Faculty of Tourism
Food and Beverage Service Management
Au Lac Survey and Analysis
I. Operation and Theme:
1. Current operation, theme:
Au Lac House is a restaurant that belongs to Au Lac brand in
Hanoi. Beside Au Lac House, there is also Au Lac Café on Ly Thai To
Street. Being different from Au Lac Café, Au Lac House focus on
serving foods as a restaurant. The main cuisines here are Vietnamese,
especially northern foods. This restaurant is one of the fine dining
restaurants in Hanoi. The target market is Western customers, the rest
includes Japanese, Singaporean and Vietnamese … Au Lac House’s
theme is inspired by the French architecture in the combination with
Vietnamese way of decoration. It makes the restaurant an antique and
unique style comparing to other restaurants in Hanoi.
2. Location and guests:
Located in the central of Hanoi, Au Lac House has many
advantages to attract guests and promote the restaurant itself. This
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Faculty of Tourism
Food and Beverage Service Management
Au Lac Survey and Analysis
restaurant is on 13th Tran Hung Dao Street, Hoan Kiem District. It is not
too far from Hoan Kiem Lake and it is quite near some luxury hotels like
Sofitel Metropole, Hilton Opera, Melia … It takes only five to ten
minutes from those hotels to come to Au Lac House, it must be a point of
vantage if the tour companies or tourists consider several restaurants.
Besides, there are some companies and office buildings nearby the
restaurant. Therefore, if these companies need a place to negotiate and
discuss with their customers or partnership, Au Lac House may be a
reasonable choice. Although Au Lac House is located in the central of
the capital, it doesn’t mean that the street in front is noisy and polluted
by the motorbikes and cars. The place where Au Lac stands is really
quite and the restaurant can guarantee that any guest at any moment will
not be annoyed by the city life.
3. Decoration, color skim, lighting, music, atmosphere:
During the French domination in Hanoi, they had built a lot of
villas in the city, a lot of them were on Tran Hung Dao Street. That’s the
reason why they call this area “Hanoi’s French Quarter”. Au Lac House
is not an exception, this restaurant was a villa before being a restaurant
nowadays. The villa was built in the 1930s by French people who had a
very good taste in architecture. Au Lac House owner didn’t change
anything from inside to outside in order to keep the classical style for the
restaurant. From outside, it is an 2 storey villa which was painted white
and the second storey has a wide balcony. As the French built up this
house, they arranged the interior completely following up the French
style. So they could feel that they were in their house in France. In every
room, there is an old fashioned heater which aims to warm up the
atmosphere and the people all over the room. That makes the guests feel
cozy while they are having their meal with others. Inside the first storey,
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Faculty of Tourism
Food and Beverage Service Management
Au Lac Survey and Analysis
they made 2 places to store wines, one is a small room and one is the
stairway side.
Although the restaurant is an French inspired house, it still shows
the Vietnamese soul inside. The owner decorated his restaurant with
many Vietnamese artworks. In each room, there are always 3 or 4
pictures which exhibit the Vietnamese people and their daily life from a
long time ago. The wall inside the house was also painted white but
under the soft light from well positioned lighting equipments, it seems to
be light yellow. The purpose is to create a cozy atmosphere around each
room and in fact, the atmosphere of each room and the restaurant overall
is really warm and elegant. Besides artworks and light, Au Lac House
also uses music to entertain the customers. They doesn’t have live music,
so they use CD instead and put speakers in every room. The music is
often instrumental music, sometimes they play music with words but it is
simply ballad and really gentle.
The decoration, color, lighting, music in Au Lac House at any
moment always make the guests a warm feeling and truly relax.
4. Utensils, equipments, wares:
The utensils, equipments, wares that are being used in Au Lac
House are not so special. The most noticeable thing is that the bows,
dishes and some other things were printed with the restaurant logo on
them. That will impress the customers a lot. There are nothing made of
silver or gold glided. Everything is standard but no more. For a fine
dining restaurant, those things are not quite fit. The owner should invest
more money in order to improve the quality of service.
5. Employee: Uniform or costume:
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Faculty of Tourism
Food and Beverage Service Management
Au Lac Survey and Analysis
The employees in Au Lac House use different costume depending
on the different positions. The waiters, waitresses, cashiers wear white
shirt and black trousers. The supervisor of each division wear white shirt
and black trousers as well but the shirt must be stuck in the trousers. The
uniform in Au Lac House is suitable for the operation and very polite.
