How to Make a Mojito Cocktail

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Guilt Free Desserts

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Dark chocolate & orange cake

A dense, dark and devilishly delicious cake, this will be gone before you know it Ingredients 1 Seville orange a little melted butter , for greasing 100g plain chocolate , broken into pieces 3 eggs 280g caster sugar 240ml sunflower oil 25g cocoa powder 250g plain flour 1½ tsp baking powder orange candied peel , to decorate FOR THE CHOCOLATE GANACHE 200g plain chocolate , broken into pieces 225ml double cream Cuts into 10 slices Preparation and cooking times Prep 40 mins Cook 1 hr 30 mins Plus cooling time 1.Pierce the orange with a skewer (right through). Cook in boiling water for 30 minutes until soft. Whizz the whole orange in a food processor until smooth; let cool. 2. Preheat the oven to 180C/gas 4/fan 160C.Grease and line the base of a 23cm/9in round cake tin. Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water or in the microwave for 2 minutes on High, stirring after 1 minute. Let cool. 3. In a large bowl, lightly beat the eggs, sugar and oil. Gradually beat in the puréed orange, discarding any pips, then stir in the cooled melted chocolate. Sift in the cocoa, flour and baking powder. Mix well and pour into the tin. Bake in the centre of the oven for 55 minutes, or until the cake springs back when lightly pressed in the middle. (Check after 45 minutes and cover with foil if it is browning too much.) Allow to cool for 10 minutes in the tin, then turn out on to a wire rack to cool completely. 4. Make the chocolate ganache: put the chocolate into a heatproof bowl. Bring the cream to the boil and pour over the chocolate. Leave for 2 minutes, then stir until smooth. Set aside until firm enough to spread over the cake - up to 1½ hours. 5. Transfer the cake to a serving plate. Using a palette knife, swirl the ganache over the top. Decorate with strips of candied orange peel. http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1356/dark-chocolate-and-orange-cake

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Customer Service - Communication!

Communication is a huge part in everyone lives. Communication is the activity of exchanging information or news; communication requires a sender, a message and an intended recipient.

There are lots of different types of communication used in the hospitality industry. The most common way to communicate is to speak verbally, everyone does this daily. Verbal communication includes face-to-face communication and on the telephone and this kind of communication is used to exceed customers’ requirements such as; meet and greets and complaints. Companies are most likely going to have standards when it comes to answering phone calls, for example; you have to answer before 3 set rings and companies are probably going to have a set speech to say on the phone. For example if a customer is making a complaint they would do this either on the telephone or face-to-face so verbal communication is key in this industry. However a customer could complain online, comment cards or in an email, this would then be non-verbal communication. When replying to a complaint via email or letter it is very important that the letter has correct punctuation that you proof read everything and you use clear formal language.       

Posters, leaflets and advertisement is vital in the hospitality industry, known as one way communication because you are not getting a reply/comment back, this type of communication is telling the customers that their needs and requirements can be met. Advantages of one-way communication are that the sender decides what information goes into the advertisement and what information doesn’t. When using a poster, menu, leaflet you need to make sure that you use clear, formal language and that you proof read what you are delivering to the customers, also make sure there are no marks or stains on what’s being sent out. The company that is producing an advertising poster can leave out all the bad parts about their deal/product and can put all the bad parts on/in to the poster. Another advantage of one way communication is that you (as the sender) don’t have to wait for replies and you certainly don’t have to worry about opinions of the customers. However like advertisements on the phone, one way communication can be easily ignored so if you were to have a conversation on the phone (two way communication) it will most likely work and improve your business.
When customers make a booking it is essential that you have the correct information. A booking now would usually be done online or on the telephone it would be rare that a customer would book with the face to face communication used. Communication is going to be used all the time with customers, because it’s the only way to find out information. It is important that the customer’s requirements are always met, without communication the world wouldn’t work.  It is important that correct confirmations and information are sent out as soon as possible, with correct language and no spelling mistakes. Also, all information on booking forms must be correct.
Many customers have specific needs and need to make this information clear to the staff, this is done verbally or non-verbally in a two way communication process.

