Unit 5: Managing Quality in food & Beverage operations

• The British Standards definition of quality ( British Standard 4778, 1987 ) is ‘ the totality of
features and characteristics of a product or service that bear on its ability to satisfy a stated or
implied need ’ . It is these ‘ stated or implied needs ’ that the operation must satisfy.

• The customer translates these needs into a series of expectations of the service or product they
will experience.

• If the restaurant meets or exceeds these expectations then the customer will feel satisfied and will
feel that they have received ‘ quality ’. If the restaurant does not meet their expectations, then
there is a gap between customer expectations and the perceived characteristics of the service or
product delivered to them ( Parasuraman et al., 1985 ) and quality will not have been provided.

 By: Buzeye Zegeye Abebe (Ph.D., MBA, MPA, BA, BED, UNCTAD certified Entrepreneurship Trainer, Entrepreneur
Email: [email protected], mobile: 0920659964)
 • The totality of features and characteristics that go to make up the
meal experience are many and varied.

• They consist partly of the food itself, partly the service received and
partly the environment created by the decor, furniture, lighting and
music.

 By: Buzeye Zegeye Abebe (Ph.D., MBA, MPA, BA, BED, UNCTAD certified Entrepreneurship Trainer, Entrepreneur
Email: [email protected], mobile: 0920659964)
 Characteristics of experience
Tangible Intangible

PRODUCT • The food and beverage product • Atmosphere

• Facilitating goods • Aesthetics
• Information • Feelings
• Processes • Comfort

SERVICE • Actions • Warmth

• Process • Friendliness
• Speed • Care
• Recovery • Service

 By: Buzeye Zegeye Abebe (Ph.D., MBA, MPA, BA, BED, UNCTAD certified Entrepreneurship Trainer, Entrepreneur
Email: [email protected], mobile: 0920659964)
 • The matrix identifies that the food and beverage product consists of a
combination of tangible and intangible elements. These relate both to the
physical characteristics of the provision (the product) and the interpersonal
contact that occurs during the meal experience (the service).

• The product tangible elements consist of the food presented to the customer and
the facilitating goods used to serve the food on or with.

• The style and nature of the crockery, cutlery and glassware as well as the linen
and napkins are also part of the total experience.

Product experience is a subset of the entire user experience. It focuses on the

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 • The product intangible quadrant includes the overall atmosphere of
the establishment and the aesthetic appeal of the decor, furniture
and fittings.

• Every restaurant and bar has its own feel – some are immediately
warm and friendly but others are cold or clinical. Establishing the
appropriate decor to engender the right feelings in the customer is
obviously important.

 By: Buzeye Zegeye Abebe (Ph.D., MBA, MPA, BA, BED, UNCTAD certified Entrepreneurship Trainer, Entrepreneur
Email: [email protected], mobile: 0920659964)
 Why is Quality important?
• There are three main sources of pressure on businesses to pay
attention to quality.

• First, customers are more demanding of everything they buy, as well

as the way in which those products and services are delivered.
Customers are no longer intimidated about complaining in restaurants
and are prepared to make a fuss if things do not go right.

 By: Buzeye Zegeye Abebe (Ph.D., MBA, MPA, BA, BED, UNCTAD certified Entrepreneurship Trainer, Entrepreneur
Email: [email protected], mobile: 0920659964)
 • Second, the development of more sophisticated hard and soft
technologies allows managers to offer many possible additional and
convenience services, although interpersonal contact is still seen as
highly valued for the majority of operations.

 By: Buzeye Zegeye Abebe (Ph.D., MBA, MPA, BA, BED, UNCTAD certified Entrepreneurship Trainer, Entrepreneur
Email: [email protected], mobile: 0920659964)
 • Third, Quality provides the opportunity for food and beverage
operations to find a winning edge over their competitors, to ensure
the long-term loyalty of their customers and to improve both short-
term and long-term profitability through cost savings and higher
margins.

• Over the long term, a quality advantage will result in business growth.
Providing high perceived value will lead to loyal customers, who will
use the operation consistently over a long period and will recommend
 the unit to their
By: Buzeye friends.
Zegeye Abebe (Ph.D., MBA, MPA, BA, BED, UNCTAD certified Entrepreneurship Trainer, Entrepreneur
Email: [email protected], mobile: 0920659964)
 • Quality improvement, without increasing the costs of an operation,
results in operational efficiencies which more than recoup the
investment

 By: Buzeye Zegeye Abebe (Ph.D., MBA, MPA, BA, BED, UNCTAD certified Entrepreneurship Trainer, Entrepreneur
Email: [email protected], mobile: 0920659964)
 Approaches to Quality management
• The best known approaches to managing quality propounded by the
quality gurus such as Deming, Crosby, Juran, Ishikawa, Shingo, Taguchi and
others started in the manufacturing sector.

