Food & Beverage (Type of Restaurant)

Casual Dining

Characteristic

• This type of restaurant has a relaxing and friendly atmosphere, moderate food pricing and table services.
• Casual dining restaurant is between fast casual and fine dining restaurant. These kinds of restaurants have a large alcohol menu, which includes different type of beers and wines with sidebar and bar staff.
• The portion size is usually large. Unlike fast-food and fast-casual restaurants, casual-dining restaurants don’t use disposable cutlery.
• They are frequently, but not necessarily, part of a wider chain, particularly in the United States. In Italy, such casual restaurants are often called “trattoria” and are usually independently owned and operated.

Advantage of Casual Dining

• Saves time 
• Fast 
• Cost Efficient
• Nutrition information is easily accessed by nutrition label in menu

Disadvantage of Casual Dining

• Choice of portion size cannot be predetermined
• Some ingredients can be annoying yo guests
• High in fat and energy 
• Allows little recipe modification

Examples

TGI Fridays

Morganfield

Fast Food Restaurant

Characteristic

• The fast food sector is one of the sectors of the food service industry.
• Quick service- food and beverages need to be served very quickly. There should not be too much waiting to serve products.
• Ease of access- fast food outlets should be easily accessible.
• Flexibility- fast food outlets should be ready to accept returns or any customer request to change what they have already bought.

Advantage of Fast Food Restaurant

• Fast Food is Convenient

Food served is within reach. A few walk from your home or office. They are everywhere and available anytime of the day.

• Fast Food chains offer on the go Meals

We are in modern times where everything is fast moving and mobile. So people prefer foods eaten while doing their stuffs, like while working, driving or watching movie.

• Fast Food chains are very Accessible

Fast food joints are very accessible, you can find them everywhere, in the city, and even in the provinces has fast food restaurants; so everybody can have the chance to enjoy these foods.

• Fast Food chains offer Comfort food

Fast food menu items satisfy our cravings and palates with no struggle in preparation, cooking and serving. These restaurants aim to provide delicious meals so that their customers will keep on coming back.

• Fast Food chains are Budget-friendly

If you are living alone, it is most likely that you will buy your meals from fast food. Some would think it’s cheaper to buy food because most fast food chains offer different meals that would fit within your budget.

Disadvantage of Fast Food Restaurant

• Fast Food chains serve twice the recommended serving for an individual

They serve more than the required quantity for one person usually they are good for sharing. But to persons with bigger appetite it encourages them to eat more and turn out to be obese which links to other diseases. Obesity is a medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have an adverse effect on health, leading to reduced life expectancy and/or increased health problems.

• Fast Food menu items are high in Fat

Most fast food items are usually cooked in fat like French Fries and Donuts, which makes these foods calorie dense. Eating such can lead to undesirable weight gain and many other health issues.

• Fast Food menu items contain food additives and preservatives

Most fast food items have food additives and preservatives which can cause cell damage and may lead to certain types of cancer if taken in excessive amount or frequently.

• Fast Food menu items are high in Sugar.

Desserts like ice cream, cakes and pastries are packed with sugar that if taken in large amounts can cause elevated blood sugar that may lead to diabetes.

• Fast Food menu items are high in Sodium.

These include pizza, fries and chips that if taken in excessive amount could lead to cardiovascular and kidney disease. It is because these foods are known to contain very high sodium content from the added salt and other preservatives.

Examples

McDonald's

Burger King

Michelin-starred Restaurants

Characteristics

• Michelin awards 0 to 3 stars on the basis of the anonymous reviews. 
• The reviewers concentrate on the quality, mastery of technique, personality and consistency of the food, in making the reviews.
• They do not look at the interior decor, table setting, or service quality in awarding stars, though the guide shows forks and spoons which describes how fancy or casual a restaurant may be. 
• One star: A good place to stop on your journey, indicating a very good restaurant in its category, offering cuisine prepared to a consistently high standard.
• Two stars: A restaurant worth a detour, indicating excellent cuisine and skillfully and carefully crafted dishes of outstanding quality
• Three stars: A restaurant worth a special journey, indicating exceptional cuisine where diners eat extremely well, often superbly. Distinctive dishes are precisely executed, using superlative ingredients.

Advantage of Michelin-starred Restaurants

• Well-known
• Improvement of service standard

Disadvantage of Michelin-starred Restaurants

• Dealing with influx of customers and high expectation
• Prices will go up when a restaurant receive a Michelin star.

