For many students at the Emirates Academy of Hospitality Management, the food and beverage component is the most daunting task of their entire year’s course.
Charged with planning, costing and executing their own menu concept, they are required to identify a target demographic, design a full three-course menu, and keep thorough records of all costs, profit and loss.
Split into two competing groups, the module culminates in a real-life restaurant opening where the students prepare and serve their menus to the public in an ambience of their own design.
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Getting a taste of the harsh hours and punishing conditions of a functioning F&B outlet inevitably puts many of the students off the idea of the F&B world according to course director, Michael Kitts. But it makes those who are passionate about the industry all the more determined.
Caterer went down to the Academy to see what the F&B industry’s future were serving up.
Where are they now?
Past students who have since entered the business review what they learnt from the course
“My favourite part of the course was the recipe costing and menu engineering. Working as an assistant outlet manager now, it has helped me a great deal to understand the importance of this particular segment.
We had to put a lot of effort into this as it is vital for any restaurant to be consistent with the menu and managing costs at all times. It took a lot of research, reading and practice to get it right.
Taking the course made me learn a very valuable lesson: a year before I joined the Emirates Academy of Hospitality Management I was about to open a restaurant in Spain.
This was a very basic and simple Tapas bar and we were 90% ready with menu, recipes, staffing and so on. Due to some financial changes at the end we did not pull the concept through and we finally decided to stop the idea.
Taking into consideration all the details that we learnt during our F&B course, I must say that I am delighted that this did not go ahead. I learnt how you really open a restaurant from scratch, and I doubt that we would have survived if the restaurant had gone ahead back then.”
Max Rauch, assistant restaurant manager, Al Hambra, Al Qasr
“My favourite part of the course was the fact it included all aspects of planning, opening and running a successful restaurant concept. Even though we did not go into great detail in some of the areas, such as finance and marketing, we still got a general understanding of factors that have to be considered in ordered to successfully launch a new restaurant.
“I found that the most challenging part of the course was to work under immense time pressure. We had three weeks to come up with the idea, develop the concept, organise logistics of the operations and then for one week to run our restaurant.
This course was definitely the most demanding course at Emirates Academy of Hospitality Management but it was also the course I, by far, enjoyed the most.
“One of the lessons I learnt that I can now take into my job are how to work in a team with colleagues from various different backgrounds and varying experience levels. I learnt that different team members react differently to certain situations and need to be managed in different ways. I also learnt the importance of delegating, especially under immense time pressure.”
Sten Von Kuhn, assistant restaurant manager, The Ivy
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