Duties and Responsibilities of Food and Beverage Service Staff: A Comprehensive Guide

In the dynamic world of hospitality, the Food and Beverage (F&B) service staff play a pivotal role in shaping the guest experience. From ensuring seamless service to delivering exceptional dining moments, their responsibilities go beyond merely serving food.

This comprehensive guide dives into the varied duties and responsibilities of F&B service staff, highlighting their essential role in maintaining efficiency, ensuring customer satisfaction, and upholding service excellence.

Whether you’re a student, aspiring professional, or seasoned industry expert, understanding these responsibilities is crucial for thriving in this competitive field.

The F&B service department is a complex operation involving highly specialized tasks. The following areas come under the control of the department.
 
The following are the F&B service areas found in a hotel:

• Restaurants
• Banquets
• The room service department
• Bars and dispense bars

All these outlets are managed by the F&B service department and the head of all outlets is the food and beverage service manager
 
The food and beverage service department consists of the following positions:

The food and beverage manager

The food and beverage manager directs the operations of the F&B department. He supervises all functions of the kitchen, service areas, purchases, stores, and stewarding.
 

Duties and responsibilities of the food and beverage manager:

• Formulating financial, catering, and marketing policies and strategies.
• Preparing the organization structure for his department with a job description for each designation, liaising with the personnel department.
• Appointing the right people for the right job
• Preparing a budget for the department and consulting the department heads.
• Planning menus for various outlets in consultation with chefs and restaurant managers
• Designing and implementing sales promotional activities to achieve revenue targets.
• Analyzing sales and identifying markets
• Studying competitors’ strategies and this market share.
• Liaising with government agencies
• Keeping the staff updated on the latest trends in the food and beverage sector.
• Controlling all three elements of costs – food cost, labour cost, and overhead.
• scheduling training programs for all the staff of the food and beverage department.
• Convening meetings with department heads to study the progress of departments and solve problems, if any
• Ensuring predetermined qualify of dishes and service offered to guests in maintained
• maintaining a very good rapport with guest

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Food and beverage service department structure in Restaurants

The restaurant manager/Chef deRestaurateur

The entire operation of the restaurant is under the control of the restaurant manager. He must have a thorough knowledge of the latest trends in catering operations,and guest psychology, and maintain good rapport with guests. 
 
Duties and responsibilities of the restaurant manager:

• Preparing a budget for a financial year.
• developing and implementing sales promotional activities.
• Setting up a service standard for all dishes and drinks served in the restaurant.
• menu planning for daily operations and special occasions.
• Recruiting staff and training them.
• Establishing good relationships with guests.
• Handling guest complaints.
• Evaluating performance appraisal and identifying training needs
• Purchasing and maintaining restaurant equipment furniture, linen, cutlery, crockery, glassware, and other special service equipment.
• Ensuring an adequate supply of condiments, proprietary sauces, disposable, and so on.
• Analyzing sales to know fast-moving dishes, least preferred dishes,
• Analyzing the most preferred cuisine in the case of a multi-cuisine restaurant,
• Analyzing seat turnover, and average revenue per cover helps him in his decision-making process.

The Senior captain/maitre d’hotel

Organize, supervise, and train all service personnel in the restaurant with a view to providing quick and personalized food and beverage service to guests

Duties and responsibilities of the senior captain:

• Preparing duty rota and fixing up a day off for all his subordinates.
• Inspecting the mise en place and mise en scene carried out by the staff
• Briefing staff on service procedure and giving feedback on service of previous meals and appreciating service staff, as and when necessary
• Inspecting personal grooming of staff
• Allotting stations to waiters rotating staff between stations, so as to give chance to all waiters to serve
• all tables of the restaurant and to ensure even distribution of workload
• Guiding customers to their reserved tables and assisting in seating.
• Taking charge of the restaurant in the absence of the restaurant manager.
• Reporting to the maintenance department about faulty equipment that needs immediate attention.
• Coordinating with housekeeping, front office, kitchen, store, maintenance, and accounts.
• Taking reservations, making an entry in the reservations dairy, and keeping this in a correct and proper state of order.

Skills and competencies of the senior captain

• Thorough knowledge of food and beverage service.
• Adequate knowledge of food preparation and presentation especially of items on the menu.
• Knowledge of wines and flame preparation.
• socially confident.
• Proficiency in the English language and knowledge of a foreign are preferable
• Supervisory skills.

