Food and Beverage Service
Food and Beverage Service tests whether you can set up, serve and close a restaurant or banquet correctly, using recognised service styles and a fixed service sequence.
Service styles
- Plate (American): food is plated in the kitchen and placed from the right with the right hand.
- Silver (Russian/butler): food is presented on a platter and served from the left with the left hand.
- Family: serving dishes go on the table and guests help themselves.
- Buffet: self-service display, with staff at carving and beverage points.
- Gueridon: finishing or flambeing at the table on a trolley.
Cover and cutlery rules
A cover is one place setting. Forks go to the left, knives and spoons to the right with the blade facing the plate; cutlery is used outside-in; glasses sit above and to the right of the knife. Mise en place means everything is ready before the first guest arrives: polished cutlery, folded napkins, chilled water, clean menus, filled condiments.
Sequence of service
Greet within about 30 seconds, seat guests, offer water or an aperitif, present the menu, take the order and repeat it back, place the order, serve, clear only when every guest at the table has finished, crumb down, offer dessert and coffee, present the bill in a folder, thank and farewell.
Worked example
A banquet for 96 guests needs a dinner fork, dinner knife and dessert spoon per cover, plus two glasses. Cutlery to polish = 96 x 3 = 288 pieces; glassware = 96 x 2 = 192. At a polishing rate of 60 pieces per staff-hour, cutlery needs 288 / 60 = 4.8 staff-hours, so 5 staff for one hour or 3 staff for about 1.6 hours. Glassware adds 192 / 60 = 3.2 staff-hours. Total roughly 8 staff-hours of mise en place, which is how a duty roster is built.
Traps that cost marks
Carrying glasses by the rim; serving a guest from the wrong side; clearing one plate while others still eat; filling a wine glass to the brim; popping a sparkling wine cork; handling cutlery by the blades; reaching across a guest instead of walking around.