Classification of foodservice establishments

UNIT 3

Types of restaurants

The millions of people who "eat out" every day have a wide variety of needs and tastes from a quick lunch to a luxurious meal with elaborate service. The National Restaurant Association's figures indicate that Americans are spending an increasing number of food dollars away from home in various foodservice operations. Americans eat out about 200 times a year, or about 4 times a week. More than 50 percent of all consumers visit a restaurant on their birthday, thereby making it the most popular day for eating out. Mother's Day and Valentine's Day are the second and third most popular days, respectively. The most popular meal eaten away from home is lunch, which brings in approximately 50 percent of fast-food restaurant sales.

There is no single definition of the various classifications of restaurants. Because of these differences there are many kinds of restaurants varying from street stands for a hot dog or bowl of noodles to elaborate restaurants with the best cooking. Restau­rants generally fit into the following categories:

The gourmet restaurant: A gourmet is a person who appre­ciates the best in food and drink. A restaurant which offers meals that appeal to such a person is in this group. The service and the prices are usually in accord with the quality of the meal so that these restaurants are the most expensive and luxurious of all food-service establishments.

The family-type restaurant: Many eating places serve simple food at moderate prices that appeal to family groups. Perhaps their principal feature is the reliability they offer their customers through standardized food and service. Many of these restaurants arc owned by chains or operated under a franchise, an arrangement in which the name and procedures of the business are leased from a central organization. When a family stops on a highway in the United States to eat at a Howard Johnson restaurant they know what kind of food they will get and what the price will be.

The specialty restaurant: This kind of restaurant offers a limited variety or style of food. It may specialize in steaks or in a particular kind of national food or it may depend on the atmos­phere, decor, or personality of the owner to attract customers. Both the quality of the food and the prices are usually between those of the gourmet and family-type restaurants.

The convenience restaurant: This restaurant serves customers who want to eat in a hurry and are most interested in fast service, cleanliness, and low price. This is a very large group of restaurants which includes several subcategories. One of these is the lunch counter which ordinarily serves sandwiches and other simple foods and beverages. A modern variation on the lunch counter is the fast food operation. Thousands of these establishments have sprung up all over the world in recent years. Fast foods are those which can he prepared, served, and eaten quickly: probably the most typical fast food is the hamburger, a grilled patty of ground beef served be­tween the slices of a round roll. Most institutional food/services fall into the convenience category, including cafeterias and restaurants in factories, offices, and hospitals, as well as some operations nec­essary to feed the military. Street stands are also convenience food-services whether they offer a wide variety of dishes to large numbers of people in Bangkok or only snacks for tourists in Washington, D.C.

Another way to categorize restaurants is by the kind of service they offer. There are basically four types: table service, counter service, self-service and carry-out. In table service restaurants, cus­tomers are seated at tables where food is served by a waiter or waitress.

In counter service restaurants, customers sit at a counter and are served either by the person who prepares the food or by a waiter or waitress.

A self-service restaurant is frequently called a buffet or cafeteria; there customers pass in front of a counter where food is displayed and help themselves to what they want; then they carry the food to a table themselves. Usually institutional restaurants are cafeterias, though many cafeterias are intended for public business.

Carry-out restaurants often serve fast foods; customers place their orders at a counter (or by telephone ahead of time) then "take-out" the food to wherever they wish to eat it—at their jobs, in a park, in a car, or at home. The unprecedented percentage of working wives and mothers has made an enormous impact on the entire foodservice industry, but it is a particularly important factor in the growth of the carry-out or take-out restaurant.

These kinds of restaurants fulfill the customer's immediate convenience; taste and style of cooking and eating are fulfilled by cuisine. Gourmet cuisine usually consists of dishes freshly and painstakingly prepared, often in ways too time-consuming and skillful to be easily duplicated at home or in restaurants depending on cus­tomer turnover. These meals are often taken from one of the ac­knowledged great world cuisines, perhaps Chinese, French, or Hungarian. Most areas of the world rely heavily on regional cuisine that depends on local availability, seasonal prices, and traditional customs. The choice of cuisine is an important one for the cus­tomer, who often makes it unconsciously and sometimes makes it too consciously.

On the other hand, most experts would agree, how­ever, that there are two main categories: full-service and specialty. Also categories include such designations as quick-service, ethnic, dinner house, occasion, casual, and so on. Some restaurants may even fall into more than one category. For instance, a restaurant could be both quick-service and ethnic (Taco Bell). Another restaurant can be called specialty and dinner house (Chart House).

Specialty Restaurants. Under this general heading come fast-food or quick-service, family, ethnic, theme, casual dining, and dinner house restaurants. Some restau­rants fall into more than one category, ethnic (Italian) and full-service like the Olive Garden, or specialty (seafood) and full-service, like Red Lobster.

Full-service Restaurants. A full-service restaurant is one where a good selection of menu items is offered, generally at least fifteen or more different entrees cooked to order, with nearly all the food being made on the premises from scratch using raw or fresh ingredients. Full-service restaurants may be formal or casual and may be further categorized by price, decor/atmosphere, level of formality, and menu. Most full-service restaurants may be cross-referenced into other categories, as mentioned previously. Many of these restaurants serve haute cuisine, which is a French term meaning elegant dining or high food. Many of the fine restaurants in the United States are based on French or northern Italian cuisine, which, together with fine Chinese cuisine, are considered by many western con­noisseurs to be the finest in the world.

Most full-service restaurants are independently owned and operated by an entrepreneur or a partnership. These restaurants are in almost every neighborhood. Today, with value-conscious customers expecting more for their money, it is becoming increasingly more difficult to make a profit in this segment of the business because of strong competition from other restaurants.

Quick-Service/Fast-Food. The quick-service sector is the one that really drives the industry. With sales of $111 billion, it is slightly ahead of the full-service segment by dol­lar volume. Recently, the home-meal replacement and fast casual concepts have gained momentum. Boston Market is a leader in both sectors and has recently sped up its service and cut customers' wait time in half.

Quick-service or fast-food restaurants offer limited menus featuring food such as hamburgers, fries, hot dogs, chicken (in all forms), tacos, burritos, gyros, teriyaki bowls, various finger foods, and other items for the convenience of people on the go. Customers order their food at a counter under a brightly lit menu featuring color photographs of food items. Customers are even encouraged to clear their own trays, which helps reduce costs. The following are examples of the different types of quick-service/fast-food restaurants:

- Hamburger — McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's

- Pizza — Pizza Hut, Domino's, Godfather's

- Steak — Bonanza, Ponderosa — Seafood — Long John Silver's

- Chicken — KFC, Church's, Boston Market, Kenny Roger's, Popeye's

- Sandwich — Subway

- Mexican — Taco Bell, El Torito

In some of the world's major cities, where space is expensive, stand-up restaurants open where busy office workers can eat a quick meal. Also found in many major cities is «$1 Chinese Fast Food (no MSG)», where patrons select menu items and receive small portions for one dollar. This is relatively quick and easy for the kitchen staff, because they can prepare a large serving of a particular dish, put it on low heat, and portion it out as necessary. For the customers, it is fast and affordable because they can have a taste of three or four different dishes for a cost of $3 or $4 with rice and noodles usually included free.

Many QSR chains are targeting international growth, mostly in the larger cities in a variety of countries.