Assessing the food and beverage control management practices of selected catering establishments in Kumasi

Abstract

Effective food and beverage control management has been a major phenomenon that the Ghanaian catering and hospitality industries have overlooked throughout time. The study seeks to assess the food and beverage control management practices of selected catering establishments in Kumasi by examining the effectiveness of food and beverage control management practices, the challenges of control management practices and impact of challenges on effectiveness. The study employed the descriptive research design using the quantitative approach of data collection and analysis. Research questionnaire was the primary research instrumentation used in collecting data from a sampled size of 81 respondents which were randomly selected from different catering establishment in Kumasi. The study findings showed that the level of effectiveness of control management practices among catering establishments in Kumasi is on the average, especially at the storage stage, service stage, production stage and sales control stage. There are some factors that adversely affects the implementation of control management practices in catering establishments in Kumasi and the findings of this study identified some of these challenges to be perishability of products, business volume unpredictability, and then Operation Short Cycle. Although other factors such as menu mix unpredictability and departmentalization are present at catering establishments, they are not a major setback to control management practices. The last conclusion drawn is that, although rise in challenges leads to less effectiveness in food and beverage control management practices; in Kumasi particularly, the challenges besetting control management practices do not significantly affect or determine the effectiveness of the food and beverage sector’s control management practices. The study recommends that managers and other key staff improve their knowledge and skills on control management practices.