6. Foods and drinks:
As mentioned above, the foods in this restaurant are Vietnamese.
There are nothing but Vietnamese cuisine. It is a good thing that Au Lac
House focus on one kind of cuisine. But on the other side, this is not
flexible and not so fit with the theme. The drinks list and wines list are
excellent. There are many choices for customers. The prices for foods,
drinks and wines are reasonable for a fine dining restaurants
However, to improve the quality and quantity of foods, Au Lac
House should add some more kinds of Western cuisines, especially
French cuisine. That will definitely make the foods menu more fit with
the theme that is a combination of French style and Vietnamese style.
II. Layout and Design:
Au Lac restaurant has a romantic French architecture space.
Thanks to this architecture, Au Lac restaurant can attract many guests.
Specially, foreigners make up 80 %. They come from many countries in
the world such as: French, US, Australian, Japanese…Besides, there are
also a small number of Asian guests such as: Chinese, Singaporeans.
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Faculty of Tourism
Food and Beverage Service Management
Au Lac Survey and Analysis
This restaurant is divided in 2 areas by a small yard. First area is
the most important in the restaurant where you can enjoy a nice view and
it includes 2 floors. And the second area is located behind the first area
and includes kitchen and a large room.
The first area.
Guests can go on the first floor by two doors. And standing here,
they can see a bar, cashier area and a waiting area. The bar, cashier and
waiting area are separated by a beautiful flower vase. This floor is
decorated very well with the white wall, yellow blinds, and light
system… And specially, there are also nice pictures, small vase and a
fire place. The rest room is arranged behind a big wall.
Go up stair, this is the place that concentrated many tables to serve.
This second floor includes three rooms with different size: a big room
and two medium rooms. The big room is divided in two parts by
bamboo-plaited blinds. There are two tables for 6 people, one table for 3
people and three tables for 2 people. Big tables are laid in the centre of
this room and other tables are arranged near the 4 corners. With this
arrangement, the staff fell easier to go and serve guests.
Next to the big room, there is a VIP room with only table for 8
people. This room is decorated by pictures, flowers and 4 lights at the 4
corners. The atmosphere is quite and elegant. It is really suitable for the
business man to meet their partner.
Besides these rooms, there is also a medium room with two tables
for 5 people. This room has the same style with other rooms.
The second area.
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Faculty of Tourism
Food and Beverage Service Management
Au Lac Survey and Analysis
This area is smaller than the first one and includes a kitchen and a
room. The kitchen is not laid in restaurant. It is located behind the first
area. This is not convenient for staff to serve guests. Specially, when the
restaurant is crowded, it takes more time for staff to run from this area to
another one.
Next to kitchen, we come to the medium room which includes one
table for 8 people and 2 tables for 4 people.
Beside two main areas, there is also a large corridor with some
tables for 3 or 4 people. When guests choose these tables, they can fell
more comfortable. They can enjoy the fresh air by plans and flowers
which are laid near tables.
So there is a variety of seating arrangements in Au Lac restaurant.
There are around 22 tables. The number of tables for 3 and 4 people
make up 54,5%, table for 2 people is 18,2% and the number of tables for
5, 6, and 8 people make up 9,09%. With this arrangement, it is suitable
for target market of our restaurant. Because the customer often come in
groups of three and group of four. They are business man and they
choose our restaurant to invite their partner. Besides, in some special day
such as: Valentine and woman’s day, many customers come in pairs. So
18,2 % of tables for 2 people is suitable.
The area of this restaurant is 700 m2 with 22 tables. There is a lot of
free space for transfer. So both staff and guests fell more agreeable. The
staff can serve more fast while the customers can fell more comfortable
with private space.
There is no smoking and non smoking area in Au Lac restaurant.
This is disadvantages of our restaurant. Some guests do not fell
comfortable to smoke cigarette here.
