Issues in the Food and Beverages Sector: Finding the Appropriate Kitchen Personnel (Research Paper Sample)

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Introduction
Food and beverage play an important part not only in homes and events but also in enhancing the tourism sector. The services in food and beverage industry range from the production activities to the clients being served. The industry involves a lot of operation that is the production, serving and cleaning among other activities. The success of any food and beverage industry highly depends on the kitchen operation and the level of employee’s expertise. The technological tools applied in the kitchen and ability of the employees to use the machine will add an appropriate value to the service and the products delivery to the clients (Cousins, 2014). For instance, the use of modernized oven will reduce the time of production and faster delivery of goods, especially to urgent orders. Commendable feedback from the clients that have used and served by the hotel is important in enhancing the image of the hotel especially to new guest in the area; the feedback the customers sent can build the hotel image or destroy it (Nuninger and Chatelet, 2016).
Despite the various activities involve and the energy required, food and beverages industry is facing various challenges such as the logistic of supply, expectation of clients, the service performance of the employees, issues with production and assigning responsibilities and compliance with the standard codes that regulate food and beverage industry. Also, high competition from other manufacturers that supply the same products, changing trends in the market for instance customer preference, climatic changes, and technological advancement which require the company change with the updating features of kitchen machines and problem in finding kitchen personnel that fits for that function among other challenges. The primary purpose of the research paper is to determine the various factors that affect the food and beverage industry from the production stage to the delivery and find out the possible solution to the different problems. After that; giving a recommendation that will help curb the problem to the future entrepreneur that would want to venture into the business.
Issues in the food and beverages sector
Finding the appropriate kitchen personnel
This is one factor that is still a challenge in the food and beverage industry in that the chefs keep changing working places in search of good remuneration and better working environment where working hours is based on shifts and overtime is paying well. Lack of well trained and experienced chefs is a major problem in various food and beverage industry due to the production of quality poor products and kitchen management (Pratan and O’Leary, 2007). The stiff competition that the industry faces an expert has the education in catering and trained kitchen staff to cope with the high competition faced and produce outstanding products that will attract many clients. The poor performance of kitchen personnel is associated with; the pressure that is high workload versus few chefs, poor remuneration, being ignored and harsh treatment from the manager (Gibbons and Gibbons, 2007). Finding qualified and competent chefs who have adequate knowledge on the standard set that guides the food and beverages hotels is still a major setback to various hotels. Skilled chefs ensure that the kitchen and the food produced to meet the standard set and application of quality and standard techniques in production are always essential in their task. Qualified and competent chefs ensure all the tasks and food services are in order, and they keep time in delivery of products at the customer apartments as well as they are capable of handling big events without disappointment (Cousins, 2014). Gibbons and Gibbons (2007) argue that Poor communication among the kitchen personnel and the managers also contributes to poor quality and under-performance of the staff. Communication entails assigning the responsibility on who supposed to be in the kitchen, attending guest and maintain the rooms such as cleaning and customer service in case of inadequate toiletries, thus, the flow of activities will be smooth, and no conflicts will be experienced.
Current climate changes in consumer preference
The present trend in customer preference is secure food and beverages that support heath rather than deteriorate it. Most customers prefer food that is healthy and affordable compared to the past where customers used to buy bulk food that was junk. Health is given priority when purchasing the food and drinks, for instance, consumers prefer drinks that are sugar-free and the traditional meals compared to processed food (Da Browska, 2011). Many customers will go for food that is a balanced diet and contains little ingredients to avoid the issues that link to too many spices such as stomach upsets and diarrhea. Most of the clients will prevent or moderate the intake of alcoholic beverages to avoid lifestyle diseases such as obesity which is results from high consumption of wine since they add weight (Mintel 2009). Mintel (2009) further argues that the clients in the current world opt for intake of food and drinks that are fresh and limited consumption of snacks and junk food to reduce hunger. He further, emphasize that customers prefer food that is low in fat, proteins and organic food which they presume is safe and will decline the increasing number of lifestyle diseases that are associated with intake of fast foods and drinks. For example diabetes, obesity and high blood pressure that is on the rise in both the children and adults. The latest statistics shows that almost forty percent of the consumers in Europe and America take snacks that have health benefits once in twenty-four hours (Data Monitor, 2007). The current generation prefers food and drinks that adhere to their well-being rather than only quenching thirst and suppressing hunger.
The changing market trends
The increasing inflation and the taxation are another issues to food and drinks suppliers. Costumers would presume food and drinks that meet the standard quality and quantity with a favorable price. Data monitor (2007) argues that customers use most of their time in shopping to find out which food and drinks hotel offer the best services at a lower price that is set by other food outlets and hotels. The changes in the market trends and the increase in inflation tends to lock out some food stores, for instance, food outlets that charge more and less quantity lose mores customers and vice versa. The food and drinks hotel that offer discounts on buy two get one free and attend to their clients as fast as required regarding serving and delivery will sell more and attract more customers because they meet the expectations of the clients. Customers are now days eating at cheap restaurants and others prefer to cook at home due to the changing inflation, since; they will spend more money and get little satisfaction regarding the portion of the food served (Leinwand, Moellier, and Shiriram, 2008). Many customers prefer to order food and drinks online to avoid huge expenses. Ordering food online will avoid issues of overspending due to the craving for a particular food that is expensive and consumption of more volume than intended. Therefore, it is a strategy that many consumers prefer to avoid the temptation of purchasing more food and drinks of a different kind (Leinwand, Moellier, and Shiriram, 2008). The changing market trends affect the food and beverages outlets in that, those that meet the clients’ needs survive in the market and increase their profit margin.Whereas, the company that doesn't adjust their activities to the emerging changes in the market will end up losing more clients and will be a loss to the enterprise and its staff.
Inventory cycle
It is a strategy applied by companies or food and beverage companies to monitor their inventory through counting inventory on a daily basis. The counting of stocks depends on the rates or the consumption level by the consumers. The inventory cycle in food and drinks hotels include the following components:
Purchasing
The inventory analysis of goods purchased is important as it guarantees the hotel what has been bought and the standards and values of the products that have been purchased. The inventory of purchase includes; an elaborate information on the quality and quantity of the product bought. Checking the size of the product and the weight of the product as it is outlined in the standard and safety description is important because the hotel will be held responsible if any of the product purchase will cause illness to the consumers after the consumption.Checking will also guarantee that the goods are legal, and any complaints can be made to the respected suppliers. Inventory analysis on purchases ensures that the product purchased is what the company needs. The inventory report on investments also include; how the product is going to be used, how to test the product and the instruction as well as the warning, thus, the purchaser will know what to follow and in the case of danger, the hotel and restaurants will know what to do. Inventory analysis of purchases will prevent the purchase of expired products and unlabeled products that may pose negative effects to the company and the consumers (Davis et al., 2012).
Receiving
Inventory analysis in receiving include; the set of formality scheduled to receive the products, for example, who is the person in charge and how the responsible person checks the kind received, is there tools to measure the goods receive for instance weighing scale. The Hotel must have a petty book or ledger where they record details of the goods received, from which company and the measures; there must be a record or a report on the safety and financial issues (Davis ...