SB Notes & Slides (BHM F&B II TU)

UNIT 3

Specialized Food & Beverage Services

Butler Service
According to oxford dictionary butler is, “The main male servant in a large house.” But in a hotel
it is a personal staff of a particular guest. Butler service is a personalized service offered by hotel
to the guests. Butler is a service personnel who is responsible for looking after guest needs.
Concierge staffs looks after needs outside of rooms such as booking cinema, reserving spa,
delivering guest’s things but butler is responsible for both the needs inside of the room and outsides
of the room. Butler service falls under front office department. All the guest requirement is fulfilled
by butler staff as of being Personal assistant to the guest. All the butler staff need to have extensive
knowledge of total hotel operation as they need to perform all the task and insure the guest
satisfaction. Butler staffs need to have knowledge of Food and beverage service, all the reservation
procedure, laundry procedure, and many more. More precisely it is kind of service where guest’s
all the needs (Meals, laundry, Amenities, travel information, various bookings) are looked after by
a service staff (Butler). Many hotels provides single butler for its VIP, VVIP, Villas and Suits
guests. It is 24Hrs service.
Attributes /qualities of a butler
There are lots of qualities that one need to possess to be a great butler. Some of the important
qualities can be summarized into 5 and they are-
1. Adaptable: A butler plays different role like personal assistant, front of house, silver
service professional and household staff manager. They need to be incredibly
versatile, often transitioning from one responsibility to the other in quick succession.
2. Communicative: A household butler can be required to work both autonomously and as a
team. They need to be skilful to change their tone and language in different situations- for
example, when communicating with principals and guest, other members of staff and
external suppliers.
3. Organized: With such a wide range of responsibilities, butlers are required to be extremely
organized. From overseeing large events to packing luggage and managing staff, ensuring
the smooth running of all the processes.
4. Discreet: A fantastic butler should be like a shadow-rarely noticed, but always there.
Staying discreet is a matter of honor as they are often the only staff members that remaining
the room with a principal and guests.
5. Attention to detail: Whether it’s polishing silverware, setting a table or organizing a
principal’s luggage, a butler must have an exceptional attention in detail. They should be
also be able to act proactively, acting on a principal’s request before they actually ask.

Duties and responsibilities of Butler

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Position Title: Butler

Reports To: Lounge Manager / Head Butler
Position Summary:
The Butler is key element in team of professionals striving to deliver a level of personalized
service that exceeds not only the expectation of the guest but will add a point of difference from
the service provided anywhere else within the hotel/spa/ resort. The position of butler provides a
very personal, detailed, seamless service to guests. A butler will take care of guests needs in highly
professional manner. The butler will take gentle care of all their guests from arrival until departure
without imposing themselves on the guest. The butler will be seen by the guests in response to all
the guest’s needs and requests. The attention to detail required, and the ability to anticipate the
needs of the guest’s, demand that the butler is consummate (extremely skilled) hotel professional
with impeccable (faultless) presentation of the suites/rooms and public areas of the floors. Butlers
are very often the first and last point of contact for the employer and guest and this is seen as the
best that can be offered, in fact, an ambassador of high standards.

Duties and Responsibilities:

Butler job duties includes the following:
1. Receiving guests.
2. Maintaining the operations of the household and/or running personal household tasks for
clients or the employer.
3. Supervision of service vendors.
4. Arranging travel plans for the employer as well as the household guests.
5. Maintaining household security.
6. Assisting in cooking as well as serving meals and drinks to guests. Arranging the table for
serving meals.
7. Drawing household budgets.
8. Keeping wine cellars and having knowledge regarding fine wines. Offering general valet
services.
9. Managing various supplies in secondary dwellings.
10. Hiring and supervising junior staff.
11. Setting maintenance programs for miscellaneous equipment within a hotel or resort such as
planes, boats and stables.
12. Managing housekeeping duties.
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Room service
Room service is part of the hotel operations where they serves food conveniently to their
respective guest rooms by just calling the room service department and place order of food &
drinks to be sent to their room. Simply room service means serving of food and beverage in guest
rooms of hotels.
Small orders are served in trays. Major meals are taken to the room on trolleys. The guest places
his order with the room service order taker. The waiter receives the order and transmits the same
to the kitchen. In the meanwhile he prepares his tray or trolley. He then goes to the cashier to have
a cheque prepared to take along with the food order for the guests’ signature or payment. Usually
clearance of soiled dishes from the room is done after half an hour or an hour. However, the guest
can telephone Room Service for the clearance as and when he has finished with the meal. Room
service is a 24 hours service.
There are three types of Room Service:
1. Centralized room service: Here all the food orders are processed from the main kitchen
and sent to the rooms by a common team of waiters.
2. Decentralized room service: Each floor or a set of floor may have separate pantries to
service them. Orders are taken at a central point by order-takers who in turn convey the
order to the respective floor pantry. Only snacks and beverages are served from this place,
and other main items are served from the main kitchen only.
3. Mobile room service: this is the most interesting type of room service where one elevator
is dedicated to the room service. The elevator works as a pantry. Guests call in the same
mobile pantry and place the orders. As this is moving up and down, less time is consumed
for service. In resorts there are mobile vans which go to the cottages and prepare the food
in front of the guests or bring prepared food in it.

