CHAPTER ONE

Introduction

1.0. Background to the Study

Food and beverage is a common abbreviation for "Food and Beverage". The

sector/industry specializes in the conceptualization, making, and delivery of food. Most food and

beverage employees work in restaurants and bars, such as VAT hotels, resorts, and casinos. Food

and Beverage service refers to the food flow of an establishment. It includes everything from

purchasing the food to serving the customer. Food and beverage production in particular is only

concerned with the preparation and presentation of food before it is served to customers or

displayed on shelves.

Food and beverage (F&B) courses have been an essential part of the hospitality

management curriculum. However, Baker et al. (2019) reported that there is a wide range of

discrepancies in the opinions of the stakeholders' collection and the appropriateness of food and

beverage sessions in the college and has been heavily criticized. It was also indicated that the

development of practical skills has been traditionally a clear focus of food and beverage teaching

and constitutes a hospitality requisite to graduates. The focus of hospitality programmes. In the

work of Ford, 2020. He centred his study on developing technical operational skills with

particular emphasis on food

and beverage. Teaching food and beverage has been reported to be at the core of hospitality

management programmes (Gillespie and Baum, 2017). Courses important for career success

include food and beverage management, menu planning and preparation, and beverage, and
restaurant management. and convention and banquet management were classified as the most

important courses for career success

Fundamentally, food production or culinary art is the only manufacturing function in

hospitality (Jones, 2004); it is the most complex operation with multiple inputs, which are

technological and operational. Foodservice technologies are grounded in the principles of

chemistry, biology, microbiology, engineering and mathematics, the disciplines with well-

established theories and a high degree of academic vigour. Millar et al.

(2010) reported that a blend of hospitality and food-based combination is a relatively young field

and experienced limited developments but remarkably growing subject and

departments.

Cousins, et al. (2021) reported that food production and service operation is an integral

process of the hospitality industry and cannot be separated from management. They affirmed that

the processing of materials and services are essential element of teaching food and beverage

operations. This means that Food and beverage management features as a significant part of the

curriculum in most hospitality management programmes. It is invariably seen as a practical

subject broadly focused on two distinct sub-areas, food production and food service. Indeed.

Insofar as hospitality is a distinctive form of management and managerial activity, food and

beverage management together with the management of accommodation defines this

distinctiveness (Wood, 1997). Several factors influence the production quality balanced hotel

studies curriculum and the manners by which the universities in Nigeria tailor and deliver this

field of study. To the knowledge of the author of the current study, no academic research has

been produced to investigate the evaluation of food and beverage courses including their

numbers and quality as viewed by different stakeholders, including, the professionals of the
hospitality industry in Nigeria. Thus. and based on the previous introduction. This study aims to

assess the perception of professionals on the food and beverage course-related issues in higher

private tourism and hotel institutes in Nigeria as well as Conference Hotel, Ogun State, the study

area.

The food and beverage firms in Nigeria are the major producers of consumer goods

which sustain the life of humans. Scholars and practitioners regard this sector as the strongest in

the manufacturing industry, it represents 22.5% of Nigeria's manufacturing sector and 66% of

total consumer expenditure, and thus, food and beverages remain the largest sector in the

industry (Stella Gladson, 2018). Irrespective of the presence of various players within the sector.

The food and beverage industry is a very competitive industry where various manufacturers

compete to develop similar alternative products for their various consumers. While some

companies struggle to beat the competition to stay ahead in the competition, they also are

pressured by the consumers and other manufacturers to lower their prices which also hinders the

performance of most. Some of the challenges faced by these manufacturing companies range

from lack of proper

technology, seasonal crops, government regulations, a decline in sales, stocking and so on.

1.2. Statement of the Problem

The food and beverage industry in Nigeria is facing challenges in maintaining effective

customer loyalty. This is because most companies fail to keep proper inventory by maintaining

optimum inventory and proper marketing to sell inventory, This problem tends to increase

inventory holding costs which deteriorate: the company in its operations. Proper management

serves as an effective step in reducing the cost of inventory through minimizing waste and
storage cost thereby promoting efficient inventory turnover and an increase in customer loyalty.

