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General Features
Catering is the provision of food and drink for large numbers of people.
There is a wide range of operational areas which belong to catering industry. Some
distinctions are to be made regarding the following points:
places where catering is their main or secondary activity
places supplying food for consumption on or off the premises
licensed and unlicensed places
Eating places supplying food for consumptin on the premises include hotels, motels,
guest houses. They provide overnight furnished accommodation with food and service.
Take away food shops (Fish and chip shops, sandwich bars and other premises) supply
prepared food for consumption off the premises.
1. Refer to General Features and check the correct box according to these
statements are true or false
T / F
Catering in department stores is their main activity /
Fish and chip shops are take away food shops /
A wine bar is a licensed place /
A guest house offers food and accommodation /
Theatres provide no catering services /
You can’t buy alcoholic drinks in pubs /
Works canteens provide a take away service /
Fast food restaurants are licensed operations /
Catering
as main
activity
Catering as
secondary
activity
Customers
consume
in the
premises
Customers
consume
out of the
premises
Licensed
operation
Unlicensed
operation
Catering Services
CONTRACT CATERERS
Contract caterers are private individuals or companies who, in return of a financial
reward, provide food and beverage within the guidelines of a contract agreed with the
parent company. They operate fo companies or institutions both in the public and
private sector and carry out their catering service for a period of time (generally years
or temporarily for one particular event). The British leading contract caterers operate
both in Britain and worldwide. The number of contracts they operate in Britain is much
smaller than that related to the establishments they cater for overseas. They are
involved in a stunning range of catering areas such as business and industry (staff
feeding market), Government, health care and hospital, event, function, education
(colleges and Universities), transport (airports, railway stations, etc.), public houses,
offshore, leisure, retail, sports venues, etc. Very big shares of the catering market are
represented by local authorities and other public bodies. Local authority direct service
organisations (DSOs) are increasingly competing for business with the biggest catering
companies.
A growing number of organizations such as factories, oil companies, banks, insurance
companies, department stores, offices, sports centres and institutional establishments
such as schools and hospitals, are using the services of catering contractors who
undeniably use a more professional approach and, thanks to their purchasing power,
they allow considerable cost savings.
They also provide catering facilities and staff and manage the operation. Depending on
the establishments they cater for, service requirements and catering facilities for
factories and offices may vary considerably. In most cases they provide a main meal a
day and the service of morning and afternoon beverages and snacks. As they imitate
the high street catering outlets more and more, so customers’ expectations are more
demanding and most of the leading caterers are committed to investing in quality
programmes.
The catering facilities they usually run include:
Snack bars used for morning coffee or afternoon tea. They also provide light meals,
that is, sandwiches and snacks, and other beverages, generally soft drinks.
Cafeterias that provide full and slight meals, as well as snacks and beverages for
employees.
Restaurants (plated and/or silver service-) for employees and management, too.
Thes operations are open at main meal periods and offer more variety of higher
standard food and service.
Vending machines which replace a catering facility at any time of day or night. A food
vending machine is a coin-operated slot machine for the sale of food and beverage
items. You put in coins, press a button and can buy everything. They distribute pre-
plated dishes, light meals, snacks, milk, coffee, soft drinks. Vending machines are used
in any situation where food, drinks and snacks are required, outside the normal dining-
room situation e.g. airports, rail or bus stations, office blocks, schools, hospitals,
factories, etc.
Conference / function facilities available for company executives dining together, for
business meetings during the day, for banqueting operations or social functions in the
evenings and at week-ends. The style of service may be silver or buffet service and is
similar to the banqueting service provided by a hotel.
Top contract caterers by turnover include:
Gardner Merchant (the market leader: 35,000 employees; turnover £986m)
Compass Group (turnover £497m)
Catering Services
Sutcliffe Catering Group owned by Granada Group Plc (16,500 emplyees; turnover
£360m)
Forte Plc
Leading companies in the public sector include the biggest of the DSOs:
Catering Direct (school meals and civic catering service)
Quadrant (Post Office staff catering, staff shops offering newspapers, confectionery,
etc.)
Among the major companies operating specific catering markets are:
Aramark (industrial catering)
Sutcliffe, ISS Mediclean, Bateman Catering (health care and hospital catering)
Surrey Commercial Services (SCS), Chartwells (educational catering)
Letheby & Christopher (event caterer)
Selbys (event and night club catering)
Alpha Airports (airline catering)
Catering Services
Automated Restaurants
For people working outside normal office
hours, contract caterers think it vital to
provide a full meal service through vending
machines in an ‘automated’ restaurant. This
may be a measure taken to face the escalating
costs of labour and ensures a consistent high
standard of service.
Buying a coffee
The infrastructures of this catering concern include vending machines (or venders) and
re-heating microwave ovens. There are drinks venders, snack venders, coffee venders
and meals venders. These offer a full range of meals such as lasagne, salads, pies,
puddings, etc. All items are re-heated in microwave ovens. They are operated by a few
staff who fill, clean and care for them.
Surrey Commercial Services is one of the largest catering operations in Britain and as
such its purchasing power is huge, standing at £9m.
It gets the best prices from suppliers by going out to tender for contracts to supply
food in bulk, then each SCS unit orders supplies from the central “shopping basket”.
This means costs can be cut while the Café Académic concept hooks student interest
and increases turnover. (Adapted from a report by Rosalind Mullen in Caterer &
Hotelkeeper 17-23 October 1996).
Practice