Room Service Organization

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Room service manager

Duties and Responsibilities of Room Service Manager:

C •
•
Prepare a room service plan and budget for the approval of the Management.
Help in the recruitment of room service staff.
• Schedule staff on a daily basis ensuring that the objectives of the departments and receive
standards set.
• Direct the movement of staff to floors especially during peak hours to ensure that orders
are served to guests on time.
• Coordinates with the kitchen chef for the supply of food.
• Ensure staff does the proper mis-en-place at the beginning of each shift so that the service
are smooth.
• Control the inventory of the services ware and equipment allotted to room service.
• Manage staff complaints and take corrective action.
• Recommends room service menus and changes to the superior
• Coordinate the replenishment of the mini-bars on time.
• Ensure that all room service food and beverage service are accounted for.
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• May discipline room service staff.

• Evaluates room service food & beverage service

Room service captain

Duties and Responsibilities of Room Service captain:

• Conduct briefings for the shift, interact with subordinates and ensure the overall
development of every member of the department.
• Check that mis-en-scene and mis-en-place are done properly and the duties regarding these
are handed over in shifts.
• Take daily attendance of staffs of the shift and allocate duties ensuring equality of
workload.
• Control door knob orders and ensure that they are executed on time.
• Ensure that the order takers in the shift are prompt in attending to
Telephone calls and are polite to the guests.
• Ensure that the Room Rack or Computerized Guest details are up to date with latest guest
arrivals.
• Control costs by controlling pilferage and breakage.
• Maintain high level of hygiene and sanitation in room service area.
• Train staffs as per the standard of the establishment.
• Handle guest complaints diplomatically.
• Motivate and lead staffs properly
• Maintain par stock of room service equipment’s, linen and utensils.

Room service waiter

Duties and Responsibilities of room service waiter:
• Complete the mis-en-place before the shift commences.
• Set up trolleys and trays as per the standard of the organization.
• Attend briefing before the shift commences.
• Equip oneself for the out of menu items like “special of the day”.
• Clean and polish allotted silverware, cutlery, glassware and chinaware.
• Fold napkins into prescribed attractive styles.
• Replenish soiled linen with fresh ones from housekeeping.
• Place orders with the kitchen and follow-up the pick-up.
• Execute orders in guest rooms ensuring speed, quality and personalization.
• Clear trays and trolleys from guest rooms and corridors.
• Deposit soiled dishes with the kitchen stewarding.
• Prepare and place complimentary items in guest rooms.
• Replenish mini-bars.
• Help train the trainees.
SB Notes & Slides (BHM F&B II TU)

Advantages of Room Service

 Celebrities want their privacy away from public attention and the media. Eating out attracts
attention which does not let the celebrities to enjoy a meal.
 Some wish to eat their meal in casual wear, even in the night clothes.
 Many cannot start their day unless they have a cup of tea or coffee as soon as they wake
up. The morning tea/coffee service is a peak time room service in many hotels.
 Some guests prefer to have private meetings in their rooms and prefer to have meals in
privacy.

Disadvantages of Room Service

 Room service food and beverage is more expensive because of convenience of

eating in the room.
 Guests in hurry are intolerant to delays.
 The challenge for the hotel is to serve hot food, as food is transported from main
Kitchen, food can get cold.
 Room service menus are limited so that items can be cooked at all times by cooks
on different shifts with common skills.

Room Service Equipment’s

 Trolleys
 Trays
 Dispense bar
 Plate Warmer
 Ice Machine
 Tea and Coffee Trays
 Ice Bucket
 Champagne or Wine Tray
 Hot Boxes

Trays
Trays of various sizes to serve single portion tea to single sinner tray. The teapots and milk pots
are covered by tea cozies, while plates have plate covers to keep the food warm.

Trolleys
Trolleys are important to serve more than one meal in the room. The trolleys have hot cases
SB Notes & Slides (BHM F&B II TU)

beneath to keep food warm in transit.

Racks
Racks are important to stack trays, crockery, cutlery, and glassware and service ware. Racks are
important to store ready-to-use trays.

Dispense Bar
Dispense bar is that bar from where mini bars are supplied as well as beverages are served in
restaurants and coffee shop.

