Compare And Contrast The Factors That Have Fashioned The Food And Beverage Offer In Commercial And Non Commercial Food Outlets

An example of a non commercial food outlet would be a government based organisation such as a school, hospital, home for the elderly or a prison where as commercial food outlets are away from the government being private run or owned such as a restaurant, pub or bar. Here the differences and similarities will be analysed to show the comparison between the two. Factors such as healthy eating are just one of the issues which will be sought upon in order to see the different aspects of the commercial and non commercial food and beverage industry. The other major factor which separates the two is the financial side being the commercials aim to make and profit and the non commercial providing food for a non captive audience, giving the money back in which they spent on the staffing and ingredients, seeking no profit. Within both industries the main bases is food and gaining an audience, however industries are going dramatically and one which will be particularly discussed is healthy eating, obesity rates increases and the health implications of these factors.

For this report the chosen non commercial outlet which will be analysed is school dinners and the commercial outlet is a five star restaurant.

Firstly within the school sector the main purpose is providing food no other meal experience factors are essential such as service, product, menu, smoke, price, atmosphere and location. The service given within schools is usually based in a canteen being tray service where the customer goes and collects there food themselves and dished up by someone else being a dinner lady. Also types of service are sometimes used such as table, buffet, self service and vending. In terms of the menu there is a set menu being only a limited choice of meals to chose from the children have probably only to three options being mains, dessert and drinks.

This is a typical example of a school dinner menu:

“Pizza-pasta bar: vegetable lasagne, tomato or mascarpone pasta. Main servery: hotpot, cauliflower cheese, jacket potato, chips, apple crumble and custard. Baguette bar: filled sandwiches, bacon and sausage”

(Foskett, D, et al. The Theory of catering, (2003), 10th Ed, Hodder & Stroughton, Italy, pp.20)

Also within the school dinner sector atmosphere is not critical, because it is a non commercial outlet therefore no atmosphere is needed to be created as it doesn’t need to create new customers.

“Providing a special atmosphere dining is not critical”

(Khan, D, M. Concepts of food operations and management. (1991), 2nd Ed. USA, pp.98)

The location and visibility is not a factor of non commercial outlets as it doesn’t matter as it is within the school and children’s attitudes to where someone is going to see them there is non existent as the location is none changeable.

The government price for school dinners which is set is for primary schools 45p for child each day and the aim is not to make a profit on this but to break even on this price.

“An average school meal cost less than 45p to make”

(BBC, school meals, 2006, [internet] available from www.bbc.co.uk [cited on 14/12/06]

When looking at commercial outlets being the chosen five star restaurant these factors are dramatically different. Menu is given serious consideration, the presentation of the menu, whether the contents are adventurous and interesting and the layout of the menu. Even factors as where to put certain dishes as to where the customer’s eye is attracted to first generally; this would be centred on the right hand side containing the most expensive and interesting dishes. There are also many types of service styles available such as American, French, English, buffet and silver. American is the most common which is plated service when the food is brought on a plate the customer, silver is where the food is prepared in the kitchen and served to the guest from the kitchen, English is where a joint is brought out into the restaurant and guest carve it themselves and French is where the food is prepared to slavers and presented to the guest with rechaud. Also in terms of service there are also factors with a five star restaurant looks at which are the quality and standard of the staff, the staff appearance, helpfulness and attentiveness. With commercial outlets the main factor for that industry is to create a profit and this can be done in two different ways one being comparative where it looks at it competitors and there prices and the other being the ratio method where the ingredients individual price is worked out then times by three working out its selling price. For this industry the turnover difference would be ideally 30% profit made. Good value for money needs to be considered and the portion sizes so the customer get their moneys worth. As well as going for something to eat at a restaurant the other major factor is the atmosphere. Restaurants need to make a certain atmosphere for example romantic or cultural such as Italian in order to make the consumer feel their surroundings, entertainment and activity is also consider here such as live music or a singer present. Where the restaurant is located is very important as if it’s in a nice area, or it’s a fashionable place to be people are more likely to go as they themselves will be seen as fashionable because they have eaten there. Where it can be seen from is also a factor of this whether it can be seen from the road because then it will be visible then the customer will know that it exists rather than it being up a side ally with no visibility to the customer.

In terms of similarities one major point within both sectors is the health consideration.

“In April 2001 for the first time in over 20 years, minimum nutritional regulations were introduced by the DFES designed to bring all schools up to measurable standard set legislation. The regulations are based on the five food groups as set out in the balance of good food and health: Starchy foods, Fruit and vegetables, Meat, fish and none other dairy products, Sources of proteins, Milk and dairy and Foods containing fat and sugar”

(Foskett, D, et al. The Theory of catering, (2003), 10th Ed, Hodder & Stroughton, Italy, pp.18)

Within the school sector there has been a large focus on healthy meals celebrity icons such as Jaime Oliver and politician Ruth Kelly are helping the change this factor.

“A high-profile campaign by