French Service Definition

Method of serving private dining or restaurant food in which partially cooked food is brought from
the kitchen on a cart which is used also for the final cooking. Food is completedin front of
the guests and served by a waiter or waitress who offers a dish to each guest who helps himself
or herself.

What is a RECHAUD?
A Rechaud is a portable stove that can be used anywhere. Just add the butane fuel and you
are ready to cook. Great for a brunch where omelets are being prepared.

French service differs from others in that all food is served

from the gueridon. This is a rolling cart the same height as the
guest's table. The gueridon is covered with a cloth and is placed
side-by-side with the table. It is equipped with a small alcohol stove,
or rechaud, that is used to keep the food warm for the preparation of
sauces, crepes suzette, jubilee and other special dishes. This
service is very elaborate and elegant. The food is partially prepared
in the kitchen and completed by the Chef or Headwaiter in full view
of the customer. Service of this type requires not only technical
expertise on food preparation but also a good showmanship. The
Chef carries out certain activities like carving meats, preparing
flambe, etc. with flair and showmanship.

Advantages:
1. The guest s given personalized attention making him feel
important.
2. It makes the guest feel that he is receiving a royal treatment.
3. Th service is elegant and entertaining.
4. It commands higher price than other forms of service (pay for
the service).

Disadvantages:
1. It is a slow service.
2. It is expensive because it requires large professional staff.
3. It requires a bigger dining room space to make service and
food preparation convenient.

The concept of French service arises from the elegant and splendid style of
the French court, le grand couvert (the great cover). French service is also
termed as cart service. The service procedure of French service has been
significantly modified and simplified according to the grade of the hotel or
restaurant. Basically French service is a formal type of service which was
first started to serve European.
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Topics Covered in this Guide

1 Features of French Food & Beverage Service Style

2 Table setting procedures of French Food & Beverage Service Style
3 Meal Preparation & Serving Procedures
4 Preparation of Food in French Food & Beverage Service Style
5 Service of Food in French Food & Beverage Service Style

Features

of

French

Food

&

Beverage

Service

Style

French service is a modified service which can be characterized by the

following key features:

French service usually followed in classy

dining room, lavish restaurants, elegant resorts, cruise ships and
casinos.
The unprepared or semi prepared foods are arrived from the kitchen
and brought to the dining room placing on a guerdon (a cart) carrying
on heavy silver platters. But the final preparation is completed at a side
table in front of the guests and served from the service table to the
guests on heated plates.
Since foods are cooked in front of the guests, so, those foods are
cooked or completed which require short time to prepare.
Cooking, deboning, slicing, and garnishing procedures are applied in
French Service.
French service is considered as the most labor-intensive and most
expensive service of all formal styles.
The nature of this service always requires large number of
experienced and skilled and highly professional servers to perform their
job with elegancy and finesse.
Large numbers of serving and preparing items are used in tableside
cooking, hence, ware washing costs are increased and also often lead to
capital loss.
Though fewer tables and seats are set-up but service staffs need
spacious space in order to move preparation carts all the way through
the dining area and to prepare food on tableside in front of the guests.
French service serves fewer numbers of guests who can afford to pay
extra time and cost to have pricey food items. However, they are always
served with highest level of service and great deal of attention.

In case of small dining, the guest helps themselves while taking food
and in case of large dining, the guests take foods by passing around the
dishes for each guest to help themselves or serve another guest seated
far from the dish.
The costs of F&B items are high so as to be able to produce high
revenue and cover the labor and other associate costs.
Large numbers of servers are assigned to serve fewer guests which
incur high operational costs.
Service procedure of French Service is quite time-consuming.

Table setting procedures of French Food & Beverage Service Style

The typical setting of

French cover includes the following items:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

A show plate
Cleanly folded napkin
Dinner fork and dessert fork
Dinner knife
Dessert spoon and soup spoon
Butter plate and butter spreader

7.

A water or wine glass

In case of small dining (up to 3 guests), dishes are placed directly on
to the guest table and the main dish is placed before the guest expected
to be served first. The service plates are placed near the dish for guest
convenience.
In case of large dining (for 4 or more guests), a gueridon or side table
is used. The waiters carry the plates and dishes and place them to the
gueridon and then serve to the guests with some preliminary portioning
or carving to help themselves.
Usually 3 pieces of flatware and wine glasses are placed on either the
right or left side of the cover. Extra wares could be placed if only it is
required.
All France services do not include salt and pepper and bread and
butter in their table setting.
Sometimes a service or show plate is placed in the center of the cover
as an under liner until the main course is served.
The waiters placed clean folded napkin on the service plate.
Ashtrays are not usually placed on the table until the meal is
completed.