The Captain/Head Waiter/Chef de Rang

Organize and supervise an assigned restaurant station with a view to providing fast and efficient food and beverage service.

Duties and responsibilities of the captain

• Ensuring smooth operations of a section of the restaurant comprising up to four stations.
• Making sure he has adequate staff to carry out work during operations.
• Checking grooming of the staff working in his section.
• Briefing staff on service procedures.
• Seeing that the area is clean and tidy.
• Inspecting the tables to see if they are correctly laid.
• Checking if the sections have adequate table linen or placemats and disposables.
• Check the sideboard if they are equipped with adequate stock required during service.
• Receiving guests from the head waiter and assisting them to the seat.
• Presenting the menu to the guests, explaining the menu, suggesting dishes and wine, and taking orders.
• Handing over the order to the station waiter concerned.
• Supervise his section during service and deal with any incidents or complaints.

Skills and competencies of the captain

• Thorough knowledge of food and beverage service.
• Knowledge of wines and spirits and their service.
• Adequate knowledge of food preparation and presentation, especially of items on the menu.
• Socially confident.
• Proficiency in English
• Supervisory skills.

 The Steward/Waiter/Commis de Rang

He is in charge of a particular restaurant section with four to six tables seating up to 20 covers. and to provide quick and personalized food and beverage service to guests at allotted tables as per standards of service laid down and to guest satisfaction.

Duties and responsibilities of the steward/Waiter/Commis de Rang

• Doing mise en place necessary for his station.
• Sending soiled table linen for laundry and collecting clean and laundered linen.
• Lying covers according to meals to be served and restaurant guidelines.
• Setting up the sideboards with required items.
• Making sure his stations are clean and presentable.
• collecting food directly either from the kitchen or through commis..
• Serving food and beverages to customers seated in his station as per the restaurant’s standards.
• Remembering what each customer has ordered and serving accordingly.
• Placing accompaniments and condiments at the right time.
• Presenting bills in a folder accepting payment, and returning the change if any.
• If the bill is signed by residential guests, then sign immediately to the front office, so that it can be charged to the guest’s account.
• clearing and re-lying the tables.

Skills and competencies of the steward/Waiter/Commis de Rang

• Thorough knowledge of food and beverage service.
• personable and well-groomed.
• Physically sturdy to carry heavy loads and be on the feet for long hours.
• proficiency in the English language and knowledge of the local dialect.
• A team person.
• Etiquettes and manners.

Apprentice/busboy/Commis de Barasseur

They are learners who mainly do the clearance work and help steward in the table set up. They may also be given clearing and wiping of service equipment, and mise en scene activities. They will not be asked to attend any of the guest’s tables as they are very new to the job.

Duties and responsibilities of busboy:

• Report for briefing, well-groomed.
• Collect fresh linen from housekeeping.
• Collect, clean, polish, and stack cutlery, crockery, and glassware at the sideboard.
• Assist steward in table layouts.
• Replenish water jugs and ice buckets.
• Check non-available items from the kitchen and bar.
• Help in receiving and seating guests in the allotted station
• Pick up food from the kitchen and deposit it on the sideboard.
• Provide assistance to steward during service
• Replenish water goblets of guests.
• Independently conduct service if required.

Skills and competencies of a busboy:

• Physically sturdy to do heavy physical work.
• socially confident.
• Personable and well-groomed.
• Teams person.
• Proficiency in the language

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A fine dining restaurant where the carving of meat and wine service is carried out, the following designation may be found:

The wine butler/the wine waiter

He is responsible for taking orders and the service of aperitifs and wines, cigars, and cigarettes. He collects orders from the dispensing bar controlled by the dispensing barman. 

Duties and responsibilities of wine butler

• Requisition of the wines and spirits from the bar stores.
• Clean and display the wines and spirits on the wine trolley.
• Equip the wine trolley with accessories required for service (like ice bucket, corkscrew, napkins, mixers, swizzle sticks, bottle openers, glassware)
• Present trolley to seated guests and up-sell the wines and spirits.
• Prepare and serve ordered beverages as per international practices.
• Replenish orders and remember guest preferences.
• Raise Order Tickets for the cashier 

Skills and competencies of wine butler:

• Excellent knowledge of wines and spirits and their service.
• Socially confident.
• Proficiency in the English language
• Etiquettes and manners.
• Personable and well-groomed.
• Having flair and showmanship.
• Good selling skills.

The carver

To present and serve prepared roast to guests as per the standards of the establishment.

