CORE Foodservice’s Post

good experience in food and beverage service

The following is a portfolio of my time working as a barista in several food and beverage companies.

Happy Friday! I've talked to students recently on track to becoming a chef. This is wonderful news as we know there is a great need for culinary professionals. A question that pops up ALOT, is what are my options later on in my career if I decide to leave the restaurant/hospitality space, what can I do with my love for food and my culinary skills? Our answer, explore your options in food & beverage processing!! Become a corporate chef for an ingredients company OR...... (Please fill in the blank) What did you do afterwards? #foodprocessing #chef #baker #career FoodGrads CareersNOW!

My competence in beverage and food

“Do you need a certification to be a chocolate sommelier?” That’s the number 1 question I get in my DMs. My guess is, you’ve probably wondered the same thing, too 🤔 The short answer is no, I don’t have a chocolate sommelier certification… because it doesn’t exist. So why do I call myself a chocolate sommelier? I’m glad you asked 🤓 I used to refer to myself as a chocolate educator, until I realized there's a difference between having knowledge about chocolate and creating a thoughtful tasting experience. To me, this means: 🍫 Respecting the palate of each guest 🍫 Balancing knowledge with entertainment 🍫 Working within the constraints of an environment (sometimes, there’s no such thing as a palate cleanser) 🍫 Learning to pair chocolate with drinks like wine In the wine world, the term “sommelier” refers to any person in the service of wine in a hospitality environment 🍷 💡If you're knowledgeable about wine not serving wine, you're technically no longer a sommelier but a wine expert. Being a sommelier requires you to read your customers and translates their likes and dislikes into a wine suggestion they will enjoy. 💡Note that you can be called a sommelier without a certification, as long as you don't call yourself a certified sommelier. I started calling myself a chocolate sommelier after talking with my friend and colleague Sophia Rea of Projet Chocolat in Nashville. She explains her role as a chocolate sommelier as a steward of chocolate. 🍫She’s learned about the history and culture of chocolate. 🍫She carefully picks chocolate so her guests expand their chocolate horizons while staying respectful of everyone's palate. 🍫She’s very comfortable suggesting pairings to her audience to maximize the pleasure experienced during the event. That focus on the tasting attendee is, in my experience, what sets a chocolate sommelier apart from a chocolate educator. Ultimately, though, the proof is in the chocolate mousse. Delivering a delicious, memorable chocolate experience to YOU is what drives me to do what I do. Send me a DM to judge for yourself. — 👋🏼 I’m Estelle Tracy and I host fine chocolate tastings, both virtually all over the world and IRL in the Philadelphia area. 📧 Email me at [email protected] to book a virtual chocolate tasting for your team. 🍫 Follow me for insights on #beantobar #chocolate, #business and my #37chocolatesjourney.

Since the previous post garnered a warm reception, allow me to introduce myself as a dedicated professional barista aligned with the SCA standards. Drawing from my extensive experience as a cafe manager, I feel compelled to shed light on the core duties of a professional barista as outlined by the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA):Espresso Calibration: Fine-tuning the grind size, dose, and extraction time to achieve the desired flavor profile.Milk Frothing: Expertly steaming milk to attain the ideal temperature and texture for a variety of espresso-based beverages.Precision in Espresso Extraction: Pulling shots of espresso to exacting standards, focusing on dose, yield, and extraction time.Artisanal Drink Crafting: Skillfully preparing espresso-based concoctions like lattes, cappuccinos, and macchiatos to uphold superior quality.Equipment Upkeep: Consistently maintaining and sanitizing espresso machines and grinders to ensure peak performance and hygiene standards.For cafe proprietors, it's vital to recognize that hiring a professional barista transcends employing a mere general worker or personal waiter. If a barista's expertise allows you to forgo hiring additional servers, it's not just a cost-saving measure; it's a valuable contribution. Therefore, let's refrain from imposing undue pressure on our staff and instead focus on fostering a culture of excellence in coffee quality and service, enhancing both our team's experience and our customers' satisfaction.

1,Chef: Role: Primarily responsible for the preparation, cooking, and presentation of food in restaurants or other dining establishments. Skills: Requires culinary expertise, creativity in menu planning, knowledge of food safety and hygiene, and often leadership abilities if overseeing a kitchen team. Environment: Works in a kitchen setting, typically behind the scenes. 2,Bartender: Role: Mainly focuses on preparing and serving drinks in bars, pubs, or restaurants. Skills: Needs knowledge of various alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, mixology techniques, customer service, and often the ability to entertain or engage customers. Environment: Works directly with customers at the bar counter, creating a social and interactive atmosphere. Key Differences: Skills: Chefs emphasize culinary skills and menu creation, while bartenders focus on mixology and customer interaction. Work Environment: Chefs work in a kitchen, while bartenders work behind a bar. Customer Interaction: Bartenders often have more direct interaction with customers compared to chefs, who typically have limited interaction outside of the kitchen. Both roles require attention to detail, a passion for their craft, and the ability to work efficiently under pressure. The choice between becoming a chef or a bartender often depends on one's interests in cooking versus mixology, as well as preferences for work environment and customer interaction.

It is hard for a company to obtain all the performance in terms of productivity if it doesn’t have a good organization. 📈 In any hospitality business, it is impossible for the business to function properly if it is not well organized in the labor schedules. 🏢 The staff are our representatives to our clients! In order to cover the hours that our business is open, we have to implement rotating shifts. 🔄 You need to take note that your staff is the center of everything.✨ The first thing is to think about what are the needs of the personnel that we have in our hotel or restaurant. 🤔 If we want to provide a good service to our customers, our workers must be 100% motivated. 💯 Forbidden to do weekly shifts lightly! This means that they are not well planned and focused on the performance of the hospitality staff. 💡 Talk to your workers constantly and check if they are better off working in the morning, at night, in the afternoon… 🗣️🕗🌆 Within the possibilities, you always have to give them the best time and scheduling. It is true that sometimes you will not be able to satisfy them all but try to make it fair when some have to sacrifice, later it will be the turn of others. ⚖️ There are schedules that some workers will always want and that is why you will have to make them rotate: 🔄 One week for some at the desired schedule and another week for others.👨🍳💃 Always in balance so that there are no disputes and so that the entire team realizes that they have the same benefits and the same sacrifices in their work schedules. 🤝🤝 This will help you to have a good atmosphere between waiters, cooks, chefs, sous chefs, bartenders and all the staff of your business. 🥂 #chef #food #foodie #instafood #gastronomia #spain #restaurant #gourmet #cheflife #gastronomy #delicious #cooking #madrid #barcelona #instagood #restaurante #foodies #cocina #cook #foodphotography #españa #tasty #foodlover #healthyfood #comida #eat

Food & Beverage: A Practical Guide