With the summer holiday season around the corner, most hotels are already planning up to manage the peak season at their respective establishments. If you are new to the hotel business, you should be aware that this is the time to make the most of your profits and also to build your hospitality brand. If you are located in a high tourist area, you should be expecting a decent flow of customers, andimportant part of-of hotel experience for most customers is the buffet. For many newbies, it is one of the trickiest bid to pull off a successful and well-managed buffet at your hotel’s restaurant, especially at the time of breakfast when the number of guests eating at the hotel is highest. Here are some basic tips to help you devise a reasonable buffet plan for your restaurant.
Map The Room
Pick a room where you wish to set up your buffet wisely. Make sure, your buffet area has enough space to accommodate a buffet spread, dining space along with ample space for guests to move around. It is very important for you to have an idea about the expected number of guests so that you can figure out the area that you will need for a decent buffet set up. Once you have selected the buffet area, map out your buffet spread strategically. Create a blueprint or a rough draft that demonstrates how the buffet will be spread, how many tables will you be needing and how the spread will be placed.
Plan Out The Movement
Once you have made the decision about the buffet area and have a rough map in hand, it is time to plan out how guests will move around in the buffet area, This is one area that many inexperienced hoteliers tend to neglect and often the buffet setups turn into a disaster especially when there is a large number of guests. You need to understand that buffet setups mean that your guests will be moving around continuously to help themselves.
You need to manage the traffic in a manner that your buffet table does not get too crowded at a single point and there is a smooth flow from one end to the other. For starters, decide the start and the ending point of your buffet spread. Some smaller setups prefer having a circular setup in the middle of the room so that the traffic flows in a circle smoothly. Design the spread such that people have spread around all areas of the buffet instead of accumulating at a single point.
Drinks Table
You might be tempted to add beverages station along with the food section, however, have a drinks table set up separately. A separate drinks table will help cut down the crowd at the food section. Moreover, drinks tables can get messy due to spills and it is better if such accidents are kept away from the food section. If possible, keep an ice box or ice dispenser at the drinks station for cold beverages and a hot water dispenser for easy tea and coffee brewing.
Placements and Positioning
It is important that you use a sensible order to place everything at your buffet. It would be impractical and uneasy for guests to pick up their cutlery before they have their plates in hand. A sensible order would be placing the cutlery at the front, followed by plates and napkins. It is recommended that you keep multiple stacks to ensure easy accessibility for everyone. Likewise, stations for starters, main course, salad bar, and desserts should be placed accordingly.