Determinants of Successful Outdoor Catering Operations

INTRODUCTION

Outdoor catering operations solicit many essentials i.e. experience, attitude, personality, aptitude, creativity and many more each enables the caterer to perform in given situation. Work Experience: The very first requirement in catering or food service industry is experience. Experience only enables the caterer to perform back-of-the-house or front-of-the-house, from preparation of the food to its service. Passion: Professionals are passionate, and when it comes about outdoor catering profession caterer need more of perfection and all-around professionalism. Passionate professionals love their work and live their life for profession. An Entrepreneurial Nature: Entrepreneurial trait is always required being an outdoor caterer. This trait itself describes the nature of a caterer, to be dedicated to their work and full of energy to spend extraordinary time to make their operations successful

o Bookkeeping skills and accounting o Learning is an endless practice o Knowledge of legal aspects of catering o Requirement of operational staff and knowledge of management of human resource o Caterers must be aware to implement their marketing strategies accordingly Ability to Plan, Organize, Execute, and Control: Four basic functions of management are planning, organizing, executing and controlling, in catering

Ability to communicate with customers and staff: Communication is an ability of caterer to attest the presence in the market. Listening and speaking with attentiveness and confidently respectively is key feature of good communication. Willingness to take calculated risks: Outdoor catering operations are always known for their risk. This business is not made for feather hearted, who afraid to enter into grey tasks. Sound body and mind: As discussed earlier outdoor catering operations solicits for long working hours that too without rest. Overburden of operations in seasons, movement from one site to another with heavy equipments and to perform within time creates immense pressure on caterers. Creativity: Capability of caterer to craft customer‘s vision into reality is inherent quality what they possess known as creativity. Presenting prophecy of menu, design, décor, look, feel, theme, service and ambiance into the world of recognition is a feature needed indeed in every caterer. Dependability: Delivering to the extent of expectation is a major requirement of every customer. Caterer has to serve the best, whatever the circumstances are, whether its customer fault, natural calamity or negligence of caterer. Open – Mindedness: Accepting the trends and incorporating due changes in the working style are always appreciated. Open – minded caterers remain updated and ready to learn about new trends, work styles, trending recipes and menus to prosper their business. Ability to meet the needs of customers: Its moral responsibility of every caterer to serve the customer as per the needs. Caterers have to identify the needs of the customers so that in their every act they may bestow to customer‘s preference. Ability to project a favorable image: Generally caterers are selected by the customers on the basis of their prevailing image and credit value in the market. This states that caterers have to sell them rather than their services.

operation.

Lack of communication often reports to misunderstanding and contributes to mismanagement in any of the operations. Outdoor catering is a specialized field which requires proper communication to conduct effective and efficient operations. ―Communication refers to the transmitter and the receiver, as well as the method of transmission‖. Message that has to be transmitted may be unclear or ambiguous. The recipient may understand or vise-e-versa, resulting in assumptions of the instructions, and the sender may be assured that the message delivered has been received and understood. In verbal communication only 30% of messages received are properly understood and rest 70% works on the assumption of the receiver, this is only experienced when the sender receives the feedback or operations are accomplished. Therefore it becomes an ultimate requirement to pass on detailed information before, during and after any outdoor catering operation, and especially at the time of handover of shifts. To comply with these situations, format is being generally used known as Function Planning. This is to record all the necessary requisite and requirements for the operations. When requirements are complex they should be written down, and caterer or organizations should encourage the deputed staff to make full use of logbooks, worksheets, and checklists etc. Verbal messages are also important but should be kept short, with due emphasis on the requirements at the beginning and should be repeated at the end to avoid any uncertainty. As done in other fields logical questions should be encouraged to evade assumptions and to raise opportunities for better outcomes of outdoor catering operations.

Knowledge is one of the most concerned areas for any of the organization. As one cannot fly an Aircraft without proper training and qualification similarly offering satisfactory services to the guest in outdoor catering operations is not a cup of tea. That is why regularity aspects about the qualification and knowledge are enforced to strictly to meet the requirements. However, lack of knowledge i.e. specific knowledge and on-the-job experience may result in mishandling and Further it is important for employees to understand that professional development and continuing gaining the experience to update the knowledge is for most as knowledge may become out dated very quickly. Technical aspects and innovations in the industry must be brought into consideration for improved performance. Healthy communication with the experts of the industry could be good source of knowledge and this practice should be encouraged among all the staff members.

