Most Profitable Sectors in the Food and Beverage Industry

The modern day business market is observed to get a strong opportunity to shift their focus towards a new business idea which is the tourism industry. The tourism is a concept that may be domestic or international, is preferred by people of all age. People across the world is observed to conduct tours to other nations or states in order to fulfil their wish or interest of knowing the new culture, society, and way of living of the residents. This helps the tourists to get associated to the culture that they do not represent. Along with that it is significantly helpful for the outsiders of the nation or the culture to get the chance to know the new society or the culture. Apart from the general interest and the wish to know the new culture or travel to new locations, the tourism has a much more to offer in the form of business opening.

The modern day entrepreneurs are significantly focusing on the tourism industry as it incorporates a number of business sectors like the Accommodation, Travel Services, Attractions, Recreation, Transportation, Food and Beverage, Entertainment, Aboriginal Tourism and Services Marketing (Murphy, 2013). Among the mentioned sectors the transportation, food and beverage, travel services, entertainment and accommodation are observed to be the most profitable. It is observed that the tourists usually spend in a significant manner on these sectors. The chosen sector for the paper is the Food and Beverage. The sector is observed to be generating significant amount of profit in the Cranbrook region and the organization is observed to create notable employment in the region (Ademola, 2014). The paper is focused in specifying the career opportunities in the concerned sector and along with that it also describes the skills required for the chosen career. Apart from that the paper is also focused in evaluating the necessary trainings for the chosen career. Along with that the paper is able to describe the results of an interview of an employee of the concerned career.

The managers of the foods and beverage industry are needed to be significantly efficient and knowledgeable regarding the operations of the kitchens. The managers of any organization operating in the food and beverage industry needs to be notably creative with the processing of the foods and the recipes of it as well. The general operation of these managers are to make sure that they take care of the different parts of the business conduction of those organizations. A manager of the mentioned business sector needs to have an excellent leadership skills as that is significantly needed to manage the diverse workforce. The food and beverage sector is significantly focused towards the services of the employees as the quality services of the employees will have significant importance in order to hold the customers with that particular organization. Along with that the workforce of the organizations operating in these sectors are subjected to significant amount of work pressure. Hence the managers of these organizations must have the competencies to lead their team with effective rotational policy through the heavy shifts (Aissa & Goaied, 2016).

Leadership Skills

Apart from that the organizations of the mentioned sector are usually observed to have large workforce and with the significant size of it, the workforce will be subjected to considerable amount of conflicts among the employees. Hence the managers of these organizations are needed to the capability to manage these conflicts (Li et al., 2013. Along with this the managers need to have the skills to communicate the standards or the cooking methods in an easy manner to the staffs so that they be able to understand that without any sorts of discomfort. This is significant from the part of the managers as the organizations very rarely finds highly educated employee in the concerned field. The managers of these organizations need to have the required communication skills to properly communicate the orders of their customers and also be able to meet the queries of their customers with the desired level of clarity. Apart from this the food and beverage managers need to be significantly compassionate regarding the foods and wines along with the customer services.

The modern day managers are observed to have significant amount of focus on the customer service. As the market is becoming intensely competitive with the increasing number organizations participating in the same sector like McDonald’s Restaurants, Auntie Barb’s Bakery, A & W Restaurant and Tim Hortons, the managers are feeling the need to follow the current trends in that particular business sector and the managers must have the awareness to acknowledge the preferences of the customers. This will be instrumental in making sure that the managers are able to create loyalty towards the organization among the customers. Along with this, the managers must have the required technological skills in order to align their business operation with the advanced technological applications available in the modern market. The facilities like the online food or drinks orders through the website of the organization will make the life easier for their customers in ordering their foods. The managers need to take care of these aspects as it will increase the preferences of the customers towards the organization. Not only the online food orders, the dispenser machines are also significantly easy for the customers to use (Bayona-Saez et al., 2017).

Along with these, the managers will possibly have the most crucial responsibility in making sure that the food or the beverages that are offered by the organization to their customers is prepared according the food standards and align with the health standards of their customers. The manager will be liable to make sure that the organization operates according to the safety and legal standards of the nation (Murphy, 2013). In addition to the legal and safety standards, the managers will have the responsibility to make sure that the organization do not conduct any sort of unethical operation which will be affecting the brand value of that particular organization. It is observed that the organizations which are operating in this sector are significantly concerned about the brand value of their organization as that has the capability to influence the preferences of their customers in purchasing foods and drinks.

