Food and Beverage Management (HOSP2005)

Each individual should prepare a maximum 3,000-word reflective essay. In this reflective essay, you are asked to identify critical learning event(s) that actually happened during your experience at a restaurant. You then analyse the most significant of these events using a four-stage analysis. The reading list below will provide you with various theoretical foundations. You are required to choose TWO articles from the reading lists presented below to prepare a reflective essay. You are also required to cite the articles of your choice (APA style) in your essay.

In this reflective journal, you are expected to analyse the event(s) in the following four-stage:

• Situation: What actually happened to you?
• Affect: What was its impact on you as a customer? 
• Interpretation: Why do you think the restaurant acted that way? Which article provides the theoretical underpinnings of the event/s?
• Suggestion: What would you recommend to the restaurant to improve the situation? 

1. Situation

Choose one (or more if you want) critical learning event that seemed the most significant during your past experience at a restaurant. It doesn't have to be something positive; we often learn more from negative experiences. At this stage, write what actually happened. Events or incidents will vary in complexity and depth.

2. Affect

Think about the event and how it affected you as a customer. This could be positive or negative. You may have felt frustrated, confused, angry, elated, relieved or something else. Elaborate on why you felt so.

3. Interpretation

Think about and then explain in what ways the event(s) either confirm/s or contract//s the theoretical underpinnings of the articles you chose. This is where a theory meets reality.

4. Suggestion

There is no point in learning something if you don't apply it in the future. So what suggestion/s do you make to help the restaurant and/or theory in the future? What can the restaurant do better in the future? You can choose an additional article from the list to support your suggestion.

READING LIST FOR THIS ASSIGNMENT (Pick any TWO)

• Berenguer, G., Gil, I., & Ruiz, M. E. (2009). Do upscale restaurant owners use wine lists as a differentiation strategy. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 28(1), 86-95.
• Kim, J.-Y., Natter, M., & Spann, M. (2009). Pay what you want: A new participative pricing mechanism. Journal of Marketing, 73(1), 44-58.
• Hwang, J., & Lambert, C. U. (2009). The Use of Acceptable Customer Waiting Times for Capacity Management in a Multistage Restaurant. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, 33(4), 547-561.
• Kimes, S. E. (2011). The future of distribution management in the restaurant industry. Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management, 10(2), 189-194.
• Ma, E., Qu, H., & Njite, D. (2011). U.S. customer perceptions toward Chinese restaurant service quality: An importance and performance approach. Journal of Foodservice Business Research, 14(3), 290-308.
• Yang, S. S. (2012). Eye movements on restaurant menus: A revisitation on gaze motion and consumer scanpaths. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 31(3), 1021-1029.
• Heung, V., & Gu, T. (2012). Inuence of restaurant atmospherics on patron satisfaction and behavioral intentions. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 31(4), 1167-1177.
• Guéguen, N., & Jacob, C. (2012). Lipstick and tipping behavior: When red lipstick enhance waitresses tips. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 31(4), 1333-1335.
• Bruwer, J., & Rawbone-Viljoen, C. (2013). BYOB as a risk-reduction strategy (RRS) for wine consumers in the Australian on-premise foodservice sector: Exploratory insights. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 32, 21-30.
• Heo, C. Y., Lee, S., Mattila, A., & Hu, C. (2013). Restaurant revenue management: Do perceived capacity scarcity and price differences matter? International Journal of Hospitality Management, 35, 316-326.
• Wansink, B., & Love, K. (2014). Slim by design: Menu strategies for promoting high-margin, healthy foods. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 42, 137-143.
• Thompson, G. M. (2015). An evaluation of rules for assigning tables to walk-in parties in restaurants. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 56(1), 91-105.
• Yepes, M. F. (2015). Mobile tablet menus: attractiveness and impact of nutrition labeling formats on millennials’ food choices. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 56(1), 58-67.
• Magnini, V. P ., & Kim, S. (2016). The inuences of restaurant menu font style, background color, and physical weight on consumers’ perceptions. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 53, 42-48.
• Han, S. J., Bonn, M. A., & Cho, M. (2016). The relationship between customer incivility, restaurant frontline service employee burnout and turnover intention. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 52, 97-106.
• Lee, A., & Kim, M-G. (2019). Effective electronic menu presentation: From the cognitive style and mental imagery perspectives. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 52, 97-106. https://doi.org/10/1016/j.ijhm.2019.102377.
• Lu, L., Zhang, P., & Zhang, T. (2021). Leveraging “human-likeness” of robotic service at restaurants. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 94, 102823. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2020.102823

GUIDELINES

• The restaurant experience that you will reflect on must be one that you had from an actual restaurant visit.
• You can reflect on two restaurant visits, applying one article per visit. In this case, you can structure your document using the four-stage format for each visit separately (two separate sections) or combine both experiences into a single four-stage analysis.

