Qualitaly_118

AUG. SEP. 2020 XIII QUESTION OF THE DAY About restaurants What scares you about going to public places? Away from home you may be less relaxed. many ways have changed and surprises can be around the corner. Prices not very affordable 82% Don’t know 18% “Seeing people who don’t respect the rules of the pandemic.” Antonio QUESTION OF THE DAY About restaurants Are you still ordering food through home delivery? A habit that has taken over due to the lockdown, today cannot be undone. is food delivery still a trend? NO 73% YES 27% QUESTION OF THE DAY About restaurants Are you going on holiday this summer? If so, how will you organize your meals and why? At sea, in the mountains, at home. the habits of Italians go beyond snacking, picnics and adapt to new eating trends. NO 64% YES and we often ate a lot 24% YES and I went out as usual 5% AT PAGE 48 IN THE KITCHEN The buffet at the time of COVID The new regulations no longer admit the free buffet service, but for those who do not want to stop offering it, it is possible to adopt alternative solutions that allow better food cost control by Elena Consonni A counter equipped with every goodness, plates stacked in a corner, a bit of a queue to choose and customers who return to their table with often overflowing dishes. This scene, perhaps, will not be seen for a while in the food administration activities in Italy. In fact, the self-service buffet, as we know it, is no longer allowed by the regulations aimed at limiting the risk of spreading the Coronavirus. Instead, it is possible to organize a buffet service through administration by staff in charge, excluding the possibility for customers to touch the food on display and providing for the obligation to maintain distances and using the mask. The buffet is a mode that is widely used in different types of catering activities, at different times of the day. It starts in the morning, where the buffet is used in hotels (from the luxury chain to the farm holiday) to offer breakfast, with tables adorned with sweet and savoury products, bread and the possibility of serving water, fruit juices and sometimes even hot drinks. At lunch or dinner time the buffet is used in different forms. From the all- inclusive offer of the establishments which practice the formula “All you can eat”, to the partial proposal (appetizers, side dishes, desserts). At aperitif time the buffet is the protagonist of bars and clubs, which make it the heart of its proposal for the beginning of the evening. A ritual that has changed the habits of “eating out” for a varied target audience, often replacing the more traditional dinner at the restaurant. BUFFET, POSITIVES AND NEGATIVES (OK FROM CARCANGIU) The buffet is chosen by many activities both because customers like it and because it reduces staff costs, in the kitchen and in the dining room, but at the expense of control over food costs. “The free service buffet,” explains Roberto Carcangiu, educational coordinator of Congusto Gourmet Institute and president of the Professional Association of Italian Chefs, “is widely used because it allows to reduce personnel costs, both in the kitchen (because the preparation can be scheduled and therefore less staff required) and in the dining room (because table service is not necessary). On the other hand, it increases the food cost because the quantity of food to be prepared is less controllable and because customers tend to overdo it with portions. It also increases food wastage”. The ban on re-proposing the buffet in the traditional way can be seen as a way of revising this method of service, and perhaps optimising it, without making patrons lose the pleasure of conviviality and tasting many different courses. A solution can be that of the served buffet. “Customers,” he continues, “must approach the buffet counter wearing a mask. Then the food on display must be protected with a partition and it must be the waiter who fills the plate according to the instructions given by the customer and passes it on to him, thus avoiding direct contact with the food on display. By adopting the served buffet mode, the costs in the kitchen remain unchanged, the costs in the dining room increase while the food cost decreases because it discourages repeated returns to the buffet”. NEW WAYS TO CONTROL FOOD COSTS BETTER In fact, the buffet is a risky activity for