Going through a typical day in the hospitality industry you would need to take and make phone calls, reply to emails and deal with customer’s compliments and needs – all of this is dealt through communication.

Staff should be trained in communication, presentation and teamwork techniques because it appears day to day situations for example – taking a customers booking, or working as a team to set a table for the customer to eat. Some people have the natural ability to work as a team and communicate thoroughly but it may not come naturally for other people, so training is vital for all staff members.

Know Hospitality Classifications Systems

Classification systems are in place to rate hospitality establishment on services, facilities, value for money, accommodation, cuisine and overall experience. Its purpose is to rank establishments and provide this information to the public. There are six classification systems that are highly recognised, these are: AA, Michelin, RAC, Tourist Board, Egon Ronay and Gault Millau. Although the AA, RAC and the tourist board team up to rate establishments.

Michelin Star

Michelin stars are awarded for food excellence in restaurants. The first Michelin star guide was published in France by Andre Michelin in 1900 and was aimed at motorists that needed to find meals and accommodation in France. Michelin stars are awarded to few restaurants and in 2004 in the UK and Ireland only three restaurants were awarded a three star rating.

Michelin inspectors visit the establishment anonymously and rate them on a three category basis known as Michelin stars. A 3 star rating means ‘Exceptional cuisine worth a special journey’. A 2 star rating means ‘excellent cooking, worth a detour’. A 1 star rating means ‘a very good restaurant in its category’. An additional fourth category ‘Forks and Knifes’ gives a rating to all the other restaurants listed in the Michelin Guide. One fork and knife meaning ‘quite comfortable restaurant’ five fork and knife meaning ‘luxurious restaurant’.

Michelin inspectors rate the restaurant on five different categories: Quality of the products, mastery of flavour and cooking, and the ‘personality’ of the cuisine, value for money and the consistency between visits.

The British Tourist Authority

The English tourist board, AA and the RAC team up to inspect and rate the quality of hotels and rate them on star and diamond ratings. The ratings are then presented by the British tourist authority. The star rating is used with hotels with restaurants and the diamond rating is used to rate accommodation without a restaurant such as small hotels, B&BS and guesthouses.

A one star rating means ‘practical accommodation with a limited range of facilities and service but high standards of cleanliness throughout, it will have a restaurant or eating area. 75% of all rooms will have en-suite or private facilities. On the other end of the scale a five star rating means ‘A spacious, luxurious establishment offering the highest international quality of accommodation, facilities, services and cuisine. There will be a range of extra facilities. Staff will be professional, attentive and provide flawless guest services.

A one Diamond Rating means ‘ Accommodation offering acceptable overall level of quality, offering as a minimum  a full cooked or continental breakfast, other meals where provided will be freshly prepared.’ A four diamond star rating means ‘accommodation offering excellent overall level of quality in all areas, customer care and attention to detail evident in all areas’.

Egon Ronay
Egon Ronay was a Hungarian born food critic, he immigrated to London after World War 2 where he started to manage Princes restaurant in Piccadilly. There he built up contact with The Daily Telegraph where he later wrote a food column. In 1957 he published the first edition of Egon Ronay’s Guide to British Eateries and from then they became very popular making it a mark of distinction to be included in the guide. Restaurants now display blue sign that mentions the year they were mentioned in the guide. They are given a rating from one to five stars on the overall visit to the restaurant.

Egon ronay and his critics would not accept any free meals and would not allow restaurants to advertise in there guides, this ensures the impartiality of the guides. The critics visit the restaurants unannounced to ensure that no ‘special treatment’ is given.

Gault Millau

The guide was founded by two restaurant critics, Henri Gault and Christian Millau. They rates restaurants on a scale from 1 to 20, and this was purely on the quality of food and all comments about the atmosphere and service were separate. Restaurants that were below 10 hardly ever got listed in the guide and while the two critics were the authors of the guides no restaurant was awarded 20 points as the critics believed that perfection was impossible. Gault Millau does not accept payment for listing any restaurant as they believed if they did they would be biased.  

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