Room Service Menu

Room service delivers food from the onsite restaurant to a guest’s room. Unlike other delivery
services, the staff provides all dishes, cutlery and trays. This allows guests to enjoy their meals in
bed or at the table. Room service also extends to alcoholic drinks. In the early 2000s, hotels used
doorknob menus to fulfill orders. Such a system relied on an active staff member scanning floors
for filled-out menus. Today, technology is smarter. Guests can submit food tickets from their
personal devices or through the Smart TV. This is one example how hotels offset the cost of
running room service programs.

Another way hotels have scaled back is through simplified menus. Most hotels serve both breakfast
and all-day menus. They see no need to maintain lunch and dinner menus separately. Doing so lets
the restaurant provide more variety on each menu, too.

Not every hotel offers room service. In particular, motels and inns typically do not find such
programs feasible. Often, if the hotel includes a restaurant, there will be a dine-in menu of some
sort available. Beverages in the mini-fridge.

The Sequence of Room Service

1. Knock the door lightly
2. Announce yourself (room service~)
3. Greet guest warmly
4. Use guest’s name
5. Ask if you may enter in the room
6. Ask where to set up order
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7. Offer to pour beverage (bottle beverage)

8. Service of the dinner according to the guest needs
9. Offer additional assistance
10. Inform guest about pick-up
11. Wish guests an enjoyable meal
12. Thank the guest
Taking Room Service Order

1. The room service order taker answers the calls to room service.
2. The telephone must be answered quickly.
3. Greet the guest and introduce the department.
4. Write the order on an order docket as you speak to the guest.
5. Record the room number.
6. Repeat the order to the guest.
7. Tell the guest approximate time of delivery.
8. Enter the order in POS.
9. Distribute the order to the appropriate personnel, both in Room Service Department and
other departments if necessary.

Room Service trolley and tray set up

The exact procedure to take when setting up trays and trolleys can vary according to the
type and extend of the order being prepared. The equipment found on individual trays and
trolleys should, of course, exactly match the need of the particular order. If an order is
delivered that is missing a certain item it is time consuming embarrassing and inconvenient
as room service staff have some distance to travel to replace the missing items. Various
pieces of equipment are used in room service area and room service staff may be required
to clean and prepare the equipment for service .This equipment may include
• Trolley & hot boxes
• Food trays of different sizes
• Tray covers
• Cutlery
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• Crockery
• Glassware
• Tea and coffee pots
• Plate warmer or plate cover
• Bud vase, toaster, bread basket, ice bucket, newspaper holder
• Pen & order form
• Salt & pepper shakers

⦿ Trays and trolley should be clean and good condition.

⦿ Salt and Pepper shakers are cleaned and working well.
⦿ Cutleries are cleaned and prepare according to food ordered and No of guest.
⦿ All the napkin are folded right shape and well pressed.
⦿ Plate and knife are cleaned and good condition.
⦿ Placemat is clean and well pressed.
⦿ Ensure food cover is clean.
⦿ Ensure removal card is clean and good condition.
⦿ If bottle of water is not ordered, complimentary of water is prepared accordingly.
All drink must serve with glass cover.
⦿ Get all cold food first before hot food, except ice cream must pick up at last.
⦿ Turn on the electric warmer.
⦿ Check the correct food item, correct Chinaware and clean, Garnish,
Ingredient with the kitchen print.

Gueridon Service
Introduction
Gueridon service refers to a mobile service table or trolley, from which a dish may be prepared,
processed, dressed and plated in presence of guest near their table. It is preparing, cooking, and
serving food in a trolley. This trolley has all the things needed in preparing, cooking, and serving
SB Notes & Slides (BHM F&B II TU)

food. The diners of restaurants with gueridon service can see how their food is prepared
and cooked. The term gueridon means a movable trolley which consists of the fuel cylinder,
burners, and another preparation tool. The trolley is equipped with a burner for cooking that can
be powered by gas, electricity, or spirits.
• This service is provided at fine dining restaurants where ALC (a la carte) menu is extra
served for guests with high spending.
• Generally, it is performed by Chef de Partie from F&B kitchen or by head waiter. The food
being served is usually partially or mostly prepared in the kitchen —certainly any prep
work such as chopping onions, actually cooking crêpes, etc, is done there. The waiter then
does the final assembly or cooking on the trolley at the side of the restaurant customer’s
table. This might involve flambéing an item, or carving it, or tossing a salad.
HISTORY
Gueridon trolley originated from Russia in early 18th Century. French word“ Gueridon “
means a round table from which food is prepared , carved , finished & service. It was
formerly known as Russian Service. However the popularity gained from Monte Carlo in
[Link] first claimed flambéed dish was Crepe Suzette, which was invented by Henry
Carpenter when working as a Commi at Café de Paris.

