ANCILLARY DEPARTMENT

                                                  ANCILLARY DEPARTMENT

In any establishment a guest’s first impression on entering the service area is of great importance. A guest can be won or lost on these impressions alone. There are many service areas behind the scene or what may be termed as back of the house which is required to be efficiently run, well organized, supervised and well stocked with appropriate equipments depending on the style of operation.

These service areas are usually between kitchen and the food service area. They are important areas in the make-up of the catering establishments acting as a link between kitchen and restaurants. These are also the meeting point for staffs of various sections as they carry out their duties and therefore there must be close liaison between the various members of staff and their respective departments.

In general, especially in large operations, five main back-of-the-house service areas can be identified:

1. Still room

2. Kitchen stewarding

3. Hot plate/ food pick up area

4. Linen room

5. Store

STILL ROOM/ PANTRY

The main function of the still room is to provide items of F&B required for the service of a meal and not created by any other major department like kitchen, patisserie, larder etc. Depending on the policy of the management and the volume of business at times it is supervised by a supervisor who may be a senior member of the f&b brigade.

When ordering goods from the main dry store, all requirements should be written on a requisition sheet in duplicate. The top copy goes to the store to be retained by the store-keeper after issuing the goods and the duplicate remains in the requisition book as a mean of checking the receipt of goods from the store by a member of the still room. The store keeper should not issue goods unless the still room supervisor or another person in authority has signed the requisition.

Equipments:

Following are the equipments required for proper storage, preparation and presentation of the food by the still room-

a. Refrigerator- storing butter, milk, fruit juice, cream and so on

b. Beverage vending machine- soft drink, tea, coffee etc.

c. Large double sink

d. Salamander or toaster

e. Bread slicing machine

f. Working table and cutting board

g. Ice maker

h. Storage cupboard for all dry goods held in stock and for such miscellaneous items as doilies, paper napkin, straw etc.

i. Gas range or induction plate

As a basic guide the following food items would normally be dispensed from the still room-

1. All non-alcoholic beverages including tea, coffee, soft drinks, chocolate drinks etc.

2. Preserves like jam, jelly, marmalade, honey, butter etc.

3. Various bread rolls like brioche, croissants

4. Various breakfast cereals like cornflakes, wheat flakes etc.

5. Pastries, gateaux, sandwich, boiled eggs are also dispensed

A proper control is very important for the items which are dispensed from the still room. Therefore all items should be issued either against a requisition from the service area or against a waiter’s check.

KITCHEN STEWARDING

The kitchen stewarding is basically divided into two areas:

a) Wash up area-

It is an important service area and should be ideally situated so that the brigade can work speedily and efficiently while passing from the food service area to the kitchen. The waiter should stack the trays of dirties correctly at the side board with all the same sized plates together and all the tableware stacked on one of the plates with the blades of the knives running under the arch of the forks. All glassware should be stacked on separate trays and taken to a separate wash up area. Wash up section should be the first place when the waiter enters the back area.

Hygiene is of utmost importance at the wash up area, as all sorts of germs can originate from here and can contaminate the food. This section is normally in the charge of the stewarding supervisor who may in turn have number of wash up boys as per need.

Dishwashing Methods:

There are two main methods used for dishwashing for foodservice operations-

Manual (tank) method-

The dirty crockery is placed in a tank of hot water containing a soap detergent solution.

After washing, these are placed in wire racks and dipped into a second sterilizing tank containing clean hot water detergent at a temperature of approximately 75˚C (179˚F). The racks are left for two minutes and then lifted out and the crockery left to drain. If sterilized in water at this temperature the crockery will dry by itself without the use of drying up cloths. This is more hygienic. After drying the crockery is stacked into piles of the correct size and placed on shelves until required for further use.

Dishwashing machine-

Used in larger establishments. Debris should be removed from the crockery before it is placed into the wire racks. The racks are then passed through the machine, the crockery being washed, rinsed and sterilized. Having passed through the machine the crockery is left to drain for two or three minutes and is then stacked and placed on shelves until required for further use.

b) Silver room/ plate room-

In larger establishments the silver room or the plate room, as it is sometimes known, is a separate service area controlled by the kitchen stewarding supervisor. They take care of all the silverwares and the china wares stored in the silver room and are also responsible for silver polishing. The silver room should hold the complete stock of silverware required by the different department to meet the day to day requirements along with a surplus stock in case of emergency.

While stacking, large silver ware, like salver, flat platter etc. should be stored on shelves. When stacking heavier items should go on the shelves lower down and smaller and lighter items on the shelves higher up to prevent accidents. Flatware and cutlery should be kept in drawers lined with baize cloth to prevent them from moving about in the drawer and getting scratched or marked.

         FOOD PICK UP AREA

This may be regarded as the meeting point between the food service staff and food preparation staff. It is very essential to ensure that there is an active cooperation and good relation between the staffs of these two areas. The aboyeur or the barker is in charge and controls the food pick up area during the service period. The aboyeur also controls the off board which tells the waiter immediately if any dish is off. It should be sited in a prominent position for all to see. The aboyeur receives the KOT from the waiter and places the order on the KOT to the respective kitchen area. He also helps the waiter to pick up the food.

Many a times all the crockery and hollow-ware are placed below the hot plate for easy meal service. The hot plate is operated electrically.

LINEN ROOM

It keeps a stock of various linen used in the restaurant/outlet. Example – table cloth, serviettes, guest napkin, slip cloth, baize etc.

Fresh linen is picked up by the restaurant staff in exchange of the soiled linen. Generally it is done once a day. But it might be more than once in case of coffee shop. A linen register is maintained on a daily basis for this purpose.

STORE

Store room is the area from where the F&B service staff requisite and receives items such as grocery and stationary that are required for smooth running of the day to day operation of the outlet.