Journal of Hotel and Business Management
Open Access

Integral Role of Ambience in the Growth of Fine Dining Restaurants

Dipak Kumar Choudhury^{* *}Correspondence: Dipak Kumar Choudhury, Department of Hotel Management, IIAS School of Management, West Bengal, India, Tel: 7797743385, Email:

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Introduction

Importance and USP

"Restaurant identity is denoted by its art, decor and equipment. The creation of the right ambience is dependent on the right choice of decor, furnishing and equipment. These together plays a role in making up the customers' mind. The shape of the outlet, design, color, furniture, layout, linen, tableware, small equipment and glassware, everything should harmonize with each other to give a balanced experience. Better results can always be obtained by having better equipment quality and aesthetic designs as they increase the efficiency of the staff and interest of its guests by all means. Selection of such equipment is generally determined by considering factors like:

• Type of establishment.
• Location of the establishment.
• Type of clientele.
• Type of service.
• Availability of funds.

Criteria required for selecting and purchasing equipment for new opening restaurant: At the same time, we should always consider the following points while purchasing the equipment for any food and beverage service outlet.

Clientele: The clientele to be served by the outlet plays a significant role in selecting the equipment to be purchased. The business class or elite class customers would like to have equal emphasis on the interiors, decor and theme as on availability of food and beverage items. Such setups stress upon providing high quality service to its clients by using special equipment like gueridon trolley, etc. thereby increasing the menu price whereas a customer going for a midmarket or a budgeted outlet would be more interested in getting the food at more reasonable and competitive prices rather than going in for quality service.

Description

Location: The location of the establishment directly affects the profile of clientele and service styles, which is reflected on the quality of equipment to be purchased. For e.g. a downtown restaurant, mainly serving the office going crowd, would like to go ahead with the melamine plates, stainless steel flatware and glassware, use of paper napkins amongst others so as to make the service quick, fast and reliable with high volume sales.

Style of service: Choice of equipment also depends upon the style of service offered in the restaurant. In case of up market segment, the service styles involves the usage of high quality tableware, flatware and chinaware along with the use of special equipment like carving trolley, flambé trolley and other associated tools whereas service style of buffet service will involve usage of other types of equipment but at the same time, it will be able to serve more customers in the same timeframe.

Investment: Availability of cash and funds with the promoter influences the choice of selection of equipment. Specialized equipment's along with fine quality chinaware, EPNS cutlery, crystal glassware, heavy furniture, fine quality linen and other such equipment's will always be a heavy investment in the initial stage of establishment as compared to cheaper options like stainless steel hollowware and melamine tableware.

Maintenance cost: Costs involved in the maintenance of the equipment is another factor to be considered while purchasing because many a time an equipment might look very good and useful in the beginning but might become a spoiler in terms of cost involved in maintenance like cutlery and hollowware of EPNS as it needs to be polished at regular intervals making it more costlier in long run. Or cutlery with more designs and engraving/embossing requires high cost of maintenance.

Efficiency and durability: The equipment to be purchased should be a low cost affair and should be efficient while working. The equipment should be able to meet out the requirements and at the same time should be durable in long run. Ultimately, it should be able to solve the purpose for which it was procured.

Replacements: In case of defects, malfunctioning, or breakages, it should be easy for the purchaser to find the replacement without having trouble. The companies and suppliers of repute ensure the availability of products in long run thus making it easier to replace the shortcomings with the equipment of same design and pattern. It will be point of concern, if the product goes out of market and the promoter fails to get the replacements, thus forcing him to invest heavily again.

Meal type: The meal on offer also plays a vital role in selection of equipment as we require different types of equipment for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Also if the establishment is open for all three meals then the cutlery, crockery, glassware and hollowware will have a wider range. Requirements for beverages and snacks will also differ.

Menu on offer: Even if the restaurateur has been able to clearly decide about the meals to be offered in the food and beverage establishments, the equipment's will vary depending upon the dishes enlisted in the menu card. We require different types of equipment's like thalis and katoris for Indian menu where as we may require chopsticks and forks for Chinese menu or we require knife and fork for continental dishes. Equipment's like joint knife and fork or fish knife and fork will not be required for a vegetarian restaurant. Equipment like glass bowls and casseroles will be very."

Conclusion

It is imperative the due to the nature of business and the perpetual need of standard quality restaurants everyone does visit restaurants to fulfill their physiological as well as psychological needs. This has led to manifold demand of trained manpower in this field. To meet this growing demand the vast gap is fed by supply of professionally trained and educated manpower for this trade. This gives them an edge over others.