This article offers an overview of the current state of food and beverage management research and some recommendations for the future development of the field. It begins from the premise that establishing such an overview requires an appreciation of the condition and consequences of hospitality research more generally for food and beverage research. A second premise is that understanding of food and beverage research is inseparable from comprehending the nature and role of food and beverage education more generally within the hospitality field. The central theme developed from this is that food and beverage management research is a Cinderella subject even within the hospitality field, where the latter has more generally largely failed to establish credibility within the academy. The irony of this situation lies in the fact that food and beverage management is one of the central subjects that potentially defines hospitality management. The near-utopian prescriptions for the future of food and beverage management research centre on building connections to other food-related research and hence to hospitality, eschewing much of what currently passes for hospitality management research in an effort to rebuild the subject field around the industry's core concerns.

What is it that consumers see when they read the wine label? This article begins from the premise that the label does not merely consist of words that describe the contents of the bottle, but also contains clues to complex social, cultural and economic interactions which bestow wine its meaning. Thus, the visual aspects of wine extend far beyond colour, labelling and packaging. Viewing the wine label through the cultural lens suggests that the label has much to offer the hospitality provider in the ways in which the wine's affective qualities are conveyed.

One of the essential aims of service process organisation is to increase the added value for the customer, thereby increasing customer satisfaction and stimulating consumption. In a haute-cuisine context, customers typically have a higher degree of uncertainty as they often lack the experience of receiving and judging quality in a haute-cuisine setting. This article reports on the application of service process organisation in a haute-cuisine restaurant. The case study shows that there is a significant need to reduce back office activities so that interaction with the customer or customer-facing processes can be increased. This can increase the added value for the customer and can result in higher profits for the restaurants as the customer is either willing to pay higher prices or to consume more. Routines should be implemented that align with segmentation and customer data, while undergoing a retraditionalisation of the service through know-how and interaction. Only interaction with, and integration of, the customer adds significant value that can be further expanded by providing an atmosphere where customer and co-customer have the chance to interact.

The Liebeck hot coffee case is discussed, showing that the court's decision was not whimsical, but predicated on the knowledge and behaviour of McDonald's as represented and displayed by their employees and agents. Subsequent research establishing consumer preferred temperatures for consuming hot beverages is reviewed, as is the literature considering that such temperatures are above medical literature thresholds for injuries, yet not causing injuries. Past and current quick service restaurant (QSR) drive-thru window practices regarding hot beverage service temperatures and warnings are established and examined. Finally, circumstances and conditions under which QSR management need to practice due diligence in providing for their customers are addressed.

Mass customisation (MC) is a well-established paradigm in many sectors of industry. The reason for this study was that flight catering appeared to be the first sector of the hospitality industry to be adopting MC. There was a prima facie case that it was introducing many of the features of mass customised products and services — agile manufacturing, lean production, just-in-time inventory, modularity, and flexible labour practices. In particular, the specific MC mode (MacCarthy, Brabazon, & Bramham, 2003) adopted by this industry is identified as ‘flexible resource call-off MC’ and is established as a model of the operational process with the flight catering industry. The research concludes that although most elements of mass customisation are evident in flight catering, the MC paradigm has not been fully adopted.

Although food is a vital part of the chemical process of life, the manner in which people choose the foods that they eat is subject to a wide variety of external and internal influences. This study employed a sequential mixed method research design to investigate the influence of perceived body image, vanity and personal values on food purchasing behaviour among 18- to 30-year-old females. It was found that although personal values and orientation have a major influence on the food purchasing and consumption process, vanity, physical health and perceived body image were major factors of influence in the purchasing and consumption decision.

This article continues the advocacy themes of recent hospitality research, which promote an interdisciplinary approach. This embraces the culinary arts, broader humanities disciplines and media studies, among others, and might complement the dominant technical and business discourse apparent in hospitality management and food and beverage operations education and practice. Drawing on some of these alternative approaches, this article explores the historical development of an ethnically diverse contemporary restaurant scene in Queensland's capital city, Brisbane, Australia. It is argued that consumer demand has been the primary driver of this apparent culinary diversity. On the other hand, the proposition that this phenomenon of culinary diversity in Brisbane restaurants is attributable to colonial ethnic enclaves and the postwar immigration boom is critically appraised. This article's contribution is that it recognises, within this Queensland perspective, that market forces can be identified by, and the hospitality sector might benefit from, fields of endeavour beyond a business management framework.