Meal Preparation & Serving Procedures

The preparation and serving procedure of French service involve the
following number of persons for preparing and serving dishes:
Chef de rang (the main server)-is assigned for executing prime
functions, such as:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Preparing and serving dishes.

Make seating the guests in absence of captain.
Serving the beverage.
Presenting checks.

Chef de rang usually prepare the food using the following special
techniques. Such as:

Tossing and Mixing.

Plate Presentation and Sauces.
Deboning and Carving.
Flambing.
Fire Plan.

Commis de rang-works as an assistant of the Chef de rang and

responsible for performing following actions:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Taking the order from the chef de rang.

Collecting and bringing the foods to the dining room.
Serves the dishes as dished up by the chef de rang.
Clearing the tables.

Dining Room Captain- to help the guests to be seated and to supervise

the service procedures.
Cocktail server- who serves alcohol and other beverages
Wine steward or Sommelier-who serves wine.
Preparation of Food in French Food & Beverage Service
Style
Preparation of food in French service is done in the following manner:

Food preparation completed on a guridon (the side table)which

include required tools and equipments to meet the expectation. The
servers do not serve always completed cooked food from the guridon.
Ex- a salad might be mixed on it or a piece of meat might be carved on it.
There used to be a heater on the guridon to cook the food is called a
rchaud. Chef de rang use warmed plates for serving hot plates and then
handed them to the commis, who serves to the guest. All guests should
be warned while serving any hot food or soup.

Service of Food in French Food & Beverage Service Style

Serving procedures of French service

are performed through performing the following actions:

All foods (except butter, bread, and salad, these items are positioned
to the left hand side of the guests) is served and cleared from the right
side of the guests.
Finger bowl is served with all fingers bowls filled with warm water
with rose petals or lemon slices in them in front of the guests.
Cocktail server serves alcohol and other beverages and wine steward
serves wine to the guests. Sometimes the chef de rang also take order
and serves beverage in case of after-dinner beverage.
The commis de rang brings the soup to the guridon and places it on
the rchaud and dishes into warm soup plates. Sauces are often served
with much of the completion of basic preparation.
Coffee is served after the main dish in demitasse cups.
When all dishes are completed then the waiter is to be cleared the
soiled plates and others servicewares

French Style
French Table Serving Styles

A French serving style is not very common, but is seen at some exclusive upscale
clubs and restaurants. The waiter typically has a fancy cart that carries different
types of food for the guests to look over before they decide what they would like.
Sometimes this is only done for appetizers or deserts, and sometimes it is done
throughout the entire meal. At times they serve an 8 course meal this
way.
The guests table is already neatly set with different plates and
silverware when they arrive, so after they decide what they would like
the waiter dishes up their food carefully and neatly from the cart.
Sometimes the food is even cooked right in front of them.
The carts come in different varieties, some hold burners for the waiters (or cooks) to cook on,
some carts have a large cutting board for its top (marble is popular) and some are made to keep
things cold or warm. The carts typically are made of wood and have at least one shelf for storage.
Wine carts are another option; they hold a
variety of wine bottles and glasses.
Salad carts are becoming increasingly
popular; it is like having a moving salad bar
delivered to your table. The guests watch
their salads be prepared right in front of
them. The possibilities are endless.
In some restaurants the waiter holds the bowl for the quests to serve up themselves if they desire. Different
condiments are also typically on their cart.
Many people enjoy a French style table service, because it allows them to see the food before they decide on
their meal, they get the proportions they want and it is more entertaining. They also have the chance to have
any additions made to their food as it is severed. The down fall to this style is that is hard to serve certain dishes
this way, it is time consuming and expensive. You also need plenty of room in the dinning room for the ease of
moving carts.
The French table serving style has been used
since the 1800s, but has slowly changed over
time. Back then the server placed different
dishes on the table and everyone grabbed what
they wanted and when it was gone it was gone.
It wasnt considered fancy or extravagant like it
is today.