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Faculty of Tourism
Food and Beverage Service Management
Au Lac Survey and Analysis
First floor
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Faculty of Tourism
Food and Beverage Service Management
Au Lac Survey and Analysis
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Faculty of Tourism
Food and Beverage Service Management
Au Lac Survey and Analysis
Second floor
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Faculty of Tourism
Food and Beverage Service Management
Au Lac Survey and Analysis
III. Kind of Service should offer:
In order to fit with the operation and theme, Au Lac House chooses
2 major kinds of service. They are Table service (English or Family
service, American or place service) (90%) and Buffet service (10%).
Whenever the guests come to restaurant having a reservation or not, they
will be warmly welcomed and served with the table service – a typical
type of Vietnamese cuisine. The staff have set up a bowl, chopsticks,
spoon, glasses of wine before them come. In this kind of service they put
all the fully prepared food on the platters or in big bowls. The guests
then serve themselves, taking the amount they desire with the friendly
help of staff. If the foreign guests can not use the chopsticks, the waiters
will replace by the knife and fork to make them convenience. Beside
that, staff here also follow place service type to serve the French foods
depended on what the guests demand and what food they order.
In some cases, guests make a reservation for a big group of tourists.
They want to experience themselves our specialties then the restaurant
can set a buffet on the second floor. Normally there is one or two waiters
serve them during the meal.
In our own opinion, these kinds of service are well suitable for the
small capacity here and match with the menu in Au Lac House.
The stationing in Au Lac House is not so clear at all. They divide in
to 2 connecting rooms and 1 VIP room on the second floor, 2 more
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Faculty of Tourism
Food and Beverage Service Management
Au Lac Survey and Analysis
terraces on the balcony of each floor and 1 room on the first floor.
Normally, the captain arranges 1 or 2 waiters who in charge of serving
about 20 to 24 guests in the first floor. 2 or 4 waiters working together in
the 2 connecting room and terrace, 1 to 2 others are responsible for VIP
room with 12 to 14 seats. Even though Au Lac House is a fine dining
restaurant with the luxurious furniture, elegance atmosphere…but the
captains do not fix staff for each table. They move and coordinate
professionally together by sharing skills and language, working
experiences, friendly behaviors…to provide the best service and comfort
to their guests. However, we also suggest adding more kinds of service
serving in the VIP room such as: Friend service and Russian service.
Choosing 1 or 2 skilled waiters first and training them how to finish food
in frond of guests, how to use fork and spoon for dividing portion for
each guest…. In our own opinion, it is one of the good ways to show the
high level and attract more high quality guest.
So, where the success of Au Lac House come from? Absolutely, it
comes from the staff system who were well trained in tourism school and
have own experiences in their work. It can be said that they play an
important role in Restaurant operation. There are total 40 people working
go after 3 shifts. Morning shift (a.m) is from 8am to 4am; Evening shift
(p.m) is from 3am to 11pm; Split (S.P) is from 10am to 2 pm and 6pm to
10pm.
Let’s see this table to have more idea about Au Lac House’s staff.
Position/
Quantity
Manager
(1)
Shift
Tasks
am sp pm
Skills
Operate and manage -Excellent
overall activities
English
- Experience
management
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in
Faculty of Tourism
Food and Beverage Service Management
Au Lac Survey and Analysis
Supervisors 1
(2)
1
- Receive reservation
- Deal complaints
- Account salary
- Report the business
result to Manager
Captains
(2)
1
1
Arrange
shift - Experience in
working
human resource,
- Check attendance
good English
- Help Supervisors
Cashiers
(2)
1
1
- Make bill for guests - Experience in
- Report revenue to accounting
Supervisors
- Honest, careful
Waiters
(10)
2
4
- Set up table
- Take order, serve
foods and beverages,
clear the table
2
Hostess
(1)
1
Chef
(1)
1
- Experience in
supervising,
excellent English
- Analysis and
solve problem
- Experience in
serving
F&B
professionally,
good English
Hardworking,
careful, working
independence or
team
- Welcome guests
- Good English
- Take guests to table Friendly,
and give menu
hardworking,
- Say goodbye to strong legs.
guests
-Manage
kitchen - Experience in the
operation
whole activities in
- Design menu
the kitchen.
