The essential skills of an institutional caterer around selecting preparing and cooking food together with the skill of administration which becomes even more important as services grow in size and complexity.
Most institutional catering services operate on a ‘no profit no loss’ basis. There are fixed charges for the meals of the control of the budget is very tight. When planning a menu for an institutional service, the following points must be borne in mind.
- There is quantity production of a few products for each meal so the meal should be simple, properly cooked and palatable.
- Generally a cyclic menu is adopted but there should be enough variety to maintain appeal in the food.
The nutrition aspect must be given due importance
- As there is likely to be lack of skilled / trained personnel, in the kitchens, there is need for simple meals without any elaborate items.
In addition to the fixed menus, there will be special occasions like festivals, functions etc. which will call for special meals.
Equipment purchase is a major consideration and a long-term investment. Care should be taken in
selecting equipment:
- Original costs, installation charges, maintenance cost, insurance depreciation
- Durability and simplicity in operation
- Efficient use of space
- Mechanical efficiency
- Availability of spare parts
- Menu choice, food quantities and meal hours
MENU PLANNING & IT'S TYPES IN QUANTITY FOOD PRODUCTION
Menu planning means to compose a series of dishes for a meal. Composing a good menu is an art and it needs careful selection of dishes for the different courses. So that each dish harmonies with the other.
The planning of meals in commercial catering establishment is based more on economic considerations and reputation than on the desire to provide nutritionally “balanced diets”. The dishes produced are intended to please the eye and the palate. The planning of menu for school feeding, industrial canteens, hostels, etc. has a different aspect and nutritious and well-balanced foods are compiled.
There are some rules in the gastronomic laws which must be observed if one is to obtain success. As a badly compiled menu will spoil the complete meal. Menu should provide nutritious food, tempt the appetite, and satisfy the guests.
It is essential to have knowledge about the sequence of courses in Western menus, because for Indians menus all the dishes are served at one time in a thali. The modern trend is to give about 4 to 6 courses and a list of various courses has been given. This is to enable one to choose from the sequence.
Institutional catering
Institutional catering is described as the art of feeding people who are unable to feed themselves in the modern world. It is responsible for the health and welfare of the younger generation. It involves catering for youth in schools, colleges & residential universities. These youths are generally in the age group of 5 – 25. It has the social responsibility of developing good food habits among the children of the nation and helping to build a strong and healthy population. Today this sector is recognized as being a significant and influential part of the catering industry.
Like all public sector, institutional catering operates under severe budgetary limitation. Public spending restraints mean that caterers must examine all areas f cost minutely. However, their degree of freedom to cut costs is often curtailed by the imposition of bureaucratic measures designed to monitor spending for instance, most caterers must deal with designated suppliers, work within rigid budgets and pay nationally negotiated wages. At times of cutbacks in spending the catering service is one of the first to be affected. Institutional catering differs in some aspects from those in the hotel industry.
Yet both have some common objectives.
a. Food of good quality, property cooked & prepared.
b. Prompt and courteous service.
c. Well balanced, varied means.
d. Reasonable prices, consistent with service offered.
e. Adequate facilities
f. High standard of cleanliness and sanitation
THE DINNING ROOM:
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Adequate consideration should be given to the physical, sociological and psychological atmosphere including both functional and aesthetic value. The location should provide plenty of light and air and must be free of disagreeable odors, noises and fumes. The environment must satisfy the customer’s senses as well as appetite.
COSTING AND INDENTING: -
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In the first year you learn to calculate the cost of an entire standardized recipe and then work out the cost per portion by simple arithmetical exercise of multiplying the quantity required by the unit cost and work out the value.
Quantity in terms of unit x rate per unit = value. Similarly, you calculate the food cost be taking into account the actual cost of the ingredients used in the preparation of an entire meal and the food cost percentage was worked out thus:
Food cost * 100 = Food Cost %
Selling price
This year you will learn the difference between just indenting for let’s say four portions and for a 100 person buffet or a 200 person wedding reception.
One of the main things to remember is that whatever provision or goods received in the kitchen on a said day is not necessarily the food cost, but the actual consumption of material on that day is termed as the food cost for that day.
MASS CATERING SUCH AS BANQUETING (commercial or non-commercial): -
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The difference between small and mass food production is very difficult to define. Most food standards, principles and large number of techniques are the same. Some define quantity food production (for volume feeding) as the production of 25 or more portions. A report compiled by the National Restaurants Association, lists food service units under two major groupings:
1. Commercial or those establishments which are open to the public, are operated for profit and which may operate facilities and / or supply meal service on a regular basis for others.
2. Non-commercial (as employee feeding in schools, industrial and non-commercial organization’s), education, government of institutional organization’s which run their own food service operations. Food services in schools and universities, hospitals and other transportation armed services, industrial plants and correctional units are in the second group and may not show a profit or even balance out financially at the breakeven point.
SALIENT FEATURES
1. To serve hygienically prepared wholesome food.
2. Food is primarily as a service to complement their other activities and contribute to the fulfillment of the objectives of the institute.
3. Cyclic menus
4. Not profit oriented
5. Educational experience for those who are involved as they happen to experience different regional cuisine through the cyclic menus. As a result, the food habits become more flexible.
Quantity control quantity control and portion control are very important. A good quality standard, should cover essential characteristics that indicate quality in a product. Quality control programmes make it possible to serve as a consistent standard. Employee evaluation, taste panel, scoring customer reaction and other menus can be used to evaluate quality.
Good purchase specifications and finding the right product to suit the production need can do much to raise and maintain the quality standards.
Proper forecasting of quantities needed in production and controlling portion size are two essentials of good quality controls. Portion size varies according to food, type of meal and patron, cost of the food, appearance. Adults, teenagers and small children consume different quantities and portion sizes vary from them. Men eat more than women, an individual doing hard work eats more than other doing sedentary tasks.
Giving liberal quantities of less costly foods and smaller ones of the more expensive foods can be practiced. The portion appearance is affected by the portion size and shape of the dish, decoration and width of the rim, dish colour and food arrangement.