COOPERATION AND
COORDINATION WITH OTHER DEPARTMENT
Cooperation with other department:
The coordination of the kitchen with the other departments in the or
with people outside the hotel is utmost importance to enable hassle free
operations. The people outside the hotel, who directly or indirectly influence
the business are called ‘external customers’ and the departments inside the
hotel are referred to as ‘internal customers’.
External customers:
Executive chef or executive sous chef are responsible for dealing with
the external customers. Chefs have to keep a good liaison with guests,
suppliers, media, government officials and local food authority.
Guests:
The first and foremost external customer is the guest who pays money for
services provided to him/her. There are no particular formats between the
guests and the kitchen staff, a guest simply places his/her order verbally to
the F&B person who writes down the order and immediately confirms it with
the guest.
Suppliers:
Suppliers are the people who supply chefs with ingredients they process
and cook for serving to the guests. It is crucial for the chefs to maintain a
good rapport with the suppliers so that quality ingredients are supplied to the
hotel and in case of any exigencies, the supplies can be asked for, at any time
of the day.
Media:
Chefs interact with media in liaison with the sales and marketing
department team. Whenever a new menu is launched or a food festival/promotion
is being planned, it becomes important to advertise in the papers and
magazines, to attract guests to the hotel.
Local food
authority:
Local food authority or health inspectors regularly visit hotel premises
for audits and inspections to make sure the food served is safe and wholesome.
Government
officials:
Many diplomats and important political persons visit the country and are
put up in hotels. The chef has to closely coordinate with certain appointed
local government officials regarding the food of such delegates and also the
sampling of food is done before it is consumed by the concerned person.
Sometimes chefs also accompany the president or prime minister during their
foreign visits.
Internal customers:
These are most important people that chefs have to deal with on a daily
basis and their existence without these people is almost negligible. the
kitchen prepares food for the entire staff in the cafeteria. Healthy and
nutritious food is a great motivating factor for all employees of the hotel.
Housekeeping
department:
The kitchen requires clean uniforms and dusters on a daily basis from
the housekeeping department. Pest control and fumigation is done in the kitchen
by housekeeping. Special uniforms for special functions are asked to the
housekeeping department. Festive decorations, flower arrangements, etc., if
required is taken care by housekeeping department.
Front office
department:
Front office department communicates the daily arrival list to the
kitchen, which helps the chefs estimate their production so that wastage can be
minimized. This list also contains history of guests and chefs come to know if
there was any problem with food or service during the guests previous stay, and
hence could make it up this time by exceeding his/her expectation. VIP’s list
is circulated to kitchen for any special requests and for room amenities to be
placed in room. Sometimes welcome drinks are prepared by the kitchen.
Food and beverage
service department:
The service department is mainly responsible and takes care of the sale
of food by taking orders and serving. Service department plays a role of bridge
between a guest and kitchen staff for fulfilling special needs of guest and
providing feedback to the kitchen. wines and liquors are required from F&B
department on daily basis for cooking certain dishes.
Purchase and stores
department:
It procures raw materials at the best possible prices without
compromising quality. Chefs help the purchase department create the standard
purchase specifications for commodities.
Finance
department:
Costing of the recipe is done by finance department which helps
management deciding the price of the dish. it helps a chef keep a check on
his/her expenses by giving a periodic report mentioning his/her profits and
losses. it helps the kitchen procure goods and equipment required for cooking
and formalise the budgets for capital and operating equipments.
Sales and marketing
department:
it helps the chefs promote new menus and festivals. It also promotes the
chefs so as to increase the sales of their product. sales people are
responsible for entertaining VIP’s.
Engineering
department:
It does preventive and breakdown maintenance of all machinery in the
premises. it helps install new machinery and equipments and gives training to
the staff on its usage and precautions. Maintenance schedule are
made and followed up by chefs.
Human resources and
training department:
It helps chefs find skilled workers and facilitate recruitments by
helping conduct interviews and trade tests. Appraisals and career developing of
kitchen people is liaised with HRD. Joining formalities of the new staff,
induction, orientation, locker facilities etc. are dealt by the HRD.
Security department
:
‘Gate pass ‘ is maintained by the security to keep a check over the
items taken out of the hotel. In case of fire security is the department which
should informed immediately. Keys of the departments are kept with security
department