Food and Beverage Workshop

The Belize Tourism Board in collaboration with the Organization of American States organized a Food & Beverage Management Workshop which was held at the Radisson Fort George Hotel & Marina, from January 26th to February 29th, 2009. This workshop is the second in a series of workshop to be held under the, "Capacity Building: Tourism Training and Certification" Project. The first, "Certified Hospitality Department Workshop" was held in December.

The facilitator for the course was Mr. Bennett Brown of Bennett Brown and Associates Inc., an operation based consulting firm which focuses on the lodging and food & beverage service industry. Mr. Brown has over 20 years of experience in the hospitality industry, providing services such as evaluations and ratings as well as training targeted to owner-operators and the tourism agencies of governments throughout Canada, UK, and the Caribbean.

A total of 16 participants attended the four week training workshop which provided the participants with the knowledge of the business management aspects of food & beverage, concepts, menu development, pricing and marketing as well as revenue and cost control management.

At the end of the workshop, participants including personnel from small and medium hotels, restaurant owners and managers, had gained knowledge in three critical areas as it relates to food and beverage management. These included expanding their management skills in the operation of small and medium hotels; critical information in decision-making; minimizing costly mistakes, and taking advantage of economic opportunities.