Food Service Systems

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Food Service Systems

• Nancy Brenowitz, MS, RD

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Subsystems

• Menu planning
• Purchasing
• Storage
• Pre-preparation
• Production
• Holding

• Transportation
• Regeneration
• Service
• Dining
• Clearing
• Dishwashing
• Storage of leftovers

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Types of Foodservice Systems

• Vary with regard to
• Where food is prepared
• What types of food are purchases
• How foods are held and for how long
• Labor and equipment required
• Whether food is transported
• Most foodservice operations use more than one
  type of these systems

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Conventional (Cook to Serve)

• Many restaurants, cafeterias
• Foods are purchased, transformed into final
  products for service and held at serving
  temperature until served
• Production and service occur on same premises
• Many foods purchased raw/unfinished state,
  although some convenience items used
• Menu items prepared as close to service time as
  possible
• Traditionally has been the most widely used system

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Conventional (Cook to Serve)

• Advantages
• Food quality can be high (depends upon time
  heldusually only 1-2 hours)
• Any food can be produced if it can be held as
  serving temp for short time
• Disadvantages
• Less time flexibility
• More labor, unevenly distributed work load
• Limit to how long you can hold the food

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Commissary (Satellite)

• School systems, airline catering
• Foods are purchased and produced in large central
  production kitchen
• Delivered in bulk to satellite/remote serving
  areas for final production and service (frozen,
  chilled or hot)
• Most items completely prepared from raw state in
  central facility
• Best when large volumes are being prepared

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Commissary (Satellite)

• Advantages
• Cost savings from lower food cost and lack of
  equipment duplication
• Decreased labor costs
• Limited peaks and valley is work load
• Uniform products
• Do not have to cook at meal time

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Commissary (Satellite)

• Disadvantages
• Food safety is a concern (holding and
  transporting)
• Quality can deteriorate during holding some
  items dont hold well
• Reliable transportation method needed
• Requires a large kitchen does not pay for itself
  unless preparing large quantities

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Ready Prepared (Cook/Chill or Cook/Freeze)

• Many foodservice operations use along with others
• Foods are prepared on the premises and then
  chilled or frozen for later use
• May be chilled/frozen in bulk or in individual
  portions
• Chilled foods must be used within 102 days
  frozen foods can last up to several months
• Hot foods undergo two heating periods
  adjustments in cooking times

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Ready Prepared (Cook/Chill or Cook/Freeze)

• Advantages
• Workload is evened out can prepare foods during
  down time
• Variety may be increased with large inventory of
  chilled or frozen items
• Can transport food easier than hot
• Can hold foods for longer than hot

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Ready Prepared (Cook/Chill or Cook/Freeze)

• Disadvantages
• Large refrigerators/freezers needed (high energy
  costs)
• Food safety can be a problem
• Some foods do not freeze or chill well
• Quality may suffer during holding
• Freezer burn
• Textural changes
• Separation of emulsions
• Need reheating equipment
• If power goes out, a lot of food can be lost

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Convenience (Assembly-Serve)

• Already prepared foods are purchased and then
  assembled, heated and served
• No food production required
• Can be purchased in bulk or individual portions
• Convenience stores, fast foods, special diets in
  hospitals

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Convenience (Assembly-Serve)

• Advantages
• Less labor and less skilled labor needed
• Minimal investment in equipment
• Can purchase preportioned items for a la carte
  menu
• Portion control easier, less waste
• Mostly an advantage for small foodservices

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Convenience (Assembly-Serve)

• Disadvantages
• Menu items limited by market availability
• Food cost substantially higher
• Quality may not be equivalent to fresh
• A lot of freezer/refrigerator space needed

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Food Delivery Systems

• Centralized Delivery-Service System
• Prepared foods portioned and assembled for
  individual meals at a central location in or
  adjacent to the main kitchen
• Completed orders then transported and distributed
  to the customers
• Fast food, restaurants, banquet services,
  hospitals, long-term care facilities
• Close supervision, control of food quality and
  portion size, less labor required
• Span required for service can be excessively long

