production industries (related to the circulation of goods and meeting human needs). Thus, the service industry includes both production and non-production services. The structure of service industries is highly complex. In many countries, the service industry is divided into 3 groups:
- Business services: including transportation, communication, finance, insurance, real estate, professional services, food and beverage services,...
- Consumer services: including wholesale, retail, tourism, personal services (such as healthcare, education, fitness), ...
- Public services: including government administrative services, collective activities, ...
As for the F&B industry mentioned earlier, it encompasses restaurant, hotel, tourism, and beverage counter services.
So, roughly speaking: the F&B industry is just a small subset of the service industry. The service industry is a specialized term, including all types of services we see in reality such as: Transportation services, advertising services, financial services, food and beverage services (F&B), hotel services,...
The F&B industry is just a small niche within the Service Industry
The Role of the F&B Department
In hotels and tourist resorts, the F&B department is considered the face of the establishment. Its ultimate purpose is to enhance the guest experience at the lodging venue.
The collapse of the Hue Cuisine restaurant chain, Pho Ong Hung, in 2019, with the closure of hundreds of business locations nationwide, serves as a prime example for those intending to venture into restaurant entrepreneurship. The valuable lesson here is the continuous improvement of F&B service quality. Apart from financial issues, human resource management,... and various underlying reasons, consistently improving the quality of service staff, innovating dishes according to regional tastes and customer demands, are also crucial aspects to focus on.
Therefore, the PasGo Team has compiled the 5 main roles of the F&B department as follows:
1. Meeting the dining and drinking needs of guests
- Certainly, this is the first and primary role of this F&B department
2. Boosting revenue
Whether you run a hotel or an independent restaurant, developing F&B services is always a matter of concern for every owner.
In reality, large hotels are no longer solely focused on optimizing room occupancy; they are striving to increase revenue by adding new services such as: hotel-attached restaurants, bars, room service, or even casinos.
Similarly, for restaurants, bars, cafes, etc., instead of just focusing on selling food to customers, they always consider selling additional types of wine, beer, beverages, ready-to-go meals, etc.
This is indeed a lucrative source of revenue derived from optimizing services that no hotel, restaurant, or eatery can afford to overlook.
Increase revenue through additional activities from F&B services
3. Zero-cost Marketing:
F&B services nowadays serve as a sharp tool for 'word-of-mouth marketing' for businesses, restaurants. It's a 'zero-cost' marketing form, delivering surprisingly high business efficiency, even invisibly enhancing brand value.
A restaurant, merely with some unique and excellent dish, can skyrocket its revenue in a quarter or even a year.
Food is highly stimulating for people to take photos for check-ins, shoot video clips for sharing, easily attracting food reviewers/bloggers who specialize in dining experiences. It constitutes 30-40% of daily conversations both offline and on social media.
By focusing solely on food and beverage quality (coupled with some surprising elements), you could potentially save hundreds of millions in advertising costs.
4. Customer Funnel Creation, Cross-selling other services.
F&B services can strategically serve as a pivotal player if you're running a hotel or a business with various service offerings. With a 'filling the stomach' strategy, customers' money will flow into the areas you desire.
Imagine an exceptional F&B service drawing customers to your hotel, restaurant. With their existing fondness, they might want to explore spa services, karaoke, room rentals, or shopping at your mall.
5. Enhancing Customer Care Experience:
Eating and drinking rank among the most fundamental needs in Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Thus, focusing on addressing these needs excellently will elevate the status of your restaurant, hotel to a new level.
There's nothing more delightful than waking up in a hotel every morning and immediately indulging in local specialties right in the hotel lobby. Or enjoying authentic Northwest drinks like Sapa apple wine, Lao Cai sticky rice wine while drinking at a bar. It's truly enticing for customers to want to return to you for the 2nd, 3rd,... and many more times.
The F&B department plays a crucial role in enhancing customer experience, thereby boosting your brand's reputation and credibility
Departments in the F&B Industry
While F&B Service holds such importance, not every entity has an F&B department in its machinery, as it also relates to the scale of the business, finances, personnel management, etc.
