Imagine you are a guest that is checked into a hotel after a long flight to your destination and you find that the hotel doesn’t have an in-house restaurant? You would be pretty frustrated with that experience. Because you expect your hotel to offer the world to you because you’re paying for it.
It is important to note here that the function of a hotel is first and foremost to be hospitable and make all their guests feel welcome. Hotel guests look for sustenance i.e. food and beverages beyond the clean sheets, tidy and hygienic rooms, and bathrooms. The hotel room service and the hotel restaurant must reflect and uphold the values of the hospitality of the hotel and live up to the expectations of their guests.
That’s the exact reason why every hotel has an in-house restaurant. The whole idea is to make the premise more hospitable for the guest and make them feel more welcome. Commonly, good hotels have the concept of serving food and beverages to guests in hotel lobbies, which also acts as a lounge area.
Most of the time hotel restaurants are perceived by guests to be repetitive and unoriginal with their menu, overpriced, and the service to be underwhelming. This problem arises when hoteliers are expected to design the restaurant and run the restaurant with their hotel staff, failing to see what a restaurant needs. History has proven that hotel restaurants run by hoteliers have failed to garner appreciation from their consumers. On the other hand, when a celebrity chef or a seasoned restauranteur was brought in and given the liberty to run the restaurant with their staff, these hotel restaurants performed well and building a place in the heart of the customer. After all, the way to a hotel guest’s heart is through their stomach.
Over the years, restauranteurs across the world have mastered the art of serving, designing the experience of food. That is why many hotels that have successful restaurants on their premises are run by restauranteurs (not hoteliers) and their team of chefs.
Restaurenatuers understand the pulse of what people want. Even when it comes to designing the interiors of restaurants in hotels, they do a far better job than hoteliers. On the other hand, hotel restaurants have a practice of hiring celebrity chefs to display their culinary talents and delight customers.
Hotel Restaurants can make or break the reputation of the hotel affecting the overall sales and popularity of the destination. That is why the main goal of the hotel restaurant is to perfect the in house dining experience of the guest/walk-in customer.
Here are some pointers to make a hotel restaurant more attractive and approachable to all the customers:
1) Study your guests and harness the potential of your location
It is crucial to understand your customer first before jumping to concept and cuisine. Thorough research of potential visitors to your hotel restaurant and studying the competition around you would play a major role in deciding the success of your hotel restaurant.
Example: If your hotel is located in Punjab, it is but obvious that your guests would expect you to serve the local cuisine of Punjab. It is an interesting way for your guests to experience the local culture. Here’s an opportunity to truly prepare dishes using locally sourced materials, enhancing the flavor of the dishes using secret ingredients and secret recipes. It is a sure-shot way to making your guests hooked onto your restaurant food for the entire duration of their stay. Serving them pizza, when they are expecting Sarson ka saag and Makkhe di roti, would be a big No-No.
2) Your hotel restaurant must have a unique vibe to it
It is human nature to get bored if you’re exposed to the same thing constantly. Keeping this important aspect in mind, the hotel restaurant must be situated in such a place on the hotel grounds where guests feel like they have entered a different realm altogether. The hotel restaurant must have its unique aura and identity. It will be a refreshing feeling for your guests.
3) Avoid the mistake of serving all meals at one place
Your hotel guests start their day with breakfast. That meal has the capacity of setting the mood of the person for the entire day. That is why it is always recommended that hotels have a special place for their guests or visitors to enjoy their breakfast. A place that has access to nature, is naturally lit and spacious.
Running a successful restaurant in a hotel requires planning, design, and strategy. The best people who can make this happen are Food Service Consultants. These professionals can adorn many hats at one time, think and feel like a guest, chef, restauranteur, hotelier, General Manager, Food & Beverage Director, Support staff, all at once. This is the main reason why Food Service Consultants can guide hotels towards their success in the food sector.
Food Service Consultants guide hotels on how best to plan and implement a strategy of a well-functioning restaurant by applying their expert knowledge in gastronomy, food safety, and food quality. They are the best people in the food business to come up with long term solutions and help run foodservice operations smoothly.
Food Service Consultants that work on hotel restaurant projects guide their clients on menu engineering, design, and food costing. These professionals are hired to offer creative inputs on how to design, implement, manage, and run the set-up successfully.
Food Service Consultants are well-versed with culinary arts and nutrition, helping their clients by:
- Creating and maintaining food safety procedures.
- Assisting with culinary development and menu design.
- Assisting with revenue generation, food costs, and menu engineering.
- Developing food production facilities and kitchens up to code.
- Creating products and dishes that are nutritionally viable and tasty.
- Providing consultation for specific types of food production.
HPG Consulting is a multidisciplinary consulting firm with a strong specialization in Food Service. That is why HPG’s Food Service Consultants are the best in the industry due to their ability to identify and turn their client’s vision into reality. Here the Food Service Consultants innovate constantly and adapt to the market trends.
Learn more about the restaurant business in hotels directly from the experts. Connect with a Food Service Consultant at HPG.