The Non-Commercial Food Service Manager's Handbook: A Complete Guide for Hospitals, Nursing Homes, Military, Prisons, Schools, And Churches With Companion CD-ROM

All of us have memories of eating at a hospital or at a school and thinking, "Wow! This food tastes great!" Good food that is not served at a restaurant tends to stand out in our minds because the standard of service has become so low in most hospitals, schools and nursing homes. In reality, good or bad food is a direct result of the manager of the kitchen. They are responsible for every aspect of the meal, including the planning, the sanitation, the bills, the look of the dining room, and everything in between. The purpose of this book is to show managers that it is very possible to serve great food on any budget. There is a fascinating history at the beginning of the book, explaining about chuck wagons and the food accommodations in old jails. It makes you realize how much better our schools, our prisons and our military personnel are fed. Interesting case studies are interspersed through out the book, giving you a real-world prospective on how certain things are handled. My first thought on reading the book was that it was going to be full of recipes and accounting. That is extremely far from the truth. This book definitely covers accountings and gives some recipe ideas, but it also goes so far as to explain how to choose the right computer and gives some reviews on some computer programs that the authors believe a manager would find helpful. There is even a trouble-shooting guide for when your baked goods do not turn out the way you expected them to! One amazing asset to this book is the cd-rom that goes with it. It is filled with all sorts of forms, from applications for prospective personnel to cafeteria surveys. The cd-rom makes it easy to print and copy, making following through with some of the ideas ridiculously easy. The chapter on food handling and sanitation procedures is extremely thorough. In this day and age, making sure that everything is sanitized properly is a necessity, and the authors do not let the reader down. They even explain how to correctly wash your hands! Everything is handled in this thorough book, and is written in a very easy to read way. The book keeps the momentum going so that the reader does not feel as if they are going to fall asleep in the middle of the chapter about effective menu planning and pricing. All in all this is an amazingly thorough and well-written book. I only wish the cafeteria manager at my college had read it when I was there!

The food industry is something that is increasingly under scrutiny for new legislation whether on the type of food served, or the conditions under which it's prepared. Anyone who is taking on a management role in a non-commercial establishment such as in a nursing home, or is perhaps considering setting up their own catering business supplying food for companies will find this is THE book that will not only get their business up and running, but will do so in such a way that it should run smoothly and successfully. The book is a comprehensive guide to the non-commercial food industry. It covers everything from the basics of what a non-commercial food service is, right through how to set up accounts, the kind of equipment you should have, how to hire employees, statutes you must adhere to, marketing and so on. Everything you could possibly need to know in order to run a non-commercial food service is right at your finger tips. Everything is set out in a logical manner so that you can either read it right through before even starting your business, or use it as a reference guide to dip into when you need to know something once you are established. At over 600 pages, it's quite a hefty book, but the style of writing flows easily and the print is eye-friendly so that the amount of pages and sheer volume of material presented in it isn't as off-putting as it could be! Accompanying the book is a CD that contains the forms presented in the book in a ready to use format. This makes the book not only a great reference manual for the industry, but also a hands-on guide to get either started, or better organized in your business. There would be a lot more people with the confidence to start up their own businesses if there were more "how to" manuals like this one!

This book covers all areas you may need to run your operation and then some. It includes everything from menu planning and the proper equipment needed to marketing, how to hire good employees and how to handle inspectors. No aspect is missed. No matter what area you are concentrating on, it is covered in this book. From colleges and churches to prisons and nursing homes. It even includes a history lesson on the non-commercial food service industry. Being able to know these little facts will impress clients and vendors. The authors even advise on programs to look for when purchasing a computer to run your operation and how to design an attractive Web site. It's a step by step guide for someone just starting out in the industry. The authors clearly break down the many, many aspects of the operation. Even offering advice on how to spice up the menu (roast beef becomes succulent roast beef with Au Jus and peaches become yellow cling peach slices. Although the size of the book may seem overwhelming at first, it's less intimidating when you realize that about half of it is useful charts and forms. All are extremely detailed and helpful. Most you will want to copy or tweak a bit and use. You will probably want to take notes or have a highlighter handy while reading this book.