Catering GCSE

Notes:

Food service systems include: counter service, table service, transported meal systems and cooking/or serving food from a trolley (gueridon system)

Counter service: customers queue, collect their food, pay for food before eating. Table service: used for more personal service, with waited service- waiters-waitress Transported meal: airline food, food on ferrys, food on trains and hospital foods cooking/ or serving from a trolley: food is flambeed, 'finnished' or carved at the customers table.

The Head chef: In charge of kitchen, in large establishment goes under the name of 'excecutive chef'. Excecutive chef is a manager who is responsible for all aspects of food production  that is: menu planning, purchasing, costing, planning work schedules and hygiene.

The sous chef: is directly in charge of production, the sous chef takes command of the actual production and the minute by minute supervision of staff. Excecutive and sous chef have alot of experience.

The parsty chef: (patissier) prepares pastries and desserts

The sauce chef: (saucier) prepares sauces, stews and hot d'oeuvres, and sautes foods to order. highest position of all stations.

The larder chef: (garder manger) responsible for cold foods, including, salads, dressings, pates, cold hors d'oeuvres, and buffet items.

The vegetable chef: (entremetier) prepares vegetables, soups, starches and eggs. Large kitchens may divide these duties among the vegetable cook, the fry cook and the soup cook.

The assistant chef: (commis) helps in all areas, generally doing easier tasks. The commis may be completing basic training to become a chef.

The kitchen porters: clean up after the chefs, do the washing and carry goods to and from the store

The restaurant manager: In charge of the restaurant, the manager takes bookings, relays information to the head chef, arranges training for staff, completes rotas, makes sure restaurant runs smoothly.

The head waiter/ess: greet and seat the customers, they deal with complaints.

The wine waiter/ess: helps guest to select wine, then serve drinks.

Full- time staff: have permanent jobs in the establishment and work all year. They should have contract with their terms of employment set out in writing. They could work set shifts or shifts that change depending on how busy the establishment is.

Part-time staff: may work on set days of the week, or havee set shifts. They may be employed permanently, but do fewer hours a week than full-time staff, often working during the busier times of the day such as service of meals.

Casual staff; work for specific functions and are often employed through and agency. They do not have a contractnor set hours to work, but are called in during busier times of the year such as, christmas. Often, casual staff work for the same establishment each year as they know their way around and how the company works.

Counter service:  cost affective, not many skills required, food produced closer to counter/ dissadvantages- customers need to queue, exspensive equipment needed, rates exspensive as most outelts are in high street locations, costly marketing

Plate service: can control portion size and costs, easy to serve, low skill level, presentation of food consistent. Dissadvantages- emphasis on chef skills rather than service skills, time consuming for chefs, kitchen must be close to service area, boring for service staff.

Family service: less time consuming than silver service, sociable so suuits familys, customer can determine own portion service. Disadvantages- eqipmentent and space provided , time consuming, limits menu.

Silver service: customer has full and attractive service, staff can promote further sales during service, can caterer for different clients and different functions. Disadvantage- high labour cost (more staff needed) time consuming.

Banquet service: set menu can be used, can serve many customers. Disadvantages: high labour costs (experiences chefs needed) menu cost high, time consuming.

Home delivery service: convinient for customer, emphasis on food production only, no food service space needed, no food service staff needed. Disadvantages- limited menu range can be affected, presentation depends on packaging, transport of food depends on local knowledge, prone to prank orders