Product and service styles • • • Ho

Product and service styles • • •
Hotel restaurants like fi ne dining restaurants still use mainly the
partie system. Other production styles such as cook-chill and sous-vide are making inroads into this previous bastion of hotel
tradition, these inroads are mainly in specifi c areas, for example,
function catering, where they may be used to complement the
traditional methods rather than replace them.
The variety of food service styles used in hotels is dependent upon the different types of catering outlets in the establishment. In a small hotel, for example, where one restaurant is used
for the service of all meals, and features table d ’ hôte menus for
lunch and dinner, plated meals may be served to the guests by
service staff. In a large hotel, however, with four or five different types of outlets, there can be a corresponding variety in the
ser vice styles. Breakfast service in the hotel, for example, can be
on a self-service basis in the coffee shop, or waiter service in the
main restaurant. For lunch and dinner the coffee shop can serve a
limited selection of plated snacks and meals directly to customers
at their table, and the outlet may also incorporate a self- service
buffet or carvery. The hotel grill room or themed restaurant could
feature a table d ’ hôte menu with plated meals, and the à la carte
restaurant would offer silver service, both with waiter service. In
addition to the main dining areas the hotel bar can offer a limited
snack service and the hotel could also offer room service facil ities;
because room service is, however, a highly labour intensive and
time-consuming method of food service, the majority of hotels
offering room service today usually provide only a very limited
menu selection, except for the large luxury establishments; the
room service menus often containing some items from the main
restaurant menu. This same variety of service styles is not, however, found in quality restaurants. This level of oper ation usually
only offers a similar service style to that found in the à la carte
restaurants of hotels, that is, silver service to the table.