Outdoor catering operation is a field that requires constant teamwork among the staff to perform the operations to their utmost. Lack of communication could lead the organization to lack of teamwork too. All the employees and staff should sit at least for once and discuss all the aspects of the operations in deep i.e. who is responsible for what? Allocating the responsibility indirectly enforces the staff to communicate at least for successful organization of any event. This also generates the skills among the staff that are required to prove competence within catering staff. The key teamwork skills include: effective communication, leadership, trust building, followership, praise giving and motivation of self and others. An effective team can be created when the following necessary issues, as appropriate, are discussed, clarified, agreed, and understood by all team members: o A clearly defined and maintained aim, or goal(s) o Each team member‘s roles and responsibilities o Communication messages and methods o Limitations and boundaries o Emergency procedures o Individual expectations and concerns o What defines a successful outcome o Debriefing arrangements o Team dismissal arrangements o Opportunities for questions and clarification To improve the team‘s effectiveness caterer or the organization should select the team members with

Long working hours, away from family, no proper rest, sleepless nights and many more there could be many reasons for stress in outdoor catering operations. This all may happen because of lack of communication among employee – employee, employee – employer or employer – employer. There could be many types of stress. Typically in the outdoor catering business there are two distinct types - acute and chronic.

Whenever the employer or the employee suffer from stress due to persistent and long-term events, it means the threshold of reaction to demands and to hold work pressure is lowered. Thus at operations, catering staff may overreact, lose their patience inappropriately, too often and too easily. Visible signs in early stage of stress include some changes in moods and personality, errors in judgment, lack of concentration and poor memory. If it is considered individually staff may notice increase in fatigue and difficulty, as well as digestive problems. That is why, it is important to recognize these signs developing in caterer or its staff whether they are acute or chronic. If the situation is elongated for a longer period may cause low immune and susceptibility to infections, absence from work, illness and depression.

Caterer and the staff must be aware of all the recent trends, issues, challenges and should keep their acquaintance up-to-date, a word from wise should always welcomed. Working in this industry with an impression of knowing everything is biggest mistake, as an individual one cannot perform all the activities, one has to develop a belief that others are also has the sense of responsibility and can perform as per the requirement of the situation. Caterer should be aware of the result that may occur due to the course of action taken by the staff or own self.

the work, it also lends a hand to build valor to take challenge of being supervised by third person. Better communication, awareness, checklists and workplace procedures would definitely help in efficient and effective outdoor catering operations.

• Agility: This refers to the ability to change direction and it falls under the fitness category. The quicker and more controlled actions that are performed when changing directions, describes the better agility of outdoor caterer and its staff. Agility is needed for a range of different outdoor catering operations activities and situations such as: o when trying to work in a compact site/place where it is difficult to make space to walk even o when the single staff is working on different gas ranges o when the staff is moving towards one corner of the site and immediate call arises from another corner Consider a chef during operations. Agility is a common theme in invasion outdoor catering, where he has to pay attention on all the announcements and has to respond accordingly. Numerous orders are announced at once, they have to pick there one from the all and has to prepare the food item. • Flexibility: The range of motions performed at each joint throughout operations. The greater the range of motion, the better your flexibility. This can help increase the following: o your reach o the way your body moves (e.g. jugglers) • Power: This factor looks at explosive moments. The combination of authority and delegation produces a killer forceful factor which is One particular moment that requires power is when ever emergent decision has to be taken. The more powers during the operations help the caterer to take the decision on-site and off-site on behalf of host or for own operations.

