For approximately the first half page, you need to describe the operation where you are working. This would include (as appropriate) some of the following information:
a. Description of the location and local trading area — who is their competition
b. For restaurants/food service operations: The number of seats, average number of covers served per day/meal, approximate dollar volume per week/month, food cost percentage, beverage cost percentage, labor cost percentage, number of employees, number of managers — as available to the student.
c. For lodging operations: The average number of rooms occupied per day/week/month, RevPar, ADR, number of rooms cleaned per housekeeper, number of guests per occupied room, approximate dollar volume per week/month — as available to the student. For the financial aspects, some managers may not want to share this information for proprietary reasons. Tell them that you don’t need exact figures but approximate figures. If they are still reluctant to provide this information, ask them what they would consider good performance figures for an operation their size and/or what their target goals are.
d. What are the typical problems they face in any given day?
e. What are the most critical problems they have to deal with on an ongoing basis?
f. Where do they have management jobs/opportunities in their organization?
g. What is their opinion of the restaurant/hotel/tourism industry as a place for employment and why?
h. What is their opinion of the future of the industry?
i. What are their typical daily responsibilities?
j. How many people do they supervise?
k. How many hours per week do they work?
l. What methods do they use to control costs?
m. Observe and evaluate the traffic flow throughout the organization — comment as appropriate
n. What do they like best about their job and why?
o. What do they like least about their job and why?
p. What personal characteristics and competencies should an individual have in order to make it in the hospitality industry?
