SITHFAB037

Application

This unit describes the performance outcomes, skills and knowledge required to evaluate a range of beverages and their compatibility with different food items and cuisines, provide advice to customers on their selection, and continuously extend personal product knowledge to enhance customer service. Beverages can include wine, beer, spirits and liqueurs.

The unit applies to hospitality organisations that serve food and beverage, including hotels, restaurants, wineries, fine food outlets and clubs. Advice on food and beverage matching might also be provided by wholesalers to hospitality outlets and by retail liquor outlets to retail customers.

The unit applies to frontline sales and operational personnel who operate with some level of independence and under limited supervision to provide advice to others about the matching of beverages to food items and cuisines. This includes beverage sales consultants, bar specialists, sommeliers, and other senior bar and food and beverage attendants.

The sale and service of alcohol is subject to the provisions of Responsible Service of Alcohol (RSA) law in each state and territory of Australia.

The skills in this unit must be applied in accordance with Commonwealth and State/Territory legislation, Australian/New Zealand standards and industry codes of practice.

No occupational licensing, certification or specific legislative requirements apply to this unit at the time of publication.

Assessment conditions

Skills must be demonstrated in an operational restaurant or food and beverage outlet. This can be:

• an industry workplace; or
• a simulated industry environment set up for the purposes of assessment.

Assessment must ensure access to:

• Australian Dietary Guidelines
• organisational specifications:
  • current food and beverage product information
  • information databases and computerised information sources
  • food and beverage menus
• kitchen staff with whom the individual can interact and an industry-realistic ratio of service staff to customers. These can be:
  • kitchen staff and customers in an industry workplace during the assessment process; or
  • individuals who participate in role plays or simulated activities, set up for the purpose of assessment, in a simulated industry environment operated within a training organisation.

Assessors must satisfy the Standards for Registered Training Organisations’ requirements for assessors and have worked in industry for at least three years where they have applied the skills and knowledge of this unit of competency.