• Reaction time: This factor looks at the body's ability to react to new trends and technology. The quicker someone reacts, the better their performance. Below are a few situations in which fast reaction time is required: o reacting to the immediate orders during operations o reacting to a newly introduced technology to accomplish operations In the immediate orders, serving time is lesser as in comparison to regular orders because the preparation time is so short, reacting quickly for a good start is vital. There is little time to recover from a slow start. Reaction time plays a crucial role when new technology is been introduced during the operations, as employees need to learn and work then and there only to get out the best results. • Accuracy: This factor is important for all the outdoor caterers as the main is to achieve the success; it looks at control over all the movements in outdoor catering operations particularly unidirectional, or at a particular target. Accuracy has its biggest impact during the complex unfavorable situations or in challenging operations. If the operation ends well accurately and correctly hitting its intended target, the outcome is the greatest achievement for the caterer adding credit points in their profile. • Consistency: This factor looks at the ability of caterer to execute skills successfully over a period of time i.e. performing as per the standards in different outdoor catering operations. The more you progress along the motor stages of learning, the more consistent you will become. This is because you have performed will allow for high standards to be achieved throughout a performance. However, if you have a bad day, skill performance can be inconsistent and can lead to simple mistakes occurring.

• Delay: This factor is brought into consideration, when we need to involve all the participants into the operations. This is been done by slowing down the pace of operations and let wait for others support and association. It is mainly used when operations are been convened in their regular speed and are continuously happening, then there is a need to take a break or slow down the pace so that who all are left behind or tired during the operations may cope-up with the speed and rejuvenate themselves. Delaying the operations can be used in both offensive and defensive situations and is often influenced by being aware of what is around you. These all things may be managed by the caterer himself or may appoint the counselor to do so. Here are few points that may be considered o Slowing down the pace of operations o Taking a break from operations o Looking for new dimensions in operations o What your competitors are offering? o Plan new offerings o Understanding the needs of customer

For example, stretching and expansion in the outdoor catering operation implies to the range of operations that are performed by the caterer i.e. form small to big and from low budget to higher budget. customer segments.

Municipal solid waste creates the environmental pollution. Household waste may affects the human life through air, water, foods of plant grown on the poisoned soil debris. Whereas outdoor catering wastes i.e. disposals cups, plastic glasses and bowls, thermoplastic plates and other similar products don‘t leave the soil and water of any use. Even on burning they effect the air and the residues when enter the soil, chemical compounds accumulate and leads to a gradual change in the chemical and physical properties of soil and the products grown, it also reduces the number of living organisms and impair fertility along with pollutants, often present in soil bacteria, helminthes eggs and other harmful organisms.

Natural hazards are naturally occurring physical phenomena caused either by rapid or slow onset events which can be as followed Geophysical (earthquakes, landslides, tsunamis and volcanic activity) Hydrological (avalanches and floods)

Meteorological (cyclones and storms/ wave surges) Biological (disease epidemics and insect/ animal plagues) Technological or man-made hazards (complex emergencies/ conflicts, famine, displaced populations, industrial accidents and transport accidents) These are those events that occur in or close to human settlements. This can include environmental degradation, pollution and accidents. Technological or man-made hazards (complex emergencies/conflicts, famine, displaced populations, industrial accidents and transport accidents) There are a range of challenges, such as climate change, unplanned-urbanization, under-development/poverty as well as the threat of pandemics, that will shape humanitarian assistance in the future. These aggravating factors will result in increased frequency, complexity and severity of disasters.

Outdoor catering operations are full of uncertainties i.e. risk of payments, whether conditions, scarcity of skilled staff, unavailability of resources and many more which always lead to doubtful demonstration of operations and caterer remains off sure of successful ending. Calculated and deliberated risks have to be taken by the caterer to make the operation occur; the rate of succession depends on the customer‘s acceptability and caterer‘s experience. It's not simply an issue of food and introduction and topic patterns. Chefs who are not wired to work together online through the Internet and email are passing up immense chances. The internet cooking referral administration, Leading Caterers of America (established by the book's co-writer Bill Hansen), gets 5 to 20 requests for every day from customer searching for providing food administrations across the nation, in Alaska, Hawaii, and incidentally abroad. Individuals do search for providing food on the web, and the organizations that lead the way have top notch sites and determinedly answer to messaged demands in an ideal way. Chefs need to start reacting to email correspondence at the earliest opportunity, just as giving messaged recommendations to those customers who like to work together through their PCs. Occasion organizers who book food providers for their customer love accepting messaged proposition, since they are anything but difficult to reorder into their own recommendations. In case you're not prone to work on the web, you're obsolete. and worse environment can make anyone dull and stressed.