Examples

Restaurant Gordon Ramsay London (3 Michelin Stars)

Restaurant Andre Singapore (2 Michelin Stars)

Nobu Kuala Lumpur (1 Michelin Star)

Cafe

Characteristics

• Small restaurants serving hot beverages such as coffee and tea. 
• They also sell light meals such as sandwiches and cake.
• The seating should be plentiful but comfortable. All the seats should be comfortable and not rocky. 
• Little tables or not, small place and relaxing environment 

Advantages of Cafe

• Comfortable atmoshepre
• Relaxing environment

Disadvantages of Cafe

• Limited choice of food
• There is little or no table service
• Their distinguishing feature is that they allow customers to relax and socialize on their premises for long periods of time without pressure to leave promptly after eating.

Examples

Starbucks

The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf

Food Truck

Characteristics

• A vehicle equipped with cooking appliances that offers food

Advantages of Food Truck

• Low investment cost
• Lower operational costs
• Avoid payroll, property and other taxes
• Easier to operate
• Easier to maintain

Disadvantages of Food Truck

• Hard work
• Not a get rich quick business
• Rainy day will be low demand
• Dealing with public

Examples

Coffee Rescue Food Truck (Penang)

Cake Time Food Truck (Penang)

Pop-up Restaurant

Characteristics

• Pop-up restaurants are temporary restaurants hosted in various spaces, such as existing restaurants, bars, abandoned arcades, bowling alleys, theaters, or even chef's homes. 
• These restaurants often operate from a private home, former factory or similar space, and during festivals.

Advantages of Pop-up Restaurant

• Ability to test a new restaurant concept or menu, as well as evaluate current skills and techniques, before investing further
• Lower startup costs, including less overhead and labor
• Opportunity for culinary creativity
• Extra marketing power and built-in audience if “popping up” at an already existing  venue
• Option to test different pricing methods, such as flat ticket prices or prix fixe menus for rare dining experiences
• Flexibility in location and ability to move from city to city with similar concepts or menus

Disadvantages of Pop-up Restaurant

• Must be willing to operate with limited resources or equipment and/or in unfamiliar territory
• Challenging food and labor costs to control, and can be difficult to turn a profit despite potentially higher check averages
• May be difficult to create repeat customers if only opening occasional pop-ups
• Heavy reliance on public relations, community building, social media and marketing

Examples

Smallman Galley (Pittsburgh)

Singer's Significant Meats (Washington, D.C.)

Restaurant Buffet

Characteristics

• These characterize a breakfast, launch or dinner where guests serve themselves from various types of food displayed on counters or tables.
• The buffet is offered in various places, especially in restaurants hotels. It typically features a menu according to the formula of “all you can eat” at a pre-fixed price.

Advantages of Restaurant Buffet

• Less labour, space and tableware required
• Profitable as many served in shorter span of time
• Variety of foods and cuisines featured
• Expedient service convenient to diners
• Gives wider choice to diners
• Creates informal, friendly atmosphere
• Control possible with use of portioning with proper ladles and assisted service
• Scope for imaginative visual presentation of food and venue based on theme, live stations

Disadvantages of Restaurant Buffet

• Wastage, both in plates and in chaffing dishes increasing food cost
• Temperature and appearance of food difficult to maintain in the buffet line
• Delay in replenishment affects service quality
• Possibility of pilferage and underutilized leftovers
• Service is not very personalized
• Not appropriate style for formal occasions

Examples

Buffet in Shangri-La Rasa Sayang Resort Penang 

Buffet in The Wembley Penang

Bistros 

Characteristics

• Small, intimate, low-key. 
• They are often family-owned — monsieur cooks while madame runs the dining room and keeps an eye on the cash register, in most cases, though the reverse is sometimes seen, too — and at least in theory moderately priced.
• Organ meats (calf's liver, pig's feet, sweetbreads, etc.) are basic to the bistro menu, as are small steaks and roasted chicken, and such homey fare as pâtés and terrines, boeuf bourguignonne, coq au vin, pot au feu, and hachis Parmentier (the French version of cottage or shepherd's pie). 
• The vegetables of choice are pommes frites, white beans, and lentils. Minor wines flow freely.
• Bistros must turn their tables over to make a profit. 
• A Bistro would have a chef and an assistant. A waiter would be expected to serve food and drink to around thirty covers (seats) and turn them over once or twice a night. The owner would look after the bar and the cash.