Communication Skills

Along with these the managers of the concerned sector are needed to significantly good in mathematics as that is a notable need for them in managing the pricing of the products, work schedules of the employees, labour and beverage costs, cleaning schedules (Dopson & Hayes, 2015). Apart from that the managers must have the desired competencies in hiring the suitable employees with appropriate skills for the concerned sector. The managers is need to have the skills and competencies required for the assessment of the performances of their employees as that will be highly needed for the organization in recognising the quality and good work of the employees (Hurrell, 2016). The managers of the organizations operating in the concerned sector need to have the capabilities to effectively manage the suppliers’ needs without compromising the rules and regulation of that particular organization. The organizations of the concerned sector is observed to face diverse needs of their suppliers at times which the managers of the organization needs to effectively manage (Odunlami & Matthew, 2014). Along with that the managers are liable to evaluate the performances of their employees with identification of the loopholes in the performances of the employees and create appropriate training activities in order to cover up those loopholes (Beddie et al., 2014). The training activities will be significant for the employees in improving the quality of their services.

The training will be significantly helpful for the managers in managing the different problems of the concerned sector. Apart from that it will also make sure that the mangers are well accustomed with the technological applications as that will be significantly needed in order follow the customer preferences and in the management of the supply chain and logistics (Buted, Felicen & Manzano, 2014). The training activities will make sure that the managers do not face any sort communication issues with the employees and the customers of that organization.

An interview session was conducted with an employee holding the managerial position in the McDonald’s Restaurants on 31.10.2018 12.30 p.m. at Cranbrook.

Q1. Where are you working now?

Ans. I am currently holding the position of manager at McDonald’s Restaurants.

Q2. How long you are serving this organization?

Ans. I am working here for the past 2 years.

Q3. Any previous work experience?

Ans. I worked at Auntie Barb’s Bakery, A & W Restaurant for a period of 12 months each.

Q4. What was your job profile in hose organizations?

Compassion for Foods and Customer Service

Ans. At Auntie Barb’s Bakery, I was mere service boy and part time cashier as well for my improved mathematics skills. At A & W Restaurant, I operated as the head of the employees and along with that I conducted the usual operations of a manager as well.

Q5. According to you, what are the job profiles available in the concerned sector?

Ans. Well, as I had worked for various organization operating in this sector and observed that the sector offers career opportunities as Manager, Service Boys, cleaning staffs and Cooks.

Q6. What are the functionalities of these job profiles?

Ans. According to my experience, you cannot enclose the operations of a manager into a single form of responsibility. The managers of any organization is someone who need to take care of the entire workforce and along with that he or she needs to make sure that the organization is generating the desired amount of revenue. The service boys are responsible for the transfer of the foods from the kitchen to the customers’ desk. Cooks are liable for producing quality food products. The cleaning staffs conduct the cleaning operation in the organizations.

Q7. What will be the disadvantages and advantages of this career?

Ans. The advantages of these careers will basically be the compensation and the amount of the experience that one gathers from their operations and the disadvantages are hard to formulate as there is much to tell apart from the usual health issues that one suffers conducting these operations.

Q8. What are the training opportunities or education required for the positions?

Ans. Well, though the requirement for different organizations vary depending on their preferences and vacancies, even then the employees are liable to have proper hotel management education. In spite of that I must tell you several organizations operating at Cranbrook are taking employees without proper training and education required for the jobs.

Q9. What will be the career progression in this sector?

Ans. Well, the career progression also differs from company to company, but it is largely observed that service boys with proper experience can manage the post of the supervisor and the managers.

Q10. What are the wages and benefits for these positions?

Ans. Ah! That is difficult to predict but usually the service boys and cleaning staffs are paid an amount ranging from $20000 to $25000, the cooks are offered more or less $35000 and the managers are observed to get a sum of $45000.

References:

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Aissa, S. B., & Goaied, M. (2016). Determinants of Tunisian hotel profitability: The role of managerial efficiency. Tourism management, 52, 478-487.

Bayona-Saez, C., Cruz-Cázares, C., García-Marco, T., & Sánchez García, M. (2017). Open innovation in the food and beverage industry. Management Decision, 55(3), 526-546.

Beddie, F., Creaser, M., Hargreaves, J., & Ong, A. (2014). Readiness to meet demand for skills: a study of five growth industries. National Centre for Vocational Education Research.

Buted, D. R., Felicen, S. S., & Manzano, A. I. (2014). A correlation study between student performance in food and beverage services course and internship in F&B Department of Hospitality Business. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 4(6), 54.

Dopson, L. R., & Hayes, D. K. (2015). Food and beverage cost control. John Wiley & Sons.

Hurrell, S. A. (2016). Rethinking the soft skills deficit blame game: Employers, skills withdrawal and the reporting of soft skills gaps. Human Relations, 69(3), 605-628.

Li, L., Gray, D. E., John Lockwood, A., & Buhalis, D. (2013). Learning about managing the business in the hospitality industry. Human Resource Development Quarterly, 24(4), 525-559.

Murphy, J. P. (2013). The Principles and Practices of Bar and Beverage Management-The Drinks Handbook.

Murphy, P. E. (2013). Tourism: A community approach (RLE Tourism). Routledge.

Odunlami, I. B., & Matthew, A. O. (2014). Compensation Management and Employees Performance in the Manufacturing Sector, A Case Study of a Reputable Organization in the Food and Beverage Industry. International Journal of Managerial Studies and Research (IJMSR), 108-117.