Food & Beverage Management

Learn about Food and Beverage Management to start a restaurant or catering business, find a job in the food service industry.

This course develops an excellent and sound foundation for working in a restaurant, catering or other food service enterprise. Topics covered vary from kitchen and food management to planning a menu, restaurant staffing and waiter/waitress skills.

Our Food and Beverage Management students comments on the course:

"I have enjoyed the course and would study with ACS again"  D. Hennessy

Lesson Structure

There are 9 lessons in this course:

1. Human Food and Nutrition
   • This covers all the major food groups and their importance in a nutritional diet. Also including factors in nutrition from compatibility and range of ingredients through to healthy cooking and eating methods.
2. Cooking
   • Study various cooking methods for a variety of different foods, covering both palatability and digestibility through to the nutritional value in processing foods.
3. Kitchen & Food Management
   • Learn to maximise efficiency and service through proper management of kitchen facilities, including the handling of food storage and preparation, hygiene and ethics.
4. Planning A Menu
   • Study menu planning for the needs of special groups in different situations, including children; adolescents; elderly people; expectant and nursing mothers; immigrants; vegetarians and other health related diets.
5. Alcoholic Beverages
   • Learn how to provide adequate variety and product knowledge in order to manage the provisions of alcoholic beverages appropriately for different situations.
6. Tea, Coffee and Non-Alcoholic Beverages
   • This lesson provides an understanding of non-alcoholic beverages available in the catering industry and how they should be made and served.
7. Scope & Nature Of Catering Services
   • Learn to understand the differences in appropriate management and catering for a variety of situations from pubs to a-la-carte.
8. Personnel Management
   • Study waiting skills, staffing a restaurant, kitchen etc. This lesson covers the management of people in the food and restaurant industry, including training programs, job specifications, recruitment etc.
9. Management Of Catering Services
   • By consolidating the skills developed throughout this course you are given a comprehensive understanding of marketing through to food purchasing in order to effectively manage in the food and beverage industry.

Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school's tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.

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.

Extract from Course:

EFFECTS OF FOOD PREPARATION ON NUTRITION

The quality, kinds and amounts of nutrients in foodstuffs are first determined by the way they are grown. Healthful foods are grown in conditions that provide an optimal balance of nutrients from soil (or in the case of hydroponically-grown produce, from the nutrient solution), sunlight and water. Other factors can improve or reduce the nutrient values of growing foods. For instance, using nitrogen fertilisers when growing plants may accelerate their growth rate, and can cause a small increase in protein content. At the same time, vitamin C content usually decreases. It is also debatable whether using organic or inorganic fertiliser makes any difference to the nutrient content of the plant food, or to its health effect on the consumer.

The initial processing of a foodstuff can also affect its nutrient content. For instance, milling cereals can result in loss of various nutrients (including fat, fibre, certain vitamins and minerals), though the loss depends upon the milling processes involved. Also, many grains are stripped of their nutritious outer husk during initial processing, reducing their overall nutrient value. The nutrient content or flavour of some foods is increased or intensified by drying.

Effects of Cooking

Various food treatments and preparation methods can also destroy nutrients. Cutting, peeling or trimming foods in preparation for cooking will remove nutrients. The quantity and kinds of nutrients removed may vary according to which parts of the foods are discarded. Trimming fat from meat may, for example, be advantageous, as it reduces the animal fat content of the meal, while peeling skin from fruit or vegetables will often result in loss of some of the most nutrient-rich parts of the food.

As discussed in an earlier lesson, cooking can improve the taste and digestibility of some foods, and in some cases, increase their nutritional value to the consumer. Heat also destroys microorganisms that may contaminate food and cause problems if ingested. Heat from cooking is destructive to a wide variety of nutrients, and for this reason, many foods are more nutritious if eaten fresh, or with minimal cooking. Some effects of cooking on food nutrients are listed in the table below.

Other methods of food processing which can affect nutrition include: controlled-atmosphere storage, blanching, canning, freezing, dehydration (drying), toasting, sprouting and pasteurisation.

JOB TIPS for a Career in Food Service

• A qualification helps open doors, but it's only part of what you need
• Get Experience, even if it is unpaid -Volunteering can be a great way to get a leg in the door
• Experiment with cooking at home. People who know about a greater range of foods and beverages will impress employers; and customers.
• Networking is critical -We show you how and get you started in this course. Often it's who you know as much as what you know that gets you the job
• Build your communication skills. This is a service industry. You need to deal with people, communicating clearly and concisely. 
• Be prepared to do anything to get started. Many successful professionals started out sweeping floors and making coffee.

People who communicate well, know their foods and are well networked will have more chance of a successful career than someone with a qualification but lacking those things.

If your studies are to be an advantage, you need to get the lot; not just the qualification.

Take this course to Learn more about Food Management and the Food Service Industry