As a food and beverage supervisor, you'll also be responsible for inventory — a large part of your job. Have you ever been at a restaurant or hotel and asked for a certain item on their menu, only to discover that they were out of it? That's probably because their food and beverage supervisor didn't analyze his food orders correctly, leaving the chef or kitchen shorthanded on ingredients. While you aren't the chef, you will work with the chef, and it'll be your responsibility to order the correct foods and wines. You must also make sure you have an ample quantity of non-alcoholic beverages on hand.
Food and beverage supervisors work with food wholesalers and distribution centers like Sysco or Food Service of America. These food wholesalers provide items in bulk, such as large quantities of fresh vegetables, fruits, meats, fish, and canned goods. It will fall to you to meet with the Sysco or Food Service of America representative in your area to have weekly or daily meetings on what foods you need, when you need them, and how much you need.
Food and beverage supplies are also items that you'll be responsible for. This includes such things as tablecloths, napkins, silverware, glasses, plates, and salad bowls. Again, wholesalers will be your contact when ordering or keeping your stock of food and beverages up to date. A constant inventory of these items must be kept, so being a food and beverage supervisor requires a person to have good computer inventory skills, communication skills, and the ability to direct the food and beverage staff on their duties.
Just as you'll work with Sysco and Food Services of America for some of the aforementioned items, you'll again turn to them for all your non-food-and-beverage items. They are sort of a restaurant or hotel's one-stop shop for the food and beverage department. If you work with one restaurant only, depending upon the size, your job may include visiting wholesalers at their locations and using a company van to bring the items to your kitchen and wait staff.
You'll most likely be in charge of kitchen staff, wait staff, greeters, and busing people in your food and beverage supervisor job. In larger hotels, you may be responsible for many people, so your job will include interviewing and terminating employees. You'll need to possess good supervising skills and have the ability to motivate your team to achieve the highest levels of service. While you may have a human resources department, in the hospitality industry, when food and beverage supervisors are hired, the supervision of employees may well fall to you. You may also be asked to evaluate your staff to recommend pay increases or position changes.
In today's ''green'' world, you'll likewise have to come up with a good waste disposal or recycling plan for your extra food, cans, and cartons. Some foods that are not used and still good may be donated to local charities, and it will fall to you to arrange such deliveries and keep track of the tax benefits your company will receive.
Food inspection officers may sometimes visit your hotel or restaurant to ensure that the space you are cooking in or storing food in is clean and free of debris or germs. As the food and beverage manager, you'll most likely be in charge of these inspections and making sure they run smoothly.
Now you may ask, where can I find a good food and beverage supervisor job? Well, at FoodServicesCrossing.com, a division of EmploymentCrossing, you'll find a job database that has over 10,000 food and beverage jobs from all over the world. With simple keywords, you can search these food and beverage jobs by title, salary, or location.
Along with the vast job database, you'll find Job Profile Videos in which experts in the food and beverage industry discuss their work and inform you of what will be expected of you from day to day. Along with these videos, you'll find informative food and beverage articles that discuss the best ways to find food and beverage jobs and tips on how to succeed in the food and beverage industry.
If you think you have what it takes to become a food and beverage supervisor, visit FoodServicesCrossing today to start an adventurous, fast-paced career in the hospitality industry.
