Food and Beverage Service and Production Basics
Service styles
Table d'hote: a fixed menu at a fixed price. A la carte: each dish priced separately. Styles include silver, plate or American, family, buffet, cafeteria and room service. A cover is one seat laid at the table; a couvert is a charge for bread and cover.
Production basics
The kitchen brigade follows Escoffier: chef de cuisine, sous chef, chef de partie, commis. The five mother sauces are bechamel (milk plus white roux), veloute (white stock plus roux), espagnole (brown stock, brown roux, tomato and mirepoix), hollandaise (egg yolk and clarified butter emulsion) and tomato. Cooking methods: moist heat (boiling, poaching, steaming, stewing), dry heat (grilling, roasting, baking, frying), combination (braising). Hygiene rests on FIFO, separate chopping boards and HACCP as a preventive food-safety system, not an inspection.
Worked example
A dish costs Rs 120 in ingredients and the outlet targets a 30 per cent food cost. Selling price = food cost ÷ food cost percentage = 120 ÷ 0.30 = Rs 400. Check: 120 ÷ 400 × 100 = 30 per cent. If the market will not pay Rs 400, re-engineer the recipe or accept a higher food cost percentage; you cannot simply add a flat Rs 100.
Traps that cost marks
Calling hollandaise a stock-based sauce. Pricing by adding a fixed rupee margin instead of using food cost percentage. Confusing a la carte with buffet. Ignoring FIFO and HACCP in hygiene answers.