Advantages of Bistros

• They offer simple, inexpensive meals in pleasant surroundings with competent waiters bustling around. 
• Service is fast and prices are low. 

Disadvantages of Bistros

• Low-key restaurant
• Small space

Examples

Kenny Hills Bistro (Kuala Lumpur)

New World Bistro Bar (New York)

Brassiere 

Characteristics

• The word itself is French for "brewery," and the original brasseries were either attached to beer-making facilities or were owned by them and specialized in the beer they produced. 
•  A small restaurant serving beer and wine as well as food. 
• They are usually quite large with long opening hours and serve food throughout the day. 
• Large, open, noisy places; their menus are typically long, and, whatever else they may offer, there are nearly always oysters, soup, and choucroute — and of course beer.
•  A brasserie would employ a chef and four assistants for approximately two hundred customers a day. A waiter would serve similar numbers to his compatriot in a bistro and there would be a barman and a maitre d’hotel overseeing the seating and service.
• Traditionally many of the dishes are plated in the room. 

Advantages of Brassiere

• Service is rapid from overworked waiters dressed in black and white. 
• They have a varied and well priced menu. 

Disadvantages of Brassiere

• A brasserie is a pleasurable place to visit but not a major culinary experience. They are used in a number of ways, for lunch, for a drink, for dinner and for supper.
• Noisy environment

Examples

Brasserie Parisian (Macau)

Brasserie Flo (Paris)

Fine Dining

Characteristics

• Expensive and leisurely
• Very low turnover
• Customers are mostly from special occasions and business
• Food presentation very important
• Extensive, expensive wine list

Advantages of Fine Dining

• Personalized service
• Serving high quality food
• Good restaurant ambience

Disadvantage of Fine Dining

• Expensive
• High rent
• Low turnover

Examples

Cantaloupe at Troika Sky Dining (Kuala Lumpur)

Farquhar Mansion (Penang)

Theme Restaurant

Characteristics

• Built around an idea emphasizing 
• Glamorize sports, travel, eras in time
• Celebrities are central to many theme restaurants (some are owners)
• Categories into - Hollywood & the movies, sports & sporting events, time-the good old days, travel-trains, planes & steamships and ecology & the world around us.

Advantages of Theme Restaurant

• Do well outside major tourist attractions
• Unique 

Disadvantages of Theme Restaurant

• Short life cycle compared to other types of popular restaurants
• The cost of most of the large theme restaurants is high, both in capital costs and in operations
• Most of the profits come from merchandise not food sales
• Locals tire of the hype when food is often poor

Examples

Pokemon Theme Cafe (Japan)

Harry Potter Theme Cafe (Singapore)

Chef-Owners

Characteristics

• Part of American tradition of family restaurants
• Publicity is key in gaining attention
• One of the best-known husband-and-wife culinary team is Wolfgang Puck & Barbara Lazaroff

Advantages of Chef-Owners

• Having an experienced, high motivated person in charge
• Name often already known & synonymous with great food
• Can be very profitable

Disadvantages of Chef-Owners

• Chefs often less knowledgeable about "the numbers"
• Can often make more money working as a chef in a name restaurant
• Location and other factors are just as important for success as food preparation & presentation

Examples

Gordan Ramsay's Restaurant (London)

Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill (Las Vegas)

Ethnic Restaurant

Characteristics

• One that serves the food of a specific ethnicity of people 
• i.e. Mexican, Italian, Chinese, Indian and etc.

Advantages of Ethnic Restaurant

• Can experience the uniqueness of ethnic food

Disadvantages of Ethnic Restaurant

• There might a little of people not interest of the food
• High cost to build as need to find the specialist ethnic decor and utensil.

Examples

Little Saigon (Penang)

Italiannies (Penang)

Steak Houses

Characteristics

• A restaurant that specializes in steaks and chops.
• Modern steakhouses can also offer other cuts of meat such as poultry, roast prime rib, veal, and seafood.
• Majority of customers are men
• Separate into two level of operation which are high-end operations and low-end operations
• High-end operations
• May have sales of $5 million or more per year
• Serve well-aged beef
• High percentage of wine & hard liquor sales
• Low-end operations
• Sales of $500,000 or less per year
• Beer & moderately priced wine

Advantages of Steak Houses

• Service ranges from walk-up to high end
• Profitable
• Low labor costs

Disadvantages of Steak Houses

• Limited menu caters to a well-identified
• High food costs

Examples

Carnevino (Las Vegas)

The Ship (Penang)