Food and Beverage Management: 6 Things You Should Know

Food & Beverage Management are provided by many colleges in India. This program is also known as the 'Diploma in Food & Beverage Service' and the duration of this program is 1.5 - 2 Years. Even though these programs are not considered graduation degrees, they are very lucrative. In fact, most people who join this program often reach top management in just a few years.

These courses in the diploma program are carefully designed to prepare you with job skills for success in the hotel management industry, exclusively for the food and beverage department.

1. Requirements for Food & Beverage Management Program

• Education: Grade 12th [Any stream but with English as one of the subjects]
• Language: English
• Minimum Age: 18

2. Diploma in Food & Beverage Service from NCHM

The National Council of Hotel Management (India) provides candidates with various courses to train them for the Hotel industry. The course comprises 9 months of studies in college, followed by 6 months of Industrial Training in Food & Beverage Management.

Institutes of Hotel Management all across India invite applicants through newspapers and their websites in the month of June every year. The selection is based on the merit of marks, and the remaining seats are filled on a first come first serve bases. There are about 30-80 seats available in each institute. 

3. Is Food & Beverage Management a Good Career Option?

Food & Beverage Service is one of the most lucrative and profitable jobs anyone can do. Hotels provide a lot of benefits to their employees including a very good salary, accommodations, extra tips, yearly trips, insurance, provident funds, etc.

4. Objectives of Food & Beverage Management

The basic and obvious answer to this question is to fulfil a restaurant's need for food and drinks. However, in a 5* hotel, it has much more reasons, thereby the price of food increases due to the service provided.

• A decent and good hotel provides various meals that satisfy all types of people with different tastes.
• To provide personalised attention to each and every guest rather than serving and forgetting
• To make the restaurant atmosphere friendly
• To make guests feel safe where they can be without any interruption
• To provide the highest quality of international food and beverages
• To provide professional and hygienic service
• To provide value for money

5. Best Books for Food & Beverage Management

• Food and Beverage Service (9th Edition)

Authors: Jon Cousins, Dennis Lillicrap, Suzanne Weekes

• Food & Beverage Service - A Training Manual

Author: Sudhir Andrews

6. Functions of Food & Beverage Management

The main functions of Food & Beverage Management are:

• Food Stock Control
• Food Portion Control
• Beverage Control (Including Alcohol)
• Menu Planning & Development
• Maintaining standards for food & beverage in terms of taste and quality (along with the cooperation of the Kitchen department)
• Purchase Requisitions
• Organising the serving area
• Keeping the cutlery and crockery in check (to avoid damage or tarnishes)
• Forecasting
• Budgeting
• Performance measurement of the F&B Service Team
• Analysis & Reporting to General Manager

To know more about the functions of the F&B Department in detail, click here.