Food and Beverage Service
F&B service covers outlets, the service brigade, styles of service and table etiquette. This domain tests service sequence and cutlery logic more than recipes.
Outlets and brigade
Coffee shop, fine-dining restaurant, banquet, bar, room service, QSR. Restaurant brigade: restaurant manager → maître d'hôtel → chef de rang → commis de rang → commis débarrasseur.
Styles of service
Silver (food presented on a platter and served onto the guest's plate), plate, family, buffet, cafeteria, American, Russian, French.
Setting rules
Fork left, knife right with blade inward, spoon right; cutlery is used from the outside inward; glass above the knife tip; napkin to the left; cover about 24–30 inches wide.
Worked example
Lay a four-course dinner cover: soup spoon, fish fork and knife, dinner knife and fork, dessert spoon and fork. Reasoning: the guest works inward, so the first course sits outermost; as each course is cleared, the next set becomes outermost. Serve food from the left and clear from the right; serve beverages from the right; ladies first, host last.
Traps that cost marks
- Serving silver service from the right.
- Confusing à la carte (individually priced) with table d'hôte (fixed menu, fixed price).
- Clearing one guest's plate while others are still eating.
- Mixing up cover (a place setting) with covers (number of guests served).