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Food Delivery Systems

• Decentralized Delivery-Service Systems
• Bulk quantities of prepared foods sent hot or
  cold to serving galleys or ward kitchens located
  throughout the facility
• Reheating, portioning and meal assembly take
  place in remote locations
• Dishes returned to central kitchen for washing
• Facilities where there is a great distance
  between the kitchen and the consumer
• Foods travel better in bulk than plated
• Large hospitals, medical centers, school
  districts, hotels

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Choosing a Distribution System

• Type of foodservice system
• Kind of foodservice organization
• Size and physical layout of facility
• Style of service
• Skill level of available personnel
• Economic factors
• Quality standard to food safety
• Timing required for meal service
• Space requirements
• Energy usage

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Kind of Food Service Organization

• Number of people?
• How quickly do they need to be served?
• Groups served?
• In what environment?

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Size and Layout of Facility

• High rise or low and highly spread out
• Elevators, conveyor belts
• Equipment available in different areas

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Style of Service

• Self-service
• Guest carry own food from place of display to a
  dining area
• Cafeteria style
• Traditional employees are stationed behind
  counter to serve guests and encourage them with
  the selections may be straight line, parallel,
  zigzag or U shaped customers follow each other
• Hollow square, free flow or scramble system
  separate sections of counter provided for various
  menu groups provides speed and flexibility

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Style of Service

• Machine Vended
• Often contracted to outside company to keep
  machines filled
• Drinks, snacks, sandwiches, microwave items,
  frozen foods
• Supplement to other styles of service
• Buffet
• Numerous options, eye appeal important
• Foods should hold up well with long sitting time

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Style of Service

• Drive Thru Pick-Up
• Tray Service
• Airlines, hospitals, nursing homes
• Delivered to floor pantry by foodservice or
  directly to patient
• Need cooperation between foodservice and nursing
  quality and food safety issues
• Many hospitals turning to style more like
  restaurant service

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Wait Service

• American service
• Host or hostess greets and seats
• Servers take orders and serve to customers
• Each plate prepared individually for each
  customer
• Busers may help with dish removal and checker
  makes sure food taken to customer corresponds
  with order
• Plates transported by cart, by hand or on trays
• All guests at one table served before proceeding
  to next table

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Wait Service

• French service
• Portions of food brought to dining room on
  serving platter and chief server completes at
  table (carving, boning, making a sauce) while
  another server delivers plates to customers
• Russian
• Food completely prepared and portioned in the
  kitchen
• Adequate number of servings for each person at
  table placed on serving platter, served to
  individuals at table
• Banquets

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Economic Factors

• Different amounts of labor and equipment needed
  for various types of service
• Cost of inputs and outputs
• Transporting foods can be expensive
• Duplicating equipment can be expensive

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Food Safety

• Managing time/temperature relationship
• Can you meet standards to temperatures with
  current equipment or should new be purchased?
• How long will delivery take?

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Timing Required for Meal Service

• Does everyone need to be served at once?
• Banquet, school foodservice,
• What is acceptable time span?
• 1-2 hours
• Hospitals, staggered lunch periods

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Meal Delivery Systems

• Paper menus
• Paperless
• Bedside Entry System
• Roomservice

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How is Food Actually Delivered to Patients?

• Heated cart
• Covered plates
• Divided trays
• Heated surface under plate, covered
• Variety of systems and costs
• Quality can be a problem with all

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Delivery Service Equipment

• Fixed or Built In
• Planned when facility is built
• Automated car transport or monorail
• Alternative if power failure
• Elevators, manual or power driven conveyors,
  dumbwaiters

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Delivery Service Equipment

• Mobile
• Delivery trucks for off premises
• Movable carts for on premises
• Heated/Refrigerated
• Portable
• Pans with lids
• Hand carriers

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Delivery Service Equipment

• Pellet Disc
• Metal disc is preheated and at mealtime is placed
  in a metal base
• Individual portions of food plated and placed
  over the base and covered
• Keeps the meal at serving temp for 40-45 minutes

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Delivery Service Equipment

• Insulated Trays with Insulated Covers
• Dished put on tray and covered
• Trays generally stack
• Designed to create synergism, when stacked
  properly the hot and cold sections work together
  to maintain the proper temperatures
• No special carts are needed
• Some foods hold heat better than others
• Ex. Beef stew better than green beans