AI Statement:

This assessment task evaluates students' abilities, skills and knowledge without the aid of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) or Machine Translation (MT). Students are advised that the use of AI or MT technologies to develop responses is strictly prohibited and may constitute student misconduct under the Student Code of Conduct.

You are required to create a 15-minute presentation on restaurant operation and management. In this presentation, you are required to provide business advice to a restaurant (see Task 1 to know how to select a restaurant) by answering the following four (4) questions:

1. What areas are customers/reviewers most satisfied with? 
2. What areas are customers/reviewers least satisfied with?
3. How do you evaluate the restaurant and how does your evaluation differ or align with online reviews?
4. What business advice would you give to the restaurant owner?

In order to complete this assignment, the following tasks are suggested:

Task 1. Restaurant choice

To complete this assignment, you are required to purposely visit and dine at a restaurant listed on Google Maps with at least 50 reviews (Google Restaurant Reviews). You are required to attach at least one photo of the restaurant that you personally took. You cannot select the same restaurant that you reflected on for the first assignment.

Task 2. Description of the restaurant

Reflecting the topics covered throughout the semester, you are expected to describe the restaurant of choice and its management/operation in detail (e.g., target market, concept, F&B menu type, service style, marketing and so forth). Make proper references to the matching topic/s (e.g., target market from Lecture Topic 2).

Task 3. Online review analysis

Use this analysis to answer the first two questions regarding the areas that customers are most and least satisfied with. While Google highlights key areas in its reviews, avoid simply copying and pasting them. Instead, present your findings in a format that the audience (e.g., teaching team) can easily understand. Ideally, you should complete the analysis before visiting the restaurant. You are also required to explain your dataset (e.g., how many reviews) and how you analysed it.

Task 4. Performance evaluation and analysis

Taking Systems approach, assess the restaurant's performance based on your own experience. Additionally, the DINESERV template can be used for this task. This task will help you to answer the third question.

Task 5. Business advice

To answer the last question, you are required to provide feasible recommendations to the restaurant owner. Your business advice should reflect what you have learnt throughout the semester and should be feasible. "Feasible" means that your advice is financially and practically executable. 

Task 6. Presentation

Based on what you found from Tasks 1 to 5, prepare a 15-minute PowerPoint Slide show. In the presentation slides, you are expected to 

• Answer the four questions (by completing 6 tasks); and
• Incorporate the topics discussed throughout the semester into your presentation, making proper references to the matching topic/s (e.g., Lecture Topic 2). The more key topics you reflect on, the stronger your presentation will be.

SUBMISSION FORMAT:

• This assignment does not require a live presentation. Instead, you will create a 15-minute (maximum) PowerPoint slide show with video on (as you would present it to a 'live' audience). If you are unfamiliar with recording a slide show with narration, click HERE. The presentation assignment requires recording your physical appearance and voice (narration).
• You will need to submit one (1) MS PowerPoint file. While you may want to submit a video file (e.g., mp4), uploading a video file to Blackboard tends to take longer and may result in submission failure. Thus, avoid submitting a video file or a large file.
• Please be reminded that the file submission will take time. It will take longer especially when you submit the file right before the closing time. Without extension approval, any file submission after the due will incur late submission penalty. Thus, plan ahead.  
• The PowerPoint Slide show file needs to be submitted electronically to Blackboard by the due date. If the file you submitted is not playable on the web, don't worry as the teaching team will download the files onto their computers. You will be safe as long as you keep the submission record.
• Please ensure that you keep the submission record. The teaching team will mark the file submitted to the system (whether it is an incomplete or wrong file). As the marks of this assignment will not be available to you before the semester grade release date, you must ensure that your submit the correct file on time to avoid any unnecessary penalties.  

NOTE: The restaurant must be one that you have purposely visited (and dined in) for this assignment. Consequently, you are required to include at least one photo that you have personally taken (not downloaded from the web) during your visit in your presentation.

AI Statement:

This assessment task evaluates students' abilities, skills and knowledge without the aid of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) or Machine Translation (MT). Students are advised that the use of AI or MT technologies to develop responses is strictly prohibited and may constitute student misconduct under the Student Code of Conduct.