Учебное пособие Санкт-Петербург 2010

flavour the particular taste of a food or drink
peculiar strange, unfamiliar and a little surprising

Unit 12. Additional Services

- catering
- banquet
- business meeting catering
- room service

1. 
   Reading. Read the following text and answer the questions:
   

No location is so remote or circumstance so special that a catering service cannot provide it with food and drink. Sometimes the food is prepared in one place and served in another; sometimes it is the staff that moves, both preparing and serving in a place apart from the caterer’s headquarters. The events may range from weddings to cookouts, from banquets to birthday parties; the food may range from specialty items to complete meals; the service may range from home delivery to butlers and bartenders.

The simplest kind of catering involves preparation of a specialty food item, perhaps a fancy dessert or a national specialty. The customers are often individuals and restaurants sometimes use specialty caterers, particularly for confectionery items. This kind of catering is often done at home by
people who have a special cooking skill, for example, in baking and decorating cakes.
Another kind of catering involves the preparation of complete meals but
does not provide a service staff, for example , Airline catering which provides a range of food from sandwiches to complete hot meals. The food is prepared in kitchens operated by the caterer, delivered to the airplane prior to its departure, then served by the airplane’s flight service crew. It sometimes arrives frozen or chilled and may be heated in ovens in the galley.
Similar service is offered by caterers in institutions. Many institutions now find it cheaper to buy complete frozen meals from a caterer than to operate a restaurant or cafeteria with their own staff.
Another group of caterers cooks in their own kitchens and serve at the customer’s choice of place, or cook and serve on the customer’s premises
including a picnic or cookout.
Many hotels offer special foodservice to attract conventions and banquets,
they often have a special kitchen and staff to prepare and serve banquets.
Banquet waiters require special skills. They must serve large numbers of
people in a short period of time. In many cases they work on a part-time basis. Their tips are not paid by individual diners but are included as part of the fee negotiated between the hotel and the sponsoring group.
Providing meals and drinks in the guests’ rooms is another service extended by most hotels. Room service is ordered by telephone from a menu in each room. The menu in some cases is the same as the one for the hotel dining room, but more often it is simplified for easier preparation and service. In large hotels the special employees take the telephone orders and
the special staff delivers the food. To minimize calls for room service, hotels now install minibars in the rooms and vending machines in the hallways.


Vocabulary

fee гонорар

galley кухня на борту судна
premises помещение

1. Name some special events for which people use catering services.

2. What is the simplest kind of catering? What types of food may be
prepared by such caterers?
3. What is involved in catering for airlines?
4. Why do so many institutions now find it cheaper to use catering
services?
5. What must banquet waiters do? How are their tips paid?
6. Why do many hotels now have vending machines? Why do they
have minibars?

2.