Food service industry in action
From the street vendors and caterers of ancient Rome to the modern food service industry, food service skills have traditionally been taught through apprenticeship. Many colleges offer food service management programs, but 66 percent of people currently working as servers and managers hold a high school diploma or less and were trained on the job. Sweeping changes in how food is shipped, stored and prepared mean that food service managers need to use the newest technological resources and to balance cost-cutting and effective food storage with the public demand for fresher food with fewer additives and preservatives.
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Early History
In the Middle Ages, the cooks employed by nobles and religious orders served large numbers of people every day, and medieval travelers ate at inns, taverns, monasteries and hostelries. The earliest recorded guild for cooks was formed around 1311 to protect the cooks' secrets. The tricks of the trade were only taught to guild members. West and Wood's Introduction to Foodservice notes that "strict cost accounting was necessary, and here, perhaps, marks the beginning of the present-day scientific foodservice cost accounting...."
The Industrial Revolution
During the thousands of years when most of the population lived in or very near farming communities, food did not travel far to reach the people who ate it. The Industrial Revolution and the mass migration of workers to cities meant there was increased demand to ship food longer distances. Trains, automobiles and trucks provided transport, while new preservation treatments and better storage devices such as refrigeration made it possible for the food to stay fresh longer.
Food Regulation
DIFFERENT TYPES OF FOOD SERVICE INDUSTRY
BUFFET SERVICE * A buffet is typically a self service presentation of food.