Day by day exercises, for example, lively strolling, running, or other vigorous interests that expansion the beat rate. A few people deliberately take their psyches off work when they work out; for other people, the everyday walk or run is an opportunity to get their day intellectually sorted out.

1. David‘s Bridal, Inc. (2010, January 25). Bridal authority‘s ―what‘s on brides‘ minds‖ survey reveals couples tying the knot still cutting costs. PR Newswire. Retrieved from http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases-test/bridal-authoritys-whats-on-brides-minds-survey-reveals-couples-tying-the-knot-still-cutting-costs-82585612.html 2. Getz, D. (2009). Policy for sustainable and responsible festivals and events: Institutionalization of a new paradigm. Journal of Policy Research in Tourism, Leisure and Events, 1(1), 61–78. [Taylor & Francis Online] 3. Graci, S., & Dodds, R. (2008). Why go green? The business case for environmental commitment in the Canadian hotel industry. Anatolia: An International Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Research, 19(2), 251–270. 4. Introduction to Off-Premise Catering Management. Retrieved from 5. McMurray, S. (2013). The outdoor catering operations report: United States complete market report. Tucson, AZ: The Outdoor catering operations Report, Inc. Retrieved fromhttp://www.theweedingreport.com/wmdb/index.cfm?action=db.viewdetail&t=s⌈00&setloc=y 6. National Recycling Coalition. (2001). Green meetings policy. Retrieved from http://www.fs.fed.us/sustainableoperations/greenteamtoolkit/documents/NationalRecyclingCollolitionGreenMeetingsReference.pdf 7. Natural Resources Defense Council. (2012). Wasted: How America is losing up to 40 percent of its food from farm to fork to landfill. Retrieved from http://www.nrdc.org/food/wasted-food.asp 8. Neue, H. (1993). Methane emission from rice fields: Wetland rice fields may make a major contribution to global warming. BioScience, 43(7), 366–373. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] 9. Otnes, C. C., & Pleck, E. H. (2003). Cinderella dreams: The allure of the lavish outdoor catering operations.London, England: University of California Press, Ltd. [Crossref] 10. Phillips, C. (2010). Eco-friendly outdoor catering operationss. Outdoor catering operations Planning Institute. Roseville, CA: Lovegevity, Inc. Retrieved from http://www.outdoor catering operationsplanninginstitute.com/blog/category/outdoor catering operations-industry/outdoor catering operations-statistics-outdoor catering operations-industry/ 11. Rimmington, M., Carlton-Smith, J., & Hawkins, R. (2006). Corporate social responsibility and sustainable food procurement. British Food Journal, 108(10), 824–837. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] 12. Scheider, D., Grant, E., Halstead, C., Redman, K., Stuvick, L., & Brown, K. (2012). Collins College of Hospitality Management at Cal Poly Pomona University: Environmental impact inventory. Pomona, CA: Lyle Center for Regenerative Studies, California State Polytechnic University. Retrieved from http://www.csupomona.edu/˜collins/documents/EnvImpact.pdf doctoral thesis). Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia. 14. Stocker, T. F., Qin, D., Plattner, G.-K., Tignor, M., Allen, S. K., Boschung, J. . . . Midgley, P. M. (Eds.). (2013). Climate change 2013: The physical science basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the fifth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. New York: Cambridge University Press. 15. Watrous, M. (2013, May 24). Health, authenticity drive latest food trends. Food Business News. Kansas City, MO: Sosland Publishing Company. Retrieved from http://www.foodbusinessnews.net/articles/news_home/Consumer_Trends/2013/05/Health_authenticity_drive_late.aspx?ID=%7BE8BBC734-D36B-4FAD-BFA6-9DE8CF749EE0%7D&cck=1

Teaching Assistant, Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management, Bundelkhand University, Jhansi, UP pranav_bhargava2000@yahoo.com