Duties and responsibilities of the carver:

• Requisition of the meat roast from the kitchen.
• Clean and display the roast and its accompaniments on the carving trolley.
• Equip the carving trolley with the accessories required for service. 
• Present trolley to seated guests and the roast of the day.
• Present trolley to seated guests and the roast of the day.
• Carve and serve ordered meat cuts as per international practices. 
• Replenish orders as requested.
• Raise order Tickets for the cashier

Skill and competencies of the carver:

• Thorough knowledge of meat cuts.
• Proficiency in the English language and the local dialect.
• Well-groomed.
• Socially confident

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The food and beverage service department in the banquet

Banquet department functions fall under the control of the banquet manager. It is responsible for organizing various types of formal and informal functions within and off the premises.  Usually, the banquet business is a seasonal business, but the hotel must devise a plan to sell its banquet facilities throughout the year.  

The following are the designations found in the banquet department:

Banquet manager

He is in charge of all the functions of the banquet department.

Duties and responsibilities of the banquet manager:

• Discussing function arrangement details with clients concerning menus, table plans, cost, wine bands, toastmaster, and so on
• Communicating the date of the function, time, number of guests, and all other necessary details to all the departments concerned.
• Briefing the banquet head waiter about function details and getting it organized.
• Preparing budgets for the department.
• Planning menu for various functions at different price ranges.
• Procuring equipment for banquets
• Devising and implementing a sales promotional plan
• Recruiting and training staff

 
Secretary

The secretary is responsible for the following:

• Handling all incoming and outgoing mail.
• Attending telephone calls for inquiry
• Noting down any inquiry
• Sending inter-department memos
• Filing of documents concerning functions

Banquet head waiter

The duties and responsibilities of the banquet head waiter are the following:

• Engaging staff on a casual basis for functions.
• Casual staff is paid by the hour and given a meal. Their services are terminated at the end of the function
• Maintaining lists of casual staff and their contact numbers.
• Executing the function according to the instructions of the banquet manager.
• Briefing banquet waiters.
• Getting the hall set for the function.
• Supervising the mise en place.
• Allocating duty to the staff.
• Maintaining stock.
• Maintaining logbook.

Dispense barman

A temporary dispense bar is set up during the function on banquet premises by the dispense barman. He may be either on the permanent employee roll of the banquet department or temporarily sent by the bar for the function.

Duties and responsibilities of dispense barman the following:

• Collecting stock of alcoholic drinks from the main bar against the requisition
• Allocating bar stock to various functions.
• Setting up of bars with necessary bar accessories.
• Organizing bar staff.
• Allotting duties to bar staff.
• Controlling of bat stock and cash during the service
• Allocating bar stock to various functions.
• Setting up of bars with necessary bar accessories.
• Organizing bar staff.
• Allotting duties to bar staff.
• Controlling bat stock and cash during the service

The permanent banqueting waiter staff

They are responsible for the following:

• Cleaning and wiping cutlery, crockery, and glassware.
• Arranging tables for various functions according to the instruction of superiors.
• Setting up buffet counters
• Setting up covers
• Mise en scene activities.
• Fetching dishes from the kitchen (main or banquet kitchen)
• Serving guests as per instructions.
• Personal grooming.
• Cleaning soiled service equipment for the wash.
• Clearing and cleaning halls after the function

 Casual staff

They are hired for specific functions by the banquet head waiter. They are responsible for carrying out any type of banqueting task assigned to them. Great care must be taken while engaging them as their honesty, behaviour, service skill, and so on, will have a great impact on the goodwill of the hotel. After the function, they are paid and dismissed.

Sales administration manager

He is responsible for selling function catering facilities to potential clients. He must have a thorough knowledge of the dimensions of various banquet halls, and their seating capacities for various table arrangements, facilities available in each hall, sample menus at different price ranges, photos of various table arrangements, and so on. 

He is responsible for retaining existing customers, identifying new markets, and for achieving target sales. This designation may come under the control of either the food and beverage manager or the marketing and sales manager.

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Food and beverage service department structure in room service

The room service department is responsible for serving food and beverages in the guest’s rooms according to predetermined standards.

All the activities of the room service department are controlled by the room service manager.

