Mr. Batters

Food & Beverage

Weaving the Thread of Consistency: Food & Beverage as Theme

By Kevin Batters, Vice President Food & Beverage, Stanford Hotels Corporation

Hotel companies face big challenges - bringing the best possible value to their guests while competing with increasingly similar products from brand to brand. Hoteliers spend large amounts of time and energy focusing on how to do this through care, comfort and amenities, but often end up with properties that have few if any distinctive features. One method for achieving differentiation is to institute a seamless culinary theme throughout all hotel food and beverage departments.

Driving food and beverage profit is essential to any hotel property, as it is the hotel's second most important revenue producer, upward of a 40 percent margin in any full-service property. As we know, hotels need to capture revenue through every possible source. When a guest has a positive food or beverage service experience at a property, it often gives them the confidence to try other sources within the property. When that same customer sees a thread of familiarity from menu to menu it encourages further experimentation if the first experience was satisfactory.

How to Create Smart Menus

Hotel restaurants have had to work hard to find ways to overcome the historical stigma of less than appetizing menus and drab d'ecor. Industry innovators have turned that perception around by creating hotel eateries that have become 'foodie' destinations, many with the help of celebrity chefs and restaurant concept agencies. Now hotel restaurants are leading the charge resulting in guests and local residents including these establishments on their list of must dine locations.

The challenge has shifted to making the rest of the hotel's food and beverage program consistent with what one might find in the restaurant. If a smart and creative menu can be developed in the restaurant, it can and should be adapted to room service and banquets. It just requires some creative thinking, smart planning and flexibility.

When our culinary team is in menu development, we pair research and product sourcing with a review of our competition. And then we consider our location. One of the most important changes in menu development over the past few years is that of using local and regional ingredients. Every chef wants to use local ingredients and be a part of the trend of seasonality. However, every F&B Director knows that consistency is a key part of success in its food service areas. This is particularly true in banquets where a meeting planner may taste a menu in the spring for a meeting held in the dead of winter.

Changing your menus seasonally can be done with little upset to the overall integrity of the original design. Develop particular regional seasonings and techniques that can be used with a variety of produce so your theme can be maintained while responding to the freshness expectations of your chef and guests. Keep your primary theme alive through entrees, desserts and cocktail menus. Weave the freshness throughout the menu with accompaniments and specials.

Guests sometimes think that room service and banquet menus have a lack of quality choices, but a great food and beverage program can change that perception by offering menu items or variations of items that can be found in the hotel's restaurant. For example, if a restaurant kitchen has a large rotisserie for roasting whole chicken or pork, those same items can be served to meetings with a bit of planning. This is a great way for a culinary team to show its creativity and maximize the hotel's investment in capital equipment. We find this approach works best for small and mid-size groups. The only caveat is that banquet and restaurant management must work together on schedules that utilize the equipment to it maximum potential.

Role of F&B Director

This is where the F&B director's position becomes key to integrating the concept throughout the property. He or she must help the entire food and beverage team see the vision of the hotel's cuisine theme and enlist their help in developing concepts that exploit the theme. If the director leads each employee to see themselves as part of one team, rather than separate divisions, they will provide greater synchronicity for this culinary approach. Have fun and give your staff room to be creative. We have been happily surprised by the results and think you will too.

As VP of food and beverage for Stanford Hotels, Kevin Batters wprks with staff at 13 properties to find new ideas and unique ways to offer food and beverage. He develops and improves catering and banquet functions, increases consistency and quality, and to promotes excellent service. Mr. Batters is a graduate of the Hotel School at Westminster College, London. His career began with the Hilton International trainee/management program, working at the Hilton Park Lane, Hilton Orly and the Paris Hilton. He moved on to Trust House Forte in Bermuda in various positions in July 2006. Mr. Batters can be contacted at 415-398-3333 or kbatters@stanfordhotels.com Extended Bio...

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