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What skills does a Food and Beverage Manager need?

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Question added by MADE ElKHBIRY , Food & Beverage Operations Manager & Ready for new challenge immediately , السابق Operations Manager
Date Posted: 2016/07/19
MADE ElKHBIRY
by MADE ElKHBIRY , Food & Beverage Operations Manager & Ready for new challenge immediately , السابق Operations Manager

For those outside Hotels it may be hard to see how several years as a Food and Beverage Manager prepares you for almost anything else in life; but it is clear that the skills and attributes needed to be a good F. & B. Manager are universal and prepare one for a wide range of other roles.

This is in no way exhaustive and is in no particular order.

Servant heart Food and Beverage Managers are servants. If you did not know how to serve others before starting work, you would need to learn it soon. Having the personal strength to slip between disengagement and serving customers is a key skill. As an F.&B. Manager, you learn to serve with all your heart, mind and body for comparatively little financial benefit.

Discipline An amazing amount of self-discipline is required to consistently deliver top quality service in a Hotel serving clients Food and Beverage; it takes discipline to always be punctual, to pursue and complete tasks in a role as physically (and mentally) demanding as serving Hotel guests.

Confidence Who is truly able to serve unless they have something to be proud about? As an F. & B. Manager, you need to be confident of who you are and be able to separate who you are from society’s vision of you. If you allow yourself to be defined by what society thinks of you, you are internally defeated and the quality of your work will suffer. As an F. & B. Manager, you need to take pride in the work you do and know that even if others do not appreciate you much for it, it is worthwhile.

Discretion As an F. & B. Manager, you need discretion. We do work needing personal judgement to know when we should stick to the plan or when to set it aside. If you are someone who can only follow shift plans, contrary to what most people may think, you cannot be a good F. & B. Manager. You need discretion to be a good custodian of people’s Food, Drink, Service and other physical and information assets. In F. & B., you will learn Discretion if you did not have it to begin with.

Trust Maybe the biggest quality in F. & B. Manager? Who wants to give anyone access to their space, their lives, their information, their assets and service if they cannot be trusted? Intuitively it all comes down to trust-worthiness and not your age or experience. If I do not think you will care for my service, to be honest you cannot be my F. & B. Manager.

Humility Serving people humbles you - for many reasons. Such Humility is an attitude that I think all humans need, only with humility can we consistently improve. Only humble people can grow. Only humble people can learn. Only humble people can create new things. For lots of people, if you are working as an F. & B. Manager, you are at the bottom of the chain. I know otherwise…

The World of Hospitality can only be made better by those who have the willingness and the heart to extend beyond themselves and serve – from my experience the life of F. & B. Managers. I take my hat off to you all…..Respect

Abderrahim ESSABIRI
by Abderrahim ESSABIRI , Manager , Anomed Morocco Services

A successful F&B manager should have a wide range of skills related to the food industry, customer service, team management and sales among which we can list the following:

  • Customer-Service: Food and beverage managers managers might have to interact with customers. Being friendly and courteous will help keep customers coming back.
  • Attention to Detail: Food and beverage managers have to keep their eyes on a lot of elements: food standards, costs, safety, etc.
  • Leadership: Food and beverage managers must be leaders in the back of house, rallying their team during heavy shifts, resolving conflicts and getting the job done.
  • Management Skills: Food and beverage managers not only deal with food, they also have to deal with costs, pricing, creating work schedules and more.
  • Organizational Skills: Keeping work schedules, shipments, cleaning schedules and more organized is crucial to the job.
  • Problem-Solving Skills: Dealing with employee conflict, irate customers and wrong stock orders is part of a food and beverage manager's job. Being able to come up with a solution quickly is a needed skill.
  • Speaking Skills: Food and beverage managers need to accurately and easily communicate standards and cooking methods to staff, give orders and speak with customers clearly.
  • Stamina: Food and beverage managers can expect long days around hot cooking elements, much of it on their feet.

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