The following are the responsibilities of key staff of room service department:

Room service manager

He is responsible for the following:

• Preparing a budget for the department.
• Compiling room service menu cards and liaising with the chef and the food and beverage manager.
• Preparing sales report
• Analyzing sales for managerial decisions on menu planning and pricing.
• Handling guests’ complaints and establishing a good rapport with them.
• Procuring equipment required for the room service department.
• Recruiting and training staff.
• Coordinating with other departments.
• Controlling labour cost.
• Make sure that the department has an adequate supply of materials and provisions required for room service.
• Monitoring the performance of staff.

Room service order taker

He/she is responsible for the following:

• Taking orders from the guest and sending them to the room service captain.
• Suggestive selling.
• Referring to the room list to know the status of guests, room positions, the validity of the order, and plans in which guests are staying
• Preparing the bill.

Room service captain

He is responsible for the following:

• Receiving orders from an order taker.
• Collecting dishes from the appropriate section of the kitchen.
• Checking tray before being taken to the room.
• Supervising the mise en place activities of the department.
• Preparing indent for room service requirements and getting approval from the room service manager.
• Ensuring cleanliness in the department.
• Briefing room service stewards.
• Maintaining logbook.
• Preparing duty schedules for room service stewards
• Ensuring trays are cleared from rooms.
• Supervising placing of fruit baskets and cookies in rooms according to the policy of the hotel.
• Monitoring stock levels of the minibar and getting it replenished if it is the responsibility of room service
• Maintaining stock of room service.

Room service waiter

He is responsible for the following:

• Lining trays and arranging them with basic service equipment and accompaniments
• Setting up room service trolley.
• Collecting proprietary sauces, disposables, and so on, from the stores.
• Stocking distance bar.
• Collecting dishes from the hot plate/still room and arranging them on the tray.
• Carrying tray to room and serving, if necessary.
• Collecting signatures of guests on bills and handing them over to the room service order taker, who in turn will send it immediately to from office for charging to guests’ accounts
• Placing fruit baskets and cookies in rooms identified by the captain
• Replenishing the minibar under the direction of the captain, if undertaken by the room service department.
• Clearing trays from rooms and corridors.
• Personal grooming.
• Informing guest’s’ complaints/appreciation to the captain.
• Performing any other work assigned by the room service captain and order taker.

Assistant steward,

he is responsible for the following:

• Carrying out mise en place activities
• Cleaning and wiping cutlery, crockery, and glassware.
• Preparing preserved dishes, butter dishes, sugar bowls, Chinese cruets, pickle bowls, and sauces bowls
• Keeping still room and hot plate ready with necessary service dishes, beverage pots, and bread baskets linen with aluminium foil.
• Keeping the room service area clean.
• personal grooming.
• Attending briefing.
• Assisting room service stewards in service

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The food and beverage service department structure in the bar

The bar serves different types of alcoholic beverages to residential and non-residential guests in the hotel. It may refuse to serve alcohol to guests who are underage or are already quite inebriated. The minimum age of a person for alcohol consumption should be followed strictly to avoid any legal or police action against the establishment 

The following are the duties of the bar staff:

Bar manager

The bar manager is responsible for all functions of the bar and the dispensing bar. 

The responsibilities of a bar manager include the following:

• Recruiting staff and training them for bar operations.
• Monitoring performance and activities of the bar and dispensing bars.
• Supervising alcohol service
• Forecasting volume of sales.
• Maintaining a close watch on the movement of bottles
• Preparing a budget for bar and dispensing bars
• Identifying alcoholic beverage suppliers and procuring from them
• Formulating control system
• Purchasing bar equipment
• Maintaining a record of stock
• Maintaining the quality of service
• Maintaining bar profit levels in all beverage outlets.
• Reducing cost
• Handling guests complains
• Preparing sales report

Bartenders

They are responsible for the following:    

• Mixing and serving drinks to guests seated at the counter
• Pouring required measured against BOT for bar waiters to serve guests at the table
• Washing glassware and bar tools
• Recording sales
• Receiving cash from guests or getting bills signed by residential guests taking note of their room number.
• Establishing a good relationship with customers
• Helping drunken guests
• Keeping his counter clean
• Taking opening and closing stock

Bar waiter/waitress

They are responsible for the following:

• Keeping the mise en place ready for beverage service at the table
• Recording beverage orders on BOT and collecting them from the bar
• Serving guests alcoholic drinks at the tables in the bar, restaurant, lounge
• Cleaning glasses and leaving them to wash
• Collecting payment from the chance guest or getting the bill signed by the residential guest
• Keeping tables clean
• Referring to any complaints to the head bartender

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