Types of trolley
• Hors d’oeuvre Trolley
• Salad trolley
• Flambé trolley
• Cheese trolley
• Food preparation trolley
• Carving trolley
• Liqueur trolley
1. Hors d’oeuvre Trolley:
• It displays 10-12 varieties of appetizers.
• The containers holding appetizers are placed over ice.
• it is designed to hold ice and containers holding the appetizer.
• It have area to place adequate service gears required by guests.
• The foods are chosen by the guests and plated by the service staffs or the
guest can plate the appetizer themselves.
• The plated food is served from right hand side of guest.
2. Salad trolley: It has half plates and bowls, under plates, containers with prepared
ingredients, salad dressings, and seasonings that are required to prepare the salads.
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Salad dressings may either be prepared on the trolley in the presence of guests or
in the kitchen. Most restaurants e the dressings in the kitchen and the dressing of
salads is carried out on the trolley in the restaurant.

3. Food Preparation, Carving, and Flambé Trolleys: These have a gas burner or
flare lamp which is fixed on the trolley to the level of the top surface. Carving
trolley has carving board which is placed over chafing dish during carving to retain
the heat of the meat. A trolley may have single or double burner .Double burner
trolley is necessary when the pastry finished food is to be held hot during the
preparation. One burner is used for keeping the food hot while the other is used for
cooking.

4. Cheese Trolley: It has a variety of cheeses, cheese board, and cheese knife for
cutting the cheese, and appropriate accompaniments for cheese. Surface of the
trolley is normally in marble and has translucent dome to cover the top. Cheese
selected by the guest is portioned and plated on the gueridon trolley, and then served
to the guest from his/her right.
5. Liqueur Trolley: It has assorted glasses, measure, ice bucket, spirit and liqueur
bottles, carafes, etc. It may also have cigars, cigar cutter, and a lighter. A restaurant
normally has two to three types of trolleys, mainly preparation, flambéing, liqueur
trolleys.

Advantages of Gueridon Service

1. Highly personalized service. The wait staff prepares or carves the dish and serves
the guest personally.
2. High level of customer satisfaction. The dishes are prepared, carved, or flambéed
in the guest’s presence.
3. Good merchandising device. Guests will be tempted to order dishes that are
served from the trolley.
4. Wait staff can exhibit their culinary, carving, and service skills. The wait staff
has an opportunity to impress the guests by demonstrating its cooking, flambéing,
carving, and skills to them. It also gives them good job satisfaction.
5. High average spending power. The revenue generated will be more as the dishes
served from the gueridon trolley are always expensive.

Limitations/disadvantages Of Gueridon Service

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1. Slow service. The time taken to extend the service from the trolley is more.
2. Low seat turnover. The number of times a seat is sold during the operation hours
will be low as the service takes more time.
3. Expensive style of service as it requires more service area and highly skilled staff
for handling the Gueridon cart.
4. Chances of accidents are more.
5. More investment in the service equipment.
6. Cooking in the service area may leave an odor.

Equipments for Guerdon Service

1. Flare lamp
2. Gas stove
3. Chafing dish
4. Suzette pan
5. Carving board
6. Trolley

1. Carving board: Carving of meat and poultry should be carried out on a carving
board and each category of meat and poultry, a separate carving board should be
used. After use, it should be thoroughly washed and cleaned.
2. Flare lamp: This piece of equipment is operated with ethylated spirit and has
reservoir for fuel, a wick with an adjustment knob, a chimney, and a gird. It has
6 to 8 inches in diameter and 8 to 10 inches height. It also helps to make the
trolley more attractive. Flare lamp is used for food preparation, carving and
flambéing.
3. Gas stove: Many establishments prefer gas stove over flare lamp. The cylinders
are placed under the gas burner in a chamber and connected to the stove. The
stove used in trolley should be frequently cleaned and maintained.
4. Chaffing dish: It is a container holding hot water on which food container is
kept to retain the temperature of the food. It is also used to cook custards for
certain sweet preparation. It also retained the temperature of the food being
carved.
5. Suzette pan: It is a sauce pan with thick bottom and a lip. It is normally made
of copper lined with corrosion resistant, non-reactive to metal. It is used for
cooking.

Dishes for Gueridon Service

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• Salad
• Prawn Cocktail
• Scampi Meniere
• Escalope De Beau a La Crème
• Steak Tartar
• Steak Diane
• Pineapple Flambé
• Crepes Suzette
• Strawberry Romanoff

Qualities of a Service Personnel for Gueridon service

 Well groomed
 Pleasing personality
 Confident in subject matter
 Knowledge of the menu
 Fully skilled in the art of Gueridon service
 Efficient
 Communication skill
 Salesmanship
 Showmanship