• The tools and techniques used in manufacturing are well proven to be

effective in these environments.

• Increasingly, attention has been drawn to the service sector and the
particular challenges faced by companies wishing to pursue service quality,
but recognizing that the challenges can be quite different
 By: Buzeye Zegeye Abebe (Ph.D., MBA, MPA, BA, BED, UNCTAD certified Entrepreneurship Trainer, Entrepreneur
Email: [email protected], mobile: 0920659964)
 Quality Inspection
• The earliest and probably the easiest approach to quality is the inspection
approach.

• This simple approach is based on finding defects in a product or service

before it reaches the customer by introducing an inspection stage or stages.

• There needs to be some specification of what the product should be like

against which the product can be checked once it has been produced.

• The checking would probably be carried out by staff employed mainly for that
purpose. E.g Coffee quality inspection in Ethiopian Coffee exchange market
 By: Buzeye Zegeye Abebe (Ph.D., MBA, MPA, BA, BED, UNCTAD certified Entrepreneurship Trainer, Entrepreneur
Email: [email protected], mobile: 0920659964)
 Quality Control
• The quality control approach still centers on inspection but recognizes
the need for a detailed specification and that quality checks should be
made throughout the production process.

• Using sophisticated inspection methods at appropriate points in the

production process, the approach is more likely to find errors and will
correct them earlier.

 By: Buzeye Zegeye Abebe (Ph.D., MBA, MPA, BA, BED, UNCTAD certified Entrepreneurship Trainer, Entrepreneur
Email: [email protected], mobile: 0920659964)
 Quality Assurance
• Quality assurance recognizes the inefficiencies of waiting for mistakes to happen
and strives to design quality into the process so that things cannot go wrong or if
they do they are identified and corrected as they happen.

• Lasting and continuous improvement in quality can best be achieved through

planning and preventing problems from arising at source.

• Moving the emphasis from inspection to prevention is helped by the introduction of

a number of quality assurance tools and techniques.

• The approach is also likely to include a comprehensive quality system, perhaps

based on the ISO 9000 series.
 By: Buzeye Zegeye Abebe (Ph.D., MBA, MPA, BA, BED, UNCTAD certified Entrepreneurship Trainer, Entrepreneur
Email: [email protected], mobile: 0920659964)
 Total quality management (TQM)
• In any TQM approach, the driving force is the focus on the satisfaction of
customer needs. The whole system must be directed at customer satisfaction
and anything that could get in the way of delivering this satisfaction must be
removed. This involves the whole organization, including suppliers, looking for
ways to improve continually the products or services delivered.

• TQM places the emphasis on the people in the organization and their roles,
through a broadening of their outlook and skills, through encouragement of
creativity, through training and empowerment, in measuring their performance
and finding ways to improve it.
 By: Buzeye Zegeye Abebe (Ph.D., MBA, MPA, BA, BED, UNCTAD certified Entrepreneurship Trainer, Entrepreneur
Email: [email protected], mobile: 0920659964)
 Examples of quality management in food & beverage Operations.
• 1. The Hospitality Assured Scheme
• Is standard for service and business excellence

• Continuous improvement

• Championed by Hotel and Catering Management Association

• Focus on customer experience

• The standard allows businesses of any size to judge, initially on a self-assessment basis, whether

they have appropriate processes in place to deliver consistently excellent service and achieve their
business goals.

• Following the self-assessment process businesses can elect to be assessed by registered external

auditors and if successful be accredited.

 By: Buzeye Zegeye Abebe (Ph.D., MBA, MPA, BA, BED, UNCTAD certified Entrepreneurship Trainer, Entrepreneur
Email: [email protected], mobile: 0920659964)
 Café Spice Namasté

• Café Spice Namasté was opened in 1995 in Prescott Street in London. The
restaurant offers a wide range of authentic, traditional and perhaps ‘ eclectic ’
Indian dishes.

