An F&B Manager who is hired to run the F&B operations of a running hotel or restaurant business might require fewer skills & experience than one who is expected to head the F&B department for a new pre-opening hotel or F&B Project!
Yes, that is right, as taking an example, a recently promoted Assistant F&B Manager who is purely focused on day-to-day operations might not have all the skills that are needed to lead a new pre-opening project!
I had the pleasure of being part of 7 hotels/resorts pre-openings and a dozen restaurants pre-opening projects, and I can share that the experiences that are gained during the pre-opening period are unique and have a lot of challenges and puzzles that should be solved until the business stabilizes, here is a listing of what an F&B Manager should expect when it comes to his/her first pre-opening project :
It all starts with the "Critical Path "
As a department head, your performance is measured by how many tasks you successfully achieve against the project's estimated opening time! An F&B manager is usually hired 3 to 6 months before the estimated opening time, this might vary from project to another and from chain to another, as in some cases, some experts from the corporate office does most of the ground works and the F&B manager will only need to do the pure operational tasks and in some other cases, this person might be involved in concept development and execution which is usually the case with highly experienced F&B directors.
When you join a pre-opening team, you might have to work from an off-site office since your project might still be a construction site, and you will need to be experienced with Layout planning when you walk around and try to imagine each restaurant layout and operational needs when it is still a pure construction site!
Your Critical path is your guide, where you will be given a list of projects/duties that you are expected to achieve and highlight as done, and communicate the progress to the hotel / GM during the weekly progress meetings, and trust me this is a huge pressure, where you don't always have all the expected tools to achieve your job and you will need to find your ways to make things happen, this comes to your experience, connections with suppliers and knowledge of the market!
What would a Manager expect to see on a pre-opening Critical Path? Here are some of the headlines that you should be expected to achieve by the day of opening:
Human resources :
you will be responsible for drafting the job descriptions of each position that you list in your F&B organizational chart. This will be the basis that will be used later on during the recruitment trip, which is the next expected step, where you might need to join the HR in their recruitment trips and open recruitment days.
Review terms and conditions with the HR department for hiring F&B staff members.
Draft of welcome package/notes that you plan to hand over to your new staff to join the department.
Financial :
Budgeting & financial planning of your F&B business, and trust me this is not an easy task for a non-experienced F&B Manager, since you have an owner that has just invested in this property and he/she has their ROI expectations and your have the corporate office that will challenge your numbers and you should budget based on your expectations since there is no history, in some hotels, this task might already be done by the corporate office and given down to the Head of department to add his/ her comments if any, it all depends on the corporate policies when it comes to new projects openings.
Financial operating procedures :
-Set the Cash handling rules in coordination with the finance department, and set the F&B cashing procedures. Determine the number of printers, cashiers, cash drawers, and credit card machines that are needed for each outlet!
Purchasing / Supplier contracts :
You might think that this is a purchasing department duty, but be aware that the purchasing team will assist in connecting you with the suppliers, and you have to negotiate/discuss your requirements and share specifications with the supplier to ensure you get the exact products that you wish to have. This will include the supplier's capability to deliver the products on time in parallel to your schedule for receiving equipment and products as per the critical path planning. in some cases, the supplier might need to assist in storing those products and deliver at different dates when an opening is delayed!
You will be involved in the design and ordering of staff uniforms, including estimated size requirements based on the countries from which you would be hiring, since it might not always be feasible to take actual measurements to get the uniforms produced on time for the opening!
HACCP-related and food safety suppliers' discussions.
MENUS :
FOOD
This might not be the easiest task, as you will need to spend long hours with the executive chef and other chefs to design menus and attend tasting sessions even before building the actual restaurants. Here, you will need to
confirm the list of suppliers, finalise product specifications - APL list -
DRINKS
Same as the above, the most challenging task would be to finalize your Wine / Alcohol menus, which would include tasting, Food pairing with drinks, activation plans & sponsorships!
Talking about sponsorships, this would be the topic to discuss / Negotiate with every single supplier! Especially if you expect to have some signature drinking & party venues, which is a topic by itself!
On the above subject of Menus, you will need to Finalize the recipes and submit them for costing, also you will need to calculate par stocks by outlet and by store!
POS :
The IT-related part includes selecting & negotiating the best POS for your business, also it includes determining the number of Printers, POS machines, and CCM by outlet, and ensuring you have the necessary connections well provisioned!
TRAINING PLANS:
Plan your training plans for Menus, drinks, POS, and operating equipment, all of which will need to be drafted and prepared for training the newly hired staff!
Not to forget that you will need to prepare the guidelines for the restaurant managers who will be hired that they need to follow to set the sequence of service and other SOPs that are customized for each venue!
Food safety /HACCP
You will need to be involved in these discussions with the executive chef and prepare a plan for the future HACCP committee .
Sustainability:
Another project where you will be involved in setting the sustainability plans for the F&B department !
Storage :
Before a hotel's opening, all storage locations might not yet be finalized and allocated, and normally this is where conflict might happen between F&B, Kitchen & Housekeeping or possibly other departments who will aim to secure as many storage areas as possible, sometimes the GM will have to be involved to have the final say of who gets certain storage facilities !
Artwork and advertising plans
Another task is to be involved in the menu's artwork and promotional plans for each venue !
Consumables!
This is one of the big projects and including branding/artwork this involved a lot of coordination and getting approvals for all branding / artwork materials for all consumables this includes branded Napkins, straws, coasters, take away products, etc...Tricky part if to find a supplier who will commit in having these delivered on time for the opening as usually lead time is long to produce these products in the required quantities! In some cases, you will need to make a plan B where you start with unbranded products until the branded ones are delivered!
Onboarding & training!
When your staff starts arriving after the recruitment, this is where the serious stuff starts kicking in, you need to keep the staff briefing, disciplined, focused during a period where they might still not be able to physically work in their assigned venues, also you will need to allocate the staff to each venue based on another evaluation (Those that might be more suitable to work in the room service Vs the ones that could be placed to work in a Fine dining or beverage Venue as an example !)
After the training and role-playing sessions, comes the time when you can start entering into the After each venue. this will include setting up those venues and receiving and stocking the SOE & CROCKERIES, etc... and will be followed by dry runs and trials.
Receiving
The receiving part by itself is a huge ask, you will need to figure out which equipment / small materials should be allocated to the respective venues, determine the quantities to move Vs the ones to keep in storage !
Tasting
Food and drinks preparation and tasting with your teams is critical before the opening !
DRY RUNS
Inviting different head of departments / other customers, including owner's for trial runs is important before you open .
Plans for soft opening
The race for soft opening is getting faster, and be ready for very long hours of work. This might include scheduling your teams and planning the training in different shifts, and time to select leading staff members who can assist you in the ongoing training plans!
Opening !
you will always need to have a plan B in case the opening date is set and you still don't have one or more elements from the above that are ready for the opening! In my different opening experiences i have faced different challenges, some might be that opening date was too close and in some other cases opening dates were pushed for very long and you will need to adapt and make plans for each situation , don't lose your focus and get frustrated, after this opening you will be stronger and more experienced and after a few openings you will be a super star in your field !
I will write about the opening stage, which goes from day 1 to 1 month after the opening, in another article, hoping all of this helps set the expectations more realistic for those who are going to live their first opening experience!
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