HOTEL KITCHEN SECTIONS & PLANNING

The Hotel kitchen is the heart of the food service operation Food both raw and cooked are stored, prepared and plated for service It is designed accordingly and also depends upon the menu and task to be performed

HOTEL KITCHEN LAYOUT

Sub sections of hotel kitchen in every department are called work stations The success of the operation to a great extent lies on the planning and the layout. Work – Motion study. Time – Motion study and different aspects of management has to be taken into consideration for better productivity

Main Sections	Sub – Sections 1 Stations
Hot-foods section	Sauce /Grill/Fry section
	Roast section
	Fish section
	Soup station
	Vegetable section
Cold kitchen / Garde – Manger/ Larder	Hors d’oeuvre section
	Salad preparation
	Juice pantry
	Sandwich station
	Showpiece preparation
Bakery & Confectionery section	Mixing station
	Dough holding and proofing
	Dough rolling section
	Baking and cooling
	Dessert preparation
	Plating desserts section
Banquet section	Bulk cooking
	Dry heat cooking (roasting, broiling)
	Holding and Pick up section
Room Service kitchen	Grill station
	Fry station
	Hot Range section
Receiving Section	Weighing and checking
Wash Up (Pot/Plate)	Plate house & Pot Wash
Stores	Dry, Refrigerator and Deep freezer.

BASIC HOTEL KITCHEN LAYOUT – A SAMPLE

PREPARATION AREA SECTION OF HOTEL KITCHEN -THE MAIN KITCHEN :

This section of hotel kitchen area is the main hub of the hotel and the area where the foods are finished and garnished and served to the guest This area is the main production unit and has many sections or departments as demanded by the menu and the size of the operation. Foods of different cuisines are prepared here. For the better functioning of the main kitchen, it is sometimes divided into sub sections as mentioned before If a food service outlet is at a distance from the main kitchen the kitchen adjacent to this F&B outlet, away from the main kitchen is called a satellite kitchen Generally a Sous Chef is controls the operation of the satellite kitchen, but is responsible to the Executive Chef, who is generally stationed near the main kitchen. The roof top restaurant or the Pool Side Cafe’s are the common outlets with an adjacent satellite kitchen, which aims to serve the guests quicker and more efficiently, due to the proximity to the kitchen The waiter does not have to spend a lot of time for bringing in the food from the mam kitchen, thus food can be served quicker and at the desirable state to the guest During the planning of the hotel, this has to be kept into consideration, because everything revolves round the guest comfort.

The kitchen operation is only successful when the entire job is divided into smaller units With a division of manpower, greater productivity can be ascertained with a limited number of individuals. It has to be well understood that the bottom line for all organization is profit, which can be increased either by increasing the sales price or decreasing the overheads, keeping other factors constant In a competitive scenario increasing price may affect the total sales, thus all organizations are very careful in the efficient use of their manpower. To achieve the ultimate productivity, the kitchen is divided into different sections All these sections have their own function and job allocation is done according to the hierarchy of the section All hotels do not have the same divisions and the similar staffing The entire scenario changes according to the need and volume of business Few of the sections are mentioned below. These sections are very common in the elite cruise liners of today

SAUCE SECTION OF HOTEL KITCHEN :

The sauce section is responsible for providing all meat, poultry and game dishes with the exception of those that are roasted or grilled. All the meat dishes are cooked and garnished here

ROAST SECTION OF HOTEL KITCHEN :

The roast section is responsible for providing all roast dishes of meat, poultry and game It is responsible for all grilled dishes of meat, chicken and fish, and this duty is often delegated to the grill cook. The section is also responsible for the preparation of a number of dishes and the deep frying of the food items

FISH SECTION OF HOTEL KITCHEN :

This section is responsible for the provision of all fish dishes with the exception of those that are plain, grilled or deep fried The cleaning, scaling, filleting, crumbling is done by the fishmonger

GARDE MANGER / LARDER / COLD KITCHEN :

The word larder has in professional kitchens a much wider significance it is generally referred as the cold kitchen or the cold section where mise – en- place is done All cold savoury items in the menu are prepared here. The larder is not simply a place where food is stored but a place where the raw materials for cooking are prepared and dressed In large establishments, the work is further divided into sections With the butchery being considered more as a separate entity, presently this section is hardly controlled by the Larder Chef The Butcher Chef or Head Butcher works in close liaison with all the sections, especially with the Roast Cook. Grill Cook. Curry Cook and the Larder Chef to provide the meat to them right on time.

1) Hors d’oeuvre & Salad section section : Section of the cold kitchen where salads, cold sauces and pre­plated cold starters are prepared

PANTRY SECTION OF HOTEL KITCHEN:

All juices and sandwiches are prepared and served from here This section is also considered as the service counter of the entire section This section is generally in the main kitchen and away from the cold room as because hot sandwiches like toasted and grilled options are also served from here

Butcher Shop / Butchery : Air conditioned pre – preparation room for boning, paring and cutting, where meats are cut according to specifications are prepared and portioned and sent to the main kitchen

SOUP SECTION OF HOTEL KITCHEN :

It is the responsibility of this section to prepare all varieties of soups All basic stocks are also prepared here The cold soups are prepared and passed to the larder for service.

COMMISERIE SECTION OF HOTEL KITCHEN:

Basically it is the mise-en-place zone of vegetables Various quantities of vegetables are peeled, cleaned and trimmed, refreshed and placed into the refrigerator by semi-skilled workers Mise-en-place is carried out according to menu requirements and supplied to the respective section of the kitchen

VEGETABLE SECTION OF HOTEL KITCHEN :

An entremets course in France was the responsibility of the vegetables, who skillfully prepared and cooked vegetables, which could be served as a separate course Vegetable garnishes are prepared here and given to other sections Italian pastas but not noodles are also prepared in this section Items like spaghetti, macaroni and rice may be sent to other sections for garnishes

INDIAN SECTION OF HOTEL KITCHEN :

This section is responsible for the preparation of all Indian dishes. The work is subdivided into subsections

such as: Hot Range : Vegetables, (bhajee. curries), rice, pulao. biryani, meat, Fish, etc are prepared here The banquet dishes can be prepared here too.

TANDOOR SECTION OF HOTEL KITCHEN :

Tandoori breads (bread, chappaties, puries, bhaturas, etc.), tandoor (seekh kababs, tandoor chicken, boti kababs) are prepared here.

HALWAI SECTION OF HOTEL KITCHEN :

Indian sweets (jalebis. rasgullas. rabri. etc.) of all variety are prepared here

PASTRY SECTION OF HOTEL KITCHEN:

The work of this section is normally separated from the main kitchen and is self-contained. The function of this section is to prepare hot and cold sweets, and pastries for tea-time and other occasions The department needs

workers with skill, imagination and experience. The department has two sub divisions:

CONFECTIONERY SECTION OF HOTEL KITCHEN :

The art of pastry includes work like coloured sugars to make flower baskets and similar decorative centre pieces, work with fondant and icing sugar, gum pastes, fashioning of praline into decorative objects

BAKERY SECTION OF HOTEL KITCHEN :

This section deals with all the baking and hot preparations It produces the sponge for the cakes and also prepares pastes like short and puff pastry, which are later assembled in Patisserie