By Mr Gregory Poh, Lecturer, Faculty of Hospitality
SEGi College Sarawak’s subject of Food and Beverage Management, Restaurant Management and Nutritional Cooking and Menu Development requires each student to take practical roles either in kitchen or restaurant and run a full fine-dining lunch service for guests. This service is part of our practical exam, which is the partial fulfilment of our students’ lesson plan on the course.
The purpose of organising the lunch service is to let the students experience real-life working experience in the industry and allow them to the have more exposure in practical sessions. They gain more knowledge and skills when facing real guests.
For this January 2022 semester, the practical exam for lunch service took place on Friday 29 April 2022 at SEGi College Sarawak Branch Campus Mock Restaurant. The lunch service was held from 12.00pm to 2.00pm. Twenty-two students from the Diploma in Hotel Management took part.
The students are given two months to practise and train on the different types of knowledge and skills. The Diploma in Hotel Management students were trained to identify equipment, do napkin-folding, table-setting, have product knowledge and know how to serve guests. The Diploma in Culinary Art students were trained on cooking skills, presentation of food and correct positioning according to the standard operating procedure (SOP), before the real-life exposure and experience for the lunch-service practical exam.
Each student was given the opportunity to hold positions in the Food and Beverage department such as Captain, Bartender, Host cum Runner, Server, and in the Kitchen department as Sous Chef and Commis to participate in the practical class. Following on their restaurant theme, the students were required to create a suitable restaurant atmosphere and environment following with their own theme according to their creativity. For this semester, the theme given was ‘Nutrition’.
Eleven guests joined the lunch service. We are pleased to have had Ms Stella Lau, CEO of SEGi Group of Colleges, Dr Susie Lau, Principal of SEGi College Sarawak, Mr Rudy Ujang, Head of Academic and Programme Leader of Faculty of Business, Accountancy, IT and Faculty of Law, Mr Carlos, Assistant Manager of Bursary, Ms Candy Chong, Programme Leader for the Faculty of Hospitality and Allied Heath, Ms Laura Albert Chuan, Programme Leader for Faculty of Social Science, Ms Josephine Lim, Ms Felicia Loo, Mr Bong Hee Chuan, Ms Kim, and Mr Vincent for taking their time to join the student practical exam lunch service.
Overall, the lunch service practical exam was a success. The students gained knowledge, skills, and exposure on how to serve guests with professionalism and according to the standard operating procedure (SOP).
