Food and Beverage Management Online Course

Learn about Food and Beverage Management Find rewarding employment in the food service, hotel or tourism Industries

Topics covered include kitchen and food management, planning a menu, restaurant staffing and waiter/waitress skills

Course Aims:

• Explain the role of different food types in human health.
• Understand the alternative cooking processes, in order to make appropriate decisions about the cooking of different foods
• Manage the provision of kitchen facilities, and the handling of foodstuffs (including food storage and preparation), in order to maximise efficiency, hygiene and service with the restrictions of facilities available.
• Plan menus or list of food products for sale, appropriate to different situations.
• Manage the provision of alcoholic beverages appropriately, in different situations
• Manage the provision of non-alcoholic beverages appropriately, in different situations.
• Describe differences in appropriate management for catering in a range of varying situations.
• Discuss how to manage staff in the food and restaurant industries.
• Consolidate skills developed throughout this entire course into an overall understanding of management of catering services.

There are 9 Lessons in this course:

1. Human Food and Nutrition

• • Quality of ingredients
  • Range of ingredients
  • Cooking methods used
  • Eating
  • Major food groups
  • Carbohydrates
  • Fats
  • Proteins
  • Grains
  • Vegetables
  • Vitamins and minerals
  • Food allergies
  • Terminology
  • Weight and energy conversions
  • Resources
  • Networking – for restaurant managers, food industry employees

2. Cooking

• • Nutritive value in cooking and processing
  • Cooking different types of foods
  • Meat
  • Fish
  • Milk
  • Plant foods
  • Effect of cooking methods on nutrients
  • Baking
  • Blanching
  • Braising
  • Grilling
  • Poaching and boiling
  • Pressure cooking
  • Roasting
  • Sautéing
  • Steaming
  • Preparing vegetables
  • Benefits of cooking
  • Preserving nutrient value in food
  • Managing different nutrients -heat sensitivities, etc.
  • Canning and pasteurisation
  • Homogenisation and pasteurization of milk
  • Freezing
  • Dehydration

3. Kitchen and Food Management

• • Effect of cooking on nutrition
  • Managing food contamination
  • Contaminants during food processing
  • Pathological contamination
  • Preventing food poisoning
  • Food laws and labelling
  • Labelling
  • Dating
  • Special purpose foods
  • Ethics of food additives
  • Allergies, sensitivities and poisoning
  • Common food allergies
  • Kitchen design
  • Equipment design
  • Criteria for selecting equipment
  • Equipment inventory
  • Managing a freezer
  • Preparation areas
  • Vegetable preparation
  • Salad preparation
  • Meat preparation
  • Fish preparation
  • Pastry preparation
  • Cooking area
  • Central range
  • Convection ovens
  • Microwave oven
  • Cleaning area
  • Waste disposal
  • Food service equipment
  • Food service management
  • Traditional kitchen staff roles -types of chefs, divisions of larder, pantry, tournants etc
  • Menu and production planning
  • Types of production – A la Carte, Table d’Hote, Call-Order, etc
  • Activities in cook-freeze operation

4. Planning A Menu

• • Needs of special groups
  • School children
  • Adolescents
  • Expecting mothers
  • Nursing mothers
  • The elderly
  • Immigrants
  • Vegetarians
  • Menu planning
  • Assessing diets
  • Assessing your own dietary intake
  • A typical diet at a residential school
  • Plate waste
  • Assessing plate waste
  • Diet formulation
  • Food additives
  • Preservatives
  • Additives for enhancing appearance and colour
  • Flavouring agents
  • Sweetening agents
  • Emulsifying agents and stabilisers
  • Anti caking agents
  • The menu
  • Planning
  • Types of menus
  • Menu composition
  • Beverages
  • Wine and alcohol lists
  • Non alcoholic drinks

5. Alcoholic Beverages

• • Wine
  • Common white grape varieties
  • Common red grape varieties
  • Wine processing
  • Fortified wines -sherry, port, marsala, maidera, vermouth.
  • Beer
  • Types of beer
  • Beer tasting and characteristics
  • Spirits – Brandy, Whisky, Gin, Rum, Vodka
  • Liqueurs
  • Liqueur coffees

6. Tea, Coffee and Non-Alcoholic Beverages

• • Water
  • Providing water
  • Soft drinks
  • Fruit juices
  • Non alcoholic cocktails
  • Coffees
  • The coffee blend
  • Grinding coffee
  • Making coffee
  • Problems with coffee
  • Non alcoholic coffee substitutes
  • Teas
  • Specialty teas
  • Green tea
  • Common herb teas

7. Scope and Nature Of Catering Services

• • Vending machines
  • Popular catering
  • Hospital catering
  • Airline catering
  • Function catering

8. Personnel Management

• • Reservations and bookings
  • Reservation systems
  • Direct or indirect reservations
  • Contracts
  • Cancellation procedure
  • Refund policy
  • Basic waiting techniques
  • Holding a Service Spoon and Fork
  • Carrying Plates
  • Using a Service Salver
  • Using a Service Plate
  • Carrying Glasses
  • Carrying Trays
  • Using a Waiter’s Friend
  • Interpersonal skills
  • Addressing customers
  • Dealing with complaints
  • Staff recruitment
  • Advertising a position
  • Interviewing
  • Training staff
  • Different ways of learning the job
  • Self esteem and motivation
  • Assessing training needs

9. Management Of Catering Services

• • Restaurant marketing
  • Feasibility research
  • Competitive analysis
  • Market analysis
  • Financial analysis
  • Advertising and PR
  • Food purchasing
  • Purchasing methods
  • Tendering