- Arrange working
shift for Cooks
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Faculty of Tourism
Cooks
(14)
Food and Beverage Service Management
Au Lac Survey and Analysis
14
Cleaners
(4)
2
Security
(3)
1
1
- Cook the food for - Experience
guests and for staff
cooking
in
2
- Clean all
the Hardworking,
furniture, floors, …
cleanness
1
- Guarantee the safe of - Careful, strong,
guests, staff and their honest.
vehicles
IV. Menu:
1. Kind of food, number of items:
Food
: Classic Vietnamese Cuisine
Average price : VND150,000 to VND300,000
Au Lac House serves numerous Vietnamese dishes from across the
country.
Kind of food
Number
items
22
Soup and Appetizers
Khot
Ball
Cake
Hue’
style
Vegetables soup
Salad
9
13
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Faculty of Tourism
Food and Beverage Service Management
Au Lac Survey and Analysis
Mixed Seafood Salad
Squids, scallops, clams, abalone, sea cucumber
16
Deep- fried Squid served with Sweet and Sour
Saunce
Crab,
Frog,
Tortoise
Fried Frog with Garlic
Fish
16
16
Steamed fish
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Faculty of Tourism
Food and Beverage Service Management
Au Lac Survey and Analysis
Prawn and Lobster
16
Steamed Lobster with Garlic
Beef, Pork, Chicken,
Duck
24
Grilled Chicken with Chili Lemon Grass
Vegetables, Tofu and Vegeterian
19
Tofu vegetable soup
Boiling hot pot and Vietnamese soup
12
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Faculty of Tourism
Food and Beverage Service Management
Au Lac Survey and Analysis
Stir- fried Pumpkin Buds with Garlic
Noodles
and
rice
10
Stird – fried Egg Noodles with Vegetable
** Comment :
Au Lac House has menu of more than 150 dishes. It is not too many
dishes at the menu but it is so many dishes to each of them.
+ Advantage :
Dish : Wide variety dishes
Price : Not so expensive
Food : High recommended
+ Disadvantage :
Difficult to choice the best suitable dishes to each of guest.
You won't find cutting edge cuisine nor fabulous presentation here,
but nice food in lovely surroundings.
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Faculty of Tourism
Food and Beverage Service Management
Au Lac Survey and Analysis
It is possible to have a good meal for under VND175,000, a reasonable
price given the plush surroundings of Au Lac House
Drinks:
Wine list and all standard alcoholic drinks and juices, soft drinks,
tea and coffee. Beers: Heineken, Carlsberg, Hanoi, Tiger (bottle and
draught)
2. Menu design:
Design : Two – Panel Multi – Page menu
The menu (English as well as Vietnamese) is easy to navigate. But
menu doesn’t have description to each of dishes which makes guest
don’t understand what is dish ? ( because most guest are foreigner,
although has translate to English ). The menu is extensive, and a little bit
overwhelm
- Paper : yellow color, hard and shiny paper.
- Copy : Vn Arial, Size 14. It is really clear which makes guest
read menu easily.
- Headings : clear and has red color to identify courses. It is best to
keep menu names simple so that guests are not confused.
- Cover : leather ( Menu drink : black color, Menu wines and menu
food : brown color). It is really simply but so elegance and polite.
- Decoration : There are “ chim hac “ printed on the paper and
cover menu. It is really very beautiful and attractive. Menu has enough
white space. It makes easier for the guest to read.
* Profitable item : Area 1.
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Faculty of Tourism
Food and Beverage Service Management
Au Lac Survey and Analysis
Au Lac House decided to choice almost the most expensive price
food at the area 1. But not sure, the most expensive price food is the
most guest’s choice.
Arrangement of foods :
Menu do not follow the traditional courses. Menu includes :
1. Soup and Appetizers
2. Salad
3. Squids, scallops, clams, abalone, sea cucumber
4. Crab, Frog, Tortoise
5. Fish
6. Prawn and Lobster
7. Beef, Pork, Chicken, Duck
8. Vegetables, Tofu and Vegeterian
9. Boiling hot pot and Vietnamese soup
10.
Noodles and rice
11.
Dessert
DRINK MENU
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Faculty of Tourism
Food and Beverage Service Management
Au Lac Survey and Analysis
WINES LIST
FOOD
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MENU
Faculty of Tourism
Food and Beverage Service Management
Au Lac Survey and Analysis
Au Lac House is Fine dining restaurant
Food cost % about 18% .
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