Question

List four variables that help to define a menu.

What role does a menu play in relation to a business’s brand?

List the two primary tools that help to define a market. What type of information does each one provides?

If a chef wants to create a menu that exceeds his staff’s ability, why can’t he just hire new staff?

How does a kitchen’s space and work flow impact a menu?

Who are the typical stakeholders who contribute to the menu planning process in a new business?

Who is normally added to the process in an existing business?

Answer 1

Answer(i). Menu planning is a process of creating a menu that achieves all the aforementioned goals and more, these are not done on personal preference. There are various factors involved while defining a menu and the person who handles or defines the menu is called the menu planner. The 4 variables that assist the menu planner to define a menu are as follows.

1. Employees skill levels: In this, the menu planner checks the ability and professionalism of the employees working in his team and according to their capabilities the selection of the menu is done.

2. Checking of kitchen equipment is done which are needed while preparation of the menu as if necessary or required equipment for making a dish is not present then the whole process can get disturbed.

3. Checking of the required workforce is also necessary because if the needed number of staff is not present in the workspace then things can also get messed up.

4. Product availability in the marketplace is also important because if the required product while preparing the menu is not available then the whole system can get disturbed.

(ii) A restaurant's menu plays a very significant role as it teaches a guest about the experience they are going to have. A good restaurant menu design focuses on overall operations, promotes profitability, establishes a budget ,and keeps brand fresh in the customer's mind. And in short, the menu is a list of items a restaurant prepares and serves.

(iii) 2 primary tools that help to define a market are as follows.

1. Demographic Studies: This gives the data about the population where the restaurant business is operating and its important for potential owners to know where exactly he opens the business and by studying the demographic area its easy to understand the scope of growth in the area where restaurant business is setup.

The kind of information the owner gets by the demographic study is as follows.

1. Age group: This demographic study tells the food-services needs of teenagers, middle-aged adults, and seniors as each group's choices vary greatly from each other.

2. The education level of the customers as people with higher levels of education prefer healthier food.

So , demographic study helps the owner to get the idea of choices of customer living in a particular area

2.Competitive analysis: It describes the food services competition in the area and informs a menu planner of the likely competitors to a given business thought.

The kind of information the owner gets by the competitive analysis is that what new and unique food items can be introduced in the market so, that his food options can be differentiated from the other restaurant business.

(iv) If the chef wants to create a menu that exceeds his staff ability then also he can't hire the new staff because changing the staff could increase the restaurant's labor cost as well as unwillingly tarnish the brand of the restaurants.

(v) Limitations can be offered from the equipment in the kitchen, as well as the workstations being limited.

(vi) The menu is severed to a lot of people, so the menu planner should involve all the stakeholder's opinions in the menu development process. As new businesses, owners and chefs need to work together to generate a menu that will meet the needs of the target market.

(v) Guests and frontlines employees should be consulted in the process of the existing business.