Glossary
Hospo words: F
47 terms you'll hear on shift.
- F&B
- Food and beverage.
- Family meal
- The staff meal before or after service.
- Family style
- Dishes served on shared platters placed in the middle of the table for guests to help themselves.
- Fat-washing
- Infusing a spirit with a fat such as butter, bacon or coconut oil, then freezing it so the solid fat can be removed, leaving flavour and texture behind.
- FHRS
- Food Hygiene Rating Scheme.
- FIFO
- First in, first out stock rotation.
- Filleting knife
- A long, thin, flexible knife for removing fillets from fish along the bones.
- Final numbers
- The confirmed guest count given by the client before an event, on which the bill is based.
- Fine strainer
- A small conical mesh sieve used with the main strainer to catch ice chips and fruit pulp; the second half of a double strain.
- Finings
- A clearing agent, traditionally isinglass from fish, added to cask beer to drop the yeast to the bottom. Unfined beers stay hazy and are often vegan.
- Finish
- How long the flavour lasts after swallowing; a long finish usually signals quality.
- Finish (cask)
- A period of extra ageing in a different cask, such as sherry or port, to add flavour.
- Fire
- Instruction to start cooking a table's next course.
- Fire risk assessment
- A legally required assessment of fire hazards and safety measures in UK premises.
- Fish and chips
- Battered fish, usually cod or haddock, with chips. A British institution.
- Fit-out
- The cost of building and equipping a premises, often the biggest upfront investment in opening a restaurant.
- Fixed costs
- Costs that do not change with sales, such as rent, rates and insurance.
- Flambé
- Igniting alcohol in a pan to burn off some of it and add flavour and theatre, as in crêpes Suzette. Needs a risk assessment and careful technique.
- Flash report
- A quick daily or weekly summary of sales, covers, labour and key figures.
- Flat top
- A flat cooking surface heated from below, used for burgers, eggs and searing.
- Flat white
- A small, strong milk coffee with a thin layer of microfoam, popularised in Britain from Australian and New Zealand cafés.
- Float
- The cash left in the till to start a shift.
- Float (cocktail)
- A layer of spirit or liqueur poured gently on top of a drink so it sits as a distinct layer.
- Floor
- The dining room or service area, as in working the floor.
- Fob
- Foam on beer detector that stops foamy beer flowing.
- Fobbing
- Excess foaming during dispense, often from warm beer, worn seals or the wrong gas pressure.
- FOH
- Front of house: the dining room, bar and everyone the guest sees.
- Folio
- The guest's running account of charges during a stay.
- Fond
- A stock, or the browned residue left in a pan after searing. Deglazing lifts the fond into a sauce.
- Font
- The fixture on the bar from which keg beer is dispensed.
- Food business registration
- The legal requirement to register with the local council at least 28 days before starting a food business.
- Food cost percentage
- The cost of food sold as a percentage of food sales. Many UK restaurants target around 25 to 35 percent.
- Food hygiene certificate
- Proof of training in safe food handling, typically a Level 2 Food Safety in Catering qualification for UK food handlers.
- Food recall
- Removing unsafe food from sale and from customers, often triggered by the supplier.
- Food-led
- A venue making most revenue from food.
- Four-top
- A table for four.
- Four-wall EBITDA
- Earnings at site level before central overheads, a common measure of a restaurant's own profitability.
- Frangipane
- An almond cream of butter, sugar, egg and ground almonds, baked in tarts such as Bakewell and pear tarts.
- Free house
- A pub not tied to a brewery or pub company.
- Free pour
- Pouring without a measure, not allowed for certain spirits in the UK.
- French meringue
- The simplest meringue, made by whisking raw egg whites with caster sugar, then baking.
- French service
- Traditionally dishes finished or presented at the table, and in banqueting, guests serving themselves from a platter held by the server.
- French trim
- Scraping the meat and sinew from the end of a rib bone so it is clean and white, as on a rack of lamb.
- Frequent flyer
- A loyalty programme member who travels often, valuable for airlines and hotels.
- Friends and family
- Trial nights for invited guests.
- Full English
- A cooked breakfast of eggs, bacon, sausage, beans, tomato, mushroom and toast, with regional variations.
- Function sheet
- The UK name for a document listing every detail of an event, used much like a BEO.
Hospodality