A Junior Sommelier Course for the Maltese Catering Industry Personnel
Zahra, John (2020)
2020
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2020101321291
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2020101321291
Tiivistelmä
The objective of this Master thesis is to verify if a Junior Sommelier course designed on the basis of previous research is adequate to be used in providing catering industry personnel with a professional wine service course to help improve the quality of wine service in Maltese catering outlets. The study seeks an answer to the question: does this Junior Sommelier course meet the present training need to deliver better wine service levels in Maltese catering outlets? As a result, a full outline of the said course for subsequent implementation and use will be stated.
The theoretical framework contains topics such as the Maltese Tourism industry development, the hotel and restaurants in Malta, the Maltese national qualifications network, what other wine courses are being provided internationally, and how adults learn. These topics help to understand the background for the need for such a course, which content should be in it and how prospective trainees can be taught said course. These topics open up on the concepts of service development, service quality, customer value and satisfaction.
For the empirical research the author has undertaken to carry out two methods: three online surveys being sent out using SurveyMonkey, plus a Focus Group made of industry professionals who gave feedback on the proposed course. The online surveys included 20 questions regarding the wine course content and sought to get feedback on how appropriate the content is for the proposed course. The surveys were sent to 1041 contacts. The sample base was a data base of restaurant clients, students, restaurant/hotel employees and other stake holders collated over the years by the author. As a result, 293 respondents answered the surveys more could have been achieved but for the COVID-19 emergency which restrict the author’s access to contacts. In addition, the Focus Group members (5) were required to fill in a questionnaire in order to dig deeper and receive more in-depth feedback.
Summarizing the online data collection results and Focus Group feedback as findings, the study revealed that with minor changes the proposed course was more than adequate to be used as the training tool it is meant to be to help solve the problem of inadequate wine service levels in Maltese catering outlets.
The theoretical framework contains topics such as the Maltese Tourism industry development, the hotel and restaurants in Malta, the Maltese national qualifications network, what other wine courses are being provided internationally, and how adults learn. These topics help to understand the background for the need for such a course, which content should be in it and how prospective trainees can be taught said course. These topics open up on the concepts of service development, service quality, customer value and satisfaction.
For the empirical research the author has undertaken to carry out two methods: three online surveys being sent out using SurveyMonkey, plus a Focus Group made of industry professionals who gave feedback on the proposed course. The online surveys included 20 questions regarding the wine course content and sought to get feedback on how appropriate the content is for the proposed course. The surveys were sent to 1041 contacts. The sample base was a data base of restaurant clients, students, restaurant/hotel employees and other stake holders collated over the years by the author. As a result, 293 respondents answered the surveys more could have been achieved but for the COVID-19 emergency which restrict the author’s access to contacts. In addition, the Focus Group members (5) were required to fill in a questionnaire in order to dig deeper and receive more in-depth feedback.
Summarizing the online data collection results and Focus Group feedback as findings, the study revealed that with minor changes the proposed course was more than adequate to be used as the training tool it is meant to be to help solve the problem of inadequate wine service levels in Maltese catering outlets.