Life Beyond the Line: A Front-of-the-House Companion for Culinarians
PREFACEThe foodservice industry in the United States continues to grow and change, rapidly offering significant employment opportunities for culinarians. According to 1998 figures, the industry employs 9 million people, and according to the National Restaurant Association, this figure will grow to 13 million by the year 2005.The culinary profession is a large segment of this number which is projected to reach over 1.9 million participants during the year 2000. It is expected that against this background of explosive growth a significant shortfall of culinarians will exist.Therefore, the foodservice industry in the future will present ever challenging, rewarding, and demanding efforts for culinarians. Just consider the size and scope of the foodservice industry in the United States: in 1998 the food service industry reached sales of over $300 billion, and there are over 720,000 locations that might qualify as foodservice establishments.With regard to the foodservice market—that is, all the people that visit or are expected to visit a foodservice outlet—whether it be table service or fast food, two important statistics are worth mentioning:Consumers will spend almost 45 percent of every dollar they have available for food on meals and other food away from home. Almost 50 percent of all adults in the United States will visit a foodservice establishment on any typical day. (National Restaurant Association data)So what will all this mean for the chef in this new millennium?According to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data, over one million additional trained chefs will be required to meet planned restaurant expansions. Added to this is the changing role and new demands being placed on culinarians. Foodservice industry leaders have pointed out that a chef's culinary talent will not be sufficient for the new millennium. Today the major portion of a culinarian's skills are defined in mostly technical terms. Conceptual, creative, leadership, team building, managerial skills, and a front of the house focus are just a few examples of the required skills.Studies in the United States have shown culinarians not only will have significant responsibility for planning, organizing, directing, and controlling foodservice operations, but also will play critical roles in assuring a "total" customer-satisfaction, quality-dining experience.Chefs not only have discovered that they are expected to be outstanding culinarians, but they also need to share in the leadership of the entire guest dining experience. The old foodservice management notion of managing kitchen operations from the back door to the front door has been replaced by management from the "front door to the back door" with the main emphasis on customer satisfaction and retention.As foodservice operators seek competitive advantage in a very crowded market, many operators have embraced quality-management strategies. It has been said that quality management is at the business base of the twenty-first century; it will give foodservice operators a competitive edge.It is therefore reasonable to assume that chefs of the future will become customer-driven—not only skilled in all aspects of high-quality food production but also in the essential elements of what is generally known as "front of the house" skills. The principal driving force behind the modern chef is satisfying guests and retaining them as customers.As the foodservice industry continues to grow, Mike Hurst, former president of the National Restaurant Association and owner of the highly successful 15 Street Fisheries in Fort Lauderdale, believes that:The foodservice sector of the hospitality industry now at 9 million employees,and growing very fast, clearly there will be a greater need for culinarians withpeople developmental skills along with great culinary talent and a guest focus.These elements together will produce a formidable combination in any futurechef.Life Beyond the Line presents practical and technical aspects of "front of the house" duties which traditionally were only marginally treated as part of a culinarian's training. It is therefore intended that this text not only serve as an informational resource companion for culinarians but also as the basis of a curriculum in front of the house skills to augment culinary skills.Additionally this text offers practical guidelines in the areas of dining room service, wine and bar service, elements of guest interactions, and an overview of the legal environment in which service is provided. It also examines the issues of team building, the dynamics of leadership, respect and diversity, and the origins of quality management. A positive team environment—so necessary for today's integrated approach success—is discussed in detail.Life Beyond the Line is different than most texts in the area of education and training for chefs in that it concentrates on noncooking elements. Culinary students are offered a practical framework so as to understand the relevant issues and modern approaches to the complete dining experience for the guest—not just as a view from the cooking line. As students progress through Life Beyond the Line, they will find the text "user friendly" in that it uses a rich depth of treatment to the essential and desirable elements of guest relations, dining room service, wines and their service, along with background information on liqueurs, beers, mixology, and training intervention procedures for servers. This text is appropriate for students pursuing an associate-level degree in culinary arts and for practicing culinarians at all levels.In today's foodservice arena, those culinarians with a broad knowledge of the aspects of quality, teamwork, leadership, and a guest focus, along with the technical skills in service of wine, alcoholic beverages, and guest relations will be highly sought by foodservice operators.   ACKNOWLEDGMENTSI wish to thank the following friends and colleagues for their encouragement and practical assistance with ideas, suggestions, and technical help. My, special thanks to Jim Needell, Dennis Ellis, Klaus Friedenreich, Frederick Dame, Gerard Murphy, Edward Kelly, and Linda Hebach, and my extra special thanks to Dellie Rex for her guidance and superior technical advice with the wine section.Noel C. CullenBoston University