Low turnover of inventory in the sector is also associated with stock out of inventory, weakness

in advertising and marketing, loss of customers and obsolescence of materials (Moridipour&

Mousavi, 2014). For instance, comparing the financial statement of Cadbury Nigeria Plc to

Nestle Nigeria Plc. It has been observed that the cost of goods sold by Cadbury Nigeria for the

year 2018 was N 28.017.412 with an inventory worth N 5.865.105 which when calculated gives

an inventory turnover ratio of 4.78. which means a new order of inventory is placed

approximately four to five times a year (Cadbury financial statement, 2018). Nestle Nigeria Plc’s

cost of goods sold measured up to N152, 358,,445 and has an inventory worth of N23,

124,02(indicating an inventory turnover of 6.59 indicating a six to seven times order being

placed by the company every year (Nestle financial Statement, 2018). The low inventory

turnover by Cadbury as compared to Nestles can be associated with poor sales, delays in the

purchase, buyers substituting with other brands or even leading to customers buying elsewhere

resulting in customer disloyalty. It is therefore based on the above that the effect of inventor

management on customer loyalty is been established. based on these problems discussed and

gaps identified. This study therefore examines the effect of inventory management on the

profitability of food and beverage manufacturing companies in Ogun State, Nigeria.

1.3. Objective of the Study

The main objective of the study is to examine the impact of financial management practices on

the profitability of food and beverages in Conference Hotel, Ogun State Nigeria.

Other specific objectives of the study are:

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The overall objective of the study is to assess the perception of professionals on food and

beverage curriculum in higher institutions A case study of Odogbolu local govt Ogun state,

Nigeria.

Other specific objectives of the study are:

i. to evaluate the effects of the food and beverages curriculum among Tai Solarin

undergraduates, Ijebu Ode, Ogun State Nigeria.

ii. to examine the problems of food and beverages curriculum among Tai Solarin undergraduates,

Ijebu Ode, Ogun State Nigeria, and to;

iii. find out the effective mechanisms feasible to proffer solutions to the poor structures of food

and beverages curriculum in Higher institutions in Ijebu Ode, Ogun State Nigeria.

1.4. Research Questions

To achieve the goal of this study, the following research questions will guide the study

i. What is the effect of the food and beverages curriculum in Higher institution, Ijebu Ode, Ogun

State Nigeria?

ii. What are the problems of food and beverages curriculum in Higher institutions, Ijebu Ode,

Ogun State Nigeria?

iii. What are the effective mechanisms feasible to proffer solutions to the poor structures of food

and beverages curriculum in Higher institutions in Ijebu Ode, Ogun State Nigeria?

1.5 Working Assumptions

 For a proper appraisal of the food and beverage department in Nigeria, the study

formulated the following assumptions:

i. Nigerian Food and Beverage Department aligns with the idea of a proper profit-making

process in the hospitality industry.

ii. Nigerian Food and Beverage Department does not aligns with the idea of a proper profit-

making process in the hospitality industry.

1.6 Scope of the Study

This study looks keenly into profit-making in the food and beverage department especially at

a time like this when most of the economy and political system via a viz stakeholders are

frantically agitating for resource control or an increase in revenue allocation from the federal

government.

The study will unravel the challenges associated with the proper profit-making system in the

food and beverage department in the hotel industry of the chosen area of study and help gain an

in-depth understanding of its overall operations and processes in the field. The period under

study is 2017-2023.

1.7 Significance of the Study

The study is significant to the following set of people and fields in the country:

1. Policy Makers; the members of the Food and Beverages Department for appropriate allocation

and sharing formula of the food industry for equal developmental purposes.

2. Academia; higher and research institutions for academic exercises.

For policymakers, the study will be useful for recommendations for policymaking in the future

while for academia, it will be useful for research on food and beverage assessment and general

discourse related to the field of tourism and hospitality most especially in Nigeria.

1.8 Operational Definition of Key Terms

Food: a substance consisting essentially of protein, carbohydrate, fat, and other nutrients used in

the body of an organism to sustain growth and vital processes and to furnish energy. The

absorption and utilization of food by the body is fundamental to nutrition and is facilitated by

digestion.

Beverage: A drink or beverage is a liquid intended for human consumption. In addition to their

basic function of satisfying thirst, drinks play important roles in human culture. Common types

of drinks include plain drinking water, milk, juice, smoothies and soft drinks. Traditionally warm

beverages include coffee, tea, and hot chocolate. Caffeinated drinks that contain the

stimulant caffeine have a long history.

Curriculum: can be defined as a plan for providing sets of learning opportunities to achieve

broad goals and related specific objectives for an identifiable population served by a single

school center for persons to be educated.”

Hospitality: is the act of welcoming guests or strangers or “entertainment of guests or strangers

without reward or with kind and generous liberality.”

1.9. Outline of Chapters

The study covers the following components;

Chapter one is the introduction to the research work and it is made up of the background of the study, a

statement of the problem, the objective of the study, research questions, research assumptions, the scope
of the study, and the significance of the study. Chapter two provides the literature review on Food and

Beverage in the Nigeria hospitality industry. Chapter three captions the methodology of the research and

this deals with a detailed description of the design and the procedures that would be used to carry out the

research. Chapter four presents the data and analysis of the same. Chapter five provides the summary,

conclusions, and recommendations of the study.