Food & Beverage Management (Catering)

Lesson Structure

There are 9 lessons in this course:

1. Human Food and Nutrition
   • Introduction
   • 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, madeira, 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 & 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

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.

Learn to Manage Beverages

Managing drinks is an important part of any restaurant, bar or catering enterprise. 

Being able to manage drinks, begins with understanding the scope and nature of different drinks that may be provided, both hot and cold, both alcoholic and non alcoholic. When you understand the possibilities better, you are then able to create a drinks menu appropriate to the business, advise the clientele better (hence sell the product better); and handle the drinks you serve in an appropriate way.

Consider Beer

Beer is the term used for all fermented malt beverages and includes ale and lager. The drink is the end result of fermentation of yeast on an infusion of malted cereals (for example, hops, barley, millet, wheat, oats, rice, oats, maize, sorghum, etc. Even sweet potatoes and cassava have been used in some areas where cereals are sparse).

The production of beer follows basic principles and uses. Similar ingredients are used to those used many years ago. The ingredients are grains (e.g. barley), water (known as liquor), hops, sugar and yeast.

The process is basically as follows:

• The malted barley extract, hops, and water are mixed together and boiled to produce what is called the wort.
  
• The wort is cooled, placed in a fermenter and yeast is added. Fermentation will take place converting the sugars in the wort to carbon dioxide (which is vented out) and alcohol.
• When fermentation is complete, the new beer is mixed with a small amount of primer (made from malt extract or corn sugar) and placed in sealed bottles or kegs. The primer will provide just enough additional fermentation to carbonate the beer.
• Wait until the beer has aged properly before drinking. The aging period may vary from 2 weeks up to 1 year.

The most popular grains used are barley or wheat, but corn and rice can also be used. Even fruits may be used for special styles.

Types of Beer

There are two basic types of beer, ale and larger.  

Ales include Bitters, Ales, Porter, Stout. It is commonly served at 10-15 degrees Celsius. Ale is created at a high fermentation temperature (15-23C). It is flavoured by yeast produced esters, which are sweet and fruity.

Lagers are  beers such as Lager, Pilsner, Bock, Schwartzbier; served chilled at around 4 degrees Celsius
They are produced at a low fermentation temperature, two stage  (6-12C and then 0-4C), with less esters, resulting in a taste that is more dry and crisp, and less fruity than ales.

Other variant styles of beer include:

Ice beers 
Use the chilling process of water which forms crystals to remove water, yeast  cells, protein particles, etc. out from the liquid to leave a high alcohol content beer with a softer flavour and character.

Draught beer 
Refers to beers served from a cask in which it has been conditioned. Bottled draught beer is reported to have a flavour similar to that of authentic draught beer.

Lambic
A Belgian beer variety made with aged hops (aging reduces the bitterness of the hops). Uniquely, it is fermented by naturally present yeasts, not artificially added ones, resulting in natural, spontaneous fermentation.  This spontaneous fermentation means that lambics can only be brewed in cold months, in warmer months, the number of wild yeasts are too great and they multiply too quickly.  Lambics are made from from a wort of malted barley and unmalted wheat.  It can take two to three years to produce a mature Lambic which can be quite sour and acidic. Variations include fruit infusions which are made using the gauze style of Lambic and include cherry (Kriek) and raspberry (Frambozen).  The most traditional Lambics are an acquired taste.

Hybrids
These include:

• Steamed beers which are produced using the bottom fermenting yeasts used for lager production, with the higher temperatures used for ale production.  
• Smokey beers where the malt has been smoked, giving the final beer a warm smokey flavour and aroma.
• Barrel aged beers which are left to age in contact with oak, which may be spiked with other alcohols (bourbon and scotch most commonly)  Where barrels are not used, woods may be introduced in the same way they are to oaked wines, as chips or staves.  In some cases, woods other than oak may be used.  As with wines, oak promotes malolactic fermentation, clarifying and softening the crispness of the beer and giving more complexity with mellow malty flavours.  Wood aged beers are often described as having buttery, vanilla or even toffee flavours.  Barrel aged beers may have a higher alcohol content, especially if produced using alcohol spiked woods.
• Flavoured beers which may be made using herbs and spices, roots, fruits and even vegetables.  Fruits and vegetables ferment, imparting their flavour to the beer, as well as adding sweetness.  Herbs and spices may be added in place of hops, or with hops and will also impart flavour, and aroma to the beer.

The chemical composition of beers varies according to the type and density of the original wort. The volume of the alcohol it contains ranges from 3% to 6%, sometimes greater, depending on the beer.  Belgian beers are typically much stronger, averaging 7-8% with some varieties on par with some wines at up to 11% alcohol content.

Beer Appreciation

Beer tasting is considered as complex as wine tasting, both sharing similar concepts. The biggest change required is that the beer should be warmed. Ice cold beers numb the taste buds thereby hiding the full flavour of the amber liquid. In general, pale beer is best served at cooler temperatures than dark beer, and lagers cooler that ales. As an example, cool beers should be at about 5-10 degrees C and warmer beers at 10-15 degrees C.

Beers should be assessed according to sight, smell, taste and feel. Use a clean glass. Look at the colour and clarity. Hold it up to the light if necessary. Take a good sniff from the glass to get the aroma and bouquet. Taste it, swishing it around in the mouth, and notice its body and flavours. After swallowing, notice any aftertaste or finish.

Beer is More Complex than Most People Realize - but so is Wine, Spirits, Coffee, Tea, Fruit Punches and every other type of drink imaginable. Learning about food is then a whole other area of study again.

WHY STUDY WITH US?

There are lots of reasons why you should study with us:

• Our courses are designed to be flexible, great for studying whilst developing your hospitality career
• Upskilling your knowledge will help you in your current, and future career
• Continuous Professional Development does not just help your brain, it also helps your confidence
• Subject specialists are on hand to support you with the course content, they have industry knowledge that they love to share with students
• This course becomes the building block for developing your own ideas, it provides the basics about a lot of different areas, and you can then explore and experiment further

TAKE THE NEXT STEP, AND ENROL NOW!

You can enrol on the course now, but if you have any questions about the content of the course or studying with ACS, then please get in touch with us today - use our FREE COURSE COUNSELLING SERVICE to get in touch with our expert tutors. They will be pleased to help you!