F&B departments are typically found in hotels from 3 to 4 stars and above. As for standalone restaurant businesses outside hotels, the F&B department is usually only present in high-end, upscale restaurants ranging from 4 to 5 stars and above.
>> Below, we'll introduce the departments under the F&B service of hotels, including:
1. Lobby bar
The lobby bar is an indispensable part of a hotel. It's where guests pour out their hearts, where they experience your attentiveness and warmth, and where they find joy in staying at a premium hotel.
2. Restaurant
This is undoubtedly the most crucial department in the F&B service, the direct face of the hotel, where meticulous meals are served to guests around the clock.
3. Room Service
This is a service that must operate 24/7 to fully meet the needs of guests in their rooms. For hotels rated four stars and above, room service also includes providing dining in-room, arranging pastries, fruits to welcome VIP guests.
4. Banquet
As one of the highest revenue-generating departments in the hotel's F&B section, this department specializes in providing event organization services such as weddings, company parties, year-end parties, class reunions, offline meetings, workshops, or welcoming esteemed guests.
5. Executive Lounge (Premium Lounge Department)
The Executive Lounge is the most luxurious area of the hotel, serving light meals and beverages to guests with 5-star standards and above, including both alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks.
In hotels, the Executive Lounge is often understood as a spacious room with long, comfortable sofa benches. Sometimes, it can also be the top floor area with transparent glass walls and stunning views, featuring guest reception areas and large outdoor terraces overlooking the river and city skyline. The food and drinks at the Lounge are meticulously prepared, sophisticated, and served with international-class style.
A lounge is a delicate combination of the liveliness of bars and the tranquility of cafes. In a lounge, customers experience comfort without the depth found in cafes.
6. Kitchen (Kitchen Department)
This is a highly important department, tasked with researching dishes suitable for guests, incorporating local flavors, national identity, and the hotel's uniqueness. Sometimes, the menu presented by the kitchen can determine the hotel's growth for the quarter or even the entire year.
High-end hotels and restaurants often have very clear and professional divisions of F&B departments
Roles and Positions in the F&B Industry
1. F&B Department Director (F&B Manager)
2. Restaurant Manager
3. Team Leader
- Head Waiter Team Leader (Reception Head Waiter)
- Service Team Leader (Maitre d’hotel or Head Waiter)
- Table Service Team Leader (Station Head Waiter)
4. Team Deputy
- Team Deputy (Chef de Rang)
- Assistant Team Deputy (Demi – Chef de Rang)
5. Staff Level
- Wine Service Staff (Sommelier or Wine Waiter)
- Table Service Staff (commis de Rang)
- Trainee Staff (Debarrasseur or Apprentice)
- Food Divider Staff (Carve or trancheur)
- Floor Staff (Chef d’Etage or Floor Waiter)
- Lobby Staff (Chef de Salle or Lounge Waiter)
- Reception Staff (Host/ Hostess)
- Drink Mixing Staff (cocktail Barperson/ Bartender)
- Buffet Handling Staff (Chef de Buffet)
- Event Staff (Banqueting staff)
There are many exciting job positions with attractive salaries for you to apply for in the F&B industry
Hopefully, you have found answers to your questions about what F&B is, what F&B business entails, haven't you?
However, according to experts' evaluations, the F&B market in Vietnam is still relatively small compared to other countries worldwide, lacking enough potential for many renowned food and beverage brands to enter. Nevertheless, the F&B market is indeed vast, full of opportunities yet challenges, very worth trying your hand at business.
Wishing you all unwavering confidence and successful business endeavors!
Don't forget, PasGo is the online restaurant booking platform, helping customers reserve tables at reputable, quality dining venues in the mid-range and upscale segments. The PasGo network of delicious restaurants currently has over 2000 restaurants across Hanoi, Saigon, Danang, Nha Trang - Khanh Hoa,... with over 1 million daily visits to the PasGo.vn website/app. The PasGo Team is constantly striving to expand the network of great restaurants, serving customers who need to book tables, events across Vietnam.
>> We cordially invite restaurant owners, restaurant managers, suitable food establishments to collaborate with PasGo HERE
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