• The restaurants have won various awards including Most Employee-Friendly

Organization. They have also been recipients included a Catey award for education
and training for executive chef and co-owner, Cyrus Todiwala, in 2005.

• They have won awards for health and hygiene and are very committed to the
environment and have won three separate awards for best practice, bringing about
various savings in terms of heat, light and power usage.
 By: Buzeye Zegeye Abebe (Ph.D., MBA, MPA, BA, BED, UNCTAD certified Entrepreneurship Trainer, Entrepreneur
Email: [email protected], mobile: 0920659964)
 • 1. Controls and procedures: One of the main motives for implementing
procedures was the expansion of the business. As the business expanded it also
became fragmented and keeping it under control was increasingly difficult.

• All of the service standards and procedures for the restaurant are documented,
but this is not strictly the case in the kitchen.

• Strict personal control is used, stressing that everything is kept up to date and of
a very high standard. This is achieved by ‘ checking and having briefings and
meetings.

• Listening, not only to staff but reading all the comments made by guests and
checking all aspects (of the operation) ’
 By: Buzeye Zegeye Abebe (Ph.D., MBA, MPA, BA, BED, UNCTAD certified Entrepreneurship Trainer, Entrepreneur
Email: [email protected], mobile: 0920659964)
 • Not everything that occurs during service is documented. However, a
diary is used to record any incidents and they are reviewed the next
day with the requisite staff, if the matter does not require immediate
attention. They always try to follow up complaints immediately, this
also has a specific procedure, and only the more serious claims are
documented.

 By: Buzeye Zegeye Abebe (Ph.D., MBA, MPA, BA, BED, UNCTAD certified Entrepreneurship Trainer, Entrepreneur
Email: [email protected], mobile: 0920659964)
 • 2. Customers: One of the more efficient ways to determine what the
customers want is to simply go into the restaurant at a busy period
and see what people are demanding. The owners also spend a
significant proportion of time chatting with their customers. The
executive chef tries to meet as many guests as he can between the
three operations, as this is the best way to determine exactly what is
happening and assess the service.

 By: Buzeye Zegeye Abebe (Ph.D., MBA, MPA, BA, BED, UNCTAD certified Entrepreneurship Trainer, Entrepreneur
Email: [email protected], mobile: 0920659964)
 • 3. Staff: The organization acknowledges that the ‘ single biggest asset is
our dedicated, hardworking workers ’ . Thereby they try to ‘ … identify
each of the skills within the workforce. Tap on those skills, develop on
those skills and do things that skill can best do. That ’ s what we do ’ .

• From the recruitment stage the executive chef stated that ‘ in this industry
what is extremely important is the “ gut feeling ” . There is nothing more
vital to us because if we can ’ t trust an individual we can ’ t have them ’ .
Co-operation is crucial. ‘ With no co-operation you can ’ t go ahead with
anything ’ .
 By: Buzeye Zegeye Abebe (Ph.D., MBA, MPA, BA, BED, UNCTAD certified Entrepreneurship Trainer, Entrepreneur
Email: [email protected], mobile: 0920659964)
 • There is a full briefing for the staff everyday at 12 noon. This is an
opportunity also to discuss previous lapses in service and customer
comments. One of the chefs is also invited to discuss any issues
concerning the kitchen.

• General suggestions from staff are taken very seriously because ‘ they
are the people on the floor and they are the people who deal with the
customers and they are the people who, eventually, are the key to
your business ’.
 By: Buzeye Zegeye Abebe (Ph.D., MBA, MPA, BA, BED, UNCTAD certified Entrepreneurship Trainer, Entrepreneur
Email: [email protected], mobile: 0920659964)
 • 4. Training: Within the operations, training is viewed as particularly important.
There are training days at each of the properties (once a week). These are used to
reiterate verbally the standards and procedures. There is an ongoing internal
training programme and audio-visual facilities are used to further enhance this.

• The internal training is continuous and comprehensive, using a training room

located in the building.

• The training needs of the staff are identified via informal chats and a training plan
is formulated and they adhere to this for a calendar year. Staff are continuously
encouraged to undergo further training. External training is also promoted and
several staff members are actively involved in various aspects of training.
 By: Buzeye Zegeye Abebe (Ph.D., MBA, MPA, BA, BED, UNCTAD certified Entrepreneurship Trainer, Entrepreneur
Email: [email protected], mobile: 0920659964)
• The end of the chapter…